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    IEM suggestions

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by ronaldheld, Feb 27, 2011.

  1. ronaldheld

    ronaldheld Notebook Deity

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    My RE0 finally broke the casing on the left ear(after 1 year). For a $100 budget, should I get another pair or buy something else?
     
  2. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    Any buying advice given to you without understanding what your needs are is as good as useless.

    So...
    (1) What are you using these headphones for? Music? Movies? Gaming?
    (2) How important is noise isolation?
    (3) If music, what kind of music?
    (4) What did you like about your RE0's? What did you wish that you could change?
    (5) What other IEM's (or headphones) did you happen to try before, and what did you like about those?

    I can probably think of about 5 different pairs of great IEM's under $100 off the top of my head. But without knowing what you expect out of your headphones, any recommendation someone gives you will be useless.
     
  3. ronaldheld

    ronaldheld Notebook Deity

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    I am using them mostly for gaming, and very few movies. Noise isolation helps filter out the Sager 9262 fan noise.
     
  4. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    The HeadDirect RE0's are pretty well-regarded in terms of sound quality. Their hallmark is a flat, neutral sound, which is nirvana for harcode headphone junkies that listen to music. Flat response is a desirable quality, because you listen to the music the way that the musician & audio engineers intended for you to hear it. That's great for music, but is much less important when it comes to gaming.

    I'd recommend you go for one of these other two options, depending on what kind of sound you want out of gaming.

    (1) Etymotic MC5 headphones ($80,new). These headphones have two things going for them.

    First, they have signature Etymotic sound. That means thinner bass, but incredibly detailed mid and high frequencies. You also get a high degree of instrument separation, so you can clearly distinguish one sound from another. Etymotic headphones are the headphones to get if you care about locational precision in surround sound. Combine them with a good surround downmixing algorithm (like the Creative Labs X-Fi 5.1 USB SB1090 sound card w/CMSS3D support), set Windows Sound & game settings to 5.1 speakers, and let the surround downmixing algorithm do the work. You will be able to clearly distinguish one sound from another, where that sound is coming from, and how that sound is being filtered.

    In a competitive FPS game like Left 4 Dead 2, you can tell that a (A) Boomer is (B) at your 2 o'clock (C) above you, on the roof, (d) hiding behind a wall. And you can tell all of that, just from the incredible amount of detail revealed in the sound. It gives you an unfair advantage in multiplayer. You might as well be wallhacking.

    In a non-competitive game like Fallout: New Vegas, the sound signature works to draw you in to an incredibly immersive, intimate gaming experience. It is the heroin of PC gaming. Once you experience Fallout: New Vegas on some Etymotics + good surround hardware, you will be chasing that dragon for the rest of your life.

    The second benefit of Etymotic headphones is that they have the best noise isolation out of any IEM, whether you use the rubber tri-flange tips (good for durability) or whether you use the black foam tips (isolates so well, you might as well be wearing earplugs).

    If you do get these headphones, be sure to let them burn in for about 50 hours first. People report that they sound muddy when they first get the Etymotic MC5's. But the burn-in will let the sound signature open up quite a bit.



    (2) The other option I'd recommend that you consider is Klipsch Image S4's ($80 new, $40 used). They have less detail than the Etymotic MC5's. But they have intentionally colored bass and treble frequencies. For music listeners, that sound signature can make music sound more "lively" and "fun". That translates over into gaming as well.

    In a competitive FPS game like Left 4 Dead 2, these headphones put more emphasis on the BOOM in boomer, rather than emphasizing the location / distance / cover. When that boomer pops, it will have more "oomph" from the heavier bass.

    In non-competitive games like Bulletstorm, these headphones will make the game sound more "fun" by throwing the explosions and gunfire in your face. Their sound signature is slightly less immersive than Etymotic headphones, but makes it as if you are watching a very visceral action movie.

    If you do get these headphones, I'd recommend you also get your hands on a pair of Etymotic tri-flange rubber tips, and put them on the Klipsch Image S4's. I find them to be far more comfortable than the default single-flange tips that come with the headphones, and gives you the same excellent noise isolation that you get from Etymotic.

    If you're leading towards the Klipsch Image S4's, you really couldn't go wrong by buying a used pair for ~$40 USD, getting a Creative Labs X-Fi 5.1 USB SB1090 for ~$50, and enjoying the surround sound bliss of IEM gaming.
     
  5. DetlevCM

    DetlevCM Notebook Nobel Laureate

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  6. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    Head-Fi is *THE* community for headphone junkies on the internet. Excellent resource.

    Just keep in mind that their needs are typically different than yours. Head-Fi will favor neutral, balanced, flat-response headphones for music listening. You want gaming, so you may want to intentionally look for headphones that are slightly "lower rated" due to having too much emphasis on certain frequency ranges (may be desirable quality in gaming).
     
  7. ronaldheld

    ronaldheld Notebook Deity

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    I will look at the Head-fi links.
     
  8. ronaldheld

    ronaldheld Notebook Deity

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    Read the linked reviews and looked at what was available on Amazon. I will get the Etymotic MC5. I will remember the burn in period.
     
  9. ViciousXUSMC

    ViciousXUSMC Master Viking NBR Reviewer

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    Ha, that was written so pro. Almost like a review & story all in one.

    @ronald

    I agree that head-fi is a great place to get audio knowledge and advice. However just go in knowing that its an enthusiast/elitist forum for audio and many people their have higher than normal tastes and higher than normal budgets.

    So some people will be recommending things to you that are really not valid, if you believe everything you hear and give into peer pressure. Before you know it you will be taking out a second mortgage on your house just for a new pair of headphones.

    After lurking about for a while you will get the hang of knowing who listens to posters and answers accordingly, and the others that just throw around expensive recommendations because they think hey are best from what others have said, or they own them and after spending so much they think they are best.

    Audio is so subjective that it harder to decern what is worth the money than say here for laptops where at least you have benchmarks and stuff to fall back on.
     
  10. ronaldheld

    ronaldheld Notebook Deity

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    Well that is true. I was an audiophile, but that was decades ago, when I had no money for quality components.
     
  11. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    Dragon Age 2
    Sound Blaster X-Fi CMSS3D Headphone Surround Downmixing
    Etymotic ER-4P headphones
    Aural bliss

    Keep chasing that dragon.
     
  12. DarthWayne

    DarthWayne Notebook Consultant

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    on head-fi recommendation...i bought Westone 3.

    very expensive...but best piece of audio equipment i have ever used in my life.

    the sound is clear to a fault!
     
  13. N1GHTRA1N

    N1GHTRA1N Notebook Consultant

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