What are the best in ear headphones for under 500 dollars?

just like the thread title states. Looking for the best in ear headphones for under 500; I would get the sennheiser 800 for 800 dollars both the gf keeps saying she will kill me if I do lol.

 

Seems westone 4r and um3x are the only ones I could find with all good reviews.

 

What does the rest of your audio setup look like?

 

Well if you are looking for only universal fit IEM's then the Shure SE535 and Westone 4R's are both pretty solid choices (I've only ever tried the 4R's and 535's briefly). If I were you I would take a good hard look at getting a set of custom IEM's like the JH5 Pro: LINK

Note that if you wanted a custom molded IEM, go to a proper audiologist or trained professional and get one done there for ~50USD.

 

Not sure what you mean. The headphones role would be for when I play games, watch movies, and listen to music from the laptop.

 

How did the shure and westone compare to say bose IEMs? I've only ever tried bose, bowers and wilkins, and bang and olfusen. All 3 pretty much have the same sound quality but with bose being the most comfortable because of their ear piece. Idk why other companies don't copy their design because it really is the best. The IEMs that you have to shove in your ear in my case always pop out on my left side (I guess I have a weird shapped ear canal?) I liked the westones because of the design it seems they fit snug. But if you have used any of the 3 headphones I have mentioned I am wondering how is the westone sound quality in comparison.

I looked into custom but my problem would be if the sound quality isn't good I am stuck with them. Also how are they going to custom mold them to my ear if my ears are not near them?

 

I'd match the vsonic gr07, tdk ba 200, and Fischer audio dba02 against the westone 4r and shure 535 any day.
And they are less than half the price.

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

Those look very uncomfortable though. At least the vsonic do. I didn't check the other 2. It seems shure based on reviews is better for people who are using them when playing music like in a band. I need something that is the best for watching movies, playing games, and listening to like music from itunes or something like that.

 

The vsonic has fifteen pairs of ear pieces and an adjustable nozzle, making it one of the most comfortable and adjustable Iems out there.
I'd actually rate the shure 535 the worst amongst the iems mentioned in this thread.

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

How would you rate the westone 4r? For music, movies, and games.

 

The 535 is actually one of the best. It just doesn't have that 'wow' sound signature - but it is, consequently, one of the most accurate in the class because it's not driving any of the armatures too hotly.

The 4R's good - it's my preferred subway beater. Tractable, excellent sound for all types of listening, reasonable fit variation. I still actually prefer the 535 for fit. But for me that's not critical because as I said, they are my beaters and I have a custom for longer journeys.

 

With his comparison I doubt he's ever owned one.

 

Used customs. You can get them re-fit for about $100. And you should be able to pick up used customs all day for 300-400. I sold my Westone ES3X's for 350 a year or more ago. I've never heard a headphone that i liked as much as those ES3x's they were even better than all of the full sized ones i've used.

 

Have you used the bose in ear, bowers and wilkins, or bang and olfusen? Do the 4Rs sound better?

 

He means your "system" is only as good as its weakest link. For that price you could get some pretty good phones, so typically the rest of your system would likely not measure up.

 

i think he means what will be powering your IEM's? amp? soundcard? etc.

as Krane stated, if u go out and buy really nice headphones then the chances are something else in your setup will be bottlenecking your premium headphone's ability to reproduce sound at it's best efficiency.

i don't personally know Vogel, but i'd take his advice on IEM's. it seems that IEM's are like socks to him. correct me if i'm wrong.

 

I ordered the westone 4Rs. I got them for 440 which included a 50 dollar 3 year warranty that covers any electronical or physical malfunction of the headphones for the next 3 years. They say if they can't fix it within 5 days they will cut me a check for my money back so I like that protection especially on 500 dollar head phones. Especially when my bose break every year almost so I always end up getting a new set for free. So I got around 100 off which is not a bad deal.

If I don't like them I can return them for 40 bucks and i'll just stick with the bose. The guy said the reason bose sound so good and unique is because they really beef up the mids. But all the reviews on amazon and other places say the 4Rs have extremely good mids,highs,lows, and bass with a good focus on mids and highs so hopefully they sound similar if not better.

They all say the 4Rs and the shure and all these headphones over 400 are "accurate". I am not sure if accurate means better? lol. All I care about really is clear,detailed, sound with the right amount of bass but not too much that it loses the depth of sound and instead there is just boom boom boom which is how all beats headphones are.

 

Bose isn't really high end when it comes to sound quality. they're like the Apple of audio. decent hardware packed into a nifty little, marketable package.

'accurate' usually refers to the soundstage of the product. it's basically how well can that product reproduce, and separate, highs, mids, and lows.

 

True, but to simply even more, how closely does it come to the original sound? Since all electronic devices add some amount of distortion and/or coloration, the best drivers add the least.

Still, there are some personal preferences involved (the subjective part) and some people may like the added coloration even though it's not real.

And agreed on Bose; they're not the most accurate. Their popularity come from convenience, and ease of use. They put a lot into a small easy to manage package.

 

I couldn't care less if the sound is suppose to sound a certain way or not. Every bose system whether it is the head phones, home theater, etc, produce all music with good bass and depth and above all very good clarity. As in your hear all the little details in the sounds very clearly. What ever causes is that is good. Now if these 4Rs do that even better, well then I will love that more.

 

Not really. Anything from a phone upwards benefits from a good headphone - there's too much myth on the source front. Obviously some integrated audio really does suck, but it's easy enough to rectify for under $100. I'll either be perfectly happy to listen to most integrated, or if I'm going to listen to something 'good' then I will attach something measurably high-end.

The problem with some IEM's - and the armature driver phones are slightly worse for this - is impedance mismatch in some cases, which causes excessive hissing on some (especially) low-end systems.

Accurate means just that. In terms of the detail extracted from the sound, the multi-driver armature phones are more accurate than dynamic-driver phones and also single/dual armature phones. It has nothing to do with the soundstage or the separation of frequencies - it's how it well can render the sound being presented as a whole.

The 4R's have a more 'musical and lively' presentation than the comparatively 'dull' 535's. I'd say accuracy between both is pretty even.

The key thing with any balanced armature phone is the fit. You *have* to get a seal in order to have full frequency response from the drivers. The 4R ships with a range of tips for you to be able to experiment with this. Try them - don't just put on the ones that come attached to the phones as standard. Aftermarket ones are also available - when using foam tips (best for isolation) I use Comply's P-series on the Westone (and different size tips for each ear), but shorter ones on the Shure (again, different tips for each ear). Once again, this is entirely down to your physiology so what works for me won't work for you. I can't use the triflange silicone tips for example as they irritate my ear too much, but a lot of users have very good experiences with them.

 

Among the higher end models mentioned here ie shure 535, ie 800, umx3; the 4r is the best.
They are quad balanced armature driven iems. That's like 4 speakers per ear. The balanced armature driver is known for its clarity and seperaration and has good highs. However it will not give you much bass as this is a limitation of its design.
I'm more a bang for buck kinda guy, and although I've used the westone 4r and all the other iems here (care of my headphiles group), I find the three I mentioned as good as the 4r. But don't fret, I'm sure you'll love your westones.
Just as an FYI, there are hybrid iems that incorporate two balanced armature and one dynamic driver. So with these you get the clarity and separation of the ba and the deep bass of the dynamic driver. They are a new technology and the original hybrid, the akg k3003,is 1k usd. However there are sub 400usd models coming out this year.

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

i have either owned or had extensive use with MANY Bose docks, computer speakers, and home theater systems. to me, their 2 best features is that they're really easy to use and their convenient footprint. u could easily put together a low-end 5.1 system that would put any Bose home theater system to shame. all for a fraction of the price. this is also true for docks, computer speakers, IEM's, and headphones. they're not bad products, but they definitely aren't "great".

@Vogel: i don't know...i feel like the base sound cards in the majority of laptops are pretty garbage. my laptop can't even power my ATH-M50's nearly as well as my phone can.

 

On the other hand, a headphone is only as good as the signal its sent. The best headphones in the world will not make MP3 sound any better. Okay, it may sound better than $25 phones but it will still be MP3. That was my point.

Incidentally, your argument is valid but only at the advanced level. At the point of this discussion, the basics cannot be overstated.

Is it safe to say these should not be your first set of phones?

In that case your question is meaningless. Go to Walmart and buy the first headphones you see. You asked a serious question and serious people responded. Now you say you don't care? How should we interpret that?

That's how your question should have started. Better. Now we know what level is satisfactory to you and can make a more informed recommendation.

 

Well now that you know what sound is satisfactory would you say I would be happy with the westone 4Rs since it is not too late to cancel the order. As I said I got them for 100 off and a 3 year extended warranty that covers any type of damage or malfunction or my money back on the headphones themselves plus the warranty.

 

That sounds like a good buy.

 

audio is VERY subjective from person to person. what person A might like, person B could hate. the only real way to find out how well u are going to like any type of speaker (headphones & IEM's included) is to physically listen to them in your intended environment. just order them from a reputable place so u can always return them if u are not fully satisfied.

there are also those types of people that prefer a different set of speakers for different types of uses, or even moods. who knows? u might discover that u like a whole different type of soundstage.

 

Yea but if I don't like them I have to pay 40 dollars to return them.

 

Only you can make that choice as houstoned explained.
Just remember that iems usually require a burn in period to get their best sound.
If you really want to compare the different iems, your only choices are to join an audiophile group listening event or demo those iems in a store. The former choice would be the best.

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

Interesting. I guess when it comes to higher end headphones the rules are different. Because I can confidently say bose, bang and olfusen, and bowers and wilkins all sound the same. And I can also confidently say that definitive technology surround sound speakers sound better than bose lifestyle surround sound speakers. But apparently with higher end headphones people can not confidently say that they sound better than the "lower end" bose.

 

u got it all wrong, buddy. i can confidently say that Bose are just "mid-tier" when it comes to actual sound quality and performance. we can all sit here and tell u that these "high-end" IEM's pack way better hardware than the Bose, but that doesn't mean u will agree with what we are suggesting.

example: alot of my friends think the Beats sound good while i think they are very annoying. some ppl like oranges while others prefer apples. u won't know which one u are more drawn to until u personally taste both.

 

the law of diminishing returns is particularly salient in the audio industry and moreso for portable gear. a good mid tier iem/headphone will give you 80-90% of the sound fidelity of high end gear. at the highest tier your basically looking 0-5% ,with differences only in terms of musicality and what not.
also companies with large marketing budgets such as bose and senn tend to skew the market in their favor.

 

good point on the diminishing returns. i'd rather just buy some UE triplefi 10's and call it a day.

if i were to enter the "high end" IEM market, i'd just drop around $1000 on a set of custom ones. will i ever use them? barely. will they be worth it. probably not.

 

False in terms of IEM's to a certain point. Due to driver limitations, triple drivers do make an audible difference over single or dual. If you tried them as opposed to reading Head-Fi, you'd know.

However, a badly engineered triple-driver, like the UE Triple.Fi 10, is an exception in that it's not necessarily an upgrade.

 

how are they "badly engineered"? they having raving reviews from everyone and everywhere.

also, what are better IEM's at the $100-$200 price point that can beat the triplefi 10's? i haven't read of many, or heard of many.

 

If comparing against the TF10's, you're actually probably better off with one of the well-reviewed dual drivers. The TF10 has no crossover, instead relying on a direct air channel from the drivers - which a) makes the body unwieldy and biomechanically harder to fit than the better dual/triple/+ driver phones and b) results in an ear tube that's a similar diameter to that of phones like the entry Sony EX series and the Sennheiser CX series - i.e. phones on which the ear tubes don't actually go fully into the ear canal, which results in a poorer seal. That, combined with the way the sound is delivered from each driver, results in a pretty sub-par three-driver experience.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of positive comments come from:
a) people with giant ear canals
b) people who have never heard another decent multi-driver IEM but have done some research and feel that getting three drivers for how much they're usually available for is a deal
c) people who may have tried others but are blinded to the same 'three drivers for $low' aspect.

There's a very good reason why it's the cheapest triple-driver out there - it's the worst one out there.

 

i guess to each his own then. they seal just fine, especially when worn over the ear. have u personally tried them? tips matter alot just like any other IEM, and Comply tips (as u suggested) are really nice.

i'm pretty sure the only reason why the triplefi 10's are on sale for $100-$200 sometimes is because they are a pretty old design. not because of their sound quality. i specifically used the triplefi 10's as an example because of the mentioned diminishing returns. for $100-$200, the triplefi 10's sound a whole lot better than any other sub-$200 IEM's that i have auditioned. how big of a difference would they be compared to the current $400-range.

 

Unlike quite a lot of people in this thread (or indeed, many others) it seems, when I have a definitive opinion about something I've not just tried it for a couple of minutes or read about it, inferred an opinion then repackaged / rewritten it nicely. I've had it for an extended period. And what's more, I've had many others - including pretty much every multi-driver Shure have released and a good percentage of their singles, every armature Ety, a decent chunk of the generic and custom UE's until a couple of years back, a smattering of Westones (including the 4/4R being discussed), as well as the JH's - so I know what to expect. Have you/do you?

My modus operandi in this respect is pretty consistent across anything - with the exception of cars, for which I had to join a 'supercar club' to rent, since obviously I couldn't buy them all. When I say to myself 'I want the best', 'I want the least compromised' or 'I want something specific', I more often than not do a bit of research, assemble a broad shortlist and then go buy them all. If that doesn't yield the result I'm looking for, then I make a broader shortlist and then I go and buy them all.

Nope. They've gone regularly on sale for years. They're cheap because of what I said.

 

So then westone 4r better than bose? lol. I wish I had the money to go out and just buy them all haha.

 

calm down, broham.

they were just legitimate questions that could really help someone's decision on what to buy. the only reason i specifically quoted u, and asked u, was because i respect your opinion in this particular subject. i demand a certain level of quality from products i buy and i just felt like we had that in common.

 

I haven't tried the tf10 but I've tried the akg k3003. And yes the hybrid design makes a difference.

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

Yes the westones are better. In the portable headgear world, bose is known more for their noise isolation headphones
Their iems are average.

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

thank you. Don't know why it took so long for us to draw this conclusion.

 

I got it out there so that I could refer to it in future posts (notebook or anything else wise) because I'll undoubtedly have to do it again elsewhere. It wasn't an attack, nor was it primarily directed at you in this thread. I was pointing out the difference between someone who reads stuff, 'tries' stuff and makes very definitive and verbose judgements. One thing that really gets my goat in the nets is people just regurgitating stuff they've Googled as if it was their own opinion. I don't care if they have different opinions to me, but if you actually have valid first-hand experience you can easily tell the inconsistencies of such regurgitations from a single individual over time because it's not formed from one consistent POV, however well packaged it is.

 

Depends on what you define better, also depends on which Bose and for what. And that's really something only you can decide - though people with experience might be able to give you an opinion one way or another, as opposed to a Google-scraper who'd just say "yes it's better" because he knows Bose = crap.

Like houstoned pointed out, the Bose stuff is easy to live with. They engineer their gear to be convenient and good enough in most cases, and in terms of the sound, it's tailored more to what a lot of people expect and it doesn't always measure up to what audiophiles expect.

The question is, are you an audiophile in that sense? Because not even I am always - there are times I value convenience over absolute performance. Which is why I have options, e.g. in the form of the AE2 and recently re-bought the QuietComfort15 after kicking the MDR-1RNC to the kerb. I don't use them anywhere near as often as I do IEM's (mainly because headphones are stuffier - but the around-ear Boses are pretty much the top dogs for comfort for me as far as headphones go), but they still have a place in my lineup.

 

I don't find the big headphones to be convenient lol. Nor do I want something overly complicated. I like in ear headphones. I am not sure you could consider me an audiophile in the sense of other audiophiles. I do care very much about good quality sound and being able to hear all the details clearly and properly in what I am listening to, but I can't distinguish as easily as others the differences between mids,lows, and highs. Basically I just listen and if the sound in its entirety sounds better than great, if not then I don't like them lol. Like for instance apple headphones sound horrible, no bass, no details. Compared to that bose sounds more clear and with better bass and details. Same kind of thing for home theater systems. Cheap 400-1000 all in one systems sound like compared to say bose, definite technology, JBL, etc... Though between the high end stuff in home theater yes there is diminishing returns so at that point the differences aren't really noticeable.

 

Believe me, after using good iems like the westone 4Rs, you will start noticing the difference

Sent from a Galaxy far, far away

 

ok, cool. i thought u were directing some of that towards me because i already see eye to eye with u about product quality. i really do respect your opinion on IEM's/headphones, so i didn't want u to take it the wrong way.

if i don't have any first hand experience with something, i try to keep my $.02 to myself.

have u ever tried playing with the EQ and stuff like that? it's fun playing with the different frequencies sometimes.

i kind of feel the opposite when it comes to the diminishing returns thing. i have many headsets, headphones, and IEM's but my best 2 pairs are the UE triplefi 10's and the ATH-M50's. i feel that spending anymore on IEM's/headphones is a waste to me because i just don't use them enough to justify the purchase. now...home theater on the other hand is totally different. me, and my family, have had many, many different home theater setups over the years. i've had them all...from in-box setups to setups where the audio equipment alone was 25K+. setups where u just don't hear sound, but u actually feel the movie.

i'm planning to move into a nice 1-story house (living in a 2-story alone right now) at the beginning of next year. i'm already looking to drop at least $5k - $10k on my next theater setup.

kind of off-topic: have any of u guys auditioned any "good-great" wireless headphones? i've actually been looking for some and there doesn't seem to be much of a selection. i might just get those new PS3 Pulse ones and call it a day. it'll just replace my current Turtle Beach gaming headset.

 

Because in this price range the discussion is among connoisseurs; and the appreciation of the subtle nuances in music takes practice and is a fine art.

Nothing can be concluded that easily. Otherwise, we'd be just the same as the masses. In which case BEATS audio, would have been the recommended path.

 

Well, it looks like you're still feeling out what you want. Hope you like the Westones. Read what I said about the tips.

You'd be surprised.