julian67
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Posts
- 658
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- 181
I've had these a few days now so am starting to form real world opinions, not just immediate impressions.
Short version: I prefer the older Piston 2, and over the Piston 2 I prefer my Samsungs, and for really noisy places I would choose my Shure SEs.
Long version: The Piston 3 is almost certainly technically better than the Piston 2 (I say "almost certainly" because I'm using my ears, and have no test data) but that doesn't mean it is better suited for the intended purpose.
If you only use IEMs in an environment with no extraneous noise then the Piston 3s are better. But if that's your environment then why not just use full size open back headphones?
IEMs are typically a true general purpose item. They have to be usable in places with appreciable background noise like in offices and in vehicles, but also in places that are simply very, very noisy such as walking around town alongside roads with big, loud diesel engine buses and trucks, and also car drivers with extremely bad manners and taste but who have amazingly powerful sound systems in their car.
Isolation matters, and so does having some extra low frequency heft to mask, at least partially, all that crap that comes with urban life.
Unfortunately the Piston 3s are just too neutral and too lacking in isolation to be successful in an urban environment. Certainly if you are somewhere quiet and civilised they are nicer to listen to than the Piston 2s, but for the other 95% of your time spent surrounded by people who make your blood boil and ears bleed they don't cut it. The obviously exaggerated mid bass of the Piston 2s actually does more to let you enjoy the music than does the more neutral balance of the Piston 3. Better than either is almost anything with better than -25dB isolation.
Using the Piston 3s I noticed I was getting woken up and disturbed by traffic noise while lying in bed with the windows closed (I do live in a house, not in a VW camper parked by the highway). Piston 2s mask those sounds a little better. Samsung HS330 better again. Shure SE215 even better. Beyond that there is zopiclone, drugs or alcohol or any combination thereof.
Anyway, if you need isolation and are looking to escape that big urban drone, the universal hum, the Piston 3s are not going to do it.
Short version: I prefer the older Piston 2, and over the Piston 2 I prefer my Samsungs, and for really noisy places I would choose my Shure SEs.
Long version: The Piston 3 is almost certainly technically better than the Piston 2 (I say "almost certainly" because I'm using my ears, and have no test data) but that doesn't mean it is better suited for the intended purpose.
If you only use IEMs in an environment with no extraneous noise then the Piston 3s are better. But if that's your environment then why not just use full size open back headphones?
IEMs are typically a true general purpose item. They have to be usable in places with appreciable background noise like in offices and in vehicles, but also in places that are simply very, very noisy such as walking around town alongside roads with big, loud diesel engine buses and trucks, and also car drivers with extremely bad manners and taste but who have amazingly powerful sound systems in their car.
Isolation matters, and so does having some extra low frequency heft to mask, at least partially, all that crap that comes with urban life.
Unfortunately the Piston 3s are just too neutral and too lacking in isolation to be successful in an urban environment. Certainly if you are somewhere quiet and civilised they are nicer to listen to than the Piston 2s, but for the other 95% of your time spent surrounded by people who make your blood boil and ears bleed they don't cut it. The obviously exaggerated mid bass of the Piston 2s actually does more to let you enjoy the music than does the more neutral balance of the Piston 3. Better than either is almost anything with better than -25dB isolation.
Using the Piston 3s I noticed I was getting woken up and disturbed by traffic noise while lying in bed with the windows closed (I do live in a house, not in a VW camper parked by the highway). Piston 2s mask those sounds a little better. Samsung HS330 better again. Shure SE215 even better. Beyond that there is zopiclone, drugs or alcohol or any combination thereof.
Anyway, if you need isolation and are looking to escape that big urban drone, the universal hum, the Piston 3s are not going to do it.
