Nice IEM for the S9

[SirDigger]

Right now i got the Sennheiser cx 300, and they are great concerning their low price. But since I'll get a S9 now it's time to upgrade. I read many articles and reviews about many IEM's, checked their availability here in germany and right now, I'd choose the Ultimate Ears super fi.5. But i read that, due to their low impedance, they might not be suitable for every player. So I'd like to know from anyone who uses his S9 with the super fi.5 wether it works just fine. It would also be cool if you suggested any other IEM's you like, but they should be about 170 bucks maximum.
Thank you

[CrowdAds]

[AceMathias]

I had a look at UE super fi.5, but was put off UE due to thin easily breakeable cables. I decided upon Sennheiser IE6 and have found them great. Are very durable and sound amazing and should be at the price you want (i bought in UK so not sure about US price)

[innocenceislife]

i havnt heard the super fi 5's but i use jays q-jays with my s9 and it sounds fantastic and they are way more comfortable than any other IEM i've ever had due to their size and i think would be cheaper also (they are dual armature IEMS )

[khusrouf]

@ SirDigger
I have the UE studio 3... I also have the NuFporce icon mobile amplifier, it works perfectly and clearly.... I donno if what ur talking about is super fi 5 pro specific issue.. I'm planning to get them myself actually... I'll let u know when I get them

[The DarkSide]

SirDigger, and anyone else looking for iem's for the S9, take a look at THIS thread. It shows a comparison chart of iems', and the creator (dfkt) is quite knowledgeable.

[tarkil]

First of all, I'm new here (been reading this forum several hours per day for a week though), so hi to everyone.
Also I wanted to say 'thank you' to all you, because thanks to all my readings, I'm now the happy owner of a S9, which I'm really enjoying for now !


I could nonetheless use some of you guys help and / or advice.
I now need to buy a nice pair of phones to go with it, and I decided to go for some IEMs.

After lots of intensive reading of everything I could find, I ended with this shortlist of phones :
- Phonak Audeo PFE
- Westone UM3X
- Future Sonics Atrio M5

I live in Hong Kong, and would go try them if I could, but I don't know any shop where I could do so, so I'm pretty much stuck.

I listen mostly to every kind of rock (lots of metal, but pretty much anything with guitars), usually like hearing some bass to shape nicely what I hear and give a good skeleton. These would be my first real nice pair of phones, but I would really like to find some that suit me, and with which I would be able to enjoy nicely the S9.
And lastly, I'm definitely not a crazy audiophile with golden eears kind of guy, but I do enjoy listening to music a lot, and enjoy it even more with great sound.


Thanks very much in advance for your input.

[innocenceislife]

Originally Posted by tarkil

First of all, I'm new here (been reading this forum several hours per day for a week though), so hi to everyone.
Also I wanted to say 'thank you' to all you, because thanks to all my readings, I'm now the happy owner of a S9, which I'm really enjoying for now !


I could nonetheless use some of you guys help and / or advice.
I now need to buy a nice pair of phones to go with it, and I decided to go for some IEMs.

After lots of intensive reading of everything I could find, I ended with this shortlist of phones :
- Phonak Audeo PFE
- Westone UM3X
- Future Sonics Atrio M5

I live in Hong Kong, and would go try them if I could, but I don't know any shop where I could do so, so I'm pretty much stuck.

I listen mostly to every kind of rock (lots of metal, but pretty much anything with guitars), usually like hearing some bass to shape nicely what I hear and give a good skeleton. These would be my first real nice pair of phones, but I would really like to find some that suit me, and with which I would be able to enjoy nicely the S9.
And lastly, I'm definitely not a crazy audiophile with golden eears kind of guy, but I do enjoy listening to music a lot, and enjoy it even more with great sound.


Thanks very much in advance for your input.

i was in your exact same position not long ago however at the time i had an iriver spinn (which didnt sound anywhere near as good as the S9). for my needs i was after very neutral IEM's as i feel balanced audio is the nicer than overpowering bass or treble. i was looking at the Jays Q-jays, phonaks and some shures.

i talked to someone over at head-fi about it and in the end decided to go with the q-jays as they were a bit cheaper than the phonaks imported to australia well i plugged the q-jays into the spinn and they sounded so detailed and crisp, however they were lacking a bit of bass.

so i decided after much procrastination to get a 16gb Cowon S9 and WOW!! the sound quality difference was amazing and the missing bass from the Q-jays suddenly came out in full glory. Bass was sharp punchy and not overpowering (machbass 4 + EQ) however you can probably push more bass but i like balance. the high details were still present and listening to music especially live albums is amazing (especially now with gapless mp3 on the S9 :P)

so i would say that you should also consider the Q-jays but also the phonaks are supposed to be very balanced so i would assume that they would behave very well with the S9 EQ and bbe settings aswell. my only reccomendation for S9 users is that balanced IEM's that respond well to EQ's are probably the best bet for perfect sound to the end user on an S9 because its so damn tweakable.

however if comfort is an issue def check out the Q-jays they win by a mile in comfort. and they are also dual armature IEM's
microphonics are rather bad with the jays but if you wear the cables over the ears like the phonaks its not really an issue.

im no audiophile so i dont have a tonne of iems at my disposal but compared to my old iems (some sony ones from JB hifi) the soundstage to me sounds perfectly fine however many have said that the Q-jays are very narrow (dont know about the phonaks)

so my reccomendation would be for the phonaks or Jays Q-jays (if the rest of your selections are also balanced neutral IEM's than they should all give fantastic results on an s9

also for reference i generally listen to rock, metal, symphonic metal, alternative and some D&B

http://www.jays.se/products/earphones/q-jays.html

And a show off photo for good measure :P

[jpalm]

I've used Ultimate Ears super fi.5 for several years and with many different player's. They work and sound fantastic with my S9.

[AzN_devil]

Originally Posted by tarkil

First of all, I'm new here (been reading this forum several hours per day for a week though), so hi to everyone.
Also I wanted to say 'thank you' to all you, because thanks to all my readings, I'm now the happy owner of a S9, which I'm really enjoying for now !


I could nonetheless use some of you guys help and / or advice.
I now need to buy a nice pair of phones to go with it, and I decided to go for some IEMs.

After lots of intensive reading of everything I could find, I ended with this shortlist of phones :
- Phonak Audeo PFE
- Westone UM3X
- Future Sonics Atrio M5

I live in Hong Kong, and would go try them if I could, but I don't know any shop where I could do so, so I'm pretty much stuck.

I listen mostly to every kind of rock (lots of metal, but pretty much anything with guitars), usually like hearing some bass to shape nicely what I hear and give a good skeleton. These would be my first real nice pair of phones, but I would really like to find some that suit me, and with which I would be able to enjoy nicely the S9.
And lastly, I'm definitely not a crazy audiophile with golden eears kind of guy, but I do enjoy listening to music a lot, and enjoy it even more with great sound.


Thanks very much in advance for your input.

hey im from hong kong too...im using Phonak Audeo PFEs and they are great...its pretty much the best iems you can get for the price...just order them online as no one sells them locally