issuzark
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2012
- Posts
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Damnit. I forgot about the BST here,There are second Hand units in the 'for sale' section.
Damnit. I forgot about the BST here,There are second Hand units in the 'for sale' section.
Any recommendations on TOTL iems for edm? budget is around 1400, but can bleed upwards if it's worth it.
currently looking at
Prophile 8
Encore ( though I hear this is a bit bass light, and I'm a big fan of sub bass)
Zeus XR
EE LX
JH Lola
This is the most helpful yet! From what I've seen it seems the legend x is what I'm looking for. My second most listened to genre is rap, how does it do with it? How's imaging and separation on the LX?I've owned the Zeus XR for a few months, currently having the Prohpile8s, and demoed the LX extensively. I've had quick demos of Encore and the Lola.
I'd say among those IEMs, my favorite for EDM is the LX by a big margin, since its huge bass impact is kind of perfect for this type of music. The prophile8s is generally very good for all genres, and is able to satisfy me enough on EDM with both switches turned on, but it really doesn't have the impact of the LX, and for EDM it could be a little too "polite" and not as engaging. Both the Zeus and the Encore could be considered as "base light", "bright" and "highly resolving and technical", not exactly my taste for EDM, and I found the Zeus a little tiring through longer listening sessions, even though its technical capabilities amazes me every time.
I haven't demoed Lola long enough to make a comment. During my short listening session I do agree that the AAW Canary could be amazing for EDM too.
Hopefully my personally impression would be helpful to you.
This is the most helpful yet! From what I've seen it seems the legend x is what I'm looking for. My second most listened to genre is rap, how does it do with it? How's imaging and separation on the LX?
I haven't tried Rap on LX, so I can't say anything about that, but I imagine it's gonna be pretty amazing on LX too.This is the most helpful yet! From what I've seen it seems the legend x is what I'm looking for. My second most listened to genre is rap, how does it do with it? How's imaging and separation on the LX?
1. Empire Ears Legend X
2. Noble K10
3. Campfire Audio Vega
4. Shure SE846
5. Sennheiser IE80
Hi, is SE846 significantly better than IE80? I have a IE80 and think about upgrading these days. Thanks.
Hi, is SE846 significantly better than IE80? I have a IE80 and think about upgrading these days. Thanks.
Quite a bit better... There are many others that are similar in signature but have a better sound, like Xelento, HS1650CU, and Dita Fealty
Hi, is SE846 significantly better than IE80? I have a IE80 and think about upgrading these days. Thanks.
The Andromeda's bass is fine for a BA. I never completely understood the harsh criticism of it either as it matches up fine vs the Encore. However, I'd still argue the U12t/U18t has better mid-bass (U12t also has better sub-bass) in terms of BA competition.1) UE18+ Pro Gen 3 - Trebles are extremely extended, probably one of the most, if not the most extended out there. I think there's a frequency response graph somewhere on the other audio forum showing that it extends well above the 10k+hz range whereas most other IEMs would begin to taper off much earlier at lower frequencies. This gives the UE18+ an extremely airy and this detailed, crisp sound signature. Mids are the best I've heard as well - could hear the quivers in singers' voices. Soundstage is small though and I guess the bass could be viewed as weak by some others, but it has never been a problem for me.
2) Oriolus Mk2 - All-rounder hybrid (1 DD + 3 BAs). Great bass due to its' Dynamic bass driver. Mids are pretty nice too, just a hair short of UE18+'s performance. Trebles are smooth and airy. Pretty good imaging and soundstage too, really easy to pinpoint locations of instruments.
3) Campfire Andromeda - Big, expansive soundstage - almost comparable to Audeze iSine 20. Didn't quite understand the criticism of Andromeda's lack of bass, it seemed plenty big for me though its impact is not as huge as Oriolus Mk2. A slight v-shape sound signature and mids are slightly recessed. Overall, it's a smooth sound, diffuse sound signature so if you're looking for detail-retrieval, this probably isn't for you. The Andromeda really reminds me of the iSine 20 in many ways.
4) Audeze iSine 20 - Audeze's famed smooth house sound signature. Best bass amongst all due to its' open-back system. By the same virtue, soundstaging is massive as well when compared to other IEMs. Mids are nice too but trebles are kind of smoothed over. You wouldn't pick this IEM if you're looking for detail-retrieval in your IEMs but still the iSines are fantastic IEMs. They provide a very differentiated IEM experience. Imperative to use the Cipher cable or Audeze's Reveal plug-in though.
5) Etymotic ER4SR - detail-retrieval king though not as great as my UE18+ but still, this IEM provides incredible value for money. Again, trebles are pretty well extended on the Etys as well, giving a pretty in-your-face presentation. The UE18+ is able to somehow avoid this problem though, but then again, it's way pricier. Smallest soundstage amongst all my IEMs but imaging is pretty pinpoint.
6) Acoustune HS1501 AL - great bass and soundstaging ability. Sort of like a basshead lover's dream. Thick sound signature but the mids does perform decently well. Can't quite remember its' treble performance but that should mean it wasn't so dreadful as to be expected from bass-focused IEMs.
7) Etymotic ER3XR + 20 Ohm resistor - The 20 ohm resistor was supposed to bring the ER3XR to pretty much ER4XR performance but tbh, it was pretty disappointing when I finally did try that combination out. Nothing to write home about, the ER4SR is so much better in terms of the forwardness of mids and treble air. Bass was better on the ER3XR compared to ER4SR but then again, it's just isn't worth it - you don't get the Etys for their bass (just my perspective, nothing against those who feel otherwise). Could be a fluke resistor though, haven't personally heard the actual ER4XR myself to make a direct comparison with the ER4SR.
8) UE900S - Pretty trebly, reaches sibilant quite easily. But overall, quite a nice v-shaped sound signature. Bass could be bloated sometimes but could be ratified by blocking the small pinhole nozzle on the UE900S. Believe there's quite a few discussions about this modification elsewhere on Head-fi.
9) UE TF10 - pretty much the same as UE900S but a bit less. Another exception is that you can't perform the same nozzle blocking trick. Terrible fit though, I suppose most owners went down
the path of reshelling these to get the TF10 to fit their ears - at least I did.
10) Sennheiser IE80S - Mostly unimpressive tbh. Huge soundstage but not as huge as iSines. Bass is huge but it is just muddy and bloated, ruining the entire sound signature of these.
Other IEMs that I sold off quite some time ago and couldn't quite remember my impressions on them:
Etymotic HF5 - pretty nice, served me well as my daily IEMs. Non-replaceable cable though so it didn't last very long for me, perhaps a year or two at most if I recall.
Etymotic MC5 - the same, usual Ety sound signature. Thinking aback, it probably didn't impress me that much on the basis of Ety's much-vaunted detail retrieval capability but then again, it's a cheap IEM. It's only fair if it were to be compared to other IEMs at a similar price point which I haven't had the experience of doing so.
Klipsch S4i - pretty unimpressive too, actually performs pretty much like the IE80S minus the huge soundstage. Bass was bloated as well and everything just sounds so muddy.
1) UE18+ Pro Gen 3 - Trebles are extremely extended, probably one of the most, if not the most extended out there. I think there's a frequency response graph somewhere on the other audio forum showing that it extends well above the 10k+hz range whereas most other IEMs would begin to taper off much earlier at lower frequencies. This gives the UE18+ an extremely airy and this detailed, crisp sound signature. Mids are the best I've heard as well - could hear the quivers in singers' voices. Soundstage is small though and I guess the bass could be viewed as weak by some others, but it has never been a problem for me.
2) Oriolus Mk2 - All-rounder hybrid (1 DD + 3 BAs). Great bass due to its' Dynamic bass driver. Mids are pretty nice too, just a hair short of UE18+'s performance. Trebles are smooth and airy. Pretty good imaging and soundstage too, really easy to pinpoint locations of instruments.
3) Audeze iSine 20 - Audeze's famed smooth house sound signature. Best bass amongst all due to its' open-back system. By the same virtue, soundstaging is massive as well when compared to other IEMs. Mids are nice too but trebles are kind of smoothed over. You wouldn't pick this IEM if you're looking for detail-retrieval in your IEMs but still the iSines are fantastic IEMs. They provide a very differentiated IEM experience. Imperative to use the Cipher cable or Audeze's Reveal plug-in though.
4) Etymotic ER4SR - detail-retrieval king though not as great as my UE18+ but still, this IEM provides incredible value for money. Again, trebles are pretty well extended on the Etys as well, giving a pretty in-your-face presentation. The UE18+ is able to somehow avoid this problem though, but then again, it's way pricier. Smallest soundstage amongst all my IEMs but imaging is pretty pinpoint.
5) Acoustune HS1501 AL - great bass and soundstaging ability. Sort of like a basshead lover's dream. Thick sound signature but the mids does perform decently well. Can't quite remember its' treble performance but that should mean it wasn't so dreadful as to be expected from bass-focused IEMs.
6) Etymotic ER3XR + 20 Ohm resistor - The 20 ohm resistor was supposed to bring the ER3XR to pretty much ER4XR performance but tbh, it was pretty disappointing when I finally did try that combination out. Nothing to write home about, the ER4SR is so much better in terms of the forwardness of mids and treble air. Bass was better on the ER3XR compared to ER4SR but then again, it's just isn't worth it - you don't get the Etys for their bass (just my perspective, nothing against those who feel otherwise). Could be a fluke resistor though, haven't personally heard the actual ER4XR myself to make a direct comparison with the ER4SR.
7) UE900S - Pretty trebly, reaches sibilant quite easily. But overall, quite a nice v-shaped sound signature. Bass could be bloated sometimes but could be ratified by blocking the small pinhole nozzle on the UE900S. Believe there's quite a few discussions about this modification elsewhere on Head-fi.
8) UE TF10 - pretty much the same as UE900S but a bit less. Another exception is that you can't perform the same nozzle blocking trick. Terrible fit though, I suppose most owners went down
the path of reshelling these to get the TF10 to fit their ears - at least I did.
9) Sennheiser IE80S - Mostly unimpressive tbh. Huge soundstage but not as huge as iSines. Bass is huge but it is just muddy and bloated, ruining the entire sound signature of these.
Other IEMs that I sold off quite some time ago and couldn't quite remember my impressions on them:
Etymotic HF5 - pretty nice, served me well as my daily IEMs. Non-replaceable cable though so it didn't last very long for me, perhaps a year or two at most if I recall.
Etymotic MC5 - the same, usual Ety sound signature. Thinking aback, it probably didn't impress me that much on the basis of Ety's much-vaunted detail retrieval capability but then again, it's a cheap IEM. It's only fair if it were to be compared to other IEMs at a similar price point which I haven't had the experience of doing so.
Klipsch S4i - pretty unimpressive too, actually performs pretty much like the IE80S minus the huge soundstage. Bass was bloated as well and everything just sounds so muddy.