[3l3tric]

I have a set of NIB Image S4's coming in the mail via warranty coverage. Since I first bought these earbuds, I bought the Crossfade LP's, and fell in love with the bass heavy signature. My setup with overears is a Fiio E6 with the premium LOD (gold plated, not sure of number), and the Crossfades. With Trance, House, And Dubstep, I'll have the E6 on the Red EQ setting, but it's on blue with everything else. I use either 256 kbps AAC files or ALAC lossless most of the time, with very few exceptions.

So here's my debate. I'm either going to keep and use the NIB buds, or I'm going to sell them NIB and buy the vibratos when they come out. I want the ones with the best and more predominant bass response, as I like my 'phones to be a bit biased toward bass. Which of the two buds most accurately replicates the Crossfade LP's?

Btw, cost is NOT a factor.

Thanks in advance!


EDIT: This was the old opener paragraph. The thread is now about whether I'm buying the Future Sonic Atrios or the V-MODA Vibratos.

The price is not an issue. And, if possible, I'd like people who have actually heard either/both earbuds.

Thanks, all input matters in my final decision.

I also have an odd sound preference: More bass, a bit less treble. No amount of bass is overwhelming, but the treble must be there (In other words, I hate the Beats Solo HD, because of the massive lack of treble, which makes the bass way too powerful when you try to correct it, but I like the Crossfade LP originals, because of the slightly recessed bass and the slightly louder treble.) Main musical interests are the same as before.

 

[tdshain]

If you want bass, I recommend getting the atrio from future sonics. You can find them for around the same price as the vibratos.
 
I had a pair of the V-Moda flagship iems in 2009 (some variation of the vibes I believe). If my experience with them is any indication, these vibratos won't even be able to touch the atrios.
 
Of course I haven't heard the vibratos, someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

 

[3l3tric]

Hmm... a bit over the cost, honestly. And I think the vibes are kinda a lower end quality.

 

[Crossfire23]

Personally, I've found my Vibratos to be almost painful to listen to on certain genres, the sibilance is too harsh on my ears. However, if you're going to listen to music genres with very little vocals and heavy bass, I can see them be a good choice.

 

[3l3tric]

@Crossfire, is there a good return policy? And allso, have you heard the Klipsch image s4's to compare? And finally, have you heard the Crossfade LP's to compare? A lot of people claim the same about the LP's but I really still like them, even in acoustic and heavy vocal environments. I'm really just looking for which set has the closest sound sig to the Crossfade LP's.

 

[tdshain]

Quote:

Hmm... a bit over the cost, honestly. And I think the vibes are kinda a lower end quality.

I'm not certain that it was the vibes. I just know it was the flagship for v-moda iems at the time (2009).
 
I just did a quick google shooping search. Found the atrio mg7 for $143 new from amazon.com + free shipping
 
http://www.amazon.com/Atrio-Future-Sonic-010-046-FutureSonics/dp/B0016ZGKAW
 
At 10-20$ more than the vibratos, I say you should go for it.

 

[3l3tric]

The only thing stopping me from just jumping in is the fact that they're not on the reccommended list on cnet, which is the main place I look before I go out and buy any earbuds. That's why I got the Koss Porta Pros and the Image S4's.

Have you heard the crossfade LP's? My real question I guess is, which of the three sets (the two I mentioned and the fs atrios) has the closest sound to the Crossfade LPs?

And btw, is the site you found them on an authorized retailer, and do they have a good return policy?

 

[Mooses9]

keep the s4 and save for better

 

[3l3tric]

@mooses9 I'm not particularly looking at getting a set for over 200. When It's all said and done, after selling the S4's, I'll have about 120 saved. So, that's about the highest I'll go.

But yeah, what do you use personally? And whatever they are, do they have a similar sound to the Crossfade LP's?

 

[tdshain]

Quote:

The only thing stopping me from just jumping in is the fact that they're not on the reccommended list on cnet, which is the main place I look before I go out and buy any earbuds. That's why I got the Koss Porta Pros and the Image S4's.
Have you heard the crossfade LP's? My real question I guess is, which of the three sets (the two I mentioned and the fs atrios) has the closest sound to the Crossfade LPs?
And btw, is the site you found them on an authorized retailer, and do they have a good return policy?

They ship from amazon through the manufacturer. Amazon has a 30 day return policy, but you have to be sure to keep the original packaging.
 
Cnet is far from the leading authority on headphones of any kind, they haven't even done a review of the atrios so you can't base anything on that. You're are much better off getting your information here.
 
If you want an iem that delivers bass, the atrio is the way to go. It's widely considered to be the bass king and as far as I know, it's only bested by Future Sonic's custom line-up (someone correct me if I'm wrong here).
 
I haven't heard the crossfade LP's, but I'm sure someone around here can give you a comparison.

 

[3l3tric]

@tdshain alright. Just a question though, have you used the Image S4's so youcan compare those with the atrios?

 

[tdshain]

Quote:

@tdshain alright. Just a question though, have you used the Image S4's so youcan compare those with the atrios?

 
I did own the s4s briefly about 2 years ago. I got a great deal on them and decided to get them for workouts. However my experience with them was rather limited, because they were stolen after a little less than a month.
 
Didn't hear the atrios until about a year ago so I can't really give you a direct comparison. What I can tell you is that while I do recall the s4 being bass heavy, it doesn't come close to the quality or quantity of bass on the atrios. It's hard to compare the rest of the sound, because it doesn't stand out well in my memory. I'm sure someone else here can help you out in this respect though. 

 

[3l3tric]

@tdshain : thanks, so... I guess it's between the atrios and the vibratos. Not to be mean, but I'd love to hear of someone that has experience with both the Vibratos and the atrios.

 

[Techno Kid]

Well I can tell you the Atrio's sound great, they have amazing clean deep bass and very balanced mids and highs with good detail.  They're one of my favorite IEM's that I have just behind my new Rockit Sounds R-50.  Plus the $109 they go for shipped is a great price performance ratio, you can find the discount code in the Atrio MG7 thread.
 
One other thing I like is that the MG7's are good with bad source material, like if you have a lot of MP3's at 128kps or just bad recordings the Atrio's are good a masking that and making them sound much better than with a lot of other good quality IEM's.  Now thats not to say they aren't detailed, they're actually very good for a bass heavy IEM they just work well with bad source material for some reason.

 

[3l3tric]

Ah ok. Well I've heard a bunch saying that the atrios are great, but I really want to hear from someone who's owned botth, if possible. Thanks for the input though! It reall does help in my final decision.