i'm going to post my impression here rather than start a new thread. i hope the op doesn't mind.
I’d considered writing a one word review… impressive.
I’ll go on by saying I have had multiple sets of canal phones and iem’s. some have sounded better but have annoying traits. The Sennheiser CX300 died after eight months of hard use; abuse. While they sounded decent they never approached the dynamics of full size cans at any volume level. Most canal phones just don’t. Don’t misunderstand if one channel was still working I never would have searched for another brand or model for general listening. My next set of inexpensive ear canal speakers was the JVC ha-fx66, these were comfortable and did an excellent job at blocking external noise; much better than the aforementioned Sennheisers. The PL30s stay where you put them, the JVCs seemed to work themselves loose eating or drinking The JVC were troubled by pseudo bass. No amount of adjustment would make them clear in the bottom registers. High frequency with the JVCs was there, just not extended. Neither the JVC or the cx300s will hold a candle to the Soundmagic PL30s in any and all categories.
Now that we have apples compared to apples let’s say we try an orange. Shure SE310s will be the orange. Excellent isolation and warm through the midrange. Sensitivity with the Shures is also very good; better than all the above phones and still slightly better than the PL30’s. What is lacking with the Shures is ease of insertion and removal and comfort. The Shures have stiff short cables and fit deeply in the canals In terms of dynamics the PL30’s do in fact come close. Sound spectrum is reasonable with a slight dip in the upper midrange and roll off at the top. Lower extension is very good and midrange is very nicely heard with the PL30’s; The strong point here is bass, you will hear definition of bass lines. Midrange and vocals are better with the Shures. Some simple adjustments to the phones with the ten band equalizer of my Meizu M6sl brings the sound closer to the Shures and very close to my ATH A700s I’ve yet to hear earphones come close to full size cans for soundstage. The PL30’s are no slouch here either. I do no adjustments to the SE310’s; they just don’t need it the same can be said for the Audio Technica’s While playing with the adjustments I did notice that a bit of eq didn’t throw the sound of the PL30s off. The range of adjustment I used was slight but it was audible with the Soundmagic phones. Even at low volumes dynamics were acceptable and when turned up held together very well; linear. It’s a real testament to the quality of the PL30s that I can tell the difference between FLAC and MP3 files in playback. I only used the clear bass settings, can’t imagine why anyone needs more, it’s there.
Will these replace my Sennheiser 545’s? Hardly but they will be my knock a rounds at 20 dollars. No question! They’ve been in my ears for a few hours now and maybe break in will improve them. Stay tuned.
Steve
still after a few weeks, no problems, sounds just a good as the first day and there are still moments where i just can't wait to get these in and fired up.
