Usama
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2008
- Posts
- 240
- Likes
- 10
I don't claim to be an audiophile. In fact, due to my upbringing around my culture's folk music, I would label myself a bass-head.
To give you an idea of how unreliable my thoughts are compared to other headfi'ers, here is my somewhat accurate IEM history:
1995-2006: many crappy 10$ ear-bud headphones
2006- present (in order): centrios in-ear headphones, etymotic er6i, sennheiser cx 300, sennheiser cx 500, futuresonic atrio m5, sennheiser cx 980.
After, purchasing centrios in-ears, I discovered that I loved in-ear canal phones more than earbud headphones and have never gone back to earbuds. But I hate the comply tips, due to them degrading over time so I moved onto sennheiser silicone tips, have been a sennheiser lover fanboy since.
Due to headfi's glowing reviews of etymotics, I tried the er6i, when I got a discount price. These etymotics have put me on an armature hearing-aid driver headphones boycott, ever since. I absolutely hate the no-bass sound that these produce.
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Main event:
The sennheiser cx 980's might actually force me to become a true audiophile because my HTC panache and mp3 quality music does not do it justice. Basically, my cx 980 can tell you exactly when you play a low-quality file and you start hating yourself for not giving the cx 980 some better audio to reproduce. However, when I listened to the Whispers CD, I was in blissful R&B heaven. Dance music like Calvin Harris, whose mp3's you can tell are made for huge car/club speakers for booming bass, totally disregard the quality of the high-end frequency. The cx 980 shows you audio wise, what kind of short cuts the artist takes to make his/her music fit the compressed mp3 file format. You can really hear the openness of a cd-quality file, compared to the compressed sound of mp3.
After owning cx 500 and cx 300's previously, you can also tell the difference between sennheiser's mp3/ipod optimized product line and the "authentic sennheiser sound" of the cx 980.
Warranty and packaging:
The biggest thing I hate about sennheiser is the mark-up. It seems as though a significant amount of the total price I paid went toward the brand's name value and packaging. I took me the longest time to open the box and packaging than most other electronics. It comes with a useless pouch and inconvenient bulky case. A cable clip is provided but it is "shirt" style not the "alligator" style that I prefer. Since Sennheiser provides a 2-year warranty, I also think that contributes a significant mark-up to the price. This is why, I refuse to pay MSRP for Sennheisers and always buy their headphones at discount from authorized dealers.
I cannot think of anything else to post at the moment so I will leave with the question below:
Why do audiophiles on headfi.org purchase 300$ headphones but still require amps? I find it puzzling and insulting the brand of headphones you buy, if you have to surgically enhance the sound. Then again, I did have hearing problems as a child so I do take precautions for my delicate ears instead of blasting them to submission with amps and high volumes.
P.S. I can post pics if you want. But I am not doing any unboxing bull-crap because I dislike watching unboxing review videos. They just end up becoming a video to "show off" what the person got then the product never actually gets reviewed.
Overall grade after owning the cx 980 for 2 days: 98/100 subject to change
To give you an idea of how unreliable my thoughts are compared to other headfi'ers, here is my somewhat accurate IEM history:
1995-2006: many crappy 10$ ear-bud headphones
2006- present (in order): centrios in-ear headphones, etymotic er6i, sennheiser cx 300, sennheiser cx 500, futuresonic atrio m5, sennheiser cx 980.
After, purchasing centrios in-ears, I discovered that I loved in-ear canal phones more than earbud headphones and have never gone back to earbuds. But I hate the comply tips, due to them degrading over time so I moved onto sennheiser silicone tips, have been a sennheiser lover fanboy since.
Due to headfi's glowing reviews of etymotics, I tried the er6i, when I got a discount price. These etymotics have put me on an armature hearing-aid driver headphones boycott, ever since. I absolutely hate the no-bass sound that these produce.
-----------------------------------------------
Main event:
The sennheiser cx 980's might actually force me to become a true audiophile because my HTC panache and mp3 quality music does not do it justice. Basically, my cx 980 can tell you exactly when you play a low-quality file and you start hating yourself for not giving the cx 980 some better audio to reproduce. However, when I listened to the Whispers CD, I was in blissful R&B heaven. Dance music like Calvin Harris, whose mp3's you can tell are made for huge car/club speakers for booming bass, totally disregard the quality of the high-end frequency. The cx 980 shows you audio wise, what kind of short cuts the artist takes to make his/her music fit the compressed mp3 file format. You can really hear the openness of a cd-quality file, compared to the compressed sound of mp3.
After owning cx 500 and cx 300's previously, you can also tell the difference between sennheiser's mp3/ipod optimized product line and the "authentic sennheiser sound" of the cx 980.
Warranty and packaging:
The biggest thing I hate about sennheiser is the mark-up. It seems as though a significant amount of the total price I paid went toward the brand's name value and packaging. I took me the longest time to open the box and packaging than most other electronics. It comes with a useless pouch and inconvenient bulky case. A cable clip is provided but it is "shirt" style not the "alligator" style that I prefer. Since Sennheiser provides a 2-year warranty, I also think that contributes a significant mark-up to the price. This is why, I refuse to pay MSRP for Sennheisers and always buy their headphones at discount from authorized dealers.
I cannot think of anything else to post at the moment so I will leave with the question below:
Why do audiophiles on headfi.org purchase 300$ headphones but still require amps? I find it puzzling and insulting the brand of headphones you buy, if you have to surgically enhance the sound. Then again, I did have hearing problems as a child so I do take precautions for my delicate ears instead of blasting them to submission with amps and high volumes.
P.S. I can post pics if you want. But I am not doing any unboxing bull-crap because I dislike watching unboxing review videos. They just end up becoming a video to "show off" what the person got then the product never actually gets reviewed.
Overall grade after owning the cx 980 for 2 days: 98/100 subject to change
