[Matt B]

*whoops....mods please move this one to the appropriate forum...
 
A little background...I started my foray into iems with the Shure e4c which I loved, the cable shorted 2 years later and due to financial constraints I replaced them with Klipsch S4 which were ok but seemed to have a lower overall level of SQ than the e4c's. Recently I sold those to a friend who needed an IEM and replaced em with Monster Copper's...which I did not like at all....and they seemed to need more power to wake up than my MP3 player can provide. So now I am looking for another IEM and the main thing I have learned is that everyone has something different to say about each iem...but it seems that there are a few things that get repeated alot about certain ones I am interested in
 
Sennheiser IE8: Big soundstage, big bass
Se530: Smooth, Lots of Mids, Big Bass
Westone 3: Alot of Bass, good in general
Triple Fi: Punchy and a bit Brash, horrible fit
Earsonics SM3: Take some getting used to, but once you do they are stellar
JVC HA-FX700: Lots of Bass, Lots of fun
 
I have rounded it down to the JVC and Earsonics....the JVC because I like a fun sounding iem (or speakers...for example I love the JBL L100 which is all about enjoyment instead of reference listening) but the Earsonics is still interesting to me because of how people rave about them. Please help me out...

 

[tacomn]

maybe you just need to amp the coppers...

 

[violinvirtuoso]

The TF10, IE8, W3, and SE530 are great, but aren't quite up to the prowess of the SM3 and FX700. The SM3 is pretty much the best balanced armature IEM there is in the universal realm. The FX700 is pretty much the best dynamic driver IEM there is in the universal realm. I would try talking to people that have (or have tried) both. I know EricP and James444 have tried both. Here are James444's impressions:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/503801/review-impressions-of-the-final-audio-design-fi-ba-ss-versus-the-sm3-fx700-and-e-q7
 
Note: The FI-BA-SS is over $1000!

 

[Rip N' Burn]

When you get into the top tier iem category, it all depends on what you prefer. Some people are not so keen about the sm3 or fx700 and other people love them. I have the SM3 and I don't consider them to be balanced, but I would definitely recommend them.