[loxxrider]

As the title says, can anyone recommend an earphone with similar midrange and bass presentation to the SE215, but which addresses the SE215's fatal flaw in my opinion, the rolled off treble response? I love the smooth and relatively neutral midrange on the SE215 and enjoy its bass impact. I just need a little more treble response in the upper range, but don't necessarily need more "volume" there as I am somewhat sensitive to harsh treble/sibilance. 
 
I am so tired of earphones with recessed midrange!
 
Thanks in advance for any recommendations

 

[AstroTurf]

Etymotic have one of, if not, the most accurate musical reproduction of any IEM on the market.

Worth a look.

Jim

Edit... My 1500th Post !!!

 

[loxxrider]

Thank you for your response. I have tried some Etys (the lower end ones) and did not really love their sound. I don't think they really match the requirements I posted above as the Shures have a pretty "fun" bass end.
 
I'd love to hear more suggestions! I need to know if there is something I should consider buying while I'm at the Atlanta airport on Sunday. They have lots of Westones and Shures, etc.

 

[shotgunshane]

Quote:

I'd love to hear more suggestions! I need to know if there is something I should consider buying while I'm at the Atlanta airport on Sunday. They have lots of Westones and Shures, etc.

 
We have Westones and Shures in the Atlanta airport?  If you can demo them, listen to the UM2 (owned twice) and SE425 (owned the 420) but both are quite expensive.  I'd recommend reading up on the TDK BA200.  It may be what you are looking for but I don't know if they have started selling it in the US yet.

 

[Chawanwit]

The higher end of the Shure series seem to have improvement in the high frequency response. The se425 are great. The se535 are better but cost a little too much and should be considered over the se425 only if you want the best, have extra cash, or can find them at a price that's reasonable.

 

[rikardoliepa]

Audio technica ckm500 is exatly what you are looking for.
It has much more treble, more details and bit stronger bass. From ebay they cost $55.

 

[Techno Kid]

Quote:

Etymotic have one of, if not, the most accurate musical reproduction of any IEM on the market.
Worth a look.
Jim
Edit... My 1500th Post !!!

 
 
And 1498 of them were about Etymotic, 

 
Now to the OP you might want to checkout the Hippo VB they have nice crisp highs and very good bass response that you can tune with the 3 sets of tuning ports.
 
Also the Fischer Silver Bullets have brighter highs than the SE215 along with more forward mids and they also have a good amount of bass.

 

[planx]

Quote:

 
We have Westones and Shures in the Atlanta airport?  If you can demo them, listen to the UM2 (owned twice) and SE425 (owned the 420) but both are quite expensive.  I'd recommend reading up on the TDK BA200.  It may be what you are looking for but I don't know if they have started selling it in the US yet.

 
The Westone UM2 is seriously underrated due to it's "age". I still find this to be Westones BEST IEM yet, to my ears. Nothing else from Westone really impressed me like the UM2 did.

 

[loxxrider]

Quote:

 
We have Westones and Shures in the Atlanta airport?  If you can demo them, listen to the UM2 (owned twice) and SE425 (owned the 420) but both are quite expensive.  I'd recommend reading up on the TDK BA200.  It may be what you are looking for but I don't know if they have started selling it in the US yet.

Yep, I was surprised when I found them. I forget exactly where they were, but it was some sort of smaller audio hole-in-the-wall type store there. They had everything up to the SE535, and Westone W4. It's where I bought my SE215 as an impulse buy.
 
Quote:

The higher end of the Shure series seem to have improvement in the high frequency response. The se425 are great. The se535 are better but cost a little too much and should be considered over the se425 only if you want the best, have extra cash, or can find them at a price that's reasonable.

 
This is interesting and good to hear as I know I can get the other Shures in the Airport. I'd love to sell me Heir 3.Ai or Pro 900s before getting there to ease the pain of buying another $300+ set though. I'm only worried about bass response in the upper Shures. I'm almost positive their treble and midrange will be what I'm looking for, but I know the bass will be lacking a bit. I don't really know if I love the balanced armature sound yet either as I've only tried the Heir 3.Ai thus far and the mids weren't really to my liking. The highs did sound nice when they weren't being too harsh for my ears though. I think the 425 or 535s would be better in both of these regards.
 
 
Quote:

Audio technica ckm500 is exatly what you are looking for.
It has much more treble, more details and bit stronger bass. From ebay they cost $55.

 
The thing is, much more treble is not what I'm looking for. I want to get away from the v-shaped sound a bit (on the higher end especially) as brighter treble really bothers me. Do they offer warm mids like the Shures as well?
 
Quote:

 
 
And 1498 of them were about Etymotic, 

 
Now to the OP you might want to checkout the Hippo VB they have nice crisp highs and very good bass response that you can tune with the 3 sets of tuning ports.
 
Also the Fischer Silver Bullets have brighter highs than the SE215 along with more forward mids and they also have a good amount of bass.

 
OK, thank you for those suggestions as well. I would pose the same questions to you as from the quote above. How much brighter (too bright is not good, but I still want nice extension), and how much more forward are the mids on the Fischer and same with the Hippo VB?
 
 
Quote:

 
The Westone UM2 is seriously underrated due to it's "age". I still find this to be Westones BEST IEM yet, to my ears. Nothing else from Westone really impressed me like the UM2 did.

 
Thank you, I will look into more reviews!
 
 
 
To all, I don't mind spending a lot to get the sound I want, so recommend away I'm definitely particularly interested in whether the Shures or some Westone's will fit the bill for me as I know that I can get them easily on my way overseas (I work in the middle east and there aren't many great places to get headphones over there!).

 

[rikardoliepa]

Ckm500 is balanced sounding. I mean that treble quality is much better, quantity wise they are up to balanced sound. Mids are realy good and full and crisp.
I own both and ckm500 is exatlly what you are looking for.

 

[loxxrider]

rikardoliepa, I think I'll order a pair of those. Seems like they could be great and the price is not bad.
 
Just as a little bit of a follow-up, I auditioned the SE535 and Westone W4 at the Atlanta Airport. There is a little hole-in-the-wall-type place at the end of the "B" terminal. They have anything from the SE215 to the SE535, but I don't think you can try them out there. I think they only had the Westone W3 and the rest were Beats, Soul, etc. The real secret is the electronics shop in the "F" terminal (international flights). They have all of the Shures and about 3/4 of the Westone line and will allow you to demo them on request. I was very limited on time so I only had a few minutes to hear both IEMs, but I found the SE535 to be very mid-forward which I would like to spend more time with, but didn't like upon first impression. I think I could grow to like it, but it didn't sound entirely natural to me. The bass was surprisingly deep though. I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but I was impressed. The same can be said for the W4's bass, but overall I found it to be a much more natural-sounding IEM. Again, I would need to spend a lot more time with it, but I found it to be very much to my liking. It sounded very natural, flat, non-fatiguing, and just didn't do anything wrong that I could hear in my short time with them. However, they just weren't good enough to make me spend $500-ish to compare to my Heir 3.Ai. I would have loved to listen to both in detail, but the build on the W4 is not really worth the money to me. I think I'd like the UM series better, but I doubt I'll ever get a chance to try them! I am more likely to just go with a custom Heir when I get the chance. I probably wont be able to help myself from buying a pair to try though... curiosity killed the cat as they say!
 
Any further suggestions based on that (the fact that I liked the sig of the Westones) are welcome.