[Earbones]

wat.

You can't amp a SE846 to its full potential, but with the Audeze you can make it sound so much better than the 846. I refuse to buy a TOTL IEM because they're so easy to lose.

I've listened to the LCDX on an AK240 for 2 hours straight, and the 846 probably for 20 minutes. While an IEM is good, it will never be as good as a headphone. The Audeze reveal everything about the recording, wether its in a small booth, a concert hall, and you don't even have to listen intently. Where the 846 may be portable, it's 2cm away from your ear and therefore can never be as good sounding as a full size headphone.

I think the only way an IEM could be better than a headphone like the Audeze if you used a type 6 litz cable with dampening cores (to completely silence microphonics and keep the sound constant through the cable), and use the same sort of material a full size headphone uses. Shure comes close with their foam tips. You'd also need something like the 240 for the 846 to get close to an Audeze, which at the end of it is 3x more expensive than the LCD2 in my country. Even my headphone store, Jaben, admits Audeze is totally better than the 846, and that the price is overkill. But people will buy it for portability, and that's where it goes wrong.

The full sound felt fake to me, like it was unnatural. Soundstage is very good for an IEM, but after hearing what the LCDX can do with a 240, there's no going back to IEMs. I was going to buy the 846, btw.

On the bass- yeah, mid end - near high end IEM bass sucks big time. Putting a dynamic driver in spoils the experience too. The only IEM I know of with REALLY good bass is the Heir 3ai.

Okay.

 

[paulchiu]

Just got my SE846 yesterday.  Replacing the SE530 I lost in a recent snow storm.  Used it immediately with the iPhone 6 plus playing lossless AAC tracks for 5 hours straight.  It is very much better than the SE530, which I used for 4 years.  Travel phones I have used with the iPhone 6 plus have been SE530, Momentum 1, 2 and wireless 2, Zik1 and 2, and B&W P7.
 
Without any breaking-in time, the SE846 gave me a cleaner sound over al these cans.  I really enjoyed the few hours re-examining familiar playlists with the SE846.  Rhapsody in Blue was intimate with the punch of a concert hall Steinway at an arm's length.  The feeling was much like my Fostex TH900 at home with the Grace M903 feeding off a MacBook Pro using Cardas clear USBs.  The SE846 bass was solid and natural.
 
Stil waiting for the USB to micro B Jena Labs cables and AudioQuest Diamond USB silver cables to connect the Chord Hugo to the Iphone and really testing these SE846 cans.
 
Right now, the SE846 is playing the welcomed disappearing act while in my ears.  Fits better than the SE530 with the small black foam sleeves. (the factory defaulted ones).
I really wish they have telephony functions.

 

[xaddictionx]

There was discussion of this a while back. There are two parts to the filter. On the plastic filter itself, there are differences between the black, blue and white. The second part, the foam itself, is also apparently of different density.

Thanks for the insights! In this case I'll try modding the blue filters since it is reversible.

 

[punit]

 The feeling was much like my Fostex TH900 at home with the Grace M903 feeding off a MacBook Pro using Cardas clear USBs.  The SE846 bass was solid and natural.

IMO one would initially feel the similarity with TH 900 only because of the bass. But as you listen more you will realise that SE846 has much better mids while the TH 900 has much better top end.

 

[Whitigir]

Hello there. Pardon me ! But has anyone compared Im04 to se846 yet ? Thank you

 

[joshuachew]

Does anyone mind explaining what is a blue filter mod. How it goes and what it does? Thank you in advance.

 

[jelt2359]

Does anyone mind explaining what is a blue filter mod. How it goes and what it does? Thank you in advance.

Inside the blue and black filters there is a little piece of foam (normally at the end). Use a pin or something small and sharp and pull it out. That's the mod. You may want to take note of which foam belongs with which filter, since they may have different densities. Further mods can also be done with other damping material (eg. Cotton Wool) instead of foam. You can also, if feeling adventurous, poke even more holes in the foam to release more treble. 
 
Generally, the less dense the foam/ wool/ anything in the filter, the more treble is enhanced. 

 

[olddude]

I don't think the modded blue and the white filters sound similar at all.  I believe (if wrong, someone chime in) that the filters themselves (black, blue, white) are each different, and then the foam is inserted in the blue and the black to damp down the trebles a bit.  I went to the blue mod because, to my ears, the white lacked some of the lush mids and bass of the modded blues.

 

[e30ernest]

All the good talk about modded filters are really tempting me to try it. I'm still worried I may break them though or lose the foams. Can these filters be bought somewhere separately? Seems like it may be good to have spares.

 

[yiutin]

Hi all,
 
Sorry I interrupt in this thread as I am a 846 own and change to a custom cable, yes I got the loose mmcx head connection and have signal drop sometimes when I move my head and remove the earphone. I know there was a suggestion on transplant the original ring and spacer to the customs cable while I got a easy way to make it tighten, by just using thread to rolling into the gap between the ring and the base, after a few rolling and end by a knot... yes done, honestly this cannot 100% remove the problem but at least better than before. Now I got no signal drop when move my head and remove the earphone unless a very intentional move to make the signal drop, hope this help!

 

[olddude]

All the good talk about modded filters are really tempting me to try it. I'm still worried I may break them though or lose the foams. Can these filters be bought somewhere separately? Seems like it may be good to have spares.

The foam is the size of a pencil lead (tip).  Pin pulls it out, just impale it on the pin and slip it back in so that it is completely in the tube.  The end the foam is in is the smooth end of the filter (the upper end).  

 

[e30ernest]

I pull out from the rear-end (the part that faces the IEM) right?

 

[olddude]

No- that end has a bump and some color on it, and fits into the hole in the earpiece.  You want to pull the foam out of the barrel end that goes into the eartips.

 

[e30ernest]

Thanks.  Bit the bullet and tried it.  Those dampers were way shorter than I expected.  I thought they went down the length of the tube.
 
Anyway, initial impressions are, they do sound like the best the blues brought (mids and sub bass) and the whites (treble).  Not as bright as the wight, but quite close.  I'll spend more time with this before I decide I'll keep the blues this way.  So far, I like it!

 

[olddude]

Size of the tip of a pencil.  When/if you put them back in, spear them with the pin and guide them in with your finger (ouch) just until they are no longer visible.  
 
Now play with the tips.  I've taken off the Westones and put the Olives back on- makes them a bit brighter, I think.  Hoping the mushrooms I ordered (delayed delivery for some reason, they are in a postal facility about 50 miles away) will give a bit more brightness.  
 
If only (if only!) Shure could make the blues with the brightness of the whites these things would be perfect.  As it is, some music I have sounds great in the trebles and some sounds a little rolled off. Beatles and Van Morrison have great treble extension with the blue mod, for example.