[ocZZ]

I picked up a pair of IE7's to replace my broken SE530's and I really haven't been all that happy with them. The SE530's sounded pretty much perfect - great mids and bass. The IE7's (with about 60 hours on them) have strained highs and an almost distant sound to them compared to the SE530. I've tried using a few of the earbuds from the IE7's and also some shure olive buds on the IE7's... all going through a iphone. Is there something I am missing? do they need more time? I'm thinking about going back to the SE530's or maybe UM3X's instead.

<edit> I also have some re0's on the way.

 

[rawrster]

probably more burn in..going thru the ie7 appareciation thread makes it look like they need like 200 hrs

 

[ocZZ]

hope so, I'd like to just go back to the se530's but worried about cracked cables even on the newer units... stinks that shure hasn't come out with a new model that addresses this.

 

[mvw2]

The effects from burn in are not linear. The biggest gains will happen immediately, and gains per unit time diminish. The only reason why a headphone would remain unbroken in is if you only listened to it lightly all the time. Then you simply aren't doing a proper burn in. The process is relatively rapid.

This was one thing I noticed with the IE8 I got. It had 30 hours on it, and it still wasn't fully burnt in. I then had to go and finish breaking it in which is really not a long process.

I have no clue how the IE7 sounds. The IE8 doesn't have strained highs. The distant sound may be common between both as the IE8 does give a big, spacious presentation (everything existing far away). It definitely doesn't have the intimate sound that the SE530 has. Something closer to the SE530 would be the UM3X. The UM3X is still a bit different sounding from the SE530.

 

[ocZZ]

update: I ended up picking up re0's and pairing them with shure olives and they sound great! similar sound to the se530's although lacking abit on the low end. IE7's are going up for sale.