magicalmouse
500+ Head-Fier
I was thinking of buying the se846 but am concerned that there maybe better alternatives at much lower cost (must have good isolation & no leakage)?
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Shure SE846 Impressions Thread
- Thread starter jelt2359
- Start date
IEMusic
Headphoneus Supremus
FWIW, I haven’t found a more versatile UIEM, with very good balanced tuning, that’s very enjoyable for just listening, that sounds perfect as a stage monitor, and has so many options for ear tips. With the multi-flange Shure tips (I cut the smallest flange off), the isolation is as good as my CIEMs and my Etymotics.
Agree with a lot of these comments except for the tips!
While I think Shure tips are excellent and they fit me well (and I’m difficult case), I think the wide bore tips have a lot more alternatives generally than the narrow nozzle of the Shure!
Though there are some adapters and DIY you can use to fix that.
non the other hand, I don’t need it as Shure silicone tips work just fine for me
GenMen
New Head-Fier
Hi guys
I'm new, here and at the IEMs world, very basic knowledge.
I recently purchased the SE846 which I'm pairing with my Note 10+ through Shure BT2 and a $15 USB C DAC from Amazon which is less than fine.
I'm want a better DAC/AMP to pair with my IEM, I'm among DFC or Fiio BTR5, could you help me deciding?
Tnks on advance.
I'm new, here and at the IEMs world, very basic knowledge.
I recently purchased the SE846 which I'm pairing with my Note 10+ through Shure BT2 and a $15 USB C DAC from Amazon which is less than fine.
I'm want a better DAC/AMP to pair with my IEM, I'm among DFC or Fiio BTR5, could you help me deciding?
Tnks on advance.
IEMusic
Headphoneus Supremus
I can’t compare the 2 devices, but FWIW, I really like how the se846 sounds with the DFC, and I like how the DFC is versatile. Imaging, clarity, dynamics, soundstage are all great through the DFC.
GenMen
New Head-Fier
Thank you so much for your answer.
AFAIK the BTR5 is sort of an hybrid, don't know the exact word, since can be use as a bluetooth receiver and also connected through USB, isn't it?
That would be a plus for my needs but the main concern would be sound for sure.
GenMen
New Head-Fier
Looks like a modern DFC, how does it sounds in comparison?
Hi,
I’m also new here and by all means not an expert in audiophile, so I won’t go into any details on comparing the sound quality of both DACs.
I’ve been using my 846s with the Shure lightning cable for a couple of years. I had bought it at the time for ‘casual’ listening on the iPhone. However, I recently came across an article on the 846s and it made me feel that I was wasting such an expensive and capable pair of IEMs.
So, after much reading here at Head-Fi, I bought the DFC and 2 weeks later I also bought the BTR5. IMO, the DFC wins on sound quality hands down but it is also nearly 3 times the price of the BTR5! The BTR5 really is a good DAC for it’s price and you get the bang for bucks compared to the DFC. If I hadn’t bought the DFC first, I would happily be content with the sound quality of the BTR5. That said, I do find myself using the BTR5 more than the DFC due to the convenience of Bluetooth and for my ears, it probably produces nearly 80% of the DFC sound quality. I only use the DFC when I don’t really need to be mobile and streaming HiFi/MQA on Tidal. If I had to choose either one, I would take the DFC because I would be getting the most out of my 846s (sound quality wise) and also have an ultraportable DAC that is easy to use on the go.
Hope this helps.
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Ok, we got there!
First things first.. this Monoprice Monolith AAA THX 887 is dead quiet... like scary quiet. No hiss at all. Having the 3 gain modes came in really handy too as I can use more of the volume control in the low mode. I also talked to Avenson and they sent me instructions to turn one of my Avenson jacks to a near 0 ohm output and leaving the other one at 18 ohms, so I may try that as well at some point to see how different amps sound. Either way I'm happy to have a nice clean reference amp in this THX model to compare from. I'm not sure how it stands up to the Benchmark, but it seems like a good value!
After plugging in the 846s to the AAA THX 887, I immediately heard the dip in the upper mids/lower highs pop back to life. A/B-ing it was night and day how scooped of a sound the impedance mismatch was causing. The other apparent thing was the bass. There was always tons of bass on the high impedance amps I was using but it was very bloomy and not punchy. It was all bunched up in one area. The bass is now more controlled, punchy and spread out. It's not over the top, but now the whole lower range feels like it's being represented correctly. Everything sounds more pin point and precise in the space. It's not a super wide sound being IEMs but the image also widened up some.
So now I was off to retest all the filters & tips to find the right balance for myself. The one thing I noticed both before/after the amp change, is the top end on these ( around 8 - 10k) have a bit of sizzle in them on zzzzzzsibilant sources. It's really apparent if you run it without any filter at all ( not recommended), but it's there with any of the stock filters and more pronounced with the foams removed from those filters. So part of my filter/tip experiment was to see what combination would remove this the most but still give me a good sound.
I was trying the stock yellow foam / Large olive tips as well as M/L Spintip 800s and 240s. The 800's gave me the best seal initially, but they were also the most sibilant. The stock yellow foams and olives ended up being somewhere in the acceptable range of seal and I noticed that the foam versions yellow/olive reduced some of the sibilance, so I rolled with those and started filter testing.
Black stock - Too dark
Black no foam - Mellow but sibilant
Blue stock - balanced but could use slightly more highs
Blue trishd - too sibilant and lacked upper mids
Blue no foam- good upper mids but too sibilant
White stock - too bright
White w/ Blue filter foam inserted near the ear - still too bright/sibilant
White w/ Black filter foam inserted near the ear - pretty close! The thicker foam seemed to reduce the sibilant to almost acceptable levels but of course being the white filter, the upper mids were more pronounced than the low mids bass.
I was OK with this for a few days and probably could have lived with it. I got to thinking though about the foam tips and their effect on the sibilant range & started researching other tips. I found the Comply P Large tips. They're like the Large olives from Shure but a lot longer. I ordered a set and found them comfy, have a great seal, and the extra amount of foam / length really help to tame the zzzzzing!
In the end I went to the blue filters with no foam & Comply P Large tips. Lows & Mids are balanced, with just enough non sibilant high end extension. A very relaxing listening experience!
... and now... I must go research full sized headphone options as well! I hear Utopias are nice!
Cheers!
-G
First things first.. this Monoprice Monolith AAA THX 887 is dead quiet... like scary quiet. No hiss at all. Having the 3 gain modes came in really handy too as I can use more of the volume control in the low mode. I also talked to Avenson and they sent me instructions to turn one of my Avenson jacks to a near 0 ohm output and leaving the other one at 18 ohms, so I may try that as well at some point to see how different amps sound. Either way I'm happy to have a nice clean reference amp in this THX model to compare from. I'm not sure how it stands up to the Benchmark, but it seems like a good value!
After plugging in the 846s to the AAA THX 887, I immediately heard the dip in the upper mids/lower highs pop back to life. A/B-ing it was night and day how scooped of a sound the impedance mismatch was causing. The other apparent thing was the bass. There was always tons of bass on the high impedance amps I was using but it was very bloomy and not punchy. It was all bunched up in one area. The bass is now more controlled, punchy and spread out. It's not over the top, but now the whole lower range feels like it's being represented correctly. Everything sounds more pin point and precise in the space. It's not a super wide sound being IEMs but the image also widened up some.
So now I was off to retest all the filters & tips to find the right balance for myself. The one thing I noticed both before/after the amp change, is the top end on these ( around 8 - 10k) have a bit of sizzle in them on zzzzzzsibilant sources. It's really apparent if you run it without any filter at all ( not recommended), but it's there with any of the stock filters and more pronounced with the foams removed from those filters. So part of my filter/tip experiment was to see what combination would remove this the most but still give me a good sound.
I was trying the stock yellow foam / Large olive tips as well as M/L Spintip 800s and 240s. The 800's gave me the best seal initially, but they were also the most sibilant. The stock yellow foams and olives ended up being somewhere in the acceptable range of seal and I noticed that the foam versions yellow/olive reduced some of the sibilance, so I rolled with those and started filter testing.
Black stock - Too dark
Black no foam - Mellow but sibilant
Blue stock - balanced but could use slightly more highs
Blue trishd - too sibilant and lacked upper mids
Blue no foam- good upper mids but too sibilant
White stock - too bright
White w/ Blue filter foam inserted near the ear - still too bright/sibilant
White w/ Black filter foam inserted near the ear - pretty close! The thicker foam seemed to reduce the sibilant to almost acceptable levels but of course being the white filter, the upper mids were more pronounced than the low mids bass.
I was OK with this for a few days and probably could have lived with it. I got to thinking though about the foam tips and their effect on the sibilant range & started researching other tips. I found the Comply P Large tips. They're like the Large olives from Shure but a lot longer. I ordered a set and found them comfy, have a great seal, and the extra amount of foam / length really help to tame the zzzzzing!
In the end I went to the blue filters with no foam & Comply P Large tips. Lows & Mids are balanced, with just enough non sibilant high end extension. A very relaxing listening experience!
... and now... I must go research full sized headphone options as well! I hear Utopias are nice!
Cheers!
-G
Just took my SE846 out, its on its third year now but mostly been kept since im more into 2 ch home audio.
When I was hooking up the cables, I notice these foggy areas in each of the iems on the neck holding the cables. Is this normal? I havent noticed anything bad on the sound.
Here are some closeup shots from both the L and R 846.
When I was hooking up the cables, I notice these foggy areas in each of the iems on the neck holding the cables. Is this normal? I havent noticed anything bad on the sound.
Here are some closeup shots from both the L and R 846.
Just took my SE846 out, its on its third year now but mostly been kept since im more into 2 ch home audio.
When I was hooking up the cables, I notice these foggy areas in each of the iems on the neck holding the cables. Is this normal? I havent noticed anything bad on the sound.
Here are some closeup shots from both the L and R 846.
Yes it is normal, it’s on my pair as well. I think it’s adhesive.
plakat
Headphoneus Supremus
Just inspected my pair, it looks the same. Yes, seems to be glue.
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