[david1978jp]

Napilopez,
I like HJE900. I can see you really like it and recommend it in many threads. But, is it for every genre of music? I also like C710. When I suggested C710 for people who likes pounding bass, I also warned about harsh treble. Is there any earphone does everything good? Probably. I do believe most of earphones have their own strength and faults. HJE900 and C710  have different sounds, their quality is a toss-up to my ears, so why not save $30?
Radius HP-TWF11  is still "fresh" to my ears, the newness often plays tricks on me. I am, however, confident it worths extra $30 over HJE900 - I hope I don't make a mistake and have to eat my words.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Napilopez /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
...
Hmmm... DBA seems to have amazing clarity, these seem to have some kind of amazing warm sound signature. Ahh, choices.

The DDM's really don't have a warm sound signature - not warm in the sense that they have an incredibly lush midrange or over pronounced mid-bass (which is usually what warm sounds like.) They are a bit warmer than say something like the RE0, but its more that the bass is more textured and extension goes down very low. If anything, they sound very balanced and polite, and have a bizarre way of sounding incredibly different from recording to recording.
 
The more time I spend with them, the more it strikes me that there is some underlying level of detail they are replicating that I can't really hear, but which is making everything deeply involving. Psychoacoustics for the win!

 

[rawrster]

Thanks for the response shigzeo. It seems every time I want to save up for customs something such as this shows up and tempts me. I'm not sure I can wait too much past my dba 02 getting in the mail. I hope the new model shows up before then so I don't have to make such a hard decision of waiting for new model or just buying the old one and hoping the new one doesn't come out shortly afterwards.
 
@eric: that's great to hear. I look forward to your impressions

 

[the search never ends]

@ eric.......looks like I did you a favor huh?  : )

 

[ericp10]

Quote:

@ eric.......looks like I did you a favor huh?  : )

THANks @ rawrster
 
lol @ search.yes, you jinx med in the right way finally bruh...lol

 

[mesasone]

Quote:

Thanks for the response shigzeo. It seems every time I want to save up for customs something such as this shows up and tempts me. I'm not sure I can wait too much past my dba 02 getting in the mail. I hope the new model shows up before then so I don't have to make such a hard decision of waiting for new model or just buying the old one and hoping the new one doesn't come out shortly afterwards.
 
@eric: that's great to hear. I look forward to your impressions
---

 
Well, remember - just because something new and "better" comes out doesn't mean your current headphones sound any worse than they did before...


 
 
 
Quote:
  Originally Posted by slaters70 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 
Interesting, that $150 IEMs are starting to make legitimate waves among the top tier IEMs ($300+ MSRP), based on your experience (and LFF's in the DBA thread). With these phones and the DBAs, which I own and believe sound a lot better than their price, the top tier IEM makers have some serious competition. If Radius can make a more ergonomic IEM (one is in the works?) and Fischer decides to make a triple driver (and keep the price down to around $200), it will get very interesting indeed.
---

 
Is it really that surprising?  I think audio's worst kept secret is that headphones (and I presume speakers) actually cost a tiny fraction of what you pay.  This is why companies would rather simply send you a new pair of earphones than repair the broken set the labor involved in even something as simple as replacing a shorted cable quickly adds up to more than the cost of sending new pair.  Of course, the cost to manufacture a product is not the only costs involved - you have R&D, marketing, customer service, etc - but it should be no surprise that we have some smaller companies coming into the market and providing a high (or higher) quality product at a significantly lower (but still quite healthy) profit margin.  The way in which these companies have engaged in word of mouth advertising by being fairly generous with review samples with the community also allows them to save significantly on marketing costs.  Thanks to the internet, companies like these can really thrive with online sales and limited distribution.
 
The real question is, where are all the big players?  Many (most?) of their top tier product lines are approaching two years old now, and it would appear many advances have been made in IEM technology since then.  Logitech posted that they were looking for beta testers, but as of yet those of us who signed up have yet to hear back (or perhaps those who were selected are under an NDA which prevents them from saying anything at all).
 
Anyway, I suppose this is quite off topic...
 
I hope they work on the design and ergonomics for the next model they come out with, as I am really finding it a turn off with these.  I'll keep my eyes pealed for their successor, though.

 

[yello131]

 
Quote:

Thanks for the response shigzeo. It seems every time I want to save up for customs something such as this shows up and tempts me. I'm not sure I can wait too much past my dba 02 getting in the mail. I hope the new model shows up before then so I don't have to make such a hard decision of waiting for new model or just buying the old one and hoping the new one doesn't come out shortly afterwards.
 
@eric: that's great to hear. I look forward to your impressions

Hey Rawrster, for a new model to come out  you most likely will have to wait till January of 2011. This current DDM model showed up in January of 2010 in Japan and it took 4 months prior reaching you guys.  Usually, the manufacturer  will wait a year , prior releasing new model to the market. It is just speculations yet to me it makes perfect sense.  You got 7 months to make up your mind....
 

 

[rawrster]

@mesaone: having owning 2 good earphones and a bunch others in the past I'm quite well aware of that however if I do indeed purchase this set then it will be for a completely different reason than why I have what I have right now. I need (or rather want) a set for when I get home which is usually around 2-3 hours or so and all I have now are isolating earphones and I don't want to get into headphones now. Also I have wanted a good dynamic phone as well.
 
@yello131: I'll definitely decide shortly after I receive my dba 02 but I was unaware that this set came out in January. A couple months wait may be tolerable but 7 is not. I'll make my decision within the next month or so since that's when I expect to get those phones. Thanks for letting me know.
 
edit: why does that stupid box keep showing up after my posts
 

 

[pinkmoon1972]

 
Quote:

Grr, now I'm trying to choose between the DBA and this. I have a hard time believing they'll be so much better than than my beloved HJE900s, which although I haven't had many IEMs to compare to, beat out every full size headphone I've tried below $300 unamped. Yeah, I like them a lot.

Hmmm... DBA seems to have amazing clarity, these seem to have some kind of amazing warm sound signature. Ahh, choices.
 
P.S. I have to disagree with david above me, the C751s didn't compare to the HJE900s when I tried out a friends, though it was only for a few mins. Maybe it's just my fanboyism though

I think you'll still love the Panasonics if you get these and they are far more practical than the Radius, but, to give you one example, I have just been listening to pink floyd's echoes from the meddle album on both the HJE900's and the Radius, and near the middle of the track there is a bit where the song breaks into a kind of bass drum groove with the drums hitting hard and close in each ear, on the Radius the drums hit harder, sound more earthy and realistic and have more space and air between between them, with the panasonics you can hear more of a boom that muddies the air in between each drum thwack.

 

[slaters70]

Excellent points Mesasone, and I guess we will see more and more of this as time passes. All I know is the DBAs (the BA equivalent of the Radius I guess you could say, but with much better ergonomics it seems) are as good as I have heard in the $350 and under category. Problem is, I keep doubting my ears thinking it can't be true. Then, I see LFF's review and he says they are way ahead of the TF10 and SE500, and I figure I am not crazy. Of course, those are two old warhorse - and expensive - IEMs. The newer $300+ IEMs should be better, no?
 
But now, $150 dynamics and BAs REALLY competing with phones on that level (new and old) is great. Yes, when will the UEs, Westones and others start making better phones a lower prices (competitive with Fischer, Radius, etc.)? Who knows, but I guess it doesn't really matter.
 
Meantime, I may have to look into Radius phones, but I think I can wait it out for a more ergonomic model, since my in-ear listening is mainly on the go.
 

 
Quote:

 
Well, remember - just because something new and "better" comes out doesn't mean your current headphones sound any worse than they did before...


 
 
 

 
Is it really that surprising?  I think audio's worst kept secret is that headphones (and I presume speakers) actually cost a tiny fraction of what you pay.  This is why companies would rather simply send you a new pair of earphones than repair the broken set the labor involved in even something as simple as replacing a shorted cable quickly adds up to more than the cost of sending new pair.  Of course, the cost to manufacture a product is not the only costs involved - you have R&D, marketing, customer service, etc - but it should be no surprise that we have some smaller companies coming into the market and providing a high (or higher) quality product at a significantly lower (but still quite healthy) profit margin.  The way in which these companies have engaged in word of mouth advertising by being fairly generous with review samples with the community also allows them to save significantly on marketing costs.  Thanks to the internet, companies like these can really thrive with online sales and limited distribution.
 
The real question is, where are all the big players?  Many (most?) of their top tier product lines are approaching two years old now, and it would appear many advances have been made in IEM technology since then.  Logitech posted that they were looking for beta testers, but as of yet those of us who signed up have yet to hear back (or perhaps those who were selected are under an NDA which prevents them from saying anything at all).
 
Anyway, I suppose this is quite off topic...
 
I hope they work on the design and ergonomics for the next model they come out with, as I am really finding it a turn off with these.  I'll keep my eyes pealed for their successor, though.

 

[karthur]

I bought a used pair of these in Japan and at 9000 yen (around 14,000 new) I think it is by far the best SQ/Price ratio out there.  These things blew me away, was expecting them to be terrible since they're so ugly and cheap looking....but man, great sound for the price, can't be beat.  Not up there with the big-boys at all (e-q7,se530,etc) but really fun phones to use.

 

[toidcans]

Could someone point me in the right direction as to where to purchase these? (I have search through Google and found a couple of places, but have not ordered much from Japan so I do not know who is reputable.) I am in the US btw if that makes the recommedation easier.
 
Thanks.

 

[ericp10]

Update: DDM finally made it to the post office in the Chi, but I won't see them until Tuesday. I guess one more day will be alright since I've been tortured this long...lol.

 

[rawrster]

LOL that's like kicking you while you are down These phones better be good for such a long wait I may have been able to acquire something recently that might make me able to wait some time now however
 
 
@toidcans: accessoryjack.com

 

[pinkmoon1972]

Quote:

I bought a used pair of these in Japan and at 9000 yen (around 14,000 new) I think it is by far the best SQ/Price ratio out there.  These things blew me away, was expecting them to be terrible since they're so ugly and cheap looking....but man, great sound for the price, can't be beat.  Not up there with the big-boys at all (e-q7,se530,etc) but really fun phones to use.

I'd love to hear e-q7 and se530 then cos these things have absolutely floored me, I never even imagined it was possible to hear sound reproduced like this, they make everything else I have seem flat and two dimensional. The more time I spend with them the more their magic seems to emerge, its actually taken me a few days of listening to really get to grips with how much better they are than anything I've tried before. Listening to these is just such an incredibly immersive and emotional experience for me, nothing else has come close.