[some1]

I think there are better choices than W1 or W2, fair enough if your heart is set on those, but you are overlooking a whole load of other options.

 

[YGuyG]

About what you dad said in noticing a difference, if it's your money than tell him that and that you should be able to do what you want with it, especially if you earned it yourself. Of course the W2 is going to sound better than the W1. It has drivers dedicated to specific tasks instead of a one size fits all application. I actually do most of my IEM listening in a quiet environment while doing homework or just browsing forums. So I'd say the time spent in a quiet room justifies the extra money spent on more expensive IEMs. 

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

I think there are better choices than W1 or W2, fair enough if your heart is set on those, but you are overlooking a whole load of other options.

What other options are there? Etymotic (HF5), Ultimate Ears (700), Fischer Audio (DBA-02), Shure (215 or 315)... anything I'm missing? (100-200 Euro price range, inc VAT)
 
 
Quote:

About what you dad said in noticing a difference, if it's your money than tell him that and that you should be able to do what you want with it, especially if you earned it yourself. Of course the W2 is going to sound better than the W1. It has drivers dedicated to specific tasks instead of a one size fits all application. I actually do most of my IEM listening in a quiet environment while doing homework or just browsing forums. So I'd say the time spent in a quiet room justifies the extra money spent on more expensive IEMs. 

I don't have a credit card (U18), therefore I can't order online (by myself) and where I live there aren't any audio shops which sell these kind of products, only cheap ones... JVS, Philips etc...
But surely for a quite room I can use my full-size headphones (much, much better).
 

 

[tienbasse]

Quote:

For an example take the Westone 1, costs 100 EURO, 50% of that is spent on components at best (but probably way less), so they are telling me that the other 50% is their research and profit... for me that seems too much. But again I can't hear (I think) the difference between IEMs, so I'm probably wrong but still (my opinion).
 
And why would you make some parts outside of China, use the factories their to make your products cheap, common sense?
 

Well, we're getting largely out of IEM-related material, but let me tell you what happens when companies cut too much on R&D costs (I manage R&D teams by the way so what you say makes me react): when your products get copied (even poorly) and your patents come to the end (10 years), your pipeline just goes dry and you're in deep crap... Read a little about the pharmaceutical industry and you'll see a very fine example of that. R&D is only cost and does not directly brings money in, but it is how you prepare the future of your company.
 
Regarding the use of chinese parts, why do you think that critical parts in producst are never made in China (I mean in products whose malfunction could cost your life) ?
Simple: not because chinese parts are inherently bad, they can produce very good parts. But they (with a few exceptions) can't produce reliable parts. A proper quality system and high quality raw material supply is still not common sense in China, which often means inconsistency from one batch to the other. I've operated there for a while and we always had to control every batch of every part to be sure everything was conform to specifications.
This is not a large issue with non essential parts and products (including cheap IEMs), but when it comes to high-end or critical stuff, manufacturers stop cutting corners and chose better parts.
Sorry for sounding anti-chinese, which I'm not (for cheap products and common stuff, they're the best). I know a few Chinese companies trying to break this trend, but too few for my taste.
 
 

 

[goodvibes]

Phonak 112. and you have sig otions with the filters along with a comfy fit.

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

Phonak 112. and you have sig otions with the filters along with a comfy fit.

ljoker http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/multi-iem-review-207-iems-compared-fischer-audio-ceramique-sba-03-added-12-05-11 says that they don't quite have the 'good isolation', which is one of the main points on my list.
 

 

[some1]

Quote:

What other options are there? Etymotic (HF5), Ultimate Ears (700), Fischer Audio (DBA-02), Shure (215 or 315)... anything I'm missing? (100-200 Euro price range, inc VAT)
 
 

I don't have a credit card (U18), therefore I can't order online (by myself) and where I live there aren't any audio shops which sell these kind of products, only cheap ones... JVS, Philips etc...
But surely for a quite room I can use my full-size headphones (much, much better).
 

kozee infinity x1 executive
HiFiMan RE262
Etymotic Research HF5/HF2/HF3
Duno DN-16 Hepahaes
Dunu DN-11 Ares
 
Any of those offer equivelent or better isolation, and score highly on sound quality in reviews.  And are all cheaper than Westone 2, some are cheaper than Westone 1 i think
 
I realise some are dynamic, but why limit yourself to just 2 models to choose from, there are lots, read through this thread again and you will see many models mentioned, write a list, read reviews and try some if you can.   By all means just buy westone 2 if thats what you want.
 

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

kozee infinity x1 executive
HiFiMan RE262
Etymotic Research HF5/HF2/HF3
Duno DN-16 Hepahaes
Dunu DN-11 Ares
 
Any of those offer equivelent or better isolation, and score highly on sound quality in reviews.  And are all cheaper than Westone 2, some are cheaper than Westone 1 i think
 
 

Going to sound so picky now for a noob, but I think I want an armature to see the difference, but more importantly hear it.
Therefore the HiFiMan RE262 and Dunus are out.
The Kozee Infinity X1 Executive seems like an amazing offer, however I don't live in the USA (I'm in Europe) therefore not sure of the shipping and stuff, also I'll have to go to an audiologist to get the impressions and I don't want a custom IEM as they usually last for 4 years before needing to be re-moulded (as the ear changes shape) - thus costing a lot of money (too much for now).
That leaves the Etymotic Research HF3/HF5/HF2, which seems like a great option, but I seem to be attached to Westone ( ). I'm curious of the bass the Etymotic produces, is it better than the Westone 1?
 

 

[YGuyG]

Quote:

I don't have a credit card (U18), therefore I can't order online (by myself) and where I live there aren't any audio shops which sell these kind of products, only cheap ones... JVS, Philips etc...
But surely for a quite room I can use my full-size headphones (much, much better).
 

Well it took me a while for my dad to understand but he lets me order what I want as long as I have the cash up front. Now most parents probably won't do that because it requires a lot of trust so I can't do much about that. And thanks for reminding me that I'm 18 (as of a couple weeks ago) now and can get a credit card. Also remind me that I shouldn't because I'll go into terrible amounts of debt. 

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

Well it took me a while for my dad to understand but he lets me order what I want as long as I have the cash up front. Now most parents probably won't do that because it requires a lot of trust so I can't do much about that. And thanks for reminding me that I'm 18 (as of a couple weeks ago) now and can get a credit card. Also remind me that I shouldn't because I'll go into terrible amounts of debt. 

Hahaha...
My Dad understands perfectly fine that it's a lot of money and should be spent on things that matter, so if I can't hear the difference why buy the more expensive ones when I'll be able to get the same SQ (at least to my ears) with a cheaper product. And I don't know if I'll hear that difference, so it's a big dilemma (for me). I mean I am not a musician or anything, I just like to listen to music like any average person. But on the other hand I want that quality to be present.
 

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

[/]
However I was just thinking about all the SQ you guys have been mentioning. You can hear this difference in a quite room where you're all alone, and no outside noise, but when you use IEMs outside where there's lots of noise you won't hear the difference, so the question is why spend the money when you won't even hear that difference most of the time???

 
LOL.
 
I see you are in this school of thought that 'audiophile products' are about 'small differences' and you can only hear these differences in a quiet room, listening to either jazz or classical music in FLAC.
 
It's okay, I thought this too when I was U18.
 
 
Quote:

What other options are there? Etymotic (HF5), Ultimate Ears (700), Shure (215 or 315)

 
+Shure SE425, Jays q-Jays, and Audio Technica CK10 if you want the best build quality that will last you a long time, also probably the best sound of all dual-driver IEM's - http://www.seyo-shop.com/product.php?productid=500612808&cat=0&page=1
 
 
 

 

[YGuyG]

Quote:

 
 
 
It's okay, I thought this too when I was U18.

Those thoughts were gone from age 12 (IEM wise anyways). Probably earlier considering the nice speakers my dads always had. I always knew when things sounded bad. If you really don't care about the little differences than Head-Fi is not for you. For us it's little differences that can make the biggest difference. 

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

Those thoughts were gone from age 12 (IEM wise anyways). Probably earlier considering the nice speakers my dads always had. I always knew when things sounded bad. If you really don't care about the little differences than Head-Fi is not for you. For us it's little differences that can make the biggest difference. 

I'd love to hear the difference, but I'm not a musician and don't know how. I actually came to Head-Fi to seek how.
Hey YGuyG you have the Ultimate Ears TF10 and there's a crazy sale on amazon.com on them (60%), however there seems to be cable problems (when you read reviews), do you have them or experienced them with yours? (or know of this) I'm really careful with everything, doubt I'd break them.
 

 

[kiteki]

 
Someone in England bought the TF10's from amazon.com for $99 last week and ended up paying $170 after forwarding fees, shipping, import tax.
 
 
Just get the HF5, SE425, q-Jays, UE700 or CK10.
 
Or if you really love Westone so much, UM3X.
 

 

[some1]

Quote:

 
Someone in England bought the TF10's from amazon.com for $99 last week and ended up paying $170 after forwarding fees, shipping, import tax.
 
 
Just get the HF5, SE425, q-Jays, UE700 or CK10.
 
Or if you really love Westone so much, UM3X.
 

Not me, although i really wanna try a pair