[Teraflame]

So did I just waste my money on the IE8 if most people like this better?

 

[toughnut]

No, trust your ears. General consensus referred to choose IEM. Owning them is based on personal preference.

 

[Zalithian]

I will certainly still be listening to my IE8 when it comes back despite owning the UM3X. Different IEMS for different moods/music, imo! No reason to limit yourself to one, unless you're Voltage.

 

[toughnut]

Mere mentioning of that name will derail any thread. Beware.

 

[tstarn06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalithian /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will certainly still be listening to my IE8 when it comes back despite owning the UM3X. Different IEMS for different moods/music, imo! No reason to limit yourself to one, unless you're Voltage.

I see that POV, but to me, owning more than one "top tier" IEM is a real luxury, which is why I settled on the W3s and sold the IE8s (With the tri-flanges, the W3s just deliver a preferred sound sig to my ears). I kept telling myself "IE8s for one type of music, W3s for others," but never worked out that way.

Never tried the SE530 or TF10s, either, because spending $300+ on more than one pair of "go to" phones is not in my budget. Having said that, I really wanted to keep the IE8s, but found myself just reaching for the Westones more often, and could not stand the idea of the Senns sitting there. Not even sure why I bought the IE7s too (back-up to the W3s, I thought. Dumb on my part). But if you can afford several top tier phones, go for it. Me, I am too cost-conscious I guess.

I do enjoy collecting lower-budget, high SQ phones (PFEs and ADDIEMs in my case), but only a few pair.

 

[Zalithian]

Yeah. I'm sure I won't have any trouble selling either pair if I decide to anytime soon. If I do need the money soon I will go that route. Some people here own customs + several top tier IEMS.. or have done so before.

those lucky people!

 

[pdupiano]

I'd disagree with tsarn, truth of the matter is if we all followed our budgets with regards to audio.... well lets just say a lot of threads here wouldn't exist.

That guy with the shure fetish, is certainly an example of someone who desperately tried to push too hard and just went onto the absurd. Kind of sad really to believe that you can drastically (note I said DRASTICALLY) change the way an iem sounds. And its very RARE that a mod will improve just one aspect of an iem and not degrade another. In the end, all mods have to deal with trade offs (Trade offs that designers took into account when designing the iems, for example the W3 with a far reaching highend sacrificing other aspects). So if someone claims that a mod will fix everything... well then either some developers and researchers need to get fired or we need to evaluate just how much we should blindly believe certain headfiers.

As far as luxury goes, a good deal of the stuff discussed in this forum is luxury based so I think using the word luxury with highend iems is a bit misleading. Plus Tsarn, you said it yourself you own a few beater pairs... but those beater pairs are approx 150 each. Buying a pair of se530's for 250 on the market or tft pro (do these even sell anymore?) for 250(?) isn't too much of a stretch from having say PFE (150), ne7m (60), koss plugs X 2 (30). I know a lot of headfiers who have spent well over 400 on lower end iems, friend of mine had Q-jays, pfe's, and er4p, and misc crap he's bought from radioshack and bestbuy.

I think having 2 different highend iem's aren't too bad especially if you're content switching back and forth between the two. All I'm saying is I'd rather have my se530 + X, over Se530 + 3 or so lower end iems that I wouldnt normally listen to. I guess you can make the argument that you'd rather use a beater pair while working out... but I mean .. thats a little odd since you buy iem's as portable alternatives to regular headphones. Beater pairs are there because you wanna try some colored sounding iems, or just want something different. At the moment the only lower end iem I have is a pair of monster turbines, I've sold off the others to afford a pair if IE8's which I sold off to buy a pair of hd650s. I also have a UM2 that might end up hitting the market soon so I can try out the Westone UM3X and have 2 highend iems again that I can switch between. But as it stands now, if the UM3x is too close to the se530's (sound sig wise) then I'd probably sell/trade the UM3x to try and recoup some of the losses (restocking fees suck, might as well sell here).

 

[roy_jones]

Technological improvements in IEM's make them more costly to own than other types of headphones.

I could sell a pair of RS-1's for the same price I paid for them five years ago. A pair of shure se530's are probably selling (used) for half of what they were worth three years ago. And the rate of change in IEM technology is increasing over time...

Even the W3 could see their value decrease over the course of the four or so months that they've been released, with the recent release of the UM3X.

With an entry into the market like Sennheiser, who are playing by different rules than a company like Westone, you could see an IEM like the IE8 actually drag down the value of other high-end earphones because of the relative value they offer. In this analogy, Sennheiser is sorta like Wal-mart moving to your small town and putting the boutique retailers out of business.


From my observations, the people who have been around here for a while usually realize that sinking a lot of cash into a portable rig can be a losing proposition. The price/value ratio starts to really get wacky very quickly.

The smart ones figure out that the difference in SQ between a $50 sansa clip and a pair of $200 (used) IEM's, and a $400 Imod + $300 portable amp + $400 IEM uber-setup, is not significant enough to justify the difference in cost.

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy_jones /img/forum/go_quote.gif The smart ones figure out that the difference in SQ between a $50 sansa clip and a pair of $200 (used) IEM's, and a $400 Imod + $300 portable amp + $400 IEM uber-setup, is not significant enough to justify the difference in cost.

That's cause spending so much money on an IEM setup (imod/amp/iem) is stupid - you'll get alot more for the money if you stick to a $200 player and a custom IEM.

 

[Tidus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's cause spending so much money on an IEM setup (imod/amp/iem) is stupid - you'll get alot more for the money if you stick to a $200 player and a custom IEM.

and if the amplifier is LISA III???it is waste of money for such rig???i ask cause i plan to buy this rig with custom IEM.

 

[Zalithian]

I'm finding the large comply tips to be the best right now. The small ones really make the highs sound muffled, comparatively speaking. The Shure Olives and modded Bi Flanges both sound better than the small Comply's to me, with the large Comply's sounding the best at the moment.

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tidus /img/forum/go_quote.gif and if the amplifier is LISA III???it is waste of money for such rig???i ask cause i plan to buy this rig with custom IEM.

That's a different case. I was talking about a universal IEM (the $400 price he quoted). You should start by getting the custom IEM anyways and waiting off on Lisa III just so you can first decide if you even want to add the amp (unless you have an iMod).

 

[sennmann]

can you guys give me a overview of the tips you have already already used with the um3x and how they changed the sound/how the sound was with the tip?that would be great thanks!

 

[roy_jones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's cause spending so much money on an IEM setup (imod/amp/iem) is stupid - you'll get alot more for the money if you stick to a $200 player and a custom IEM.

Totally agree. But how many people go that route?

And in the case of customs, the technology turn-over effect is almost worse, because there's no re-sale on a custom IEM...

I'd be annoyed to no end if I'd dropped huge $$ on a UE10pro a couple of years ago to find that there are $250 universals that sound just as good now available.

Portable amps have got to be the worst value in audio, when you consider the impracticality of adding them to a portable rig and the relative sound benefit.

Buy a DAP and IEM and get a home rig. I think a lot of noobs (myself included at one time) get into audio via the ipod.

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy_jones /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd be annoyed to no end if I'd dropped huge $$ on a UE10pro a couple of years ago to find that there are $250 universals that sound just as good now available.

Such universal IEM has yet to exist, at any price.