[Pianist]

I am wondering how these PL50s compare with UE600. Does anyone know which armature they use? I love UE600s to the point where they have become my favorite IEM and I prefer them to RE0 which was my previous price/performance favorite. I feel UE600 handily outperforms RE0 in the lows and mids and comes up just a tad short in the treble, but since I value mids first and foremost UE600 sounds better to me.

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

I am wondering how these PL50s compare with UE600. Does anyone know which armature they use? I love UE600s to the point where they have become my favorite IEM and I prefer them to RE0 which was my previous price/performance favorite. I feel UE600 handily outperforms RE0 in the lows and mids and comes up just a tad short in the treble, but since I value mids first and foremost UE600 sounds better to me.

The PL50 uses the Knowles Siren.  Can't comment much more though, I've never heard the UE600.

 

[lvrhs]

there isnt any point, to buy pl50, e30 is better and $12.5 cheaper. even es18 beats pl50, despite it is 1/4 price.

 

[Xinn3r]

Quote:

there isnt any point, to buy pl50, e30 is better and $12.5 cheaper. even es18 beats pl50, despite it is 1/4 price.

You can't really put PL50 up against E30 or even ES18, they just have a different sound signature in mind, especially since PL50 uses a BA design...

 

[lvrhs]

for example in joker thread pl50 got in sq 6.8, e30 got 7 and e10/es18 6.9, so they are bit better, despite dynamic driver. for masses with ipods pl50 is even more worse, because of lack of bass and sound signature.

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

for example in joker thread pl50 got in sq 6.8, e30 got 7 and e10/es18 6.9, so they are bit better, despite dynamic driver. for masses with ipods pl50 is even more worse, because of lack of bass and sound signature.

 
No offense, but you have provided only one person's subjective opinion on these IEMs and yet try to draw conclusions on the sound of headphones based on that one opinion. Are there other reviews by other people that draw the same conclusions? I respect Joker and his reviews, but you can't judge sound based on his impressions alone, because they are purely subjective and represent what that particular individual hears, which is shaped by his sources, his hearing ability, his music tastes, his moods, his biases, etc. Not to mention that his scoring system is even more subjective as he himself stated. If you decide to judge sound based on subjective reviews, then you should read as many of these reviews and impressions as possible to get different perspectives. If the majority of them claim the same things, then I suppose you can trust them in a way. However, the best reviews are those based on objective measurements in my opinion. Like those done by Tyll Hertsens at Innerfidelity. The man not only puts down his subjective thoughts on the 'phones which as we know can be affected by a multitude of factors, but also backs up, or at least attempts to do so by using detailed measurements of the headphones being reviewed which are far more reliable. I am not saying that measurements are everything, but they are the only reliable reference point to judge the sound from.

 

[lvrhs]

i own now e30, e10, es18 and had pl50. clieos rates pl50 3.4, e30 3.75 and e10/es18 same as pl50 and as i stated for normal people with normal hearing pl50 would me much more worse sounding.

 

[Pianist]

Fair enough. These days though, I am only convinced when I see some measurements that back up what people are hearing. In particular, I want to see the square wave response graphs, impulse response and distortion, as well as frequency response graphs of these IEMs. Without measurements, subjective impressions don't mean much to me because I know how different people are, how different their tastes are. I used to trust subjective measurements by reputable members on here before and based many of my buying decisions on these impressions/reviews. In the end, I regretted most of these decisions and now only trust my own ears and, to a lesser extent, measurements.

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

Fair enough. These days though, I am only convinced when I see some measurements that back up what people are hearing. In particular, I want to see the square wave response graphs, impulse response and distortion, as well as frequency response graphs of these IEMs. Without measurements, subjective impressions don't mean much to me because I know how different people are, how different their tastes are. I used to trust subjective measurements by reputable members on here before and based many of my buying decisions on these impressions/reviews. In the end, I regretted most of these decisions and now only trust my own ears and, to a lesser extent, measurements.

Have you ever even heard them before though...? Just making the assumption that it would be better simply because it uses a BA driver doesn't mean anything...

 

[jwashburn]

I ordered these IEMs about a year ago to listen to at work and walking around the city. I listened to them all the time on my iPod touch and they sounded great. In terms of durability, though, these headphones do not stand the test of time. For $55 I expected more from them in that area. The first thing that happened was the red/blue parts got loose and then I started to lose sound quality in one side and then the other side eventually followed. If you buy these, you should take extra care to make sure there is as little strain as possible on the cords or else you'll suffer the same fate. Other than that they're solid IEMs in the midrange, bass is ok, and accessories are decent. I'm moving to more expensive ones for the quality and durability factors.
 
Oh and SoundMagic sent me the wrong model so I had to resend them to China and hassle them to return the shipping fee and I got the right ones about a month later.

 

[kkl10]

Recently I have acquired a new appreciation for this Soundmagic PL50 IEM.
 
With the Vsonic silicone tips I hear the warm, smooth and pleseantly midcentric sound for which they are lauded.
Beautiful and reasonably transparent vocals with natural tonality, and clean sound for the price. I'm able to enjoy it.
 
I've been looking for a new IEM/headphone to diversify my collection a bit and to add a bit more refinment.
I would like to know if there is something with a somewhat similar sound signature to the PL50 and is a nice upgrade below 150$?...
Maybe the HIFIMAN RE262?
 
Any thoughts?

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

Recently I have acquired a new appreciation for this Soundmagic PL50 IEM.
 
With the Vsonic silicone tips I hear the warm, smooth and pleseantly midcentric sound for which they are lauded.
Beautiful and reasonably transparent vocals with natural tonality, and clean sound for the price. I'm able to enjoy it.
 
I've been looking for a new IEM/headphone to diversify my collection a bit and to add a bit more refinment.
I would like to know if there is something with a somewhat similar sound signature to the PL50 and is a nice upgrade below 150$?...
Maybe the HIFIMAN RE262?
 
Any thoughts?

GR07, maybe?  A bit of a different signature, but far, far better.  It's what I upgraded to at any rate.

 

[kkl10]

I already have the Vsonic Gr07. Which I'll probably sell because the treble is just not good enough for me.
There's a peak in the lower treble that hurts the overall tonality of the GR07, the treble isn't very resolving, not very clean, it's a bit unrefined.
It may have some ringing up there because with EQ the weird tonality won't go away.
 
Sometimes I think the PL50 manage to have a more natural tonality in the mids than the GR07 and sometimes I prefer it's relatively neutral and unoffensive 'safe' signature over the GR07 despite being clearly the inferior performer overall.
 
With a bit of EQ the Soundmagic reveals a much better treble than the GR07, there's no ringing, it's clean.
 
I have the second revision of the GR07 which some have said to have a slightly warmer sound than the previous rev. and indeed it sounds a bit warm overall for me but despite this the ugly treble still manages to bother me.
This second revision makes me think that Vsonic tried to conceal or turn attention away from the treble flaws by adding a little warmth to the sound... well this solution just doesn't work well to my ears, it makes the GR07 sound very uncharacteristic and unpleasant... to much warmth on top of an unrefined and unpleasant treble...
 
I just feel the GR07 is not very accomplished in the way it is trying to achieve a certain kind of sound signature.
You can't have a truly neutral and reference sound with a ressonant treble, it isn't just a matter of FR balance and linearity.
 
I feel the Sundmagic PL50 is much more accomplished for what it is trying to do and for what it is.
I don't regard the GR07 as a nice upgrade over the PL50, really.
 
I'm actually looking at the Vsonic GR01 instead, as from the reviews I've read it seems like it corrects some flaws of the GR07 and is a better representation of the 'reference' sound.
 
I may try to trade my GR07 for a GR01.
And I'll probably buy a RE262 to.
 
I believe the GR01 and the RE262 would make for an interesting collection of signatures.
And both could be a nice upgrade or complement to the PL50 but following different sonic paths - one towards the colorfull and euphonic path and the other towards the reference endeavor.
 
...well since nobody else was able to point a better upgrade/complement to the PL50 I assume my choices are good... just hope the RE262 won't end up sounding ridiculous next to more neutral sets...

 

[hzant6681]

I own a  PL50 from past 1yr & love em still but was looking for an upgrade, 4 days back i got my RE-ZERO's and i'm liking it more than the PL50.
after about  15-16hrs of listening my initial expressions of the ZERO's compared to PL50 are the mids are more smooth & liquid and have more texture & clarity  than PL50,
Treble extension,smoothness  and clarity are far superior, The lows are where i'm not able to tell which has more quantity but i feel the RE-zeros go as low as PL50 yet punchy & quick,  better with texture and if the track demands bass it delivers but not like huge bass, i guess the bass texture will improve with more burning. compared to the highlighted mid centric presentation of PL50 the RE-ZERO  somehow maintain a balanced presentation with average soundstage & lively mids yet the mids are neither forward nor recessed.
RE-ZERO beats PL50 according to me.may be u should try hifiman RE-ZERO . Hope this helps

 

[kkl10]

I already have a Head Direct RE0, should be similar, unfortunately one of the channels went dead.
I see the RE0 as a nice upgrade over the PL50, both have a very natural tonality but the RE0/ZERO is superior in all fronts. I agree with you on that.
The RE0 set the treble quality benchmark to me. I miss them a lot, really.
I think the RE0/ZERO are very hard to bit, but the problem is build quality, otherwise I would have bought another already.
 
I'm still more inclined for the Vsonic GR01, though, since it seems to be more inline with my criteria.
And the HIFIMAN RE262 should bring some of the HIFIMAN sweet sound back to my ears anyway.
Very interested to hear one of the best dynamic drivers at the moment.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, though!
 
.