[amilopowers]

Hi Folks,
 
i am kind of audiophile, but about what am i talking, i think every body here is. 
 
Actually i am using my iPhone 4 with a Shure SE315 (i didn't found it in your ranking...). My files are most in 256kbit/s AAC compression. 
 
Is it worth to upgrade to a Sennheiser IE8 or even to a Ultimate Ears Custom in ear? I mean is the sound quality and the audio chip of the iPhone 4 good enough to hear a difference?
 
Btw someting different: Why is there no Number 1 in your ranking? And why are the customs not in the top 20? 
 
Thx, Greets!

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

Hi Folks,
 
i am kind of audiophile, but about what am i talking, i think every body here is. 
 
Actually i am using my iPhone 4 with a Shure SE315 (i didn't found it in your ranking...). My files are most in 256kbit/s AAC compression. 
 
Is it worth to upgrade to a Sennheiser IE8 or even to a Ultimate Ears Custom in ear? I mean is the sound quality and the audio chip of the iPhone 4 good enough to hear a difference?
 
Btw someting different: Why is there no Number 1 in your ranking? And why are the customs not in the top 20? 
 
Thx, Greets!

You should still be able to hear differences on your iPhone 4.  Customs will provide much better bass response due to a better seal.  However, choosing the right custom is important (this goes for any headphone).  Whether or not it's worth upgrading is entirely subjective.  Although the changes will just about always be audible, the size of the changes will become small as you go up the ladder.  Whether that small change is worth it or not is completely up to the buyer. 
 
As for a number 1...  There is no perfect headphone.  Everyone has different tastes, everyone perceives headphones differently.
 

 

[amilopowers]

Okay but how important is the bitrate of the files?
 
And i know that there is no perfect headphone i just thought that every ranking has it's number one.

 

[Jeremypsp]

Quote:

Okay but how important is the bitrate of the files?
 
And i know that there is no perfect headphone i just thought that every ranking has it's number one.

Bitrate of the files really depends. For example if I rip a CD with a compressed 128kbps and download the same 128kbps song, the CD rip might sound better. However, if I use a file converter to convert the 128kbps file into a 320kbps one, the sound would not change, as you can't get something out of nothing. And not many people would be able to tell a 320kbps AAC CD rip from a lossless file with most headphones. 

And for whether it's worth to upgrade or not, it depends on your preference, if you already like your SE315s a lot, then keep them or go to an upgrade that shares a similar sound signature but has a better overall sound quality. However, if you do not like your SE315s that much, list down your sound signature and musical preferences and we here will try to match your preferences to the closest of what we have all heard. 

 

[amilopowers]

Oh thank you for your effort! I just ordered a Sennheiser IE8 (i think 265$ is ok?).
 
I think my sound preferences are kind of hard to define. I listen every thing from Coldplay,Paul Kalkbrenner (electronica), FM Belfast (electronica), Nirvana and a lot of Rap Artists but also Artworks from Yann Tiersen or Klaus Badelt.
 
I like my SE315 but i think there must be more so i ordered the Sennheiser. I had a Sennheiser before (i guess it was a MM50 or so) and i was impressed how good these small, cheap Sennheiser were. The Shure was not way ahead to the MM50, in my opinion.
 
And i think my younger bro will love my Shure's
 
But again: Why is the Shure315 not in the ranking? Is it just to bad to get in?

 

[Jeremypsp]

Quote:

Oh thank you for your effort! I just ordered a Sennheiser IE8 (i think 265$ is ok?).
 
I think my sound preferences are kind of hard to define. I listen every thing from Coldplay,Paul Kalkbrenner (electronica), FM Belfast (electronica), Nirvana and a lot of Rap Artists but also Artworks from Yann Tiersen or Klaus Badelt.
 
I like my SE315 but i think there must be more so i ordered the Sennheiser. I had a Sennheiser before (i guess it was a MM50 or so) and i was impressed how good these small, cheap Sennheiser were. The Shure was not way ahead to the MM50, in my opinion.
 
And i think my younger bro will love my Shure's
 
But again: Why is the Shure315 not in the ranking? Is it just to bad to get in?

Hmm, looks like bass is what you're looking for. The music you listen to requires quite a bit of bass. Good thing the IE8s provide that. The Shures are quite bass light in comparison. And for why it's not in the ranking, I'm thinking that not many people have heard the SE315s, and they achieved a mediocre review from cnet and they even claimed that the Klipsch S4 was better than it. Though I do not think that is true. So many people might be put off to trying it. Also, the Shure SE315s are mid-end earphones and higher-end earphones can easily triumph it, though whether the price can be justified or not depends on the buyer. 
 
 

 

[amilopowers]

Wooow i got my IE8 today! I listen right now to Klaus Badelt's Pirate of the Carribean OST and the sound is just gorgeous!! And it gets even better after 50+h....
 
But the ear pads are all not reaching deep enough in my ear. Sometimes the IEM are falling almost out (especially the left one) . I loved the plastic ones with my Shure. But they don't fit on the Sennheiser.
 
Can you give me an advice wich or where to buy pads who are reaching deeper? Or is the a thread in Forum i can't find?
 

 

[Jeremypsp]

Quote:

Wooow i got my IE8 today! I listen right now to Klaus Badelt's Pirate of the Carribean OST and the sound is just gorgeous!! And it gets even better after 50+h....
 
But the ear pads are all not reaching deep enough in my ear. Sometimes the IEM are falling almost out (especially the left one) . I loved the plastic ones with my Shure. But they don't fit on the Sennheiser.
 
Can you give me an advice wich or where to buy pads who are reaching deeper? Or is the a thread in Forum i can't find?
 

Glad you like them! I think they need over 150hours of burning-in and stated by some people. The IE8 does not have superb isolation, so that is normal. Try using different tips given by Sennheiser. You can also try the Ultimate Ears Single Flange as stated by someone.  If you want deeper, then using tri or bi flanges is the only way. Since the IE8s aren't IEMs that go really deep.