[uglysteve]

I've been searching for the perfect IEMs for a long time.  I currently own a pair of UE 900s that are superb but for the fact that they have a very subdued low end.  I am a bit of a bass head but I also love the clarity of the 900s.  I also recently tried out the Bowers & Wilkins C5s which, to me, were too uncomfortable.  Right now I'm listening to R.E.V.O. by Walk Off The Earth on my new Westone 3s.  The Westones are better in the low end, but the 900s beat them in the rest of the range.  
 
Is there an IEM out there that will give me what I want?
I have ordered a pair of HEIR 3.AIs and maybe these will give me what I need.  I wast thinking of trying out the Sennheiser IE8s too, but there are so many fakes out there, I don't know who to trust.  

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

I've been searching for the perfect IEMs for a long time.  I currently own a pair of UE 900s that are superb but for the fact that they have a very subdued low end.  I am a bit of a bass head but I also love the clarity of the 900s.  I also recently tried out the Bowers & Wilkins C5s which, to me, were too uncomfortable.  Right now I'm listening to R.E.V.O. by Walk Off The Earth on my new Westone 3s.  The Westones are better in the low end, but the 900s beat them in the rest of the range.  
 
Is there an IEM out there that will give me what I want?
I have ordered a pair of HEIR 3.AIs and maybe these will give me what I need.  I wast thinking of trying out the Sennheiser IE8s too, but there are so many fakes out there, I don't know who to trust.  

 
3.Ai was the wrong direction.  If you wanted to go with Heir Audio, I would say the 4.Ai.  Over everything though, I'd recommend the Westone W4.  You chose the wrong IEMs with the 3's (both Westone and Heir Audio) as they are both known to have large Vs   Seems like all triple-drivers tend to have this mythical deep V shape

 

[Inks]

W4, don't bother with Heir Audio. 

 

[uglysteve]

I've been reading that the Westone W4 also lacks in the bass dept.  No?

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

I've been reading that the Westone W4 also lacks in the bass dept.  No?

 
It has more than the UE 900 and 4.Ai.  It's not lacking IMO. 

 

[uglysteve]

How is the low end on the W4s compared to the W3s?  Although the 3s are better at low end than the 900s, they are still not enough for me.

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

How is the low end on the W4s compared to the W3s?  Although the 3s are better at low end than the 900s, they are still not enough for me.

 
The W3 bass isn't enough for you?  Oh boy...  Then to answer your original question, there exists no IEM that will satisfy your needs.  You want midrange, but aren't willing to give up anything for it.  The game of audio is a give-take game. More bass = perceived loss in mids and treble.  More mids = percieved loss in bass and treble, etc.  The only way to get more bass and more midrange would be to either reduce the treble or increase total volume. 

 

[uglysteve]

Bummer.  I do love the sound signature provided by my Beyerdynamic 990 600ohm headphones.  If I could get that in an IEM, I'd be ok.  By the way...thanks for the input.  I'm going to continue the search.  Maybe the Heir 3.AIs will wow me.

 

[uglysteve]

Sometimes my baseline becomes distorted when I've immersed myself too deeply into a project and I forget where I was when I started.

This has happened again during this exercise.

I just put my old sony IEMs in (the ones I've been listening to before I began this journey to find the perfect IEM) and immediately changed my opinion of the westone 3. Compared to my old sony IEMs, the westones are fantastic. I used to think my sonys were great and had a distorted view of what I had. The midrange of the Westones is three or four leagues above and beyond what the sonys offer, as is the high end.

My problem was that I went from crappy sonys to UE 900s where I Iost bass, but gained extraordinary detail. So in my search to find bass again, I forgot how crappy things were in the beginning.

I change my stance on the W3. They have enough bass for me. I don't want less bass, only more clarity and detail in the mids and highs.

Am I still asking for too much?

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

Sometimes my baseline becomes distorted when I've immersed myself too deeply into a project and I forget where I was when I started.

This has happened again during this exercise.

I just put my old sony IEMs in (the ones I've been listening to before I began this journey to find the perfect IEM) and immediately changed my opinion of the westone 3. Compared to my old sony IEMs, the westones are fantastic. I used to think my sonys were great and had a distorted view of what I had. The midrange of the Westones is three or four leagues above and beyond what the sonys offer, as is the high end.

My problem was that I went from crappy sonys to UE 900s where I Iost bass, but gained extraordinary detail. So in my search to find bass again, I forgot how crappy things were in the beginning.

I change my stance on the W3. They have enough bass for me. I don't want less bass, only more clarity and detail in the mids and highs.

Am I still asking for too much?

 
More clarity implies a boost in the upper mids, lower highs generally.  Adding to the high end may make the IEM a little less bearable though

 

[xaddictionx]

I also agree that you should check out the W4. IMO, I find that the bass of W4 is more prominent than the UE900. It has a tad more bass to my ears. Clarity wise, the UE900 will edge slightly due to a slight veil in the lower mids of W4. However, this can be solved by a cable change. I do find the female vocals to be a bit thin sounding on the UE900. In general, the W4 provides a very smooth and relax listening experience.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Haven't tried the W3 but I found the W4 a bit lacking in bass quantity compared to the TF10 for example. I got the Sony EX1000 after the W4 and find the bass sufficient for my tastes. (I believe the EX1000 has less bass than the W3 though). I find the EX1000 very pleasing across the frequency spectrum

 

[uglysteve]

I've decided to return my w3 and ue900s for a set of heir 5.0s.

 

[ZARIM]

I think if you add AMPs and ALO 18AWG Pure Cryo or CXS cable in chain then any IEMs can sound more fuller with better bass response.

 

[rahulsharma]

i highly recommend you this i also use it's sound quality is too good.