[tienbasse]

Glad you like them, eke2k6.
 
And for the record, even in my review, I never said there were perfect of anything like that, I actually NEVER use words like "the best", "unheard of", "legendary" and other superlatives...
When I review, I focus on comparisons because my idea is to differentiate IEMs, not to deal in absolutes.
 
Actually, for my taste, I even found slightly better IEMs with Shure SE535 Red Special Edition, but for nearly 3 times the cost of EPH-100.
 
So unless my persuasion power is so exceptional that I could convince 15 people that EPH-100 are very good IEMs, I honestly think that it is not just another FOTM. And to be accurate, I know at least 2 people here who didn't like them, so not everything's perfect.

 
Quote:

Also... to whoever it was that was highlighting potential fit / comfort issues with these:
 
Yes, they do look a little unconventional on paper. However, after over a week of using them I feel confident in saying that they are the most comfortable IEMs I've owned. I have small, awkward ear canals, and have all manner of problems with most universals. The only two iems I'd consider truly comfortable are these, and the GR07s. This is an even more remarkable on the Yamahas part, considering that the vsonics have a swiveling nozzle that adjusts to individual ear canals.
 
 

The thing is: it doesn't matter that this IEMs are 7mm wide, this is a very small form factor when compared with other IEMs because the whole casing is that small, so you get the luxury of chosing how you angle the IEM to insert it, which you CAN'T do with most IEM having a thicker outer shell...
 
I have big ear canals, but my right ear is taking a weird 45° angle which my left ear doesn't have. I have a lot of trouble getting a proper right ear fit with most IEMs having a large case (especially Shures and Westones that are said to be very comfy around here).
With the Yamahas, I align the right casing with the bend and I can insert it beyond the turn. I just can't do that with my Shures and Westones, so I have to find tips which can either take this turn (rare large triple flange because usual ones are too small) or tips which are short enough to fit before the turn (large Shure silicone olives and they're barely big enough to seal).
 
Comfort is really the last of your worries with the EPH-100. Also, do you know many IEMs delivered by FIVE tip sizes ?
 

 

[pack21]

Please people, stop buying EPH's for a days, my order is on standby, because out-stock.

Let first ship mine.

:frown:

 

[dmarvp]

I was ordering a gr07 trough ebay this morning (haven't payed yet) and then I found this thread. 

 After reading all your opinions I looked if this earphone was available nearby and got it for 98 euros shipped to my home (It will be here next Monday). Now I have to find a way to cancel my order on ebay, but I don't even know if that's possible 

 . Anyway, these look like everything I wanted from an earphone. Right now I have a Miles Davis Tribute that was twice the price, and hope to see an improvement over it 

 
PS: I'm from Spain.
 
 

 

[kloan]

Quote:

Please people, stop buying EPH's for a days, my order is on standby, because out-stock.
Let first ship mine.

lol, mine too..... sucks..... i wanna hear these!!

 

[kidcharlemagne]

Just wanted to say this as im not sure if it was mentioned before - the cable doesnt inspire too much confidence for the long term, at least to me. Im not saying its terrible though, as it is fairly soft and easy to handle; reminds me of the MTPG cable except abit stiffer. Im just afraid they might harden over time especially because im an oily mofo. For that reason ive been using my GR07 as my daily beater because I dont think the TPU cable will suffer much from crystallization. Other than that ive been thoroughly enjoying my EPH100s the past few weeks whenever I get the chance to use them. I am with Null in that they are a nice compliment to the GR07. Throw some wide bore tips or trimmed/flipped complys on the GR07 and the stage is more expansive than the Yammy's and separation, imaging gets pretty close but not quite there.
 
edited - wording lol

 

[Daemonoid_B]

Quote:

 
I was also interested in IE8/80 at one point so would love to read a little more comparison.
 
How does the Bass punch/impact compare ? Clarity & Detail ? 3D like Imaging/Separation ? Isolation/Fit ?
 
Try to give EPH100's 100 hours before making a firmer conclusion.
 
I think you have a good combo there to cover classical/jazz with one & everything else on other.

 
 

Thanks, I can give you at at the moment comparison.
 
How does the Bass punch/impact compare? IE's Both have excellent punch, IE's slam slightly harder.  The EPH-100's have a slightly longer decay time (which I love). With that it gives the impression the EPH-100's hit lower lows, but I think there about equal, for me the lower the IEM can go the better. For overall impact the IE's win handily with the bass presented in a much more prominent manner. Speed varies between tracks but most of the time I find the IE's having a more controlled, stronger and faster bass so far. 
 
Clarity & Detail? The EPH-100's have better clarity, but I think that has more to do with presentation. The IE's are clear, indeed everything can be heard, but do to there presentation it is harder to pick up all the details without really focusing on the music. I think both can navigate a complex passage with ease, but the EPH-100's will be more clear, in particular with the mids. In the detail department, from what i am hearing I would say the EPH-100's win this outright in the mids, but the IE's easily match in the bass and treble. I still prefer the treble from the EPH-100's though, they don't sparkle as much as the IE's, giving them a more realistic sound to my ears.
 
3D like Imaging/Separation? 3D Imaging is great from both, with the IE's presentation very wide but still packing reasonable depth, vs. the EPH-100's packing great depth with a surprisingly wide presentation as well. For separation I think they are close to equal but at first I thought the IE's were far superior. Indeed the difference in separation is minimal.
 
Isolation/Fit? The EPH-100's have the IE's handily crushed in this regard, Isolation is on another level for me because up to this point the only earphone I had that sealed strong were the NE-7m's, the others were all vented. For the most part I was not interested in excellent isolation because I needed to be able to hear the outside world (work), and I was not willing to compromise bass for good isolation. With the EPH-100's I do not have to compromise on the bass front. Fit goes the the EPH-100's with ease, getting the right tips for the IE's was a pain, it took me over a year to find tips that fit great without interfering with the presentation.
 
Overall I put them equal, both have things that I really like about them. I think you are right about them complementing each other well.

 

[Daemonoid_B]

Quote:

Just wanted to say this as im not sure if it was mentioned before - the cable doesnt inspire too much confidence for the long term, at least to me. Im not saying its terrible though, as it is fairly soft and easy to handle; reminds me of the MTPG cable except abit stiffer. Im just afraid they might harden over time especially because im an oily mofo. For that reason ive been using my GR07 as my daily beater because I dont think the TPU cable will suffer much from crystallization. Other than that ive been thoroughly enjoying my EPH100s the past few weeks whenever I get the chance to use them. I am with Null in that they are a nice compliment to the GR07. Throw some wide bore tips or trimmed/flipped complys on them and the stage is more expansive than the Yammy's and separation, imaging gets pretty close but not quite there.

Agreed, I want to find something that will protect the cord over the long term.
 

 

[pack21]

Quote:

Agreed, I want to find something that will protect the cord over the long term.
 

 

You can use a good flexible shrink  tube,  that can pass through the body of the EPH.
 
If it passes, and if is sufficiently flexible, you can weld the entire cable....Later if you want to sell without it, just remove it.
 

 

 

 

 


 
 








 

 

[archy121]

Quote:

 
 

Thanks, I can give you at at the moment comparison.
 
How does the Bass punch/impact compare? IE's Both have excellent punch, IE's slam slightly harder.  The EPH-100's have a slightly longer decay time (which I love). With that it gives the impression the EPH-100's hit lower lows, but I think there about equal, for me the lower the IEM can go the better. For overall impact the IE's win handily with the bass presented in a much more prominent manner. Speed varies between tracks but most of the time I find the IE's having a more controlled, stronger and faster bass so far. 
 
Clarity & Detail? The EPH-100's have better clarity, but I think that has more to do with presentation. The IE's are clear, indeed everything can be heard, but do to there presentation it is harder to pick up all the details without really focusing on the music. I think both can navigate a complex passage with ease, but the EPH-100's will be more clear, in particular with the mids. In the detail department, from what i am hearing I would say the EPH-100's win this outright in the mids, but the IE's easily match in the bass and treble. I still prefer the treble from the EPH-100's though, they don't sparkle as much as the IE's, giving them a more realistic sound to my ears.
 
3D like Imaging/Separation? 3D Imaging is great from both, with the IE's presentation very wide but still packing reasonable depth, vs. the EPH-100's packing great depth with a surprisingly wide presentation as well. For separation I think they are close to equal but at first I thought the IE's were far superior. Indeed the difference in separation is minimal.
 
Isolation/Fit? The EPH-100's have the IE's handily crushed in this regard, Isolation is on another level for me because up to this point the only earphone I had that sealed strong were the NE-7m's, the others were all vented. For the most part I was not interested in excellent isolation because I needed to be able to hear the outside world (work), and I was not willing to compromise bass for good isolation. With the EPH-100's I do not have to compromise on the bass front. Fit goes the the EPH-100's with ease, getting the right tips for the IE's was a pain, it took me over a year to find tips that fit great without interfering with the presentation.
 
Overall I put them equal, both have things that I really like about them. I think you are right about them complementing each other well.

Thanks mate. Very interesting read.
 
I have had listening session with IE8 a while back but nothing like proper A/B. I would have thought the bass was about equal in size not as punchy
 
More so i'm very surprised about the IE8 3D imaging being equally or even near equal to EPH100.
 
If that is the case i have not given it enough respect in my mind.
 
Can someone else vouch for the 3d like imaging of the two IEM's being similar in quality ?
 

 

[Nulliverse]

 
     Quote:

Thanks for the tip archy. On my way to the lecture hall, I walked past this guy wearing his Beats Studios while I was listening to the Yamaha. I had to suppress a slight chuckle

I literally laughed out loud when I read this bit ...

  I agree with most points highlighted in your impressions, apart from the vacuum fit (which will hopefully be solved by tip size). The Yams treble is indeed a strange beast... it's hard to describe, but I think you've done it justice. My initial experience matched yours, and so to did my gradual adjustment and realization. Going between these out of the box vs the FXT90s, I never found them to be lacking, just different.
 
Tienbasse, good points you make about the quality of the Yammys being beyond mere FOTM. Also, your right-ear canal issues exactly match my own, and your description of how the EPH-100s solved this is spot on.
 
kidcharlemagne, the cable is something that I've kept meaning to mention. After a week of use mine has still not properly lost it's packaging shape, so I think it's going to have a slight coil permanently. Compared to other iems I've owned at this price point, I'd say that it is below average, being better than the DBA-02s, but worse than all else.
 
Daemonoid_B, excellent impression of the Yams vs the IE8s. Just to be clear, was that vs the IE8s or IE80s? Whatever the case, it just goes to show how well the Yams punch above their weight.

 

[tienbasse]

Yes the cable is a bit on the stiff side.
 
I had the occasion today to test it at -15°C (the little cold wave we're having in Europe this week

).
Fortunately it didn't stiffen significantly at -15°C, so not all is lost!
 

 

[miow]

Quote:

 
More so i'm very surprised about the IE8 3D imaging being equally or even near equal to EPH100.
 
If that is the case i have not given it enough respect in my mind.
 
Can someone else vouch for the 3d like imaging of the two IEM's being similar in quality ?
 

Don't even come close. But this is from memory.  I think its the huge soundstaging that is giving him that impression.
 
IE8=IE80. People saying IE80 is better are making a desperated or frustrated effort to justify the investment. It's frequent here on head-fi. Just ask Sennheiser's staff.
 

 

[Daemonoid_B]

I think they are IE8 housed with with the IE80 tuned driver, the base hump is in the sub bass range now, and Sennheiser returned them to me a week or two after they released the IE80's. They sound very similar to my old IE'8s but with the hump in the sub bass. I don't have to equalize this set of IE8s?80s? I got both sets from Sennheiser so I'm sure they are both real, but the old set had all the problems of the IE8's and this new set do not.


Quote:

 
     Quote:
 
 
Daemonoid_B, excellent impression of the Yams vs the IE8s. Just to be clear, was that vs the IE8s or IE80s? Whatever the case, it just goes to show how well the Yams punch above their weight.
 
 

 
 

 

[miow]

Yes, my only complaint is the cable. I had a very enlightening experiment that proven me that this cable is very cheap. I tried the extension cable (which is equal - same cable) and man, sound was so bad...! Metalic. I tried my other extension cable (bought from an electronic store) and boy, what a difference!!! Same thing as if I wasn't using any extension.
 
I can't imagine the sound of these YAMAHA's with other cable. Hope they improve this on the "EPH-200". Fortunately the cable is small, because if it was a bit bigger it would start losing sound quality as happened with the cable extension. Just try it and see for yourselves.
 
 
Quote:

I think they are IE8 housed with with the IE80 tuned driver, the base hump is in the sub bass range now, and Sennheiser returned them to me a week or two after they released the IE80's. They sound very similar to my old IE'8s but with the hump in the sub bass. I don't have to equalize this set of IE8s?80s? I got both sets from Sennheiser so I'm sure they are both real, but the old set had all the problems of the IE8's and this new set do not.
 

 
Really? Well, dfkt from anythingbutipod thinks its the same thing. He has tested both.

 

[Daemonoid_B]

Quote:

Don't even come close. But this is from memory.  I think its the huge soundstaging that is giving him that (wrong) impression.
 
IE8=IE80. People saying IE80 is better are making a desperated or frustrated effort to justify the investment. It's frequent here on head-fi. Just ask Sennheiser's staff.
 

Indeed, Outside the placement of the bass hump, the IE8's and IE80's sound very similar indeed.