[4ki]

The story:

Lately, I've had a penchant for post-rock and music that have a great emphasis in the use of bass/mids. Prior to joining this forum, a lot of what I listened to went off just fine for as long as a pair of cans could deliver clean highs and mids; almost to the point of sterility.

I had a less than enthusiastic interest in bass, but after purchasing a few cheap/midrange phones here and there, something changed. I found that a lot of what I had did not let me hear more than one lower-end instrument, particularly the bass guitar, in almost every song I would listen to.

The Creative EP630 was the first canalphone that I had purchased; the review consensus stated punchy bass and okay mids/highs for a price of $30 or less. After owning these for 6 months and enjoying the low-end a fair bit, it was time to upgrade and get a pair that would let me find a bit "more" in my music.

After some mind-numbing research and contemplating, I settled for some Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3, and it delivered exactly what I was looking for, at the time; clean highs/mids with excellent separation, without overbearing bass. While it lacks the kick of the EP630, I could hear the notes! This was rather wonderful, especially if I put on a pair of foamies. Goodbye microphonics, hello detail.

A month later, I get some cheap KSC75s out of curiosity from the local radioshack for $20. Again, I am surprised. Mids never sounded so lively; it was a whole different sound to the IEMs, even if the low-end was a fair bit muddier. It sounded fun and musical, even at flat-eq, which I had not experienced with previous headphones.

Another month later, and here I am, wondering what to jump to in exchange for my Ultimate Ears. While there has been much thinking of getting Shure foamies in order to get that bass, I know that the "life" of the sound will never actually get much better unless I do something more drastic, like a westone es cable swap (which isn't that appealing to me).


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What I've read, so far:

I've read that the UM1s and D-Jays are similar in that they have forward mids and plenty of discernible bass. Differences include the UM1's slightly overbearing low-end, excellent isolation, and cable quality. D-Jays, on the other hand, have more forward mids that let acoustics brighten up nicely, along with an almost "airy" sound to them that I am rather curious about.
Both have notably nice but less clarity in the highs than the Ultimate Ears, though they don't seem to be far behind.

Both have higher impedance than the UEs; this sounds good to me, actually, as lower impedance picks up on noise much more readily than otherwise.

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What I'd like to know:

Now, I am wondering if there is anyone who has at least auditioned more than one of the following IEMs for comparison. I've found plenty of threads, but can't really say for sure since a lot of the information is from a user who's only tried one of the lot.

My other concern is the eartips; I understand that westones utilize foamies just fine, but has anyone managed to get foamies to work on the Jays? This is quite important since my ears are of different sizes, and simply do not respond well to silicone tips due to sensitivity towards microphonics (even if the unit is looped around my ears). Even a DIY foamie method would be awesome.

Thanks a lot for any answers my wallet depends on it...

 

[4ki]

Bumpsky's.

 

[4ki]

Hmm...anyone?

 

[prosound]

Another month later, and here I am, wondering what to jump to in exchange for my Ultimate Ears. While there has been much thinking of getting Shure foamies in order to get that bass, I know that the "life" of the sound will never actually get much better unless I do something more drastic, like a westone es cable swap (which isn't that appealing to me).

I'm not shure if the Shure foamies would fit the UEs without a mod.

 

[4ki]

I'm aware of this, but users have already posted the "mod" via stretching the tube out since there are very little negative testimonial to the foamies, I have no issues with the piece being difficult to remove after wear and tear...hence why I still included it in my post.

Interesting, how an ambiguously posted thread gets far more responses than one that has some thought put into it.

Can someone at LEAST answer my question in whether shure foeamies or others can fit in a pair of D-Jays? If anything, this is probably my number one concern, because silicone tips simply don't do my weird ears justice.

I guess that I'll have to think some more, or wait for the Jays to somehow increase in popularity so that I won't have to shell out as much cash. With some PK3s on the way, I think that I can wait at least a few more months.