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In-ear headphones shopping

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ViRGE said:
I came here to see what people thought of the CX-300s and ended up getting the NE-6 instead. These had better be good freedomsbeat, otherwise I may have to ban you for wasting my money! 😛
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Hahaha - I was just about to order a pair of NE-7s (for my droid) myself until the unemployment fairy told me to lay off the headphone purchasing... They're really quite amazing for the price, and I've tried quite a bit to find a better set in sub-$100 price range.

And I'm not kidding - if you don't like them I'll buy them from you. My wife took my last pair and I'm stuck rocking out to $4 headphones- the horror!
 
s44 said:
I dunno, my take-away from this thread was that I probably want to try those Kanens at some point... Not that I'm planning to dump my SCL4s, but c'mon, $4!
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They're certainly a steal at $4, but I don't want to inflate expectations.. They're among the better sub-$20 sets of IEMs I've heard...Not earth shattering, but for $4 I'd say pick up a pair and try em out! I'm trying to remember the sound sig of JVC marshmallows- those might be the safer bet, especially since they're easily available for $10.

http://www.focalprice.com/EP268X/Kanen_KM92_Wooden_Inear_Headphones.html
 
I prefer rubber to foam, and so didn't like the marshmallows until I Shure-tip modded them. (Still bassy, of course.) But then they got torn up in the subway.

Still, $10 is a bit too close to the $18 price of the FX66 air cushions, which I actually like. $4 is an amusing toy, esp. since I already have an expensive pair.
 
Dangerer said:
http://www.head-direct.com/product_detail.php?p=38

MASSIVE MASSIVE thread of people praising these on Head-fi.org

I use Sennheiser IE8 myself and love them after 400 hours of burn in. They sounded like trash when I first used them though.
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Well, I don't get the praise placed on head-direct headphones. I have a pair of RE2s, which are supposed to be amazing - I found the sound overly.. Analytical. Imagine the etynomics but even "clearer"/cleaner. I suppose that's great for talk radio, but I found most music annoying to listen to. Shimmery highs that may sound great if there was a decent low end, but end up being very fatiguing to me. The RE0 is supposed to be even more analytical, so I'd personally run the hell away from them. And the build quality, at least on the RE2, sucks.

But some people love that shrilly excess, to each his own! I'd say save $40 and get nurforces- they sound much better to me.
 
freedomsbeat212 said:
Hahaha - I was just about to order a pair of NE-7s (for my droid) myself until the unemployment fairy told me to lay off the headphone purchasing... They're really quite amazing for the price, and I've tried quite a bit to find a better set in sub-$100 price range.

And I'm not kidding - if you don't like them I'll buy them from you. My wife took my last pair and I'm stuck rocking out to $4 headphones- the horror!
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They arrived today. After very little deliberating it looks like I'll have to go ban someone else instead.😉
 
I've tried a lot of different headphones but the $15 I-Metals that w00t has on sale every now and then are better sounding than anything else I've heard....so long as you can keep them in place. That's my only complaint. Lose the fitting and sound quality disappears. They are durable and comfortable. I've been quite happy. Excellent bass without losing high end clarity.
 
ViRGE said:
They arrived today. After very little deliberating it looks like I'll have to go ban someone else instead.😉
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Hah, so you won't be selling them to me? Dammit! 🙂

Any other thoughts for people who might be shopping for headphones? At this point I sound like I work for Nuforce.

(Ordered two new headphones yesterday even though I shouldn't have - I love my kicker zune dock so much that I had to try some kicker headphones)
 
vi edit said:
I've tried a lot of different headphones but the $15 I-Metals that w00t has on sale every now and then are better sounding than anything else I've heard....so long as you can keep them in place. That's my only complaint. Lose the fitting and sound quality disappears. They are durable and comfortable. I've been quite happy. Excellent bass without losing high end clarity.
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Have tried them too and they're actually pretty good. They do fall out of my ears all of the time. They're a solid budget IEM.
 
s44 said:
I prefer rubber to foam, and so didn't like the marshmallows until I Shure-tip modded them. (Still bassy, of course.) But then they got torn up in the subway.

Still, $10 is a bit too close to the $18 price of the FX66 air cushions, which I actually like. $4 is an amusing toy, esp. since I already have an expensive pair.
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I agree, I buy another sub-$5 iem from dealextreme/focalprice every month, just for shits and giggles. The kenen woodies are by far the best for that price range (best, regardless, would be soundmagics from focalprice)
 
freedomsbeat212 said:
I never bought the cx300-ii (or cx400/cx500) because I found the cx300s so underwhelming and a sound sig I really don't like (I would call them muddy, others call them 'fun' ). From what I've been reading, the cx300-iis are tweaked but not a completely new design - I can't imagine tweaks improving them to the point where they'd compete with the NE6s.

The cx-300s aren't bad, mind you. If you're only used to stock ipod buds the CX300 will wow you.

The NE6/7s are simply in a different league and serve different markets.

CX300- hip hop, dance music, and male vocaled rock. I bet the new Black Eyed Peas album sounds great on it.. I don't like the Black Eyed Peas. Very "in your head" sound.

NE6- Great across genres... I got teary eyed the first time I listened to a female singer song writer on them - there was so much I didn't hear before, from that twang after a guitar stroke.. They're good for hip hop/dance/etc as well, you just won't get that douchebag in a pimped civic ghetto blaster sound.
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the 300 v1 was indeed underwhelming, its junk. the v2 however is much better. have both, not sure why the v1 got love, it was muddy
 
s44 said:
I dunno, my take-away from this thread was that I probably want to try those Kanens at some point... Not that I'm planning to dump my SCL4s, but c'mon, $4!
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These came a couple of days ago... All the tips are too small. (This is to say, there's not even a large/medium-large pair in the set.) Ack!

Useless -- not sure what other tips might fit on 'em, either.
 
freedomsbeat, have you ever heard the ME-Elec M6? When I was making a budget IEM decision I was on the fence between the M6 and the Nuforce NE6/NE7... the price of the M6s, along with ljokerl at Head-Fi, convinced me to go with the M6. For $25, I really can't complain - they're a good deal better than my Creative EP630, but rather disappointing that my Altec Lansing iM716 (which I got for $70, were down to $50 at one point, but are admittedly supposed to be somewhere between Ety ER6i and ER4Ps) really kick its ass in everything but bass. Thus, I was left with a bit of buyer's remorse - maybe if I had gotten the iMetal 590s, or the Nuforce, or the Soundmagics, or the Head Direct RE2s... you get the idea.
 
Aflac said:
freedomsbeat, have you ever heard the ME-Elec M6? When I was making a budget IEM decision I was on the fence between the M6 and the Nuforce NE6/NE7... the price of the M6s, along with ljokerl at Head-Fi, convinced me to go with the M6. For $25, I really can't complain - they're a good deal better than my Creative EP630, but rather disappointing that my Altec Lansing iM716 (which I got for $70, were down to $50 at one point, but are admittedly supposed to be somewhere between Ety ER6i and ER4Ps) really kick its ass in everything but bass. Thus, I was left with a bit of buyer's remorse - maybe if I had gotten the iMetal 590s, or the Nuforce, or the Soundmagics, or the Head Direct RE2s... you get the idea.
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Of the phones you mentioned, I own the following:

Soundmagics - pl10s and 3 others
Head direct RE0
iMetals (forget the model)
Etynomics
A.L. iM716

The nuforce is better than all of the above, arguably other than the Etynomics. The ety's have a particular sound signature that's different, but not better or worse. I personally found the iM716's really underwhelming compared to the Nuforces.. I've seen the m6 on overstock and considered buying them until I read some questionable reviews.
 
I would go with the NE-6 as well for the application that the OP was interested in. Unamped from my Iphone headphone socket, they had good bass/mid (though not really deep bass) and the treble did not roll off at the higher end.

Unfortunately, I lost my pair of NE-6, so I use a pair of inexpensive Sony MDR-EX55 when I have to carry stuff in my pants pocket or UE TF10 headphones when I'm carrying a computer bag.
 
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