[Dsnuts]

Quote:

What is the AT900x copy?

I think he meant how I mentioned earlier how the Isurus sounds have a similar sound signature to the A900X..Or yet another Audio Technica headphone. I think Vlenbo is the only person on this thread other than myself that owns one..It is the new revised Art monitors from Audio Technica.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I am planning on ordering them but I have a question to dsnuts
 
How are the microphonics of these compared to MPs?
 
MPs are a total disaster in terms of microphonics. If these are a lot better and much more bearable I will order them.
 
Thanks for the thoughts and recommendations.

If you mean the Philips SHE3580 rather than the thermaltakes, I can just say that they are less microphonic than the etys ER-4, and you can also wear the cable over the ear, which further reduces microphonics. Since the buds are closed, tiny and, dare I say, aerodynamic, wind noise is unobtrusive too.

 

[Dsnuts]

I absolutely love how small the SHE3580s are. They almost disappear in the ear..I remember the first time I heard them I kept on taking them out of my ears to look at them. I just couldn't believe the sound they emit. There is a part of me that says. Bigger driver means better dynamics.. If any of you guys once thought this. You might as well throw that idea out the window. The guy that need to hear these is RPGWizard. I think he would absolutely be floored by these but he is a headphone guy. For guys that only use headphones..I know there are some that want to have nothing inside their ears.. These Philips are so comfy and sound so good. I encourage guys like RPG and others that are headphone guys only to try these Philips. So small and will give you a sound quality you will not even believe.
 
I am 100% sure that IEMs provide more of a greater sound for the bux more so than full sized headphones. Believe me there is no headphone on this planet that can reproduce the same sounds that come out of these Philips SHE3580 or even the MP 8320. For $10 or less.

 

[vlenbo]

Quote:

I think he meant how I mentioned earlier how the Isurus sounds have a similar sound signature to the A900X..Or yet another Audio Technica headphone. I think Vlenbo is the only person on this thread other than myself that owns one..It is the new revised Art monitors from Audio Technica.

Exactly, I read most of your post,  I did also read that you had that thermal take with you, but man..that is surprising, thought it was too good to be true, to hold good earphones and forget about it. Now I Know how you got the phillips, thanks very much. And the A900x isn't a scary thing to buy from audiocubes, but better for a price drop to occur. Again, thanks for putting your effort into the duds Dsnuts. EDIT: Perfect for gaming, man..dailogue is so clear with this art monitor headphone. (Problem with that also occurs ear ringing seconds go by until I am quick to mute or lower volume levels) Enough about that though, I'm just happy even more gems came out. I wish most people had this kind of feeling when they actually tried good audiogear.

 

[Dsnuts]

Well I will tell you. .I was absolutely blown away with the MP 8320s and those on an amp is unheard of. But these Philips on first try after a day of burning. I was so impressed I had that same feeling all over again. So impressed I had to order more. It was like that cheese cake sample at your grocers where you take one bite and you immediately had to grab some more cus they were so damn good. Lol!. .There was no way I was not going to help you bring these up to a proper level.. Call it my specialty but I think by now people around here know I am for real when it comes to the finds that I have for the community..Wait till some of the impressions come in for these Philips and Thermaltake it is only a matter of time.
 
I think the great thing about both products is they can easily be purchased from everywhere it seems. That wasn't and still isn't the case for the Mp 8320s. So for our Euro friends both these products can be had easily. I am wondering if our Australian friends can get these. I think at least for the Philips it should be.

 

[yuriv]

Go to a TJ Maxx or Marshall's and you might see plenty of these Philips SHE3580 series IEMs for $7 or $8. I bought mine back in May and I discovered that my EQ almost cancels the response they measured at goldenears.net: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ko&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=goldenears.net. Click on GE Review and you'll see the list of IEMs that they measured.

Without EQ, I find them pretty unlistenable, with overwhelming bass and piercing highs. To me, it sounds excellent when I copy the frequency balance of my speakers (in well-treated rooms, sometimes with digital room correction on top of that, sometimes with a house curve). The headset SHE3575 is $10, sounds pretty much the same, but doesn't have the nice stiff cable:
 


The correction needs only a few bands and can easily be implemented in Rockbox. The Equalizer iOS app actually needs more work, even though it has seven bands. The exact locations of the spikes depend of the particular geometry of my ears. Mine seem to match up more with the dummy head at goldenears (and less with the one that Tyll uses at innerfidelity.com).

There's a lot of heavily-discounted IEMs and headphones at Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx. I've made it sort of a fun sport to pick up the cheapest open-box pair to hear how horrible it is, and to see what EQ it needs. There are a few gems out there.

For example, the Panasonic HJE120 Ergofit, to me, sounds better without EQ than the SHE3580. It's still a bit harsh, though. It doesn't have much isolation, which is sometimes useful. It trades isolation for comfort and ease of insertion. It's practically an earbud with a nozzle. I bought mine at Ross for $7. At one time it was $1 at Amazon, but it's usually $5-$6.
 


Over the past few months, I've picked up clearance MEElec, Dynex, Sony, Coby, Philips, Skullcandy, and iFrogz IEMs, as well as JVC Marshmallows, Clear Colors, RipTidz, Gumy+ IEMs, Ear Cushions. I've managed to match the color of the IEM to my outfit.

Using precise EQ to get these closer to neutrality has always resulted in better sound. Phase and time-domain response aren't independent from the magnitude response. I found that after corrective EQ, the imaging sounds more precise and focused, especially with binaural recordings. I wouldn't be surprised if the transient response also measures better.

I found it easier to correct the responses of cheap IEMs than those of cheap headphones. Those have so many ups and downs in the response, especially above 2 kHz. It's because you also hear the effect of the pinna.

I can share more graphs, if anyone is interested. But maybe that's the topic of another thread--EQ'ing cheapo IEMs for neutrality (or something closer to it). I'll have to order me some MP8320 sometime.

 

[rymd]

I'm kind of confuse here.. did you actually listen to the two CKM99 and Isurus and compare to conclude that they have the same sound? Maybe they share the same driver, but they aren't the same headphone like maybe the CAL ... 
The Brookstone Dual Drive appeared to be a Radius DDM clone and actually had pretty much the same sound signature as the DDM, but was still no where close to the DDM technically. However, it was still an incredibly good value. I'm just think it may be the same or similar case here... but anyways I await further impressions from people who already bought it

 

[blupblup]

Just subscribing.
 
Although out of curiosity, which would be better for sub bass and clarity (high end sparkle)... I want deep sub bass but I also don't want it to be too muddy.
Which of the two would you recommend for that Dsnuts?
 
 
Cheers.
 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Can't vouch for the Thermaltake Isurus but the Philips SHE3580 has plenty of subbass and high end sparkle.  If you like a V-shaped response these will definitely suit you.  On the other hand as yuriv posted an A-shaped EQ curve is a good compensation for them to bring out the vocals.  I did a variation of PiccoloNamek's EQ tutorial and arrived at pretty much the same EQ shape as yuriv.
 
As I said, YMMV on the need to actually equalize the Philips.  My brother (after over an hour of testing!) didn't like either the treble cut or the bass cut, preferring the original sound of the SHE3580.

 

[mugen3]

Dsnuts, I think the TT are using the CKM77's driver. The CKM77 have a 13mm driver like the TT and have the same sound sig as the CKM99 (which you say the TT sound just like).

 

[jelt2359]

My first sq-test of budget fi. Ran out to pick up a pair at the local store.
 
Immersive sound. Doesn't work on everything though. On busy bass-heavy sources like action movies, it sounds congested and struggles. But then, it's probably unfair to compare to what I'm used to for clarity (re262, um3x, jh13, he6). 
 
For pop and techno, it sounds much better than expected. Very musical. Clear highs, punchy bass. All this out of my iPhone- my HM801 ran out of juice. 
 
As for fit, it is indeed small, but I don't care for the harder clear silicon tips they provided. I've always preferred soft black silicon tips.
 
More comments to come. 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

jelt2359 from your description you bought the Philips SHE3580 right?  Lol it will be hard to tell the two wonderful phones apart unless people specify which one they're talking about!

 
I bet you find them "congested" only because they have too MUCH subbass.  And a bit too much midbass too.  I made a gradual cut on them in EQ starting at 500Hz and ramping them down to about -10dB at ~150dB (all the way down to 20Hz--with a good seal these don't drop off in the bass at all, as measurements show.  10dB is quite a substantial cut, but remember I come from the bass-light Ety ER-4P) and since then they have been THE phones I use for action movies.  Explosions with real OOMPH and crystal clear dialog and impactful transients.  (well, I cut down some on the treble too, but I cut down the treble on the Ety ER-4P as well)

 

[Majin]

mic is pc only
 
Quote:

This!!!!
Also, I usually never use IEMs but I think I can try those TTs and use them with my phone just for kicks! Is the mic any good with the phone? Or is that for PC only??
thanks

 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The Philips SHE3575 is a version of the SHE3580 with inline mic for phones.

 

[jelt2359]

Quote:

jelt2359 from your description you bought the Philips SHE3580 right?  Lol it will be hard to tell the two wonderful phones apart unless people specify which one they're talking about!

 
I bet you find them "congested" only because they have too MUCH subbass.  And a bit too much midbass too.  I made a gradual cut on them in EQ starting at 500Hz and ramping them down to about -10dB at ~150dB (all the way down to 20Hz--with a good seal these don't drop off in the bass at all, as measurements show.  10dB is quite a substantial cut, but remember I come from the bass-light Ety ER-4P) and since then they have been THE phones I use for action movies.  Explosions with real OOMPH and crystal clear dialog and impactful transients.  (well, I cut down some on the treble too, but I cut down the treble on the Ety ER-4P as well)

 
Yes, I was referring to the Philips SHE. You may be right about eq. Afterwards I fired up another scene, still action packed but a bit less bass/ explosions. It was clear and immersive. Will test more with my full rig in a bit.