Random IEM / Headphone Rants

Status
Not open for further replies.
Got to try the FitEar TO GO! 334 a week or so ago. Amazing IEM, probably the best universal I've tried ever. Terribly expensive at 1400 USD but sounded great straight out from the iPhone. If you're someone who is thinking of picking up an iem + amp + source and with a budget that comes close to this you may want to think again! Will always long for this.....but I know I'll never buy one. :(

Anywho........I'm very happy with my CLAS Solo -dB. Going to sell the iMod soon and get an iPod touch. Still not sure if I should get the 4th gen or save a bit of cash and buy a 3rd gen touch. Any advice?
 
If the shipping was not costly, this would have been a better deal: https://www.meelec.com/Articles.asp?ID=140. But even at $100 odd shipped, still a very good deal for A161P. Thinking about it...

Ritvik,

TG!334 has probably the best mid range among BAs, but seeing their FR, I think it might sound a touch darker for me (See here). But, comfort, build quality,availability and cost of proprietary tips at 30 GBP a pair seem to compensate for the slightly lesser $$$ IE800 goes for. May be they will release an IE9 / IE90 later with the technology trickling down from IE800, but leave out all the 'unique design' annoyances. One can dream...

I am thinking more about speakers than IEMs these days, but it strikes me that the reasons I stuck with IEMs still remain valid - space, portability, the option to try variety of signatures in a smaller budget, location neutrality. I want to have a go at speakers one more time, but since my budget is very small in the realm of speakers, I might gravitate back to IEMs if that experiment does not work out.

Who'd buy TG334? I can see a few dropping 75K on an universal IEM. Everything boils down to depth of the wallet, opportunity cost, priorities and preferences :)

iPod Touch: Based on Wikipedia, you should consider iPod Touch 4G only if any of the following is important


  • iOS 6
  • An essential app that works only with 4th Gen or later
  • Camera
  • 802.11n support
  • Screen

Otherwise, 3G should fit the purpose of a transport well, IMO.

mukulymn,

Were you charged any customs? How does it compare to EX-1000?
 
esanthosh

I agree as a transport either should do just fine. It's only the iOS 6 thing that makes me lean towards the 4th gen touch. Would be buying one second hand and it's about 65 USD or so more than the 3rd gen. Battery life isn't much of an issue either as the CLAS charges the device. Currently use FLAC Player to play FLAC files on the iphone and its iOS 5.1 and up compatible. Will just wait for a good deal and pick up a 4th gen I guess.

Totally out of touch with the IEM scene, only the LCD 2 and the JH13 on my mind :)

Look forward to hearing mukulymn 's views on the FXZ 200 and will probably try to audition the Ocharaku Flat-4 sometime...........looks quite uncomfortable, they've also got what appears to be the same thing with a maple wood mid section that's on pre-order for 500 USD more than the regular iem!!
 
@greenhorn, @Ritvik,

Hippo VB has more sub-bass and a flat mid-bass. But, as far as I know, most bass heads would prefer the opposite, isn't it? It sure has a heavier bass plate, which will make it bassy, but that will also screw up the signature. On top of that, it is also a bit sibilant. So, Hippo VB can be a good experience if one seeks to hear different kinds of bass (Atrio MG7, FX500, IE800 are tuned similarly where sub-bass is more emphasized than mid-bass).

That said, XBA-3 has more bass quantity, especially when combined with low output impedance sources like Clip+. But, it shifts in signature and gets more balanced with higher output impedance sources. Though I did not compare them side by side, XBA-3 sounded at least slightly different through iPhone 5 (OI of 3.5 ohms) vs what I remember from Clip+ / UHA-6S (OI < 1 ohm). It should sound more balanced out of Samsung Galaxy devices, which had even higher OI. Refer the last graph on Golden Ears review. Is it for the bass head? I doubt it. Even though XBA-3 has higher bass quantity, it is still a BA, which means it still won't match good dynamics in the way it presents bass. It should be an upgrade to ES18, should expose one to decent BA sound (especially separation) and at 3K, it sounds like good value (IIRC, I bought it for 8K or something like that). It won't hurt to try.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@esanthosh, @Ritvik @mukulymn @Mephistopheles @Brendon need your help & suggestions here

3days ago i bought the Re-262 from forum member @gunnerwholelife. Of all the universe's conspiracies the left driver stopped working the second day. After carefully prying them open I found out that the cable is fine, the driver has burned out. Though it was'nt the seller's fault he's agreed to minimize my loss with a small refund and he's been helpful throughout which was indeed appreciable. I mailed head-direct's customer service and a replacement of the driver costs $40 including shipping which is almost 70% of my purchase cost. so before i jump to send them for replacement to their HQ in shanghai.

Does anyone of you or anybody you know have a faulty Re-262 with one driver working properly :unsure:(i'm willing to buy )
Has anybody had experience with head-direct customer service in the past?
can you recommend me a reliable, inexpensive courier for international shipping from your experience.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@hzant6681,

Sorry to hear that.

You can first try Speed Post (mention 'sending for repairs under warranty', value very low) first or their WorldNetXpress service (you book parcel via Post office, but DHL handles it from thereon and hence faster). I had used WNX for sending iBasso T3 for repairs and it cost me something like 800, IIRC. Sending my Fischer Tandem for replacement via Speed Post cost me something around 600. But, like everything Govt, there is absolutely no uniform policy. Post offices, depending on location, flat out refuse to accept. So, you need to enquire at the local post office first.

Courier services tend to be costlier.

I think brendon has most experience in dealing with Head-direct and sending IEMs for replacement.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@esanthosh thanks for the info. The IEM's are around 1.5yrs and hence not under warranty also what value could broken IEM's have.
was thinking! as i have already opened the housing and removed the cables, if Head-direct can send me the driver & housing so that i can just solder it to the cable and glue the housing myself, this could save me money and time. Do IEM manufacturers entertain such parts request orders? Also are the drivers used for the two sides in expensive IEMs the same or side specific ( dunno if this is a stupid thing to ask) :blush:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
^^ Sad to hear this though I have stopped recommending head-direct earphones purely for their really poor build quality.

I sold a new one on TE and the person who bought it had it die on him on 2 occasions during warranty period.

Anyways the above is of absolutely no help to you. :P

Drivers are not really separate for earphones though some headphone companies match their drivers to counter imbalance in sound.

I changed my Sennheiser HD650 driver and one driver is slightly louder than the new driver.

However the differences are quite slight and doesn't bother me.

So if you can get a new driver you can solder them. Only thing is that while their build quality is bad, the SQ is superb for the money. :(

My RE1 is somehow surviving after almost 3 years now though the cable casing has come out in many places and is replaced by tape. But I haven't heard any other earphone in that price range which has a midrange that I love more.

You could consider going for a new earphone though as I really don't have much faith in head-direct's quality and I don't know how long the new driver will last.
 
I agree with Brendon. Save up for a bit and buy a new IEM! Their build quality on some of their older stuff isn't great. I've been through 3 pairs of the RE-1s (I'd buy one again if I could find one) but I don't think its worth the trouble in your case. Shipping costs + driver cost + unpredictable customs when it comes back could work out to quite a bit. I also believe they're stopping production of all their IEMs and will be selling only the RE-400 and something else .....cant seem to remember. You're probably going to be paying 50%-70% of the cost of a new RE-400 this way.

EMS/Speedpost is probably the cheapest way to go should you decide to send it in. Customer service is fine if you're in touch with Fang, I'm guessing they've grow quite a bit since I last needed their help so things might have improved.
 
Thanks @Ritvik @Brendon @esanthoshfor your views & suggestions. One Mr.Zhang Lu Head-Direct Customer Service Team replied to my mail. They do not sell drivers alone.
$40+$2(paypal)=Rs.2800+Rs.600 shipping+ assuming custom duty Rs300/- almost costs 4k for one side replacement. I paid 4k for them and couldnt even use them for a week the feeling sucks! very bitter! pricks very badly!

One more thing i was asked to check if the adapter is faulty, so i replied that the RE-262 i bought didn't have any adapters and also the seller said these Re-262's dont require one & Mr.zhang replied back "If your re-262 doesn't have any adapter, then you can only use it to balanced output" what does this mean?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Think he means it comes standard with those 4 pin jacks. Do you have the small extension cable? That should be the adapter
 
hzant6681,

The easiest way to determine is the looking whether you have TRS or TRRS termination and the length of the cable. If you have a TRS termination, which is highly likely, you can tell Hifiman about it. If you have a TRRS termination, you can still get the adapter kit separately to use it.

There are two types of termination available with RE-262 (Hifiman did the same with RE-ZERO as well). The ones bundled free with their players was single ended i.e., the usual TRS connection. The others had TRRS termination and shipped with three types of adapters - TRRS to TRS (which lets you use the IEM with normal sources), Reverse TRRS to TRS (which is the same as the first one, except Left and Right channels are reversed, so you can easily swap them for over the ear wearing) and TRRS to TRRS (which swaps L/R channels). TRS terminated 262 and others were sold by the Ex-Indian Dealer of HiFiMan. The only other way was to buy it off Head-fi from someone who had bought HM-80X (or 60X? I keep forgetting).

I am almost sure what you have is the TRS version. If it's the TRRS, the seller (gunnerwholelife) would not have been able to use it as it would output only one channel when connected to a normal player. When I reviewed RE-272, only Cowon S9 worked directly with the TRRS adapter. The TRRS termination is compatible only with Hifiman players.

Hope this helps :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom