[evilsofa]

The left bud of my NuForce NE-7M earphones, which sounded great and perfect to me, quit working, so now I'm looking for a replacement.  I am severely deaf and normally wear hearing aids, so I figured that sound quality wouldn't be particularly important, so after studying ljokerl's huge review of 197 IEMs, I gave the MEElectronics M21 a try due to its higher build quality and lower price, and to my surprise I am very disappointed.
 
It's as if there's a range somewhere between the middle and high ends that is missing.  There's a certain sound in one of the songs I listen to that demonstrates it clearly; the earbud that is still working in the NE-7M reproduces it clearly, the M21 does not reproduce it at all.  The M21 seems to have far too much bass, which is weird to me because I bought the NE-7M because it had good bass; I am turning on Bass Reducer or Voice Booster in my iPhone4's iPod EQ to try and make it sound more like the NE-7M, and that almost works except for the range that is still missing.  I wonder if I have a pair that is defective, but both buds sound the same.  The reviews for the M21 seem to be as good as any other, so I am at a loss as to what to try next.

 

[jaqueh]

i would never call the ne7's clear, you should try the a151 or cc51 as a replacement instead, there some sale on the a151s on newegg or somewhere, more details within the deals thread

 

[evilsofa]

I'm returning the m21 as defective and trying the a151 since that is a really nice price, $40 shipped at newegg.

 

[wysinawyg]

I just replaced my NE-7Ms with the ECCI PR401 which to me is much better than the Nuforce in many ways, but specific to you, it is much better in clarity throughout the freq spectrum. You do have special needs though so I'm not sure if other aspects of the ECCIs will suit you. You can read about it in joker's mega IEM thread.

 

[evilsofa]

The a151 set arrived, and it is immediately (even without burn-in) a million percent better than the m21 set was, so I can only assume the m21s were defective.  I am very happy now, and have only spent $40.  Thank you very much Jaqueh!

 

[jaqueh]

glad you like them, i really am looking forward to getting them someday the cc51s are too recessed sometimes. they also don't need to be burned in as they are armature drivers