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Did you give your ATH-CKS77 the 100 hour required burn in? How do they compare to the EPH-100? Please elaborate, if you can.
Not sure if you want to compare the CKM500's or the CKS77 to the EPH but here's the gist of it for the 3. The EPH has 300+ hours, CKS77's have 80+ hours and CKM500's have around 50+ hours.
Overall I prefer the EPH-100's, then CKM500 and CKS77.
The bass really doesn't compare. CKS77's are a bass monster. Thick and abundant. The 500's have plenty of bass but it's more sub-bass and seems to stay put better the 77's do. The EPH's bass sounds similar to the 500's but it's softer or has less of an impact. I like the 500's bass the most here because it has more presence in the music without overpowering it like the 77's do. As for the EPH, I actually would not prefer it to have more, it sounds great as is with the rest of the spectrum of this earphone.
Vocals sound better on the EPH and 500's. I think the 500's are more forward or upfront than the EPH. The 500's have some of the best vocals I've heard for an earphone with this sort of a fun signature. The 77's aren't bad, just not as good as the other two. The thing about the AT's is that the 'sss' in vocals are still present. I've had this with all AT's that I've owned. These don't bother me as much as some others I've heard but it's there. I would vote 500's for the mids with EPH as a close second.
Treble region for the two AT's have nice sparkle. Sounds more lively than the Yamaha's. But I hear more detail in the Yam's over the other two. The 500's seem to give the most energetic treble that sounds better than the 77's and the Yam's just has the right amount of treble presence. I prefer the treble of the 500's the most here.
Soundstage seems quite good on all three but the AT's seem to have a deeper stage here. The Yamaha's are definitely wider and possibly just as deep if not just slightly shy of the AT's.
Overall, it seems I should favor the 500's since it wins out in all categories but the Yamaha's do everything right and it's blended together very well. Like I said earlier, it's very balanced yet it's fun. As much as I like bass, the 77's just don't compare to the other two. It gets fatiguing after awhile and only keeps me interested for a short while. The 500's pulls me in immediately and puts me in euphoric state and keeps me there. Just so lush and fun to listen to. The Yamaha's are beautiful, romantic and throws in some fun at the same time. It handles all different genres of music better than most other earphones I've heard. I do not write reviews because this is how it comes out, so hopefully you can get a feel for it, if not, my apologies.
