[gameboy115]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ah1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah, a little bit of an exageration but it did make the sound rather muddy and low-fi. There was just something wrong. the fit and seal of the small complys was perfect though giving amazing isolation. When I was referencing the shures they are the black dome-like foams - often called shure 'olives'. I used to need the small one, but after losing some weight over the past few years I've had to change to the medium - you can differentiate them by dimple markings - so make sure you get the small, medium and large to try in those and the soft-flex.

Thanks. I ordered some from ebay seller. He offered me a package with 3 different size, hopefully I would get it by next week. We will see

 

[tigon_ridge]

Hello, head-fi community. Newcomer here.

First I would like to share an awful experience I had with my first and only expensive audio purchase. I bought an hd650 and a Headroom Bithead. When I first plugged them in, the experience was overwhelming...overwhelming in a very, very unfavorable way. I immediately was upset over the fact that I really could not tell any significant improvement over the $20 sony clip-ons that I already had. In fact, I strained to find the least bit of improvement. I still couldn't find any difference between 128kbps and original CD. Needless to say, I was shocked that I had spent $500 on that set up.

So I figured, maybe these just need some time to break in. 24 hours later after letting them sit and play, I still couldn't hear a difference. I became dismayed. I had so much expectation for my $500 only to be totally disappointed. I kept thinking day after day, week after week, "maybe my ears just aren't meant to be sensitive to audiophile quality sound."

However, I was inexperienced at that time. I didn't realize that I should've had the gain on the bithead on high, rather than low. Funny thing is, at that time I thought the difference between the two was just volume. Didn't understand all the technical stuff about amps and headphones.

By now, the hd650 and bithead no longer work. I think I accidentally dropped the hd650 onto hard floor too many times. I figured for something so expensive it would be more durable... stupid assumption. The bithead, well... I simply don't know what went wrong there.

Now I'm here, finding myself in desire for quality sound again. The reason is because I truly do love my music, as every person in this online community does theirs. I just can't face that same disappointment again. I like the idea of an iem, especially that you don't need some expensive amp to be satisfied with the sound. I've done some reading (actually, a lot of reading - at least 30 hours of reading), and I've come to the conclusion that the um3x may just be what I want for my musical tastes.

Do you guys think I should go for it once again? Will it sound good out of cheap internal integrated sound of a typical motherboard? If it does I will probably invest in a quality usb dac anyways.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigon_ridge /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello, head-fi community. Newcomer here. First I would like to share an awful experience I had with my first and only expensive audio purchase. I bought an hd650 and a Headroom Bithead. When I first plugged them in, the experience was overwhelming...overwhelming in a very, very unfavorable way. I immediately was upset over the fact that I really could not tell any significant improvement over the $20 sony clip-ons that I already had. In fact, I strained to find the least bit of improvement. I still couldn't find any difference between 128kbps and original CD. Needless to say, I was shocked that I had spent $500 on that set up. So I figured, maybe these just need some time to break in. 24 hours later after letting them sit and play, I still couldn't hear a difference. I became dismayed. I had so much expectation for my $500 only to be totally disappointed. I kept thinking day after day, week after week, "maybe my ears just aren't meant to be sensitive to audiophile quality sound." However, I was inexperienced at that time. I didn't realize that I should've had the gain on the bithead on high, rather than low. Funny thing is, at that time I thought the difference between the two was just volume. Didn't understand all the technical stuff about amps and headphones. By now, the hd650 and bithead no longer work. I think I accidentally dropped the hd650 onto hard floor too many times. I figured for something so expensive it would be more durable... stupid assumption. The bithead, well... I simply don't know what went wrong there. Now I'm here, finding myself in desire for quality sound again. The reason is because I truly do love my music, as every person in this online community does theirs. I just can't face that same disappointment again. I like the idea of an iem, especially that you don't need some expensive amp to be satisfied with the sound. I've done some reading (actually, a lot of reading - at least 30 hours of reading), and I've come to the conclusion that the um3x may just be what I want for my musical tastes. Do you guys think I should go for it once again? Will it sound good out of cheap internal integrated sound of a typical motherboard? If it does I will probably invest in a quality usb dac anyways.

The bithead isn't a good choice of amp for the HD650, and I too found the HD650 underwhelming when under-amped as well.

I think you may prefer the sound of the New Grado HF-2 or these UM3X IEM more. These two have some similarities in sound, and will be much easier to amplify than the HD650, and still provide great sound without needing a big amp. But, I would still try to get a decent DAC or DAC/Amp.

On a tight budget and for listening to the computer with UM3X, even the $189 Head-direct.com EF2 DAC+amp that was just released at CanJam is doing a great job with all my headphones and in ear monitors, including even my HD800 ($1400). It's taken about 250 hours to burn-in the amp, and the bass definitely improved with the hours. And, the internal USB DAC is doing a good job too. The EF2 doesn't hiss with my Westone 3 or Westone ES3X, and there is good channel balance at low volumes too.

 

[gameboy115]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigon_ridge /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello, head-fi community. Newcomer here. First I would like to share an awful experience I had with my first and only expensive audio purchase. I bought an hd650 and a Headroom Bithead. When I first plugged them in, the experience was overwhelming...overwhelming in a very, very unfavorable way. I immediately was upset over the fact that I really could not tell any significant improvement over the $20 sony clip-ons that I already had. In fact, I strained to find the least bit of improvement. I still couldn't find any difference between 128kbps and original CD. Needless to say, I was shocked that I had spent $500 on that set up. So I figured, maybe these just need some time to break in. 24 hours later after letting them sit and play, I still couldn't hear a difference. I became dismayed. I had so much expectation for my $500 only to be totally disappointed. I kept thinking day after day, week after week, "maybe my ears just aren't meant to be sensitive to audiophile quality sound." However, I was inexperienced at that time. I didn't realize that I should've had the gain on the bithead on high, rather than low. Funny thing is, at that time I thought the difference between the two was just volume. Didn't understand all the technical stuff about amps and headphones. By now, the hd650 and bithead no longer work. I think I accidentally dropped the hd650 onto hard floor too many times. I figured for something so expensive it would be more durable... stupid assumption. The bithead, well... I simply don't know what went wrong there. Now I'm here, finding myself in desire for quality sound again. The reason is because I truly do love my music, as every person in this online community does theirs. I just can't face that same disappointment again. I like the idea of an iem, especially that you don't need some expensive amp to be satisfied with the sound. I've done some reading (actually, a lot of reading - at least 30 hours of reading), and I've come to the conclusion that the um3x may just be what I want for my musical tastes. Do you guys think I should go for it once again? Will it sound good out of cheap internal integrated sound of a typical motherboard? If it does I will probably invest in a quality usb dac anyways.

Welcome.

It don't need amp, it is just as easy to drive as IE8. My UM3x is doing fine with my onboard sound card as well.

As far as I know HD650 basically has different sound signature or presentation. HD 650 is dark, bassy, laid back presentation, wide soundstage. UM3X is little warm, upfront presentation, not very bassy, fairly average soundstage. If you are trying to make a change, that would surely give you a lot of surprise, even whole new experience to your favorite music.

That would be a disappointment if you want something similar, in that case, I think IE8 suit you better as a well known mini version of HD 650.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gameboy115 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It don't need amp, it is just as easy to drive as IE8. My UM3x is doing fine with my onboard sound card as well. As far as I know HD650 basically has different sound signature or presentation. HD 650 is dark, bassy, laid back presentation, wide soundstage. UM3X is little warm, upfront presentation, not very bassy, fairly average soundstage If you are trying to make a change, that would surely give you a lot of surprise, even whole new experience to favorite music. That would be a disappointment in case you want something similar, in hat case, I think IE8 suit you better as a well know mini version of HD 650.

In my experience, many soundcards are noisy and have hiss with IEM, so a USB DAC amp is a way to get no hiss and a black background. I agree UM3X don't need an amp to drive them, as they are easy to drive. They sound good right off an iPhone or iPod. But, for a computer it might be needed.

The IE8 sound like an HD650, so if you don't like HD650 (as you stated) then I would avoid those.

 

[tigon_ridge]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys. I appreciate your feedbacks, especially since I don't have HPA's wallet capacity to allow me to choose, through experimentation, which equipment would be ideal for a certain budget level.

I can't really say that I don't like my hd650, since I had never really properly amped it to begin with, like HPA said. I mean, even after several days of burn-in I was thinking, "What was it that they said about soundstage, or headstage? What stage?! I can't hear any of that. The sound is still in my head, as blobs. DAMN IT!" I was a college student, living on $7/hr with a very painful job (literally painful, as I can't stand on my feet for even 4 hours before they start hurting a lot regardless of what shoes or insoles I tried). So you can understand my utter disbelief, disappointment, and anger when I realized that I had spent $500 on nothing. I could've returned them, but by then I had already quit the job and all my earnings were spent on the purchase, so I couldn't pay for the return shipping. I was hoping that maybe the sound will improve over time, or my ears will grow more sensitive to something I thought I just couldn't hear.

So basically the bithead for an hd650 is a no-no... something I learned the hardest way. I think the balanced sound of the um3x is something I might prefer to the much warmer ie8 and hd650. I mostly listen to vocals, so um3x or se530 is the choice. I know I can get an se530 for about $200 on ebay, but the balance and overall fidelity of the um3x sound more attractive.

Thank you, HPA, for an excellent recommendation that is a dac+amp EF2. I think my plan will be to purchase an iem first, then save up for a high-end $250+ dac (I would like to try some of those 20bit/98kHz flac files out there) and perhaps a pico amp or something similar. I'll also consider some of the dac+amp units HPA and others had already auditioned and reviewed.

Hopefully, if all will go well, there may be a tiny blurry figure out there in the very, very distant horizon shaped like something, say... an es3x?

 

[No Deal]

After listening to my Etymotic 4S earphones for more years than I can remember, I ordered the UM3X this morning. I hope that I don't regret the purchase. I also hope that they get along with my D10.

 

[bakhtiar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Deal /img/forum/go_quote.gif After listening to my Etymotic 4S earphones for more years than I can remember, I ordered the UM3X this morning. I hope that I don't regret the purchase. I also hope that they get along with my D10.

IMHO, you may miss the mids/vocal forwardness and the treble energy

But you will gain a better bass, well balanced sound and bigger 'soundstage'

 

[tigon_ridge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakhtiar /img/forum/go_quote.gif IMHO, you may miss the mids/vocal forwardness and the treble energy But you will gain a better bass, well balanced sound and bigger 'soundstage'

I thought, from several people's impressions, that the um3x is already very forward (to the point of being a little too forward for some).

 

[bakhtiar]

Yes, compared to my PFEs, UM3X's mids/vocals (around 3-5 kHz) are a little bit laid back or less clarity. Imagine that with PFEs, your ears are AT the performers/conductor's place, compared to UM3X, where your are sitting at the front rows, IMHO. This also depends on the source and DAC/AMP's sound signature. I do like the UM3X's sound signature very much, very relaxing and easy/gentle to my ears

.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakhtiar /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, compared to my PFEs, UM3X's mids/vocals (around 3-5 kHz) are a little bit laid back or less clarity. Imagine that with PFEs, your ears are AT the performers/conductor's place, compared to UM3X, where your are sitting at the front rows, IMHO. This also depends on the source and DAC/AMP's sound signature. I do like the UM3X's sound signature very much, very relaxing and easy/gentle to my ears .

Yeah - I might say PFE with grey filters on stage, UM3X in 1st row, W3 are in 5 - 10th row.

 

[Hsiu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah - I might say PFE with grey filters on stage, UM3X in 1st row, W3 are in 5 - 10th row.

PFE black filter is a bit laid back compare to gray, it is a bit relaxing, never try UM3X, will it sound more like black filter PFE but better detail ?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hsiu /img/forum/go_quote.gif PFE black filter is a bit laid back compare to gray, it is a bit relaxing, never try UM3X, will it sound more like black filter PFE but better detail ?

That might be a fair description of the placement in the audience, and yeah, more detail than the PFE with black filters. The PFE with grey filters are almost hyper-detailed with a slight edge - the UM3X do it without the edge.

 

[SOUNDinterpreter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hsiu /img/forum/go_quote.gif PFE black filter is a bit laid back compare to gray, it is a bit relaxing, never try UM3X, will it sound more like black filter PFE but better detail ?

I have both and only use the black filters on the PFE. The UM3X have a different sound signature. I haven't really listened to my PFEs since I got my UM3Xs last week, but the UM3X's sound has more weight to it, better instrument separation and better detail.

 

[Oomingmak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Deal /img/forum/go_quote.gif After listening to my Etymotic 4S earphones for more years than I can remember, I ordered the UM3X this morning. I hope that I don't regret the purchase. I also hope that they get along with my D10.

The Etymotic 4S and 4P are designed for clarity, mostly at the sacrifice of a fuller, warmer sound with more bass. The sound of the UM3x isn't as transparent and cold as the 4S or 4P. The UM3x is transparent in the fact that the sound is balanced and therefore you can hear everything, lows, mids, and highs clearly but it's much warmer and more colorful than the 4S or 4P so if you don't appreciate hearing everything balanced on the same level you may not like it, especially after listening to the 4S for so long. The highs are good but the overall sound has much more body than that of the 4S which has good highs and clear mids but only because there is no bass or warmth to its sound. UM3X is better in every way, so long as you can appreciate its balance.