Listening equipment thread

nadavnaz said:
www.head-fi.com

^^
Great audio equipment forum, for all those who wish to listen to their music with a bit more then cheap computer speakers. Enjoy^^


now, this thread is mainly to find out about the forum's listening equipment. As i begun with stock Creative headphones which came with my player, i found it crappy. I upgraded, and today i have the etymotic reaserch er-6i.

In Ear monitors, they seal up your ear canal and block out any outside noise (only if you manage getting a good fit, if you don't they'll sound like shit).

I love them aLOT, and you can hear amazing details in many opeth songs, that you'd never hear anywhere.


So after i spilled a lot of crap about my earphones, what about you guys?0:
Click to expand...

How do the the etymotic reaserch er-6i sound compared to larger headphones in the same price range? It seems the smaller drivers would not have the full range compared to the larger driver headphones.
 
flu boy said:
How do the the etymotic reaserch er-6i sound compared to larger headphones in the same price range? It seems the smaller drivers would not have the full range compared to the larger driver headphones.
Click to expand...

Exactly the opposite is true. Big drivers cost a lot more to manufacture, and in the same price, small drivers which are easier to produce, would be a lot better and detaild then mediocre full size headphone drivers which are harder and more expensive.

Though this is just an assumption. I might be wrong, I've never tried full size cans (headphones) that cost about 80 Bucks.

But the etymotics defiantly have an amazing frequency range, there's not a detail you miss with those.

My only comparison to non-in ears are the px-100's (which sound simply horrible compared.) and cost around 40 bucks, and the HD201\415 which sound just as rubbish.

And even if full size headphones would own my etys, they don't seal, and aren't half as portable >:
 
nadavnaz said:
Exactly the opposite is true. Big drivers cost a lot more to manufacture, and in the same price, small drivers which are easier to produce, would be a lot better and detaild then mediocre full size headphone drivers which are harder and more expensive.

Though this is just an assumption. I might be wrong, I've never tried full size cans (headphones) that cost about 80 Bucks.

But the etymotics defiantly have an amazing frequency range, there's not a detail you miss with those.

My only comparison to non-in ears are the px-100's (which sound simply horrible compared.) and cost around 40 bucks, and the HD201\415 which sound just as rubbish.

And even if full size headphones would own my etys, they don't seal, and aren't half as portable >:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I will check them out.:headbang:
 
flu boy said:
Thanks for the info. I will check them out.:headbang:
Click to expand...


Oh dude, the fact that the etys are my kind of iem's doesn't mean you'll like them. I was talking about IEMs in general, the ety's included. You should study other IEMs too.

In fact they're very controversial. Many people say they're as good as it gets for this price range (Very detailed, balanced tight and not over-done bass, and have a low impadence=high volume output=good for portable players) and many others say that the bass simply isn't enough for them.

Though this IS an opeth forum, and opeth is no hiphop band and the bass needs to be just as balanced as the other instruments, I'd say they're pretty great for opeth. At least from my ear's perspective.


Beware:If you're a bass head, don't get them. If you like hearing the bass like one of a couple of instruments, not overdone and distinguishable, they're your kind of stuff. And about people saying the wire's thin\unreliable, you get a 1 year warranty from ety about that and they never fail to give service. And anyway i don't think it's really that fragile as people say.

If you do get them, and you're dissapointed, try using different tip sizes and work hard on getting a seal! It might be hard at first, especially if it's your first iem. And if you don't get one, they'll sound like rubbish. (it comes with triple flange tips/foam tips. I got small bi-flanges which were the only one's that fit me snug. So if you can't get a good seal and they sound totally rubbish, you might wanna get other tips, and of course try all of the ones that came with the headphones)


Anyway, before making your buy, log on to www.head-fi.org, tell them of your price range, musical preferences (bands genres etc.), your audio source and ask them about the ety's and for other recommendations. They're very helpful people, and you betcha they are a LOT more experienced and understanding then me. You can get a lot of info using the forum's search function.

Hope you make the right choice!
 
for my computer, i have Dynaudio BM5a active monitors, some cheapie Yorkville interconnects, and a MOTU ultralite audio interface.

my main system is an Ayre CX-7e CD player, Nordost Heimdall balanced interconnects, Ayre K5-Xe preamp, Bryston 4B-ST poweramp, some cheap generic 12 gauge speaker wire, and JMLab Chorus 715 towers. Oh, and a Chorus SW700 subwoofer. The next upgrade is the speakers and the speaker wire, as they are by far the weakest link. I have a bunch of other speaker stuff not hooked up now, like the rest of the 5.1 setup for the JMLabs, and some Paradigm ADP-170's i was using as rear surrounds when i did multi channel. Also have a Denon AVR-3806 i was using as the receiver for multichannel.

EDIT: oh and for headphones (i hate headphones) i have a pair of Ultrasone DJ1's.
 
How are the BM5A's, Mikey?

I've heard mixed reviews... some people claim they're fairly flat... others flat-out don't like the sound etc. They are fairly cheap, so I may consider listening to a pair as a possible alternatives to the Event ASP8s I'm considering to get in the very near future.

What are the yorkville interconnects?
 
I LOVE the BM5A's. Fucking hell of a speaker. Imaging is not really their strong point, but you sure can hear everything in a mix with them. They are about a million times better than the Yorkville YSM1p's i had before. I am a huge huge fan of Dynaudio though, they are easily my favorite speaker manufacturer. I convinced my dad to buy a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C4's without him even hearing them, and they're 18 thousand dollar speakers haha. So i might be the wrong guy to ask about them, as i love them to death. Of everything i auditioned around that price (adam, genelec, etc.) it was very easy for me to pick Dynaudio.

The interconnects are a balanced set just to go from the speakers to the MOTU. I think i paid like 60 bucks for them, nothing special. They're XLR to TRA. I'm going to be getting more Nordost cabling soon and i'll probably try to upgrade those to a set of Heimdall, Frey, or Tyr. I really want the Tyr, but they retail for a couple thousand dollars so i'll probably hold off, or use em in my main system, and go balanced instead of single ended. That's if i get a new amp too, since the Bryston is single ended only. Anyway, it's all dreams... but working in a hifi retail store i get huge discounts so now is the time for me to buy. The nordost cables for example i get half price! When you're talking a thousand or more for them, that's a huge savings!
 
Listening equipment? I just use a pair of Sony earphones haha...I can only dream of all the setups many of you guys have on here right now...
 
Cheers Mikey.

What do you mean by TRA though? I haven't heard of any jacks like that before. Do you mean TS, or RCA by chance?

I'm getting a local guy to solder me up some high quality unbalanced to balanced cables so I can do a decent noiseless run to my speakers. Right now there is a ground issue and all the noise is spilling into my monitors... which tends to defeat the point of transparent monitoring.
 
Haha, Arjen - you and I have the exact same ampflifier!!! My brother gave me mine with a couple of Mission speakers (he's had the amp and them for about 15 years!).
I'm so far from an audiophile it's ridiculous. It's not that I haven't tried, but unless it's something really shitty that makes noises and I dunno... farts during playback, then I don't have a problem with any stereo system. It seems also that it's working to my advantage, since then I don't have to spend so much and be pleased.
 
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