[baies]

Many of the early reviews of the E3's raved about their bass but unfortuneately they were a bit misleading.

Most of this confusiong has since been explained:
- sleves
- seal
- input device
- type of music
Variation in these factors can result in great bass or poor bass.

They can produce great sound if you have the patience to play around with them. However, it can be argued that they should be a bit better because of the hefty price tag.

 

[bangraman]

I'll repeat this again: There's a lot to be said for familiarity. One of the tests I did for the E3c is to wear a cheap bassy headphone (PX200) exclusively for a while then move to the E3c / ER-4P then simulate an A/B situation that a novice moving up might do. They both sounded reedy, but the Etys won out for totally different reasons to that expected by the basshead... the addictive clarity, because of the increased amount of detail that were shoved in your face. I imagine it's the same way for Ety discoverers who have not sampled superior phones before.


Doing the same move with the E3c, the initial result is much less impressive to the novice. Not only is the treble 'hook' of the Etys not there, but the low-end feels lacking while the midrange feels overtly boosted. However as your ears get used to the sound (note: I do not believe there is any burn-in with the E3c), the low end fills out and depending on what you had before there's some treble to be recovered as well. This process may take a while... a week or two, especially if you don't listen very often. Don't work with EQ for that period.


By the way, keep it down with canalphones. Not good to blast your ears... it's the easiest way to get tinnitus.


All that is also tip dependent. Although they may strike many of you as the most 'wasteful' tips I would suggest first sticking to the foam tips, fitted tightly against the body of the E3c. Then experiment with other tips. And fit them correctly. Lindrone has posted helpful pics, and mine are out there somewhere. Try using them the 'wrong way around' for a while, i.e. with the cable passing straight down, not over the ear.


The point generally here is that the E3c represents the most economical way to get into the realms of really high isolation, combined with better practicality than the Etymotics and a higher degree of suitability with lower-powered devices too. The differences are tiny in overall headphone terms, but E3c provides a "rockier" response than the Etys. And the technical capabilities in the normal music band of both are broadly similar.


Speaking critically, each phone from Shure and Etymotic is an excellent compromise given a variety of scenarios... but I can't call any of the them totally complete products. The E5 is the only phone out of those which has a compromise that will please the basshead.


E3c's really don't provide enough bass? Unless you have $400 for the E5, that's your choice as far as earphones go. Perhaps many of you are better off casting off the Head-Fi associations of the MDR-V700DJ, RP-DJ1210A etc and getting down with the bass. If I want the kind of bass that most of you seem to be demanding, I for one would not care greatly about the limits of the aforementioned phones... It's easy for many of the board members to be entranced by detail and turn into an audio snob when ultimately you just want to listen to stuff in the way you want to. If you don't want to sacrifice resolution and are willing to spend slightly more than the E3c, the Ultrasones provide great bass as do the Sennheiser HD25-1. But these are all less portable than the E3c.

 

[Li On]

Hi,

My first post!

I've the E3 for 2 weeks now. The first 4 days I used the default gray tips. Source is my old Panasonic SL-S450 PCDP (all EQ OFF). The E3 didn't impress me! High is harsh and bass is tiny! Resolution and detail is good though.

Then I tried the foam for 2 days. The sound is much warmer with stronger bass. But also seems muddy a bit. And the wearing is too much trouble!

Finally I tried all the tips in the package and settle on the small clean tips. Overall sound is MUCH balance. High is crisp and clear and bass is strong and deep. Mid-range and vocal are just right.

Now I like the E3 VERY much. Plan to get the SuperDual phone amp when it released. And in the end upgrade to E6/E7 (I'm sure there will be one soon!).

Before I got the E3, I haven't listen to any headphone and my PCDP for almost 3 years. And before that, my old headphone was a pair of Technics HV100 (dual-drivers model). I think the E3 match the high and mid to the HV100 and the overall resolution is better. The HV100 overall sounds warmer though. The HV100 bass is WAY better than the E3. In fact IMO the HV100 bass is better than many bookself speakers. And after 4 years of usage the HV100 broke down to pieces and I couldn't find another pair then. So my old S450 PCDP remain in idle till now.

With the E3, I get isolation, better wearing (the BIG HV100 often slip out of my small ears). The sound quality now is excellent. Bass definition is there just not enough volume. I guess there is really no better small earphone (can or not) in the same price range.

2 days ago I went to a friend's place to try his SUPER expensive headphone system. PC with highend audio card line out to a tube amp (OTL?) to a pair of HD600 (with a $300 cord to the amp!). The sound is good but compare to my PCDP and E3, I can't say which is better, just very different taste. I tried my PCDP line out to the tube amp with the E3 and the sound is even better.

Then his high-end system: Wedia CD player to the highest Stax tube amp and a pair of Stax phone. Sound is super excellent! But somehow I think maybe the future E6/E7 will have the same unreal quality IMO!

I'm a happy listener now!

regards,

Li On

PS: I've my eyes on the Creative Xtra. As far as WAVE playback concern, will it gives equal or better performance than my old PCDP?

 

[wolfen68]

I am also surprised of VERY negative reports on the E3's. I can see that some people would not like their sound signature....but I have found them an excellent compromise when I can't use my full sized cans due to isolation or portability concerns. They are a significant step up from E2's (and I like those also). The E3's have more range, a more distinct bass, and sound like a cloth veil has been removed in comparison.

Everybody says it, but I'll repeat...the E3's are very tip/fit dependent. For me, the foamies in the right insertion/position provide the best bass and sound spectrum. I found the other tips too bright and harsh. Without foamies, I would have returned the E3's.

There may be some merit in buying some different densities of standard foam ear plugs and modding them to fit the E3's (foam ear plugs are cheap after all). This has been described here previously, and involves removing the "cylinders" from an old set of Shure foamies and inserting them into a hole made by a hot needle in the new foam ear plug.

The variety of commercially available foam ear plugs is staggering and I'm convinced there's a winner there somewhere.