[calvinhobs]

I actually have thought of the 595's. To be honest with you...the reason why I was thinking of either the Shure's or the Etymotic's was because of their sound isolation. My wife and I enjoy traveling a lot and I'm looking for something great to kill the airplane sound and also something to enjoy while I'm at home or at work where it's louder.

I'd like to not spend over $300 for a set of headphones and I will definitely be doing the majority of the listening through my portable cd player so I need something that doesn't need to be driver too hard. Are the 595's reasonable at drowning out sound, or is there something better?

Also, what would you all say offers the BEST all around sound, under my price range, and could be driven by just my CD player but would also sound great if I decided to get an amplifier down the road...

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs I actually have thought of the 595's. To be honest with you...the reason why I was thinking of either the Shure's or the Etymotic's was because of their sound isolation. My wife and I enjoy traveling a lot and I'm looking for something great to kill the airplane sound and also something to enjoy while I'm at home or at work where it's louder. I'd like to not spend over $300 for a set of headphones and I will definitely be doing the majority of the listening through my portable cd player so I need something that doesn't need to be driver too hard. Are the 595's reasonable at drowning out sound, or is there something better? Also, what would you all say offers the BEST all around sound, under my price range, and could be driven by just my CD player but would also sound great if I decided to get an amplifier down the road...

The 595 are supposedly very easy to drive out of a portable, yet should sound even better amped.

If you only listen to music when you are outside then the canalphones are a great choice, but if that is not the case, definatelly go for a full size easy to drive headphone (HD595 should be easy to drive).

I myself am saving for a full size (probably a senn, grado or the sony SA5k), and will keep my shures for portability and isolation.

 

[warpdriver]

The 595's don't really block out any sound.

Here's how I'd spend $300. $200 for 595's, and then $90 for ER6i's.

595's are a much more satisfying musical experience, than either of the canalphones. But it's still useful to have canalphones for the reasons you state so the ER6i fills that need.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs Sounds like the Shure's have a better bottom end but a little rolled off the top, while the Etymotic's are more accurate and reproduce the music more faithfully.

Some things to consider:

Everyone's ears are different. This includes the shape of the ear which can significantly affect the sound.

Some believe the E4 has rolled off treble while others feel it's accurate and that the Ety's have boosted treble. This is something that will be debated back and forth here for quite some time.

Some people feel the Etymotic bass is rolled off, others feel its very accurate. This is another thing that will be debated back and forth here for quite some time.

Some people think that the Ety's are very accurate with lots of detail, particularly in the top end. Others feel that they produce some noise/distortion in their top end.

Some find that the timbre and decay found on the E4's make them more accurate than the ER4, others feel that the shorter decay of the Ety is more accurate.

The point is, everyone hears things differently. The very best thing you can do for yourself is to try and go to a meet nearby or to order two different models from a company that will allow you to try both and return one. If you do go the second route, I highly recommend spending at least a week listening to each one on its own and then doing some back and forth comparisons before you make a decision. If you're doing your trials under meet conditions, try to spend at least an hour listening to the same set of program material on each. Try to make the set as broad as you can to try to cover all the different types of music you listen to. Also try to find both very well recorded material, and poorly recorded material so you know what to expect when listening to them on a day-to-day basis.

As you can tell from the responses, both camps have quite a few fans as well as enemies. It does seem that few people really love both. We can only give you our opinions based upon what we as individuals hear. The only way you'll be able to tell which way you should go is to actually try them.

If you happen to live in Southern California, we'll be having a big meet on Aug 13th. Please feel free to join us. You can find info in the meetings forum. We will have a large variety of IEMs there.

Goodluck, I hope we've been of some help.

 

[drarthurwells]

Frequency response tests clearly demonstrate the treble roll of of the Shure IEMs.

This is not a matter of subjective differences in opinion.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs Man, maybe I should just get both and switch those suckers back and forth between the type of music! So are you saying the Shure's do a better job with a natural piano compared to the Ety's? Sorry for all the questions...I'm an amature when it comes to earphones.

I think so, but you may or may not hear things the way I do.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells Frequency response tests clearly demonstrate the treble roll of of the Shure IEMs. This is not a matter of subjective differences in opinion.

Yes, but this could be merely to compensate for the way your ear is shaped such that it offers a more accurate response.

Flat response is for speakers, not headphones or earphones. When it comes to headphones and earphones, looks flat and sounds flat are two entirely different things.

 

[drarthurwells]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 Yes, but this could be merely to compensate for the way your ear is shaped such that it offers a more accurate response. Flat response is for speakers, not headphones or earphones. When it comes to headphones and earphones, looks flat and sounds flat are two entirely different things.

No, the measured energy is less, relative to the midrange, for Shure than for Etymotic canal phones. Since it is in the ear, differences in the shape of the canal, from one person to another, are insignificant. This is the Shure E5c:

 

[some1x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells The Etymotic are more neutral and faithful to the signal. The treble roll-off of the E4 may be desirable on distorted program material or if your ears are sensitive to highs.

E3C or ER4, which one has significantly higher distortion :]

For the record, I don't think ER4P sound that bad. What sound bad to me are certain members who insist as a fact that ER4s are the ultimate in neutrality and transparency. I prefer E4C by a large margin.

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells Frequency response tests clearly demonstrate the treble roll of of the Shure IEMs. This is not a matter of subjective differences in opinion.

You can't make such general statements about 'shure iems', especially by showing an e5 graph, since obviously the e4's have much more treble than their siblings. I am actually very interested in seeing a freq. response graph of the e4's.


calvinhobs, honestly, at this point, you're not going to get a whole lot more useful information. You've ignited the fanboys of shure and ety, who will argue forever at how the other company is the worst thing ever created, and how anyone who prefers the other obviously has flawed hearing or preference.

You should really order both the e4c and the er4 from a company with a good return policy (such as headroom, one of our sponsers) and find out for yourself which you prefer. It will probably be obvious pretty quickly. Other options would be to buy used here, and/or sell the one you don't like at minimal loss.

Some people are a little less objective than is desired from someone giving advice...

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x E3C or ER4, which one has significantly higher distortion :]

I really don't see how one can conclude anything meaningful about the sound quality from those distortion graphs you posted. It's like arguing one car is better than another by comparing tenths of seconds differences of a bunch of 0-60 MPH numbers.

As I said before, most single driver canalphones are seriously flawed in one way or another. That's why I will continue to say: if you don't need portability *AND* isolation, it's much preferable to buy a full size set of cans. Both canalphones need help from either an amp, EQ, or both in order to provide a complete musical experience. Using an amp half takes away their whole reason for existance, complete portability.

I have to echo the need to buy from a place that allows returns so you can try them with low risk, and return it if it doesn's satisfy. In fact, I would also suggest you start off with cheaper ER6i's which work well with no amp, and have decent detail and relatively balanced sound, it may be all you really need. If you want better sound, you can use those as a reference and decide which direction you want to go. For me, I found the ER6i's to have good detail, but I longed for more detail and separation, and was willing to give up some bass to get there, so the natural path for me was ER4's.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x E3C or ER4, which one has significantly higher distortion :] {IRRELEVANT GRAPHS REMOVED} For the record, I don't think ER4P sound that bad. What sound bad to me are certain members who insist as a fact that ER4s are the ultimate in neutrality and transparency. I prefer E4C by a large margin.

You present those graphs as though they were gospel. First, you don't know how those measurements were made and the assumptions made in making those measurements. Only a book geek would use them to argue that the etys are less than perfect. Yes, they are not perfect. Nobody said that they were perfect. YOUR POINT? Yeah, you don't have one.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJGeorgeT You present those graphs as though they were gospel. First, you don't know how those measurements were made and the assumptions made in making those measurements. Only a book geek would use them to argue that the etys are less than perfect. Yes, they are not perfect. Nobody said that they were perfect. YOUR POINT? Yeah, you don't have one.

Why do you happen to flame everyone who doesn't seem to like Etys? This is a discussion forum, not a flamefest.

 

[some1x]

Warpdriver: In this case, the magnitudes are much higher than tenths of seconds

I don't put much faith in Headroom's measurements for canalphones, but it was brought up in the post above mine

DJGeorgeT: There is no point in responding to any of your posts. I'm surprised you have not been banned.

 

[drarthurwells]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x E3C or ER4, which one has significantly higher distortion :] For the record, I don't think ER4P sound that bad. What sound bad to me are certain members who insist as a fact that ER4s are the ultimate in neutrality and transparency. I prefer E4C by a large margin.

There is no significant difference between the two - certainly no audible difference. Both are low distortion.

The frequency response differences are the main source of the sound differences betwen the Ety and Shure.