[Hentai11]

Quote:

Last time I stood next to a drum kit, the cymbals struck me as the harshest and loudest part. It took me a while to get used to hearing this portrayed accurately in the RE0 because almost any other earphone/headphone/speaker in this price range is not as true to the original.

Here's where listening becomes an aesthetic experience, rather than a technical one. When I'm listening to a rock track, I try to aim for having all the instruments at an equal loudness. While having the cymbals loudest might be more accurate, to me it's less musical, less "true".

Clearly, this is my taste driving how I choose to hear music. But I feel that the mark of a superior set of phones is that they are not only accurate, but are good enough devices that they can accomodate the kind of sound that the listener wants to hear.

For example, I can EQ a pair of RE0s until they sound almost like what I want to hear. With similar, but inferior phones--say, Ety 6is--I'm doomed, I'm stuck with the sounds the phones give me.

 

[Quicklite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarlet Infidel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting comment, I've been loving them with my Fuze. Maybe I am missing out on more.

I think I know why now, those EU regulator puts those damn volume limit on anything that makes a sound...

I'll try the American FW...

Edit:
Problem solved, it sounds awesome atm.

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I happened to have the chance to audition UM3X months ago when I also carried RE0 with me. I think it is fair for me to describe UM3X is a jack of all trades but master of none, while RE0 does something (mid to treble, neutrality) very well while not so on something else (bass). My own suspicion is, RE0 will grow on a person if he/she can accept the sound signature form the initial listening, or else he/she will never like it. On the other hand, UM3X is not the kind of IEM that will turn people away but it is neither the kind of sound people will get addicted to. That's just my opinion of course.

I totally agree with you, but I also have the ES3X and I feel the same way about it as well! It's trying to be everything all at once and does do pretty much everything quite well, but I just don't find it amazing in any particular area. It has great separation and good dynamics, but Shure SE530 has even better separation (IMO) and significantly better dynamics. It's got tight, deep bass, but IE8 has fuller and richer bass and SE530 bass is more natural to my ears. It's got good detailed, well extended treble, but RE0 has even better treble IMO with more presence. It's got lush, rich mids, but SE530 has even fuller and more realistic mids.

 

[Pianist]

BTW, I just tested the frequency response of RE0 with the big clear bi flanges and I can easily hear 30 Hz with them - not bad! The 30 Hz tone is about 8-10 db below the 45 Hz tone though. At 45 kHz, they sound almost completely flat all the way through to 16 kHz, where my own hearings begins to roll off unfortunately. To my ears, they are about 8 db down at 16 kHz, compared to 12 kHz, but I know it's just my ears. Also, it's important to note that my listening was done at medium/low volumes. If I turn the volume way up, I can hear up to 18.5 kHz with the RE0 and down to about 25 kHz.

EDIT: My bad, RE0 actually begins to roll off below 50 Hz or so and at 30 Hz, it's actually about 20-25 db down to my ears, but again that's at medium/low volumes. The bass on RE0 is really great and most music doesn't even have much information below 40 Hz IMO.

 

[Gossling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianist /img/forum/go_quote.gif BTW, I just tested the frequency response of RE0 with the big clear bi flanges and I can easily hear 30 Hz with them - not bad! The 30 Hz tone is about 8-10 db below the 45 Hz tone though. At 45 kHz, they sound almost completely flat all the way through to 16 kHz, where my own hearings begins to roll off unfortunately. To my ears, they are about 8 db down at 16 kHz, compared to 12 kHz, but I know it's just my ears. Also, it's important to note that my listening was done at medium/low volumes. If I turn the volume way up, I can hear up to 18.5 kHz with the RE0 and down to about 25 kHz. EDIT: My bad, RE0 actually begins to roll off below 50 Hz or so and at 30 Hz, it's actually about 20-25 db down to my ears, but again that's at medium/low volumes. The bass on RE0 is really great and most music doesn't even have much information below 40 Hz IMO.

Thanks for the results. What amp was used for those tests? Straight out of my laptop with big bi-flanges, I found a much less balanced response: painful spike at 4400hz (5-6dB?), a dip at at about 5800 hz (4dB?) and flatness up to about 11000hz after which there are two treble spikes. Medium volumes. Treble extension is better than ER4P straight out of laptop. Testing bass extension is difficult for me, but it feels about the same as the ER4P.

 

[RASeymour]

The Fuze/Clip drives the RE0 well enough, you certainly don't have to up the volume much. An amp, in my case the cheap FiiO E5, does add just a bit oomph in the bass to make them sound better. The last few days I've been going back and forth, with and without, and I prefer the sound with the amp, they still sound good without. Matter of convenience: do you want to add an amp to carry around.

 

[archigius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gossling /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the results. What amp was used for those tests? Straight out of my laptop with big bi-flanges, I found a much less balanced response: painful spike at 4400hz (5-6dB?), a dip at at about 5800 hz (4dB?) and flatness up to about 11000hz after which there are two treble spikes. Medium volumes. Treble extension is better than ER4P straight out of laptop. Testing bass extension is difficult for me, but it feels about the same as the ER4P.

Very interesting!
Could you make a graph of this frequency response?
It would be great to understand the RE0 sound signture
compared to other iems.

 

[kmhaynes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hentai11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... I can EQ a pair of RE0s until they sound almost like what I want to hear. With similar, but inferior phones--say, Ety 6is--I'm doomed, I'm stuck with the sounds the phones give me.

Yeah, I've noticed that the RE0 responds much more cleanly to EQ than the Klipsch S4 did -- it actually got muddier as I tried to tame down the huge bass and tinny highs. The RE0 EQs very well. I can make a few EQ adjustments and on my Fuze + E5, I can make it sound very similar to my MS-1i -- just can't quite get that mid-high zing that the MS-1i/Grados has.

 

[Mr Jalaf]

I have finally got my RE0 back along with a Yuin PK3 for comparison, with no burn on RE0 and about 45-50 hours on PK3, and I must say I have some interesting results report. With no burn in the RE0 sounds extremely flat, no emphasis or coloration added whatsoever in any frequency range, even the bass department for better or worse. The PK3 by comparison had a much more upfront in your face kind of sound, a livelier presentation,and it had much better bass than the RE0. I was very surprised that that RE0 sounded so lifeless,distant, and anemic right out the box. The Pk3 delivered a richer, more powerful sound for all genres. My source is a cowon Iaudio7 with no amp.

I am definately going to invest some burn in time into the RE0 and I hope these beast awaken soon.

 

[jjmai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmhaynes /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I've noticed that the RE0 responds much more cleanly to EQ than the Klipsch S4 did -- it actually got muddier as I tried to tame down the huge bass and tinny highs. The RE0 EQs very well. I can make a few EQ adjustments and on my Fuze + E5, I can make it sound very similar to my MS-1i -- just can't quite get that mid-high zing that the MS-1i/Grados has.

For Sansa Fuze, do you know what Custom EQ setting is identical to the default Normal EQ? Every bar at one or two steps higher than middle? I want to use that as a starting point, but can't quite get that.

 

[cujobob]

How long should it take to receive the RE0 after purchasing? (I'm in the US)...been a week, don't believe a tracking number was ever given. Just wondering.

 

[zentenk]

they mail internationally with EMS which always comes with a tracking number

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cujobob /img/forum/go_quote.gif How long should it take to receive the RE0 after purchasing? (I'm in the US)...been a week, don't believe a tracking number was ever given. Just wondering.

If you're in the US it shouldn't take more than a week (they ship 1st class Air from NY). If you didn't get a tracking number you might want to shoot them an email.

 

[cujobob]

That sucks...just double checked my e-mail and only thing I ever received was a paypal receipt. Ordered on the 17th.

 

[Gossling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archigius /img/forum/go_quote.gif Very interesting! Could you make a graph of this frequency response? It would be great to understand the RE0 sound signture compared to other iems.

The most I can do is post my EQ setting when I'm done figuring it out. My goal is to get the RE0 to produce as smooth as possible a sine wave sweep.

Today I compared the RE0 straight out of my laptop (un-EQed) against itself out of one stereo preamplifier (Parasound HP-850) and one AV receiver. It was difficult to distinguish between improvements (due to ample power) and coloration (from the preamplifier, especially). The most noticeable improvement was a deeper sound. I'm not talking about bass response, per se, as there wasn't as much of an improvement in that area as I expected. Solo violin, female vocals, acoustic guitars (Veronique Gens, Barbara Bonney, Joni Mitchell), none of which contain much bass at all, were more textured and full-bodied...deeper. There was also a decrease in sibilance in those recordings. Soundstage became wider from left to right, but not much deeper. Instrument separation, especially in jazz and rock (Jeff Beck, for instance) increased noticeably, in part simply because there was more horizontal "space." There were differences I didn't like: the sound signature became too smooth and too warm to the point where some baroque recordings lost their sharpness and detail, becoming almost muffled to my ears. The preamplifier is probably the culprit here, as this wasn't as noticeable with the AV receiver.

I realize the above description may make it sound like the differences were enormous. While they were very noticeable (I never had to search for them), they were not overwhelming and I hadn't even noticed some of the "deficiencies" straight out of the laptop until I heard the RE0 powered more competently. The RE0 changed more than the ER4p did with amplification.

Also, does the amount of harmonic distortion a headphone naturally produces correlate (inversely) at all to its ability to EQ cleanly? Or is there any other way to know beforehand how healthily a headphone will respond to EQ?