A lot has been written about Shure’s current flagship in-ear phone already, but of course that doesn’t stop us from reviewing them. Maybe we just add a bit more to the confusion surrounding them, seeing how the SE530 are either loved or hated by certain people, and seeing how so many reviews tend to contradict each other about their sonic qualities. One thing is for sure: the SE530 do have many virtues, but they also have their fair share of weaknesses.

Let’s take a closer look at these quite expensive triple armature equipped earphones… No holds barred, for s(h)ure.

Until now I thought I'd heard about every possible method of allegedly improving sound quality on IEMs, but I was wrong. While some IEMs have quad armatures and others have interchangeable parts, Panasonic have taken it one step further and have included a Zirconia in their RP-HJE900 IEMs to "suppress sound distortion".

The RP-HJE900 also comes with interchangeable cables through connectors that frankly look more like Nokia chargers than audio jacks. The phones have a frequency range of 6Hz–28 KHz and an impedance of 26Ω. If the use of this material really had an effect on sound quality I'd have thought the bigger IEM manufacturers like Shure or Ultimate Ears had already tried it so I don't have too much hope for this product, but it sure would be interesting if these got good critics. The IEMs will be released in Japan on June 15th with no word yet on pricing.

[Akihabara News via Gizmodo]

JAYS, the company formerly known as "Jens of Sweden", lately shifted their focus from manufacturing well-designed audio players to equally classy looking in ear phones. After their relatively inexpensive j-JAYS and d-JAYS models they now launched their first dual armature driver phone, the q-JAYS. JAYS claims they managed to create the world's smallest IEM (in ear monitor) to date, at a fraction of the size of most other single armature earphones, let alone dynamic driver models. They're available in black and white, come with a boat-load of accessories, and are competitively priced to similar multi-armature phones.

We'll try to find out how the q-JAYS hold up to the well established competition in the high-class ear monitor game...

Look what the mailman delivered the other day; it's a box straight out of Hollywood, California, home of young headphone couturiers V-Moda. They’ve just released their newest model of IEM (in ear monitor) earphones, the V-Moda Vibe. Resembling several things Hollywood-ish, these phones just ooze glamor and style.

After wading through lots of marketing-speech and company philosophies on V-Moda's website, I began to wonder if there could be more to these phones than mere style. Are they more than just a fashion accessory? Do they deliver more than glitzy appearance? Well, let's see (and hear)...