[Jack Karneval]

So yesterday, I came to the conclusion that spending $300 dollars on the UE Triple.Fi's as my first step into audiophile sound quality was probably a steep and rather impulsive step for me. So taking advice my brother had given me, I went to the apple store in my mall, where they had the Shure SE 110, 210, UE Super.Fi 4... ya-da ya-da. Anyway, I decided to purchase the Shure SE210s for 150, knowing I could return them if I didn't like them and get my money back.

So I bought them and carried them outside to a comfy seat where I opened the box carefully (knowing I would most likely return them) and removed the headphones and case containing the tips and extension cable. The tips that were already on were the black shure olives, which are what I tried first. I managed to get a decent seal in one ear, and an exceptable one in the other, and decided to start listening to my music on my iPhone... I was anything but amazed. The soundstage was absolutely disgusting, and I noticed that the tube that the tips fits over is extraordinarily long and thin, which is probably why it was so bad. Besides that there was nothing that stuck out, the EQ was as very flat, it was just bad. Fortunately I tried the included tri-flanges which provided excellent fit and isolation, but still didn't do much for the SQ. I tried all the EQ settings on the iPhone, and none of them did much of anything. Anyway, it was a rather dismal experience ending up with me returning them 20 minutes later. It also didn't help when I went home later and listened to the included earbuds from my iPhone and realized the SQ was way better.

What I would like to ask, if any of you have read all this; are spending $300 on the Triple.Fi's worth it? Also, some of you may say that I'm reviewing the source not the actual IEM, but bear in mind that I have no money to buy a real headphone amp, I have an Fiio E5 on the way, but I doubt that would've helped those SE210s significantly.

Your input is always appreciated

PS:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-Dan

 

[Jerry Wang]

wait.. the stock ibud is better than se210? you must got a defect pair. se210 is way more detailed and cleaner than those white ones.

and triple fi will be a huge step up from se210.

 

[vulc4n]

First (and I've made this mistake myself), you really cannot subjectively evaluate the sound of an IEM (or any headphone) in a few minutes. You need time to let your ears adjust to the sound. With IEMs you also need to play with fit and tips.

Also, when you are used to the sound of low end phones with boomy bass and little clarity it is easy to misinterpret the sound of a high end headphone or IEM. I think complaining of a 'flat' sound is very indicative of this. Smooth/tight bass can easily be interpreted as a lack of bass while clarity can be interpreted as tinniness... etc.

The 'inside the head' sound that you found so off putting is simply a characteristic of IEM sound to a large degree. Some people get used to it, some don't.

My advice to you is to start with a relatively inexpensive dynamic driver canalphone. That will get you 75% of the way there without spending a fortune. On top of that it should be a slightly less jarring transition. From there think about moving on to something like the Sleek SA6, Tripple Fi, Westone 3, etc...

 

[walkingman]

$150 is a bit too much for the SE210. You can get a ER6i for half that amount on Amazon.com!

But I agree with vulc4n, you need to listen to it for more than a couple of minutes.