[lilbukka]

I've been reading about custom IEM's and I'm torn between three models the sensaphonics x2 soft,westone us2, or ultimate ears ue 10 any feedback would be appreciated they would mainly be used for urban mobility and driven by a 5th Gen. Ipod and maybe i'll later invest in a amp.

 

[BRBJackson]

Post up what kind of music you listen to. That'll help the folks here give advice. Personally, I cannot imagine anything that surpasses the UE-10 Pro's, and though amplification yields superb results, they are driven quite nicely by the iPod alone.

 

[atart]

are you talking about the westone ES2 or the UM2?

 

[catscratch]

You know, the "search" function can really do wonders.

For instance:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&highlight=es3

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76328

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77508

 

[lilbukka]

just what i was looking for sort of new to this

 

[catscratch]

I don't think you'll find a lot of comparisons of the ES-2 in relation to the other higher-end models. I've ordered one but with one difficulty and another, it's taking an infernally long time to get impressions done, and my pair won't be here for another 2 weeks, maybe even more? Of course, this doesn't help you anyway even if I had one, since I don't have any other custom-molded IEM's to compare it to. But, you should be able to get a lot of good UE10 vs 2X-S information out there. The ES-3 really isn't designed for personal listening, or so Westone tells us now. I wonder if this was an intentional design specification, or they simply added in this comment as a result of personal users complaing of the ES-3's bumped-up midrange? And since they have a 3-way crossover on the ES-3 (unlike the 2-way crossover on the UE10 Pro, where two drivers double up on the same bass frequencies), couldn't they artificially restrict the output of the midrange driver to bring it more into balance with everything else? Ok, now I'm just ranting...

If you're anywhere near the Sensaphonics and UE facilities, or dealers, you may be able to get your hands on a universal-fit model, which, while not giving you the perfect seal and therefore the full sound quality, will give you a good idea of what you can expect.

P.S. Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet

 

[lilbukka]

I think I decided that I'll go with the sensaphonics since they're here in Chicago where I'm from where I can get in person service plus I shouldn't have any ear mold issues comming from them but I will keep you up to date.

 

[raisin]

Well, home field advantage works!

An amp isn't neccesary, but is an improvement to most ears. congratulations and let us know how things turn out.