DJ.BigBear

$1,175?!? Son of a Bee sting..........

__________________

if you need any assistance on setting up, just add one of my IMs.

slytown

Duct tape can fix that. I've put it to the test.

__________________
My Gallery
Join Iowa Overclockers!
Robilar's Asus P5N32E-SLi guide.
OCN Trance/Techno/Dance Club - We love drum machines.

s1rrah

That's really nothing ...

I mean ... considering how expensive headphone amps can get ...

ORPHEUS

Actually an amp/headphone combo ... but serves for perspective ...

__________________
...
ReV1eWs:
ND-1 VGA Cooler | Mod'd Scythe Infinity | Iceberq 6 VGA Cooler | Spirit RS RAM cooler | Zalman 9500 on NOS | MagicTune
...
Aumotocnic: "An unfortunate member of the overclock.net insomnia club"
...
OSAMT: "Member of OCN Songwriter and Musician Thread"
...

DJ.BigBear

actually orpheus is kinda a symbol of senns prestige... not necessarily the best.
i still prefer sony R10 to orpheus.

__________________

if you need any assistance on setting up, just add one of my IMs.

[FH415] LOKI

Loki wants orpheus.. someone buy me them :PPPPPPP

Chipp

I know that the DIYEDEN line that Pacific carries is held in high regard for low price DACs. Almost bought one myself, but got bit with the speaker bug instead....

I don't know anything about the other product lines, though.

__________________
... wherever I may roam; where I lay my head is home ...

Electricity Explained --- Got a G15? Use ATI Tool? Check this out! --- Compilation of Free Security Utilities --- Rule #1: Obey All Rules --- E2160 @ 3400mhz, Orthos Stable

s1rrah

So I had a chance to do some extensive demos on a couple of $100-ish priced IEMs today.

Fry's has a great return policy so I sometimes buy something just to check it out, knowing I will return it the next day.



When testing each of these two new IEMs, I was doing direct A/B listens with my Shure e4c's as the main reference point. I listened to a variety of tracks from Indie to Rock to Classical.

First listen was to a pair of Harman Kardan EP730's:

...

Harman Kardan EP 730
I PAID: $75.00
Harman Kardan's suggested retail: $199.95
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



...

/SOUND/

Nothing much to say positive about these. Really ... considering the price, they just sucked.

I was hoping for something good since, at least at a popular consumer level, the name Harman Kardan seems to be equated with good work/design.

Not so with the EP730's.

The biggest complaint I have is with the overall muddiness of *EVERYTHING* ...

Generally you hear that BASS is sort of muddy but in this case, all frequencies were somewhat muffled. This muddiness was even more pronounced in the bass, especially as I up'd the volume.

Unlike the Shure e4c's I've had for a while now, which tend to sound better and better the louder the signal gets ... these sounded worse and worse.

The bass had very little room to scale with my amps volume and began to distort where the e4c's were just starting to sound good, the Harman's just couldn't handle the volume.

I couldn't believe how bad they sounded. Trebles completely unfinished ... sort of 'rolled off' with not even a hint of the sparkle and pop that makes treble so nice in a good set of cans/IEMS.

And the mids were just barely their underneath the general blandness of it all.


/FIT/

The poor fit of the dual flange silicon tips that came default on the IEMs made a nice match for the poor sound. I couldn't even use them. Did not seal at all.

The saving grace however is that Harman Kardan does spring for the *one* single set of extra tips which happen to be of the standard 'memory foam' type and these did provide a very nice seal that allowed proper testing.


/BUILD QUALITY/

This was the other glaring issue with this product ... the cable felt like it would snap with just the slightest tension. Very very cheap and flimsy soft rubber cable.

Again ... just as surprising/unbelievable as the terrible sound.

...

Bottom line is that it's a literal travesty that Harman Kardan actually displays a suggested retail price of $199.95 on their website.




....

The next set was Shure's entry level IEMS:


Shure SE110
I PAID: $100.00
Shure's suggested retail: $119.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



...

/SOUND/

Here again, I was rather disappointed.

(The degree to which the e4's have spoiled/influenced my listening is really becoming apparent)

I was expecting something approaching the e4c's quality but what I found was an IEM that sounded just about as bad as the above discussed EP730.

The problems with the SE110's sound though had more to do texture than with muddiness, though the SE110's were rather muddy in comparison to the e4c's as well.

The main thing, though, as I said, was the texture of the mids for the most part. At a decent listening level (not blowing your drums or anything), the mids took on this completely obvious grainy quality ... that's the best way I can describe it ... very very grainy and rough ...

One would expect mids to be smoothly introduced and resolved with no scratch or grate but these were almost uncomfortable in that regard on first listen.

I will say that after about thirty minutes I became a bit more accustomed to the sound ... but as soon as I put the e4c's back on ... the shortcomings became all to evident again.

The highs/trebles weren't present at all. I had to completely tweak the EQ to get things sounding decent ... but again, considering the price, there are probably better options in the $100.00 category.

I really wanted them to rock, being a longtime Shure fan boy (mics mostly and just recently their IEM's) but as with the Harman's above ... I wouldn't recommend these to anybody.


/FIT/

The fit was fantastic.

All Shure IEM's, no matter the price, come with a really nice assortment of tips, from hard rubber to very pliable silicone and also the memory foam variety.

That was good to see.


/BUILD QUALITY/

Compared to the Harman Kardan's ... the Shure SE110's are tanks.

But then again, compared to the e4c's ... the SE110's are still a bit flimsy.

They lacked the extra thick cables that make the e4c's so road worthy and they also used some strange two piece cable design opposed to having the entire chord/cable assembly in one piece.

Overall, though ... like most everything Shure makes ... they were put together quite well.

...

...

...

That said ...

Listening to these rather bad performing IEM's shed even more light on what I consider the most brilliant aspect of the Shure e4c's ... their unfailing neutrality and faithfulness to the produced piece.

...




...

With the e4c's ... you get a very real sense of the 'silences between the notes' ... something I think is just as important as the production of each individual sound across all frequencies.

If I cannot get a sense of the silences, the emptiness that should be their when no string is vibrating or drum snapping ... then I'm not enjoying the sound.

Also ... and please forget those reviewers who claim otherwise, the bass response on the E4C's is astonishing. Those who say otherwise either have a bad fit, a bad source or bad hearing. Best bass I've heard out of any headphone; not necessarily the loudest and most up front ... but the most natural and beautiful (down to very silly frequencies I might add ... )

...

Both of the above (briefly) discussed, fairly cheap IEM's ... failed this test miserably.

Anyway ... Fry's return policy FTW!



...

And always remember:



...

__________________
...
ReV1eWs:
ND-1 VGA Cooler | Mod'd Scythe Infinity | Iceberq 6 VGA Cooler | Spirit RS RAM cooler | Zalman 9500 on NOS | MagicTune
...
Aumotocnic: "An unfortunate member of the overclock.net insomnia club"
...
OSAMT: "Member of OCN Songwriter and Musician Thread"
...

Heru

How's that TC-7510?

Nice setup, btw.

__________________
TRACING the substances in age and distance,
SCANNING the extensive universe.
FOLLOWING the grammar of the known existence, but
EXPLORING the possibility of a vaster multiverse.

Gollie

Enjoy

__________________
Home Setup: X-Fi > BNC 3.5mm-Digital Coax > Beresford DAC > Monster RCA > Darkvoice 336i > Beyerdynamic DT770 (80ohm)

"Overclock.net headphones club: Because perfect hair is overrated."

"No Highs, No Lows, must be Bose"
-Duckydude

Heru

How's that TC-7510?

Nice setup, btw.

EDIT: If you can get around to it, mind taking a picture of the back of it?

__________________
TRACING the substances in age and distance,
SCANNING the extensive universe.
FOLLOWING the grammar of the known existence, but
EXPLORING the possibility of a vaster multiverse.