[gearofwar]

I would consider them endgame for sure, at least for now. But I have not heard the super expensive 64 audio new flagships.

HD800 is not the same type of sound signature so it's hard to compare. It is more like an LCD 3f than an HD800, and I would choose SE5U over my LCD 3 fazor. HD800 is bright and analytical, SE5U is smooth and organic.

Do you think SE5U has intimate staging like LCD3F? coz i think LCD3 makes everything sound closer together...

 

[sawrym]

Do you think SE5U has intimate staging like LCD3F? coz i think LCD3 makes everything sound closer together...

If I can put my 2 words here, I can compare SE5U more to the LCD4 than LCD3f with lighter sound but with less sparkle at the top than LCD4. It is true that SE5U is very transparent and it's very source dependant so they will shine with very good matchings (high quality of course) but they also can sound (just) good with the budget gear imo. Soundstage wise SE5U was deep but not wide enough for me to enjoy it as other iems so I think it might not be the endgame for some. I'm a soundstage freak so it was a deal breaker but if you cherrish naturalness and sweetness in the presentation SE5U might be your best thing in the world

 

[Bad Username]

Do you think SE5U has intimate staging like LCD3F? coz i think LCD3 makes everything sound closer together...

Out of my Mjolnir 2 balanced the SE5U definitely surpasses the lcd3f in imaging depth. I haven't heard the lcd3 pre fazor so I can't say for that. Being an iem vs open back headphone, you don't get the same open sound that you get with the LCDs on SE5U.

 

[shahar31]

hey, i'd like to take this stage. as i see this thread has gotten some renewed activity.
i've been using shure IEM for couple of years now, and for the past year been using the Shure SE535 LTD.
i have been lurking these forums for a while and decided i want to go ahead and buy a CIEM pair, after reading awhile i decided to go for the SE3R as my first costum piece. but reading here it seems theres a bit of an adjustment issue with silicone CIEM, this made me think if i should go for acrylic as an entry CIEM, or should i just go for the SE3R?

 

[SilverEars]

hey, i'd like to take this stage. as i see this thread has gotten some renewed activity.
i've been using shure IEM for couple of years now, and for the past year been using the Shure SE535 LTD.
i have been lurking these forums for a while and decided i want to go ahead and buy a CIEM pair, after reading awhile i decided to go for the SE3R as my first costum piece. but reading here it seems theres a bit of an adjustment issue with silicone CIEM, this made me think if i should go for acrylic as an entry CIEM, or should i just go for the SE3R?

Sorry if I'm giving such an impression in the way I write impressions(I will need to give an extended listening period before writing from now on).

Silicones gives generally better fit and comfortable fit. Initially the silicones material had no oil on the surface and seemed like a tight and uneasy to put on due to surface friction, but over time that changes. The silicones become slick and fit is very comfortable if you compare to hard acrylics(if you have a wrong fit, it can become painful from extended listening session which is not the case for silicones). Right now, I have no issues with seal and fit, the silicones does it's job well in that manner.

Scratch off what I said about the sound being finicky with fit, that doesn't seem to be the issue after extended usage as the silicones become slicker and easier to put on, and frankly the fit on these can't really provide issues with sound. Universals are the ones that really need a good fit.

There are a lot of factors that can affect the sound. fit, source(amp, dac), hearing imbalance(or even false perception of hearing imbalance), the imaging of the recording(that can throw off perception of imbalance in certain cases as position of sound are different for different recordings), varying frequency response and qualities of different recordings. You got to take all of them into consideration when assessing headphones, and rules them out to come out with a clean conclusion.

 

[gearofwar]

hey, i'd like to take this stage. as i see this thread has gotten some renewed activity.
i've been using shure IEM for couple of years now, and for the past year been using the Shure SE535 LTD.
i have been lurking these forums for a while and decided i want to go ahead and buy a CIEM pair, after reading awhile i decided to go for the SE3R as my first costum piece. but reading here it seems theres a bit of an adjustment issue with silicone CIEM, this made me think if i should go for acrylic as an entry CIEM, or should i just go for the SE3R?

What is your budget?

 

[shahar31]

What is your budget?

700-900$

 

[gearofwar]

700-900$

Pm me. There are other better options at this range

 

[SilverEars]

This is the IEM for sub-bass. It rumbles... I'm thinking big fans of these are some sub-bass lovers. I have not experienced bass quite like the SE5U. These are definitely unique when it comes to bass.

 

[13candles]

This is the IEM for sub-bass. It rumbles... I'm thinking big fans of these are some sub-bass lovers. I have not experienced bass quite like the SE5U. These are definitely unique when it comes to bass.

Its probably the delayed ignition bass driver that accounts for that. Would you also say that it is similar to dynamic bass?

 

[gearofwar]

I'm actually interested, since SE5ult is comparable to that of LCD4, heard this from few people on here. Would anyone mind comparing it to LCD i4? in this case iem vs iem . Thanks

 

[SilverEars]

Its probably the delayed ignition bass driver that accounts for that. Would you also say that it is similar to dynamic bass?

I really don't know what makes dynamic bass different from BA woofers. I think perhaps people have mainly experienced BA drivers that roll-off on the sub low-end. Like ER4 for example the sub-bass drops at the very low-end, and similarly the UERM.

Whatever it is, the sub-bass is very rich and best I've heard of IEMs, and bass resolution is pretty good.

On a side note: After keeping these for a long duration I noticed that they are very very easy to slide in and out. So when you first get these, be patrient even if it seems to have too much friction and perhaps tighter than normal fit. Give it a good deal of time, and fit gets better, and easy and quick to plug in and pull out. I really like the silicone material, very comfortable.

 

[13candles]

I really don't know what makes dynamic bass different from BA woofers. I think perhaps people have mainly experienced BA drivers that roll-off on the sub low-end. Like ER4 for example the sub-bass drops at the very low-end, and similarly the UERM.



Whatever it is, the sub-bass is very rich and best I've heard of IEMs, and bass resolution is pretty good.

On a side note: After keeping these for a long duration I noticed that they are very very easy to slide in and out. So when you first get these, be patrient even if it seems to have too much friction and perhaps tighter than normal fit. Give it a good deal of time, and fit gets better, and easy and quick to plug in and pull out. I really like the silicone material, very comfortable.

Thanks for the impression SilverEars. Glad you're enjoying them!

I really can't wait to have these but the issue right now is that my ear impressions have been stuck at customs in Poland due to some logistics issue with FedEx having bought over TNT....

 

[SilverEars]

I think the sound stage is definately wider than usual as I have UERM to compare. If you switch back and forth UERM seems to have a narrower stage impression, and this maybe due to sounding more forward above the low-end, and lacking some sub low region. SE5U on the other hand, the mids are not forward. I wouldn't call SE5U perfect either. Interestingly, UERM sound pretty similar when feeding any types of sources, but SE5U seems to depend on sources in it's dynamics and FR, at least noticibly more so than the UERM. I really did like NT6, but unfortunately don't have a set to compare.

As for either of them being really a reference monitors. Not really IMO(I feel by now, I haven't really heard a reference type headphones, but I'm starting to get an idea what my ideal reference would be). Both different as UERM forward on some parts of the spectrum to create a narrower stage. Some may say SE5U sounds more natural due to the suppression of the sparkliness. The comparison of the two monitors is more akin to HD600 vs HD650, although it shares more similarities to LCD headphone type signature. From what I recall I liked the NT6 for the more of dimentional sound to it, and the clarity(maybe due to slightly foward mids which the SE5U does not share similarity, but seems it's intention is to widen stage and raise the bass a bit, and therefore pushes the mids back a bit).

If anybody likes forward vocals, SE5U may not be the one for you. On the avg fowardwardness of vocals is track dependent(which has the most weight), but on certain tracks some headphones pushes more forward over others, and SE5U isn't it.

SE5U does well with instrument focused tracks or if you are bass lover, tracks that are bass focused. Like Jazz for instance, it does pretty well.

 

[Deezel177]

Hey guys!

As most of you probably know, the SE5U is on it's way to attaining another #1 spot in an IEM shoot-out, this time being @flinkenick's Ranking The Stars. Because of this, interest in the SE5U has skyrocketed, especially among my friends and I here in South-East Asia. Since there are no demo units of the SE5U at all and the only people who have heard them are you guys (owners), I'd like to know if anyone here lives in the SEA region and is willing to arrange sort-of a meet-up or demo tour of some sort. My friends and I are mainly located in Singapore (personally, I live in Jakarta, Indonesia, but I visit Singapore very frequently), and it'd be really cool if all of us could get somewhat of an idea of what this mysterious IEM sounds like, and maybe provide impressions (with disclaimers of course that our auditions were with force-fit units and therefore should be taken with a huge pile of salt *ahem* @Mimouille *ahem*) to those who are just as curious as we are. Now, I know that it'll be rather difficult trusting a bunch of strangers with a CIEM that you've purchased with your hard-earned money, but we are very open to discussion of how this meet-up/demo tour will be handled. I really appreciate any help I can get, cheers!

EDIT: I just received word from Calvin of Music Sanctuary, one of the biggest CIEM stores in the world, that he's willing to support the meet-up/tour should it come to fruition. I haven't really gone into specifics with him yet, but I'm guessing this means shipping, all auditioning/testing, and care of the product will be monitored and handled by MS. Thanks!

Regards,
Daniel