[JosephKim]

Agree with you. I definitely had to EQ the bass down a bit. Overall though a great value IEM from what Im hearing so far.
Quote:

Finally got CKM500 on my hand yesterday... this phone doesn't have the usual AT "sin" of unnaturally thin treble... (some may like that smooth hair splitting treble, but to me, there is no such cymbal sounding like that)... So, one good point for me that CKM500 tuning is willing to escape from that signature... which I don't like...
 
secondly, the bass is actually a bit too strong to my liking.. and on some material has tendency to color the mid. I tested equalized down the bass and the clarity improve quite a bit (because the mid is not colored anymore...)
 
third, IMHO, equalized down a bit on the bass, this CKM500 would be good enough for stage monitor... it compete with GR07 (based on very short listening though)...
 
forth, the clarity is there, but it is still sound like a dynamic phone in general... still would not be mistaken for BA..
 
in all... it is a very good value product... will continue the burn in a long this week....
 
Thanks for the beautiful recommendation David (Dsnuts)... Now... I'm looking forward on the FXD80/70 impressions... whether it would be worth the price difference to FXC80...

 

[jasonb]

Quote:

So this thread has convinced me I'd enjoy a pair of these very much. I'm just wondering now where to get them from.
 
cdJapan (http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/search3.html?r=ALL&q=ckm500&media=NONE&cur=0) seems like a good place with lots of shipping options, I think a few people have bought them from here, any comments about them? Another seller is buyfromjapan on ebay (http://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_nkw=ATH-CKM500&LH_AvailTo=99&_arm=1&_armm=63&_ruu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.ie%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3DATH-CKM500%26_arr%3D1&_rdc=1) who seems legitimate. There isn't much in the price, one thing is if it's shipped from the ebay guy it goes by SAL which can take ages if you get unlucky, I think. Speaking of shipping, if anyone has bought from either of those sellers, are the packages marked with a price/product, as a gift or valued accurately? I'm thinking about customs duty. Or are there other genuine sellers I could buy from? 
 
I'm also thinking of getting the iPhone version (I assume it'll work with other smartphones), am I right in thinking this model has a single cable rather than the 2 foot cable with extension? 

i´d go with the ebay. at least, he offers warranty

Not sure if they will work with other smartphones but you are correct about the cable. Its a single roughly 4ft cable.

 

[compoopers]

To the guy wondering about the treble, the sibilance/harshness of treble definitely calms down after a while.

 

[Mysterious]

Great
Now I am confused between these and CKS77's ...... Any suggestions ?

 

[jasonb]

I only noticed a very slight bit of sibilance and it definitely went away after only a couple of hours. There is and was no real harshness, but just the slight trace of sibilance in the very beginning. I consider myself to be very sensitive to treble, these are fine.

 

[jasonb]

Great
Now I am confused between these and CKS77's ...... Any suggestions ?

Never heard the cks77, but the ckm500 has plenty of bass for any kind of music.

 

[Dsnuts]

These are technically and sonically superior to the CKS77. Fun factor for a bass fan the CKS77 is crazy great..If you listen to bassy music mostly EDM, hiphop the CKS77. For all other genres the CKM500 are supreme. Agreed with jason. Plenty of good quality bass on these as well. So these might fit a person that listen to more variety of music genres.
 
But bass kings the CKS77 are indeedy.

 

[jasonb]

These are technically and sonically superior to the CKS77. Fun factor for a bass fan the CKS77 is crazy great..If you listen to bassy music mostly EDM, hiphop the CKS77. For all other genres the CKM500 are supreme. Agreed with jason. Plenty of good quality bass on these as well. So these might fit a person that listen to more variety of music genres.
 
But bass kings the CKS77 are indeedy.

I listen to a variety of music. I listen to mainly progressive rock and metal but i mix some electronic in there from time to time and i dont think you could get anything that handles variety better than these. For metal they are fast and detailed, for electronic music they are still fast and detailed but have plenty of bass to be fun for electronic music. Sometimes i feel they have to much bass, and then sometimes i feel they have too little bass, which makes me believe these are fairly neutral. The music that is recorded a bit bass heavy is reproduced with a lot of bass, and music that is recorded with to little bass just seems to have little bass. These seem to just play the recordings as intended.

If you desire a sound that has a lot of bass then the cks77 may fit your needs better, but i personally wouldnt want anymore bass then the ckm500 produces for listening to rock and metal.

 

[Shineyie]

Quote:

i´d go with the ebay. at least, he offers warranty

 
That warranty is only available to people in the US it seems, all of them have a 1 year warranty from Audio Technica too that is Japan exclusive.
 
Quote:

Not sure if they will work with other smartphones but you are correct about the cable. Its a single roughly 4ft cable.

     
     Thanks! 

 

[Ghostfit]

Quote:

These are technically and sonically superior to the CKS77. Fun factor for a bass fan the CKS77 is crazy great..If you listen to bassy music mostly EDM, hiphop the CKS77. For all other genres the CKM500 are supreme. Agreed with jason. Plenty of good quality bass on these as well. So these might fit a person that listen to more variety of music genres.
 
But bass kings the CKS77 are indeedy.

 
Totally agree with that !  ...guys who wants slightly more bass than the CKM500 but not to the levels of the CKS77 could consider the CKM300.
 
Last night, I sneaked a listen to the CKM300 that I've been burning for 50 odd hours and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a thinner CKM500 sound but instead got a full sound that rivals it's elder brother.
 
The AT sound signature is evident, where the 500 has got lush mids and nicely layered highs, the 300 was slightly more bassy with a nice warm mid. While A-Bing the both of them last night, I found that sound tracks with lots of treble details sounds better on the 500 while tracks with predominantly male vocals sounds better with the 300 (the trebles have not quite smoothen out as much as I've like them to be, hopefully another 30+ hrs burning will do that)
I'll try to write a full review when they've done 80+ hrs of burn.
 
So which is a better IEM?  ...IMHO, they are both great, they both have a unique sound, different enough for me to warrant keeping both. If I may draw an analogy, the CKM300 is to the CKM500 what the JVC FX101 is the the JVC FX40.
 
Dsnut, I really hope you could pick up a pair of them CKM300, from what I've heard so far, I think they'll impress you.

 

[Dsnuts]

Ya I have those on my mind but I also have the FXD70s on the should I or should I not list. I am so impressed with the FXD80 I am thinking of getting the FXD70 as well...I bought so many iems last month. I feel like a earphone Sheik with too many harems. So many choices I don't know what to take home from work at nights. Even mixing it up is getting harder and harder to do. It is a problem I didn't think I would have.

 

[Ghostfit]

LOL, I know how you feel !   ...too many IEMs, too little ears to stuff them in.

 
Thanks to you, I'm now a big fan of the Audio Technica sound.

 

[Agony]

Which of these is closest to the M50 by terms of sound signature?

 

[dw1narso]

Quote:

Ya I have those on my mind but I also have the FXD70s on the should I or should I not list. I am so impressed with the FXD80 I am thinking of getting the FXD70 as well...I bought so many iems last month. I feel like a earphone Sheik with too many harems. So many choices I don't know what to take home from work at nights. Even mixing it up is getting harder and harder to do. It is a problem I didn't think I would have.

 
I vote for FXD70...  I'd like to know the difference of having the same driver (is it?) in different housing... open back on FXD80 and closed on FXD70...

 

[Cya|\|]

Again, how do these compare to the superlux? Somebody told me that the superlux definitly beat the ckm300.