[LFF]

Seeing is how some lucky people got their E500's, I am bringing the thread back up. Please post your impressions as to how good the E500's sound.

 

[dmt1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF Please post your impressions as to how good the E500's sound.

What if someone doesn't like the way they sound? Can they post too?

 

[Pete7]

Of course you can. Not everyone's going to like them. What is it that you don't like?

 

[dmt1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7 Of course you can. Not everyone's going to like them. What is it that you don't like?

My point is, the bandwagon has begun. It always does with every new product; there have been a few people already beating the fanboy bandwagon to death on these, before they were even out. The reviews will be overwhelmingly positive (best thing since sliced bread) for awhile, then eventually the dust will settle and we'll get an accurate look at how these fit in.

I have nothing against them, I haven't even heard them yet. And I admit, they look very promising--love the ergonomics, about my only concern is wether the treble will be recessed on these or not. I may end up picking up a pair without the PTH myself (But I'll wait until the UE offering is out and choose between the two.), but what I'd like to see objective reviews, not just positive ones, which is what the post above seemed to be asking for...We're already losing objectivity, and the product is just becoming available--that's what's so frustrating.

 

[Zowbombs]

I have some experience with IEMs (universal at least) and I'll be sure to post my opinions on these once I get them.

 

[honda]

I was very sceptical about the E500. I did not expect to like them. I don't like Shures because they put out too much mid range and not enough highs for my taste, E5 has too much bass for me and it sounds too stiff and not dynamic down there to me.

But when I put the E500s on today, I was blown away! First I was blown away by how comfortable they are. The bigger size actually makes them seat better on me than both the E5 and UM2. The angle on the output tube is closer to right angle I think, which works well for me. The metal plated smooth shell is also very comfortable against my concha, no molded-in logos and sandblast finish to irritate the delicate tissue of your ear. Fit and finish is not quite as beautiful as E4, but you can't see them anyway when you have them in your ear and they are the best feeling universal IEM I have ever stuck into my ear. How can so many drivers be this light?

As for the sound, I was blown away by that too! I guess it helps them that I was listening to my super.fi 5 Pro for about an hour before I swapped to the E500, but everything just sounded "right." More "right" than 5 Pro for sure. The highs sound very similar to E4, but smoother. Full and detailed. I don't find it to be rolled off too much to be unacceptable, but I still prefer Etymotic highs. The lows were very tight, dynamic, extends pretty deep down, and most importantly not bloated. Definitely not what I expected from 2 bass drivers. I expected total bloatedness out of proportion but this is not the case. Seems to have a more restrained bass than both 5 Pro and UM2 but I can't say for sure yet. Definitely tighter than both down there, yet not "stiff" like E5. Unlike the rest of the Shure line and the other multi-driver universal IEMs, the mids are not bloated either. Very natural and smooth mids. I think the crossover and the balancing of the drivers are very well done on the E500. Down side of the sound? They definitely sound better without the PTH unit. One gripe only (so far) about the sound of the E500 (minus the PTH), is that soundstage is not spectacular. Everything sounds very close to me, which is good in a way that all the instruments are balanced quite well and the closeness equates to being able to hear fine details unlike most multi-driver universal IEMs (although not as good as any Etymotic, although I am able to say better than E4).

Not so impressed by the PTH, which is very cumbersome and has a mic separate from the unit itself, yet the mic is not in the earpieces where I feel they belong. So you get lumps and lumps of stuff along the cable between your ears and your source. And each of the plugs are huge themselves. Let's see, starting from the source, you get a straight plug that is a bit more than an inch long, it scares me a bit because I can imagine leaning on it a bit too hard and cracking my ipod 5G, with that jack on that dangerous angle. Then up stream you get that huge PTH thing, which looks like a Japanese Samurai Fighting Beetle with no legs, almost the size of an iPod Nano, and almost 3 times the thickness. Go upstream from there you get the mic unit, which is a a bit longer than 2". With or without the shirt clip, it is going to be banging around on your shirt. If you walk while using the PTH you will not be able to avoid the microphonics (amplified by the PTH, I might add), unless you hold it in your hand to dampen it. Connected to that mic unit, there is a plug that connects to the E500 earpieces themselves, and that is another HUGE one. A smaller fighting beetle this time. Too much! Too clunky. Everything upstream from that I am happy with, which is just standard black Shure wire leading up to the earpieces.

About the PTH sound, I have auditioned the Sensaphonics 3D Ambient and was dumbfoundedly impressed by it to the point that probably anything less will seem unimpressive to me, but here is what the Shure PTH lacks that the 3D Ambient has (yes I know, 3D Ambient costs over 3 times the price of E500). 3D Ambient has 2 mics per earpiece, on the earpieces themselves. What this does is that they pick up sound exactly as you hear them, much more accurately than even binaural recording because not only do you have the ability to distinguish left and right due to mics in the left ear and right ear, but you also can distinguish front and rear on the 3D Ambient. Essentially you have front right, front left, rear right, rear left mics, and the panning across these mics gives you accurate directions and distances. On the Shure PTH, nothing. Flat. No soundstage, no nothing. On the 3D Ambient I was stunned that I can close my eyes and listen to someone speak while walking around and be able to tell exactly where he/she is and at what distance from me. On PTH, backgound music coming from ceiling-mounted speakers, sounds of peoples' thighs slapping against their plastic bags over 10ft way, and the voice of the cashier in front of me at the convenience store are squashed together as if they were being picked up, in mono, from one mic (because they are!). No directions, no distances. Very unnatural and very difficult to understand speech. A bit shy in low end so you won't even know if Barry White is speaking to you. Also, you cannot adjust the mix of ambient sound and music. There is a cheap roller pot volume adjuster on the PTH unit that allows you to only adjust the volume of the ambient sound picked up by the mic. The music goes WAY down when PTH is on, to an almost inaudible level. On 3D Ambient you can mix both together because there is a mixer with individual level adjustments built into the belt pack.

I don't have a UE-10, but as soon as the E500 is nicely burnt-in, I can compare it to the Sensaphonics 2XS. For now though, the E500 is definitely a worthy opponent for all the top end custom IEMs, I am sure. Nothing else to compare them with because none of the universals come close, and I've heard/own them all. For audiophiles, dump the PTH, install your eartip of choice, and you are good to go.

 

[The Monkey]

Nice writeup, Honda. Thanks for the impressions. Regarding soundstage, how does the E500 compare to the sf5p?

 

[Zowbombs]

Nice impressions, especially with regard to the earpiece seating within the ear. My main complaint against the UM2s was the angle was slightly odd and each insertion did not provide a consistent seal (at least to my ears).

 

[episiarch]

Great review, honda. I've been waiting to hear one from someone that I know likes Etys.

I'm looking forward to hearing how the Etys sound to you after you've had time to become fully acclimated to the E500 sound.

Any impressions on amp synergies with the E500?

 

[honda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey Nice writeup, Honda. Thanks for the impressions. Regarding soundstage, how does the E500 compare to the sf5p?

To me, Super.fi 5 Pro's mid range is rather strong, so anything around that range seems to pop out more than anything else, like average vocals, guitars, etc. Sorry, I always find myself thinking more mechanical than musical or audiophile-ish when it comes to describing what I hear in IEMs. Trying not to... On the E500, quite interestingly (or uninterstingly), nothing jumps out more than anything else. I feel close to everything. Nothing stands out. I expected the bass to stand out but it's just tight, punchy, accurate, not bloated, and definitely not lacking. This all translate into a narrow, tightly packed soundstage, no particular sound stands out, nothing is pushed back. For the first time on any IEM, I feel closeness to everything, I mean really close in proximity. Even when listening to "The Waltz on the Beautiful Blue Danube" (which I like to relax to in various IEMs), it sounds as though every member of the orchestra is crowding around me, standing up, playing at my ear-level. I might start to miss the sense of spaciousness and airiness of the Sensaphonics 2XS if I keep listening to the E500, but having everything up close also means for the first time I won't have to complain about Shures lacking detail and highs. It's more like a lack of mid range humps, and I love it!

 

[honda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch Great review, honda. I've been waiting to hear one from someone that I know likes Etys. I'm looking forward to hearing how the Etys sound to you after you've had time to become fully acclimated to the E500 sound. Any impressions on amp synergies with the E500?

Sorry dude, I don't have any good amps. I spend so much on IEMs that I haven't been able to get into amps, especially because they cost so much more in Japan. I have 2 amps only and probably no one outside Japan and Korea would know them, and they aren't good ones anyway. I'll see about borrow something to test with the E500s.

The E500 is officially the next best thing to Etymotics for high end! I can only imagine it would get better with burn-in.

 

[Tuarreg]

In general, the consensus seems to be that Custom IEMs are superior to Universals in both sound quality and personal comfort. With products like the Shure E500 making a serious challenge to the viability of the Customs at half the price, it got me thinking what exactly makes customized IEMs better than Universals in general? How much of it is because of the personal fit and how much of is just better design? If one could get custom molds for their favorite IEMs, be it Etys or E500s, would they sound even better?

Tuarreg

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuarreg In general, the consensus seems to be that Custom IEMs are superior to Universals in both sound quality and personal comfort. With products like the Shure E500 making a serious challenge to the viability of the Customs at half the price, it got me thinking what exactly makes customized IEMs better than Universals in general? How much of it is because of the personal fit and how much of is just better design? If one could get custom molds for their favorite IEMs, be it Etys or E500s, would they sound even better? Tuarreg

As a owner of both UE10 Pro and Shure E500, I can tell you that putting on a UE10 Pro is so much easier and faster than doing it with Shure E500.

Comfort wise, UE10 Pro still have an edge over Shure E500. After using few hours of Shure E500, my earcanal starts to get soar, and just have to take a rest. However, with UE10 Pro, if I fiddle the fit a bit and make sure it fits correctly, I can wear it for a day without a problem.

As for the sound, Shure E500 can not produce the 3D / holographics sound of UE10 Pro. The sound from Shure E500 has little depth compared to UE10 Pro, and in general, I still find myself missing that UE10 Pro trebles on Shure E500, and bass is not as punch and tight as UE10 Pro.

Talking about getting Custom mold for Shure E500, the results can vary. You will get a more comfortable fit, but not nesscarily better sound. There is already people who tried to put the custom sleeves (UM56) on Shure E500, and reported that the result was actually worse than using the standard universal tips.

However, Shure E500 still impresses me because although it can not touch my UE10 Pro in terms of sound quality and comfort, it is still amazing that at half the price, the performance and comfort of universal IEM can be this good.

 

[Tuarreg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by solvexyz As a owner of both UE10 Pro and Shure E500, I can tell you that putting on a UE10 Pro is so much easier and faster than doing it with Shure E500. Comfort wise, UE10 Pro still have an edge over Shure E500. After using few hours of Shure E500, my earcanal starts to get soar, and just have to take a rest. However, with UE10 Pro, if I fiddle the fit a bit and make sure it fits correctly, I can wear it for a day without a problem. As for the sound, Shure E500 can not produce the 3D / holographics sound of UE10 Pro. The sound from Shure E500 has little depth compared to UE10 Pro, and in general, I still find myself missing that UE10 Pro trebles on Shure E500, and bass is not as punch and tight as UE10 Pro. Talking about getting Custom mold for Shure E500, the results can vary. You will get a more comfortable fit, but not nesscarily better sound. There is already people who tried to put the custom sleeves (UM56) on Shure E500, and reported that the result was actually worse than using the standard universal tips. However, Shure E500 still impresses me because although it can not touch my UE10 Pro in terms of sound quality and comfort, it is still amazing that at half the price, the performance and comfort of universal IEM can be this good.

Ok, so the UE10 Pro sounds better because of their design and not necessarily because of custom fit aspect? If so, wouldn't it be great if they came out with a "Universal" version. How cool would THAT be? (I would actually pay more, because of the resale value)

 

[digihead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by solvexyz As a owner of both UE10 Pro and Shure E500, I can tell you that putting on a UE10 Pro is so much easier and faster than doing it with Shure E500. Comfort wise, UE10 Pro still have an edge over Shure E500. After using few hours of Shure E500, my earcanal starts to get soar, and just have to take a rest. However, with UE10 Pro, if I fiddle the fit a bit and make sure it fits correctly, I can wear it for a day without a problem. As for the sound, Shure E500 can not produce the 3D / holographics sound of UE10 Pro. The sound from Shure E500 has little depth compared to UE10 Pro, and in general, I still find myself missing that UE10 Pro trebles on Shure E500, and bass is not as punch and tight as UE10 Pro. Talking about getting Custom mold for Shure E500, the results can vary. You will get a more comfortable fit, but not nesscarily better sound. There is already people who tried to put the custom sleeves (UM56) on Shure E500, and reported that the result was actually worse than using the standard universal tips. However, Shure E500 still impresses me because although it can not touch my UE10 Pro in terms of sound quality and comfort, it is still amazing that at half the price, the performance and comfort of universal IEM can be this good.

Great write up. Thanks for the info!