Audio Random IEM / Headphone Rants

Faraz said:
I cant really explain that accurately. I am not familiar with audiophile terms. Bass and sound stage are the only things i understand :p

I was thinking of a900 or d2k but both of them are very high priced right now. A900 is close to 15k i am not sure if that it is worth buying at that price.
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There are so many cans available in the market with different sound signature and all those cans excels in their respective sound signature. As you are spending 10K+ amount so without knowing what kinda sound sig you are looking for, it would be difficult for all the members to recommend you anything.

In open cans Very easy going sound signatures with very good bass, you will find in Sennheiser HD600 but this things needs amping to shine, without AMP do not look into this headphones at all, FiiO E11 won't do anything good to this Headphone :p

Other than this, I have very good recommendation to you which is HiFiMan HE-400, It doesn't need AMP'ing like Sennheiser HD-600/650 and will give you nice sound from the FiiO E11.

Sennheiser HD600 has neutral sound whereas HD-650 is musical.
@Ritvik
 
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He-400 and hd 6xx will go beyond my budget.
I will go and have a listen to my friends hd558. That might help me understand what sound signature i might want.
 
abhi_jollyguy said:
There are so many cans available in the market with different sound signature and all those cans excels in their respective sound signature. As you are spending 10K+ amount so without knowing what kinda sound sig you are looking for, it would be difficult for all the members to recommend you anything.

In open cans Very easy going sound signatures with very good bass, you will find in Sennheiser HD600 but this things needs amping to shine, without AMP do not look into this headphones at all, FiiO E11 won't do anything good to this Headphone :p

Other than this, I have very good recommendation to you which is HiFiMan HE-400, It doesn't need AMP'ing like Sennheiser HD-600/650 and will give you nice sound from the FiiO E11.

Sennheiser HD600 has neutral sound whereas HD-650 is musical.
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The HE-300 although they're not orthos are something to consider as well. Think it retails for 250 now. If you can source it, the FA-011 from Fischer is a great entry level offering, scales well with an amp and not much wrong without one either. Haven't heard the HE-400 unamped but everyone says they're easy to drive, I've got the HE-4 which is quite different.
 
greenhorn said:
swapyworld, what's your reference? Compared to my Pl21, they have slightly more mid bass (but less deep bass) and more mids and highs.
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@greenhorn ,
Actually this is one of my first purchases, i have been using samsung IEM that came with mobile and Logitech clear chat premium which i found a bit more with bass. as esanthosh said they r thicker in mid range with not so clear treble. I am not accustomed to terms used by audiophile. Just that little punch in the bass and clarity or crispyness in treble is missing.

esanthosh said:
A few things:


  • Burn-in won't help much. But, if you do want to burn-in, keep normal volumes for at least 30-40 hours and then slowly increase the volume.
  • Insertion depth. Losing bass and splashy upper mid range could be due to lack of proper insertion depth. Try deeper insertion.
  • Source. The output impedance of Galaxy SL could be high, which may affect the frequency response of ES18. Did you try it out of other sources?
  • Reference (and hence preference). What other IEMs have you tried so far?
  • Batch differences. This is a wild speculation, but the QA of chinese companies is not that great. But unless you can compare another ES18 side by side and find it different sounding, I won't put too much stock into this argument.
  • I am not sure if our definitions of 'crisp' are the same. But, ES18 is forward and clear in the mid range, but not "crisp" sounding as-is. It is also thicker in treble. Refer to my comparison here (also here).
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@esanthosh ,
just read your review, it does sound 'thicker' in mid section without deep bass or clear treble. Is there any earfone that you would recommend under 700-800 bucks which can provide descent bass (not boom boom kind) and clear - crisp mid and low range and treble. sorry if i am missing any point here, just need your help.
 
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First off, we hear things differently with ES18, especially in the bass region.

a) I do not have experience with either ear phone you have mentioned, but I feel it's probable that those actually have higher quantity of bass and Galaxy SL has a rolled off bass. If you have access to somebody with Clip+ or one of the other Sansas, try all your IEMs with it and see if you hear anything different.

b) If you are after a bit more bass punch, PL11 might be a choice. It would sound crisper in the mids and slightly more sparkling in treble. It also has more bass punch. It might suit you better.

There is also SHE3570 (which has less bass quantity than ES18), which can be looked at. PL30 is another choice to consider if you can let go off bass. But since we seem to feel differently about ES18, it would be better to try them first before committing funds. Do you have friends who have any of the IEMs / Sansa player you can tap into?

Added:

Damn! It's been a couple of months since I've used any IEM, so I've forgotten to ask another 'obvious' thing - Did you try any other tips other than the stock tip? That could make a difference. I was not using the stock tip with any of the impressions.
 
esanthosh said:
Damn! It's been a couple of months since I've used any IEM, so I've forgotten to ask another 'obvious' thing - Did you try any other tips other than the stock tip? That could make a difference. I was not using the stock tip with any of the impressions.
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Nope made using ones it came with, medium size. I shall try it with other sources....thanks for explaining :)
 
Ok Titana thanks for your response.

Guys I need senior members help here.

As I am in dilemma about my m50 genunity I need your help. I will ship mine to someone who has m50 here. You just need to verify mine with yours. I will handle the shipping costs both ways. Please help guys. This bug in my head killing me.

Faheem esanthosh please help me.

Below is my thread link for reference.

www.techenclave.com/audio-zone/my-ath-m50-fake-140786/
 
swapyworld said:
greenhorn ,
Actually this is one of my first purchases, i have been using samsung IEM that came with mobile and Logitech clear chat premium which i found a bit more with bass. as esanthosh said they r thicker in mid range with not so clear treble. I am not accustomed to terms used by audiophile. Just that little punch in the bass and clarity or crispyness in treble is missing.

esanthosh ,
just read your review, it does sound 'thicker' in mid section without deep bass or clear treble. Is there any earfone that you would recommend under 700-800 bucks which can provide descent bass (not boom boom kind) and clear - crisp mid and low range and treble. sorry if i am missing any point here, just need your help.
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@swapyworld, have you enabled any sound settings in your phone/music player? clear them all - any mega bass, XBS, whatever sound enhancements there are and start with nothing. For the default earbuds/cheap ones, these settings will increase the bass a bit, but for IEMs like the ES18 which have a good bass response, they will make the sound overly bass heavy
 
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@greenhorn,
i am using frank mod 3.8 which comes with DSP manager, but i didnt find the bass to be too heavy rather bass wasn't boomy kind at all....but thanks for the suggestion....will surely try mate :)
 
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onlystruggler said:
Ok Titana thanks for your response.

Guys I need senior members help here.

As I am in dilemma about my m50 genunity I need your help. I will ship mine to someone who has m50 here. You just need to verify mine with yours. I will handle the shipping costs both ways. Please help guys. This bug in my head killing me.

Faheem esanthosh please help me.

Below is my thread link for reference.

www.techenclave.com/audio-zone/my-ath-m50-fake-140786/
Click to expand...

Guys sorry for my annoying posts but can't help myself. Please some one certify my m50s. I so pissed off with m50, at times feel like giving it a free give away.i guess these are fake as it gives harsh sound when I put maximum volume in my cowon j3.
 
^ Click some close up pictures and post it here for comparison / verification or else you could send it to me , I have 2-3 friends with ATH-M50 .
 
Nalin
Wont yet compare it to the AD700 waiting for it to burn-in (read quiet a lot of reviews suggesting to wait for burn in) .
As of now out of box i cannot find any particular segment dominating (all are performing good enuf) , the treble is slightly lacking and soundstage is currently little less than ad700(these were impressions out of the box) . There was a considerable change in the soundstage today morning (burnt in for around 14 hrs) and mids sounded far better than out of box . Will keep you updated about the impressions.
As of now its doing the guitars much much better than the ad700's . Will post more updates after more burn in. The bass already is much more prominent than the ad700's .

From what i have read in reviews the HD598 is not a big upgrade over AD700 but certainly a upgrade which will keep you happy . Unless you can go for a HD650 i doubt you will get any other open headphone replacement under 15-20k other than HD598 (a brand new one i mean).
 
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