Recommend me IEM's around £100......

PJD007 · 02-04-2009, 4:26 PM

Ok so been reading on here and can't really decide what to get.

I mostly listen to hip-hop and dance music plus the odd podcast, so isolation has got to be good and I also want good bass.

From what I've read the Shures have to be cranked up to get decent bass and they are very bright, so I think that rules them out.

I've seen a couple of posts about Westone UM1's, do these deliver good bass ?

Er6i's ?

Superfi 5 eb's ?

Any others to consider ?

Very difficult to know what to buy without trying.

**Steven** · 02-04-2009, 8:52 PM

Which Shure's are you referring to? And if you are worried about perceived brightness then its surprising you have kept Etymotic on your list. We all have different tolerances. Me personally, I cannot take any harshness. My formative years spent entirely getting shouted at! Brightness might also be a recessed midrange, but I would doubt that of Shure's

Its subjective and below are my thoughts

I went from cheap £30 canals (about 6 brands), to UE super.fi 5.Pro's, to Shure E4G (black ver. of discontinued E4C) to my current Westone UM2

"Good" is subjective. "Good bass" can be broken down to "quantity" and "quality"

Having good quality bass will be better than just quantity
But having good quality without enough of a kick and presence might make it sound weak

For example: cheap canalphones I tried fell into quantity rather than quality. Just bloaty mess
Moved onto Shure E4G. Good quality but so flabby and flimsy it came across as weak and light
Then Westone UM2. The kick and the presence but without overwhelming the rest of the sound (notwithstanding my ESW9 and HD600 have better bass presentation but they are not IEMs)

My point? People have different perceptions of the desirable quantity and quality, as plenty of opinion online would say x canal phone has good bass and the Shure E4C are a great all rounder

PJD007 · 03-04-2009, 9:49 PM

Yeah I can see it's all a matter of opinions and difficult to judge without hearing them first.

The Shure's, I was looking at either the SE210 or SE530, ideally I wouldn't want to spend much more than £100 but if the triple or dual drivers are that much better then I'm tempted to think what the hell and go to £209 for the SE530's off play.com (or buy off a forum member who has a pair for sale).

I'm sure whatever I get will be better than the Sony EX phones I have now but I don't want to get a set and be under whelmed.

Going to have to read up on headfi that seems to be the be the forum with the most content on this stuff.

zorrofox · 03-04-2009, 10:23 PM

I switched from Sony in-ears to Sennheiser IE6's and I've been blown away by them. The bass is deep and rich, mids are pretty neutral and treble sparkles with life. Lovely. They come with a variety of sleeves and offer fantastic isolation for me. I don't listen to the same kind of music as you do though so can't really comment on them as far as that's concerned I'm afraid.

suniil · 03-04-2009, 11:07 PM

I just had a Shure SE530 for 2 days. It was too bright for me! flogged in ebay later.

Now waiting for s-jays to get delivered, It has decent reviews and strong in LF areas, which is my main interest.

**Steven** · 04-04-2009, 12:02 AM

suniil

Any particular reason you did not look at the Westone 3 or Sennheiser IE8? I listened to the latter at the Bristol Show and was quite impressed (can search for post)

suniil · 04-04-2009, 6:52 AM

I saw & read your photos / pics of Bristol show earlier, You own one of the great Headphones in the planet

I've gone for Shure SE530 only because experience in the past were good with Shure E4C. I've not explored into Westone / Sennheiser, but looks like next big purchase would be Westone 3

Special thanks for the pics, as real shots give a lot of visibility in actual terms compare to ads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

suniil

Any particular reason you did not look at the Westone 3 or Sennheiser IE8? I listened to the latter at the Bristol Show and was quite impressed (can search for post)