germanium
Headphoneus Supremus
I purchased a set of Empire Brands Pure Sound PUR600's yesterday at Frys Electronics. They looked interesting to me as they had some really small 6mm diameter drivers in them. While I have been thinking that smaller drivers in earphones may actually help the sound even before I seen these I didn't have a whole lot of expectation that my thought would be realized in actuality as far as better sound was concerned.
My thoughts as to why this would be stemse from the fact that most earphone due to the larger drivers relative to the ear canal & eardrum size need massive equalization in the form of damping in order for the earphone not to sound extemely muddy & boomy because of excessive bass & lower mids drowning out the higher frequencies.
As a result most of the dynamic type earphones are relatively inefficient. Typically 106db @ 1milliwatt or lower in most cases. The sound of these still is never really quite right still sonding slightly bass heavy & the soundstage collapsed with no sense of depth. Reflections abound in most designs that also limit the resolution possible from earphones as a result These effects can be easily heard on grados upper line earphones as they loose ther open sound just by putting your flat hands up near the back opening of the earphone.
So the thought was what if someone designed an dynamic earphone with really small drivers that would require less in the way of damping to achieve reasonable response to the ear. I'm not talking nessessarily flat response but resonable response that is at least listenable & doesn't obliterate the tone of the voice or instrument being played. The earphone could be considerably more effecient yet with good tone that is listenable fore hours.
Enter the Empire Brands Pure Sound PUR600's. These earphones seem to get just about everything right. There is only two minor problem areas that can spoil the fun with some recordings. There is a rise in the response below 500Hz & there is little if any correction for having plugged the ear canal so there is little or no requisate boost in the 2-4KHz range to compensate for the loss of ear canal resonance that occures with an open ear.
As a result of these characteristics the bass & lower mids sometimes overpower the upper mids to a small degree. This does not mean though that the upper mids are completely buried.
The result of these deviations from flatness results in an earphone that is supremely listenable with most sins a sin of ommission & not commission but even then the sound can be highly detailed especially in the treble. Cymbal sound is devine & realistic, the best I've heard from any earphone really. Voices have subtlelty & sweetness & are rarely harsh sounding. Bass can sound somewhat bommy but never really loosing the tonality of the instrument playing the bass line. You will still hear all the woody sound of a double bass. Female voices are sublime in thier beauty. Male voices are slighly chesty but not excessively.
Listening to Patricia Barber right now & everything sounds beautifull & detailed with absolutely no harshness. There is is even a good sense of depth to the soundstage, again the best I've heard in an earphone of any make except some grados. There is no sign of major resonant problems here.
By the way a note on the sensitivity of these phones. At 113db @1milliwatt they are pretty highly efficient confirming my thought on smaller dynamic drivers allowing higher efficience due to less need for damping to control the lower frequencies. This matches many balanced armature designes in sensitivity.
All in all a class act to follow especially given thier low end price of only 59 dollars at Fry's Electronics. Easily besting all my other phones for listenabilty, even the Etymotic ER4P. The ER4P is more accurate but too revealling of flaws in recording to be really enjoyable in the long haul. Feed the ER4P's good recordings & they sound great but Pure Sound 600 sound superb on almost everything.
My thoughts as to why this would be stemse from the fact that most earphone due to the larger drivers relative to the ear canal & eardrum size need massive equalization in the form of damping in order for the earphone not to sound extemely muddy & boomy because of excessive bass & lower mids drowning out the higher frequencies.
As a result most of the dynamic type earphones are relatively inefficient. Typically 106db @ 1milliwatt or lower in most cases. The sound of these still is never really quite right still sonding slightly bass heavy & the soundstage collapsed with no sense of depth. Reflections abound in most designs that also limit the resolution possible from earphones as a result These effects can be easily heard on grados upper line earphones as they loose ther open sound just by putting your flat hands up near the back opening of the earphone.
So the thought was what if someone designed an dynamic earphone with really small drivers that would require less in the way of damping to achieve reasonable response to the ear. I'm not talking nessessarily flat response but resonable response that is at least listenable & doesn't obliterate the tone of the voice or instrument being played. The earphone could be considerably more effecient yet with good tone that is listenable fore hours.
Enter the Empire Brands Pure Sound PUR600's. These earphones seem to get just about everything right. There is only two minor problem areas that can spoil the fun with some recordings. There is a rise in the response below 500Hz & there is little if any correction for having plugged the ear canal so there is little or no requisate boost in the 2-4KHz range to compensate for the loss of ear canal resonance that occures with an open ear.
As a result of these characteristics the bass & lower mids sometimes overpower the upper mids to a small degree. This does not mean though that the upper mids are completely buried.
The result of these deviations from flatness results in an earphone that is supremely listenable with most sins a sin of ommission & not commission but even then the sound can be highly detailed especially in the treble. Cymbal sound is devine & realistic, the best I've heard from any earphone really. Voices have subtlelty & sweetness & are rarely harsh sounding. Bass can sound somewhat bommy but never really loosing the tonality of the instrument playing the bass line. You will still hear all the woody sound of a double bass. Female voices are sublime in thier beauty. Male voices are slighly chesty but not excessively.
Listening to Patricia Barber right now & everything sounds beautifull & detailed with absolutely no harshness. There is is even a good sense of depth to the soundstage, again the best I've heard in an earphone of any make except some grados. There is no sign of major resonant problems here.
By the way a note on the sensitivity of these phones. At 113db @1milliwatt they are pretty highly efficient confirming my thought on smaller dynamic drivers allowing higher efficience due to less need for damping to control the lower frequencies. This matches many balanced armature designes in sensitivity.
All in all a class act to follow especially given thier low end price of only 59 dollars at Fry's Electronics. Easily besting all my other phones for listenabilty, even the Etymotic ER4P. The ER4P is more accurate but too revealling of flaws in recording to be really enjoyable in the long haul. Feed the ER4P's good recordings & they sound great but Pure Sound 600 sound superb on almost everything.
