[musik_lover]

Alright so I've already purchased my super.fi 5 eb's and i'm still working on burning them in with freq. sweeps, bass tones, white/pink noise, etc and i'm at about ~45 hours...

I keep reading and reading more about different headphones and since I listen to is hip-hop/rap/R&B/reggaeton bass is incredibly important needless to say

I read a review comparing CKS70, IE8 and a couple other headphones which was a great review. The conclusion was the CKS70 had the deepest feeling bass and I want to feel the bass! But that review did not compare the CKS70's with super fi 5eb's...

Anyone who owns or heard both have any opinions? Please comment away!

 

[rune-san]

I like the sound of the 5eb's personally over the CKS70s. I think the bass in the EBs is about as much as I could stand in an IEM. I can already make my ear drums itch with just a 25Hz sine. The EB's are already kind of muddy and definitely overextended (which is definitely in their nature, so its not necessarily a bad thing except for the muddiness), but the CKS70s to me sounded distorted and even muddier when trying to produce the same *volume* of bass that the EB's could provide. In the world of bass, there is no replacement for displacement, and that certainly still holds true in the case of IEMs.

Where the EBs really shine over the CKS70s though isn't the bass, but the highs. All comes down to the driver configuration. The CKS70 is a single dynamic driver of 12.5mm. The Super.fi EBs are a mid/high range transducer and a 16mm dynamic driver for low frequencies.

When I turn up the CKS70s on songs with a lot of heavy beat (miami bass) or rolling bass (The Roots), I can notice distortion in the high range as the driver simply can't produce these frequencies adequately. The EBs don't have near as much of a problem with it. I notice distortion when its really high but to be honest I dont know if thats the dynamic driver, the transducer, or my hearing impaired by the heavy bass (when i notice the distortion my ear drums are usually itching, indicating they're really being pushed hard anyways, so it could be the simple fact that my ear drums couldn't receive all the frequencies).

Anyways, EB's hands down for me. Not really for the bass but definitely for the much clearer highs and mids.

 

[musik_lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rune-san /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like the sound of the 5eb's personally over the CKS70s. I think the bass in the EBs is about as much as I could stand in an IEM. I can already make my ear drums itch with just a 25Hz sine. The EB's are already kind of muddy and definitely overextended (which is definitely in their nature, so its not necessarily a bad thing except for the muddiness), but the CKS70s to me sounded distorted and even muddier when trying to produce the same *volume* of bass that the EB's could provide. In the world of bass, there is no replacement for displacement, and that certainly still holds true in the case of IEMs. Where the EBs really shine over the CKS70s though isn't the bass, but the highs. All comes down to the driver configuration. The CKS70 is a single dynamic driver of 12.5mm. The Super.fi EBs are a mid/high range transducer and a 16mm dynamic driver for low frequencies. When I turn up the CKS70s on songs with a lot of heavy beat (miami bass) or rolling bass (The Roots), I can notice distortion in the high range as the driver simply can't produce these frequencies adequately. The EBs don't have near as much of a problem with it. I notice distortion when its really high but to be honest I dont know if thats the dynamic driver, the transducer, or my hearing impaired by the heavy bass (when i notice the distortion my ear drums are usually itching, indicating they're really being pushed hard anyways, so it could be the simple fact that my ear drums couldn't receive all the frequencies). Anyways, EB's hands down for me. Not really for the bass but definitely for the much clearer highs and mids.

Thanks for the great reply and being patient with my ignorant self when it comes to headphones

So you said that where the EB's shine "isn't the bass" and from what I read in your post it's because they are muddy true?

Ok, so in your opinion, since we seem to agree (even though I'm still burning-in my EB's) what would you say is an IEM that produces such powerful bass but is not "muddy"? Even if it's not an IEM it can be any cans I guess (portable of course) but is there--to date--a headphone that has the ability to reproduce such bass as EB's but with it not being muddy?

Thanks again rune-san

 

[rune-san]

I would honestly say that you probably can't equal the bass output because of the muddiness. The EB's seem "louder" because of the slight muddiness..

I don't think personally that they are that bad at all in that respect, its just definitely noticeable that in some respects the bass is not as clean as its supposed to. Sometimes it comes across as a slight muffle, and other times its a slight hiss. In general its simply considered muddiness and it could be caused by overextension of the bass driver, the design of the driver itself, or over extension of the ear drum.

The IE8s are known to have good, quality bass while not the same amount of "potency" behind it. In the portable market, of the ones I heard, I liked the Ultrasone Pro 900s the best. It will probably be my next headphone as I'm looking for a pair of cans to supplement my custom shelled EBs I'll be getting back in a little less than a month.

I'm trying to see if the new shell cleans up the muddiness a bit, if anything less volume. Time will certainly tell.

And it's no problem. Hopefully some other people will chime in. I'm still relatively new to all this myself and learning is the main reason this forum exists

 

[Hentai11]

Quote:

what would you say is an IEM that produces such powerful bass but is not "muddy"

There are none.

All the IEMs I've had--hell, all the audio equipment I've had--falls off in the bass band. If you're not willing to pay for that third driver on your IEM, the best you can hope for is that the fall off is smooth, shallow, and from a low frequency, rather than sharp, steep, and from a high frequency.

Sadly, some manufacturers will try to mask the poverty of their low bass by goosing up the midbass. So you get bass that's loud and boomy, but not all that deep, or that accurate.

 

[rune-san]

I would even argue that you wouldn't find it on triple driver models. Once you get into triple driver setups manufacturers begin looking to maximize on the neutralness of the sound. So you still won't get the powerful, demanding bass that fits more suitably with house, trance, dance, and hip-hop music.

Alas, I have yet to find a good high-end can that is suited well for miami bass and night house music. Night house especially. For night house, its very important that the highs be clear and sharp, and that the bass be low, powerful, and moving. I just can't find one yet that properly handles both.