[castleofargh]

Great impressions, especially with the JH13 thrown into the mix.

What version of Android is on that Galaxy S3 I wonder? The OS as a whole has come a long way in the last couple years. The stock experience (on a Nexus 5 for example) is much better than the manufacturer branded stuff. Less bloat and lag in general.

Viper4android is working great on my Nexus 5 with the stock music app. I'd recommend that over poweramp if anyone's having issues. Also it's possible to put an apk file (Android's program files) on the phone and just tap it to install it. Unlike ios, Android gives you access to the file system like a regular computer.

well as you can guess I'm a smartphone noob, I have a tablet but never use it except to watch series while traveling. and my cellphone is one of those not so smart thing that looks just like a pre 2000 phone (with small screen and the amazing WAP instead of internet \o/ ) but it lasts weeks with one charge. so there is a very solid possibility that most of the problems were located between the screen and the chair ^_^. you know how it is with grumpy "not so young" guys.
the jh13 are the old ones so freqphase ones are probably better on voices too? if I still had the 334 I would have made the ultimate battle as it had such a pleasant medium, but that would probably have been too big of a fish for the MH412 to swallow ^_^.
 
viper worked great, better than on windows, if you guys have a rooted android stuff, go for that app. the sound options are massive, no spam, free. what else?
on my tablet I can only get a usb dac to work with usb player pro and it bypasses viper (again maybe there is a way but I'm such a noob). so I can't use viper on it. and the jack out is not simply bad, it's nasty bad. well it was cheap I got what I paid for.

 

[UnityIsPower]

OMG LOL @bloopers XD

 

[jonnio]

Joe are you using the HQ or standard driver on the V4A install?  Do you find it makes a big difference in SQ or battery life?

 

[headdict]

@castleofargh: I saw your comments on the hf5 and wondered if you ever checked out the EQ settings described by @theequalizer in this post . With these I find the hf5 to sound much more neutral. The biggest surprise for me is their detailed bass. You can of course increase the bass boost to your liking, but I'm afraid they will never give you the rumble you're after. Nevertheless I would be very interested in your opinion.

 

[castleofargh]

  @castleofargh: I saw your comments on the hf5 and wondered if you ever checked out the EQ settings described by @theequalizer in this post . With these I find the hf5 to sound much more neutral. The biggest surprise for me is their detailed bass. You can of course increase the bass boost to your liking, but I'm afraid they will never give you the rumble you're after. Nevertheless I would be very interested in your opinion.

thanks I'll be happy to try that tomorrow and hate you if it's not a great EQ

 

[headdict]

 
thanks I'll be happy to try that tomorrow and hate you if it's not a great EQ

Fair enough! Your avatar is inconclusive as to where on this planet you live, so I don't know when exactly tomorrow is for you. But I can tell you I am anxiously awaiting your verdict. 

 

[castleofargh]

here now you know everything, I'm bald and french. (thought the mustache bilboquet/kendama/whatever that's called in English would give it away)
this EQ you posted is pleasant and clearly nicer for casual listening than default HF5 signature for me. as most of my daps don't have nice EQ settings, I usually just go with something like a slope down to high frequencies. it's a mess but not fatiguing and works fine for audiobooks^_^.  on that configuration the only point of using the hf5 is isolation.
 
else I have a few EQs for the HF5, none of them really great sadly. the closest to it's house sound is that one

I gave up completely on the 40-30hz rumble and kind of go for a fake but audible bass(drum+guitar bass) in a pure beats by dre style :'( .  compared to that the EQed MH412 did rumble as low as I was able to hear. that was a serious + for me and the reason why I gave up on trying to EQ the hf5 to sound like the EQed mh412.
the 8khz is strong for me so I'm clearly with theequalizer on that one(I use comply foams so I can't go as deep as I would want to for the sound), trying to remove exactly where it happens just sounds ugly(probably a limit of what that EQ can do without distortion) so I go slightly wider and not as low. but in the process I also lose some valuable sounds around the resonance freq, so I boost around it in a failed attempt to compensate for that loss.
it's funny how I always follow some super strict and precise way to EQ, but end up making a mess trying to improve the result ^_^.
 
maybe a mix of both EQ could be nice, but I refuse to decrease the 130hz even lower than it already is. that one is a definitive NO!

 

 

[james444]

  As source I used ...

 
Thanks for your detailed impressions! 

 
Tbh, I didn't hear any distortion with V4A and the Galaxy S3 when I had the tour combo, though maybe I just didn't crank the volume up loud enough.
 
X2 on Android's inadequacy for offline use, it's really a nuisance. A friend of mine bought an offline navigation app for a trip where he knew it would be impossible to stay connected all the time. Confidently he set off with all required maps stored on his phone's memory card, only to find out at his destination that the app in question had stopped working (turned out that Google's license check required an online connection, hence it failed). Just think about it, a mandatory online license check for an offline navigation app - pretty hilarious imo... though the friend in question rather felt like crying.
 
Anyway, looking forward to shotgunshane's impressions!

 

[castleofargh]

 

  As source I used ...

 
Thanks for your detailed impressions! 

 
Tbh, I didn't hear any distortion with V4A and the Galaxy S3 when I had the tour combo, though maybe I just didn't crank the volume up loud enough.
 
X2 on Android's inadequacy for offline use, it's really a nuisance. A friend of mine bought an offline navigation app for a trip where he knew it would be impossible to stay connected all the time. Confidently he set off with all required maps stored on his phone's memory card, only to find out at his destination that the app in question had stopped working (turned out that Google's license check required an online connection, hence it failed). Just think about it, a mandatory online license check for an offline navigation app - pretty hilarious imo... though the friend in question rather felt like crying.
 
Anyway, looking forward to shotgunshane's impressions!

well TBH if I had a S3 my problem would be with the slight hissing for some of my IEMs. certainly not how it behaved at loud volume ^_^ and as I said it may very well be me messing around while trying to reinstall the apps. but even then that's me being a grumpy old guy, as I said the S3 surprised me in a most favorable way. I reallly didn't expect anything good from a phone, but it was well balanced, and even the hissing was not worse than on my sony's headphone out. for both I would end up using a less sensitive IEM or my amp and with usb the samsung might actually be a better choice. 
 
if I was your friend, I would want to make someone pay

 
I guess shotgunshane should have it soon, I received this morning something I unknowingly bought in the US the same day.
amazon US wouldn't let me buy the stupid adapter, amazon FR didn't even list the product, amazon BE? no problem go ahead! ... and in the end it was sent from the US anyway. I love it when stuff make no sense

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Just wanted to chime in with a bit of info for those of you who may be using your own equipment for testing the MH412 IRS file.

Firstly, here's the link to my the IRS file for download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8j1oe36g67cv47c/MH412-me-philips-low-44k.irs
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tzo4prs1rfjyzi/MH412-me-philips-low-48k.irs

Secondly, you need to check your audio system's sample rate and choose the appropriate IRS file accordingly.

For Viper4Android on an Android phone (duh), just go into V4A, press the menu button and select "Driver Status" while music is playing through your earphones. Note down the "sampling rate", and choose the 44k IRS if 44100 is displayed or the 48k IRS if 48000 is displayed.

On Windows, the sample rate of the system is shown and set here in the control panel:


Also if you're running Windows 7 you want to make sure the hotfix mentioned in the following article is applied, to prevent poor audio performance whenever resampling happens:
http://www.indexcom.com/tech/WindowsAudioSRC/

 

[headdict]

  here now you know everything, I'm bald and french. (thought the mustache bilboquet/kendama/whatever that's called in English would give it away)
this EQ you posted is pleasant and clearly nicer for casual listening than default HF5 signature for me. as most of my daps don't have nice EQ settings, I usually just go with something like a slope down to high frequencies. it's a mess but not fatiguing and works fine for audiobooks^_^.  on that configuration the only point of using the hf5 is isolation...

Thanks for revealing your true identity! I had imagined someone older, but now your avatar leaves no doubt that you're much younger than I thought. I am almost as bald (but not quite as pale) as my avatar, which shows a guy, who's always hanging around in my flat and whom I lend my headphones when not in use. Greetings from the other side of the Rhine BTW! 

 
I take it you are not overwhelmed by the HF5's bass. Although sub bass is really nothing to be expected from these IEMs, the bass (quality, not quantity, for sure) is still what I like the most about their EQ'ed signature. Otherwise I find them neutral, as I said before, and signature-wise much more comparable to my headphones, although less resolving. But, hey, these are relatively cheap IEMs with outstanding isolation. Good enough for me when travelling or in summer when it's too hot/humid for headphones.
 
I have recently bought a sansa clip zip and immediately installed Rockbox on it, which gives me an easy to use 10-band parametric EQ. It's a cheap tiny piece of plastic with a 1.1 inch color display. So there's NO EXCUSE for using the HF5 without decent EQ. 

 
If you like the EQ, maybe as a starting point for your own tweaks, be sure to give credit to @theequalizer.

 

[castleofargh]

 

  here now you know everything, I'm bald and french. (thought the mustache bilboquet/kendama/whatever that's called in English would give it away)
this EQ you posted is pleasant and clearly nicer for casual listening than default HF5 signature for me. as most of my daps don't have nice EQ settings, I usually just go with something like a slope down to high frequencies. it's a mess but not fatiguing and works fine for audiobooks^_^.  on that configuration the only point of using the hf5 is isolation...

Thanks for revealing your true identity! I had imagined someone older, but now your avatar leaves no doubt that you're much younger than I thought. I am almost as bald (but not quite as pale) as my avatar, which shows a guy, who's always hanging around in my flat and whom I lend my headphones when not in use. Greetings from the other side of the Rhine BTW! 

 
I take it you are not overwhelmed by the HF5's bass. Although sub bass is really nothing to be expected from these IEMs, the bass (quality, not quantity, for sure) is still what I like the most about their EQ'ed signature. Otherwise I find them neutral, as I said before, and signature-wise much more comparable to my headphones, although less resolving. But, hey, these are relatively cheap IEMs with outstanding isolation. Good enough for me when travelling or in summer when it's too hot/humid for headphones.
 
I have recently bought a sansa clip zip and immediately installed Rockbox on it, which gives me an easy to use 10-band parametric EQ. It's a cheap tiny piece of plastic with a 1.1 inch color display. So there's NO EXCUSE for using the HF5 without decent EQ. 

 
If you like the EQ, maybe as a starting point for your own tweaks, be sure to give credit to @theequalizer.

I'm perfectly fine with flat bass on speakers, with almost flat on headphone(my ideal signature would be something close to lcd2's). but for IEMs, I can't seem to be satisfied unless I get between+6 and +10db in bass(and I never ever use something like I just showed you on the HF5 on other IEMs, I usually focus on 30-80hz). as I said rumble is what get's me going, but I'm well aware that my tastes aren't neutral at all. the HF5 just can't do it for me in rumble whatever the EQ. it's still the IEM I would recommend most. ok sound, balanced signature great isolation, small, for around 100-150$ it's a good deal if you have nothing against ear probing ^_^. I will always have a pair of Etys if only for isolation while traveling.
and I have like one sansa in every bag. they're my trusty back ups and sport-audiobook players
 
 
@Joe Bloggs yeah I should have mentioned that sorry.
usually in most configurations the media player ultimately decides and goes with the sample rate of the file, but it can't hurt to check that everything is good for the impulse response file, or that at least you guys use the right one.

 

[gnarlsagan]

I'm perfectly fine with flat bass on speakers, with almost flat on headphone(my ideal signature would be something close to lcd2's). but for IEMs, I can't seem to be satisfied unless I get between+6 and +10db in bass(and I never ever use something like I just showed you on the HF5 on other IEMs, I usually focus on 30-80hz). as I said rumble is what get's me going, but I'm well aware that my tastes aren't neutral at all. the HF5 just can't do it for me in rumble whatever the EQ. it's still the IEM I would recommend most. ok sound, balanced signature great isolation, small, for around 100-150$ it's a good deal if you have nothing against ear probing ^_^. I will always have a pair of Etys if only for isolation while traveling.
and I have like one sansa in every bag. they're my trusty back ups and sport-audiobook players


@Joe Bloggs
yeah I should have mentioned that sorry.
usually in most configurations the media player ultimately decides and goes with the sample rate of the file, but it can't hurt to check that everything is good for the impulse response file, or that at least you guys use the right one.

Have you tried the MH1? Sounds exactly like what you're looking for. Bass is quite tunable on that iem with some simple mods.

 

[castleofargh]

   

Have you tried the MH1? Sounds exactly like what you're looking for. Bass is quite tunable on that iem with some simple mods.

 
I 've read most of what's been said and done to that poor MH1 but never got one because I was "scared" of the flat cable and didn't want to go through recabling that costs almost 10times the IEM itself.
 
oh well I'll just get one on amazon and see if it's worth it.

 

[shotgunshane]

Wow the Somic iems are pretty bassy with copious bleed into the midrange. Seems like a good driver though with some good qualities being overshadowed by the bass tuning. Never understood the appeal of this kind of tuning choice. Treble seems pretty good at first blush though. Certainly not irritating and that's a plus. Seems like they will clean up nicely with EQ. Can't wait to try the viper audio settings next week. Build quality seems great; I like the cable a lot.