[AnakChan]

Foam tips just mess up the clarity really bad, attempted to use it quite a number of types already but I just can't stand the massive drop in clarity. I can try rolling different silicon/rubber tips though.

I use foam tips only on my Kaede's, but otherwise I like floating around Ortofon or FitEar (depending if I wanna increase or tone down the treble). Unfortunately I don't think they fit the 846.

 

[myap2328]

Foam tips just mess up the clarity really bad, attempted to use it quite a number of types already but I just can't stand the massive drop in clarity. I can try rolling different silicon/rubber tips though.

I use foam tips only on my Kaede's, but otherwise I like floating around Ortofon or FitEar (depending if I wanna increase or tone down the treble). Unfortunately I don't think they fit the 846.

I dun think they would fit either.
____________________________________

Well, I finally got the time to appreciate my SE846 on a car ride if you can believe it. And I have discovered some things that took my breath away.

1. The detail of the earphones are impeccable. Listening to vocal songs, I can hear the breath of the vocalist and also even the opening and closing of the vocalist's mouth.

2. The timbre/naturalness of the SE 846 are breath taking. The tone of the vocals are so realistic and without the terrible sibliance that are present in the IE800 n K3003.

3.Vocals just have so much acoustic space and air. This paired with the great naturalness, close your eyes and it is as if the artist is standing right in front of you giving you a love performance.

4. I was really tired during the ride and I was half a sleep n suddenly I heard something and thought, why am I at the train station, then I realised it was my music. There's two things I can compliment the 846 about this. Firstly, the comfort that allowed the earphones to disappear and secondly, the heart stopping realism it presents the music material with.

These are just some impressions that I feel that I should share with you guys. I may put
together a full review if my schedule allows me to.

By the way these are the albums that made me discover these impressions:
-Best Audiophile Voices VII
-Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Oh, I got these results just with my iPhone 4S, I truly wonder what they would sound like with my Alo National Amp. (Short Comparisons show that with the amp, bass is more impactful and fuller and the highs become shelved)

 

[music_4321]

Sometimes, when I'm in bed late at night, all very quiet, using my Apple Earpods or ATH-CKM99s and I'm in tune with the music and start slowly drifting away, my Earpods / CKM99s sound as good as my HD800s.

There are times when even (very) cheap phones can sound very detailed, amazing, etc., "the lips of the singer", the strings of the guitar", "the cough of a member of the audience", "that cymbal crash I'd never noticed", "that kick drum", "that bass line"…

There are times, when it's 'wrong' to be listening to music, I feel my HD800s sound pretty bad.

Please don't expect a review of my Earpods, CKM99 or HD800.

 

[myap2328]

Sometimes, when I'm in bed late at night, all very quiet, using my Apple Earpods or ATH-CKM99s and I'm in tune with the music and start slowly drifting away, my Earpods / CKM99s sound as good as my HD800s.


There are times when even (very) cheap phones can sound very detailed, amazing, etc., "the lips of the singer", the strings of the guitar", "the cough of a member of the audience", "that cymbal crash I'd never noticed", "that kick drum", "that bass line"…


There are times, when it's 'wrong' to be listening to music, I feel my HD800s sound pretty bad.


Please don't expect a review of my Earpods, CKM99 or HD800.

Your point?

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

Your point?

 
1.  I like quiet evenings.
2.  I'm an Apple fanboy
3.  The HD800s aren't very good.

Now, if I could only find a nice $500+ aftermarket cable for my Earpods and a decent $3000+ tube amp to pair with my iBuds…

 

[jelt2359]

Quote:

 
1.  I like quiet evenings.
2.  I'm an Apple fanboy
3.  The HD800s aren't very good.

Now, if I could only find a nice $500+ aftermarket cable for my Earpods and a decent $3000+ tube amp to pair with my iBuds…

 
It's good to know what you like! Congrats! Time to unplug from head-fi and enjoy your music, methinks

 

[AGB100]

I got it. This is a reply to the several comments above. For my having to spend time on all three separately would have created several strings of argument ad infinitum. According to some here sentimental about club music and it's kind, A's mixdown of whatever artificially produced sound; B's mixdown of whatever so on; and C's mixdown of whatever so on, all the way to Z's mixdown of whatever electronica and headbanging made for teens will be henceforth our standard.
 
In other words, according to the referred-to "literature" which is nothing but opinion, not a scientific study - and which does not cover at all what I was talking about - a common speaker made for a common audience of untrained high school students can be the standard. Your "literature" not only ignores in its entirety the subject of the discussion, but covers exactly what I find unscientific - comparing a non-standard component to another non-standard component by people who were indoctrinated by the testers beforehand: "After running Robert and Sam through a few trials of listener training using  our software "How to Listen",.." In other words, AFTER the teens were told what to choose and HOW to choose it. Scientific isn't it? Moreover, the speakers were grossly off-base sounding compared the Harman's reference, as I am well-aware of the silly tests as well as many other far better run tests that happen to be scientific. However, unlike Harman's test which were meant to establish itself as the standard - its own standard as the standard - a HUGE logical fallacy to begin with; there are many other tests throughout the history of the art that attempted to establish at least a modicum of scientific integrity. By the self-same words of the author, it is clear that Harman made no attempt at all.
 
Then Harman's writer continues with...more indoctrination for what the untrained listeners should expect:
 
"We talked about differences in the tastes and performances of trained versus untrained listeners, and how Harman is able to accurately predict  subjective preference ratings of loudspeakers (emphasis on PREDICT is mine, and that too, is the operative word.)
 
Which winds up with Harman's tester's need to self-validate their preconceptions to achieve the results they wanted beforehand and knew what results would happen...
 
...with the conclusions reached BEFORE the test had begun!  "and how Harman is able to accurately predict  subjective preference ratings of loudspeakers."
 
There's that PREDICT again. Scientific testing does not predict. Scientific testing is off-hand. If any manufacturer would be able to predict preferences of its targeted audience, than every manufacturer's product would be a best seller, a standard by which others could not logically exist. I predict this:
 
Harman's testing was meant for MARKETING purposes - to sell the self-same speakers to its high school and college dorm audiences.
 
If Harman's testing and hypotheses were correct to begin with and would confirm their case in the REAL WORLD, than Harman's loudspeakers would have become the reference STANDARD in studios and the homes of well-heeled audiophiles worldwide. Harman's problem is my case, and I have nothing but respect for the company and its enviable legacy: Harman's speakers are not the reference standard worldwide, not even in one country or one district or even for one of the top studios I am familiar with - though it is possible that some "studios" in someone's mother's basement or garage may use them. Harman's is not the reference standard in the homes of well known audiophiles and reviewers I happen to know personally - and more likely of those you happen to know.
 
For your information, not that it should have any weight for this discussion, we had similar discussions after a long dinner and drinking night with Kevin Voeck's, Harman's speaker designer. Accordingly, I'm not exactly new to this scene or the subject. And no, I did not drive myself home those nights. I've known Kevin for over three decades, way before his company was bought by Harman, and he happens to be one of the finest designers of conventional speakers out there with an enviable history, as well as a good-natured, mature, funny, and solid man.
 
Normally neither Kev nor I are especially sensitive to, or ignorant about, marketing hype in which pseudo-scientific test are used to bolster the hype. Business is business, Harman's business IS, business.
 
Next.
 
All steaks taste the same; all suits are made the same, a Casio is the same as a Patek Philippe...anything YOU choose or LIKE on Facebook will henceforth be the standard. In other words, there is no standard at all and there is no reason at all to even discuss a standard. Meaning that some of the respondents for whatever reasons having little to do with logic, missed my entire point - which is MY fault for failing to communicate better. Meaning. I had failed to keep up to standards reasonably expected of me.
 
In our new alternate reality, what genuine trained musicians play, had practiced on every day for many hours for many years throughout their lives: real instruments that have a known sound and sonic signature, should not be the reference any longer. Rather, we employ  synthesized electronic sounds through any brand of synthesizer, electronic drums played through anyone's choice of earbud or Harman speaker, and we shall henceforth call that the reference no matter how recorded, which, after all, matters not, since there is no recorder or recording technology that is a reference either.
 
What has now become THE reference is an earbud or headset that you happen to LIKE on Facebook. Whatever you prefer then, is the reference. If you like hamburgers and I like the best steak at Peter Luger (a standard by the way) matters not. The burger at Burger King or MacDonalds, whichever, shall henceforth be a standard. Anyone's opinion is as good as anyone else's. So get to the bottom line according to the LIKEs on FACEBOOK...
 
There you have the real reference: BEATS by Doctor What?
 
The preference that someone likes club music does not make someone an expert on real music (and yes, I also like some club music because I had spent years playing in clubs - though I don't call it that), yet I know the difference between what I hear in a club, jazz or disco, and what I hear at Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebuow; places which apparently many untrained listeners who think their own earbud is the standard are wholly unfamiliar with.
 
Philosophy has NOTHING to do with this discussion or the scientific requirement to secure repeatable measurements - what science is based on: independent testing of theory. In other words, if I can measure Y under controlled conditions, Y measured elsewhere under controlled condition should measure the same. A number of you deny this reality and the need for standards, because it's inconvenient to address the necessity, permitting yourself the liberty to avoid dealing with it, and permitting yourself the liberty to argue among yourselves about Gizmo's earbud being more accurate than Kudo's earbud. I say accurate to what measure and which standard?
 
You say it doesn't matter.
 
And that is precisely what those who dispute what I wrote earlier cannot answer and would prefer one-upsmanship in lieu of providing evidence or logic to support his argument. Disco music, philosophy, or the mic feed has nothing to do with it. A known standard has EVERYTHING to do with it.
 
To make it clear once more: I never said the mic feed is a or the reference - unless you would take my words out of context about what role the mic feed and other equipment in the testing scheme have. I said that LIVE music is the reference period... and next, as live heard through controlled systems and testing methods - represented FOR TESTING PURPOSES by the studio monitor and the engineer who sets up the mic feed test itself. In other words, by an experienced person familiar with both the sound of the live because he was there to hear it and has heard it many times before, meaning he is familiar with it; and as the live is played back directly - meaning not from a recording; and for comparison the music from the recording of the live. In other words, I am clearly not speaking about Harman's testing of high school students taken off the street at random with a few minutes of indoctrination, er, I meant, "training."
 
Does anyone reading this seriously think that an untrained teen who buys his stuff at Best Buy or eBay for his college dorm is the same as a highly-educated, highly experienced with many kinds of gear and technology writer, musician, and possibly scientist?
 
No one can play back the LIVE in the real world. To play back live is an oxymoron. We play back recordings. Those recordings are the comparisons TO, the live. As in appraising, you have the subject and the comparisons that are adjusted in economic terms to the subject. The standard is the subject, the comparisons are the variables - they will be different than the subject.
 
With respect to SPOOK's comment: "A lot of music is NEVER recorded by a band together at one time but over many months in different places. There is no magic moment when one can hear it live. With processors and overdubs added later and assembled by the recording engineer with the imput of the band. So where are we to find the "ruler"?"
 
I am left speechless. OK, not really, I'll give it a good 'ol boy "heave ho."
 
1. What you say is correct. 2. What you said however, has nothing to do with what I wrote about live musicians playing in real time on acoustic instruments in a controlled room/setting. Lastly, I can't add anything to what you wrote but a friendly recommendation that you attend a few chamber orchestra recitals and world class halls where large orchestras play. Or even to go hear jug bands, jazz bands, and "unplugged" groups playing popular music using genuine acoustic instruments at a small jazz club.
 
Jelt2359's intolerance and hateful comments however would require ignoring as he tells me to leave the kitchen because it is too hot in it.  Sorry Jelt, you don't own the kitchen, you're not even the chef! I can say this though Jelt: The kitchen may be too hot for you perhaps, for nothing aggravates the low information voter more than the facts, and, accordingly, I wonder if Jelt, so offended by the facts, might consider taking his own advice? None of his comments BTW, and obviously, addressed mine.
 

 

[23t23dS]

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

 

 
In all your previous, very lengthy, posts, I haven't seen "SE846" mentioned once.
 
Just pointing that out.

 

[AGB100]

Myap2328. Welcome to the real world; and I sincerely apologize if I had offended you! It is also commendable in your favor that you had not only taken the leap of faith and experienced the results as you wrote, but that you had admitted it in your notes. If not exactly that way or in that context. Enjoy your new toy buddy! I am assured that I and others reading this will.
 
Because my comment was removed by the moderator for his reasons, some of you reading this probably won't know what I'm referring to. It is this: I was unaware of Myap's location during a period when the earbud was not being sold in my location, and wrote that it is impossible to have heard it if it's unavailable to the general public. Well, to my chagrin, I found shortly that what I said was true for my location, but not true for Myap's where the product was available. I have a whole dozen eggs on my face - well deserved. - AGB
 

 

[AGB100]

Also Myap, if you're an Apple FanBoy, which you seem to be, consider FIDELIA software player, buy all three modules, standard, advanced, and the FX headphone processor. In the advanced go to the three parametric equalizers on the player's controls - at the bottom - and play with them. Be astounded as new revelations will appear at your eardrums. Do not be afraid of DSP EQ, with it you will restore not just FR errors, but timing/phase errors as well - much contrary to popular opinion - after all, what has popular opinion ever done for you? What you hear on your portable players/amps is not, what you will hear with Audirvana or Fidelia Advanced with the FX processor. The latter two will be at least ten times better. Guaranteed.
 
And after months of familiarization with the extensive dithering and other pro settings, you will reach new heights most people who have not yet gotten there cannot even imagine. From one who coined the words DIGITAL SUCKS when it really sucked, and who was almost last to adopt digital, I say this: the digital world has arrived for good and nothing will ever be the same. Over and Out. Not for good, I just have little time right now to address all the issues here. It was fun.

 

[jelt2359]

Quote:

 
Philosophy has NOTHING to do with this discussion or the scientific requirement to secure repeatable measurements - what science is based on: independent testing of theory. In other words, if I can measure Y under controlled conditions, Y measured elsewhere under controlled condition should measure the same. A number of you deny this reality and the need for standards, because it's inconvenient to address the necessity, permitting yourself the liberty to avoid dealing with it, and permitting yourself the liberty to argue among yourselves about Gizmo's earbud being more accurate than Kudo's earbud. I say accurate to what measure and which standard?
 
Jelt2359's intolerance and hateful comments however would require ignoring as he tells me to leave the kitchen because it is too hot in it.  Sorry Jelt, you don't own the kitchen, you're not even the chef! I can say this though Jelt: The kitchen may be too hot for you perhaps, for nothing aggravates the low information voter more than the facts, and, accordingly, I wonder if Jelt, so offended by the facts, might consider taking his own advice? None of his comments BTW, and obviously, addressed mine.
 

 
Actually, philosophy has everything to do with it. Deciding yourself that 1) there must be a standard for music 2) music must adhere to a "scientific requirement" 3) that standard is as you have dictated, is pompous and insulting (what you call 'facts').
 
To what 'repeatable measurements', for example, have you subjected your apparently 'scientific standard'? I do not see any evidence that you have gone around repeatedly measuring whether your standard is correct.
 
No, instead, you delve entirely into your own world- the standard is such because you say it is such. There is no need for measurement, no need for repeated experiments. This is religion, not science.
 
Science also does not have a requirement that you need repeatable measurements. Rather, it requires that a scientist creates hypotheses that can be falsified. By wrapping your opinions as fact, and by giving no way to falsify them, you have insulted the very God of Science you claim to worship.
 
Yes, count me offended. (PS, to everyone else: it's obvious this is a troll.... but what the hell )
 
Next.

 

[ubs28]

 Is it worth upgrading from the Shure SE535 to the Shure SE846? 

 

[AGB100]

I can tell it to you JELT, but I cannot comprehend it for you. You wrote words not mine, "There must be a standard for music." Those are YOUR words, demonstrating to all that you are 1. a very angry young man, and 2. you are unable to comprehend what I wrote, which is "Live music is the standard." There is no standard for music. Music IS, the standard.
 
Signed - TROLL
 

 

[muzic4life]

Quote:

 Is it worth upgrading from the Shure SE535 to the Shure SE846? 

if u like the sound of 535..i would say YES, definitely !