Quick Comparison of 63 IEMs (Spreadsheet)

[miow]

Originally Posted by a_tumiwa

u may consider hippo shroom if you are looking for treble n clarity

Yes, I'm pretty curious about the Shrooms. Aren't they sibilant like the VBs? VB's treble is pretty strong, theres alot of treble (and clarity) there, but the sibilance is the onlly thing that really annoys me in some tracks. But they are very very good, especially the bass (awesome - think that the Ultimate Ears UE 11 Pros are the only ones that can compete with the VBs in this field), soundstage and clarity.

But aren't the RE1s better than the Shrooms?

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

I just got the Shrooms in the mail. In a few days I can say more about their sound.

[miow]

Thats GREAT NEWS dfkt! I'll be waiting. I trust your ears. lol.

[dfkt]

I finally have the Shrooms in my ears and like what I hear. No lengthy burn in yet, just two hours after taking them out of the box. Already clearly an improvement over the very similar looking Quattro, both in sound and build quality. They can't be compared to the VB, as expected - quite different animals. Comparisons to the RE0 however are not so far off. Shrooms so far have better bass quality (about equal quantity) and definitely better build quality than the RE0, mids and treble are about the same. Maybe the Shroom's treble is a bit more forward than on the RE0, but less than on the VB. Soundstage is noticeably wider on the Shroom than on the RE0.

Maybe the Shrooms change over time, as the other Mylarones and Hippo phones do, but so far so good. I like them already.

Update: Compared them on my S9/Headsix. Shrooms have more punch and definition in the bass regions than the RE0, while having more or less the same quantity (maybe a tad more). Very nice.

Also ABed them with the Phonak PFE - they're all in the same league, PFE, RE0, Shroom. Shroom are a tad more "fun" than the other two, and a tad less precise, maybe. But they're all very good lean/mean/fast IEMs.

[dfkt]

Updated the list in the first post. Added the Hippo Shroom and Yuin OK1. Added a new column, "hiss" - how well the IEMs behave with sub-par MP3 players and amps.

[Orange]

hmm. Interesting update. Does that mean you'd rather pick up a Hippo Shroom versus a Phonak PFE when walking out the door? Which quality of the Shroom convinced you?

[kara]

wait a minute since vb > shroom and shroom = pfe means vb > pfe?

[dfkt]

The list means PFE = Shroom = RE0, to me, more or less. They all have their merits and drawbacks, but they're all very similar. The sorting from top to bottom is just a rough guesstimate, it can't be a definitive ranking of what is better. I'd say I would use any phone from the upper half in real life, depending on the situation.

PFE have the best instrument separation, best cable noise rejection, best isolation - but the least comfort of the three (still comfy enough, though - and the most secure fit) and a treble that sometimes might border on a bit too bright.

RE0 are the most comfortable with the most appealing midrange - but have the worst build quality and a not so satisfying midbass hump with rolled off deep bass.

Shrooms have the best soundstage and a slightly more perceivable, punchy bass - but maybe lack a tiny bit of the precision and speed of the other two.

I'm not so sure yet about the Shroom's real drawbacks. These things take time to find out.

[sovesky]

dfkt,

When you added the Shroom to the list, why do you consider the Shroom to have a good price value, instead of a bold good price value when it's cheaper then the VB and the results aren't very different, except for the bass part?

I know it's a shallow comparison, only looking at colors in your table, but I got really curious about it, you according to your previous posts, you liked a lot the shroom's sound. Does it have to do with the fact that the list is built according to your personal preferences regarding your prefered sound signature.

Sorry if the post is kind of confusing.

[dfkt]

Exactly, the list is according to my personal preferences, as stated in bold red in the first post. Actually, it would be impossible to make a perfectly neutral list - it would always be biased in some way or another. I'm not even trying to claim perfect objectivity - I would be lying if I did. Headphones are always a personal matter - just as the style of music one prefers.

The VB for me have the best price/value since I love bass and I REALLY like these IEMs, especially given their price. I can appreciate the qualities of analytical, linear phones like the Shroom, PFE, RE0 - but I will always prefer something that makes my head rattle a bit more. I could sort all the good non-bassy phones on the bottom of my list, but that would be unfair as well (since they're all much better than comparable phones like the Ety ER-6 or Hifiman RE252 I have at the bottom of the list). A little EQ can make some of them shine.

[sovesky]

In that case I believe it would be cool if you would write a small text trying to describe your personal preferences regarding sound/music, in your first post, so that new people who read this thread for the first time, and want to "study" your table, don't be misleaded by the info in there.

Just a suggestion

[miow]

So, the VBs still win over the Shrooms

[a_tumiwa]

remember that it is more expensive than Shroom

[sovesky]

Nevertheless in the price/value column the VB's appear with a bold Good, instead of a normal Good like the Shroom's.

But like dfkt said, it's just his opinion.

[dfkt]

The price difference is really negligible between the two anyways. If you spend 60 bucks on a phone, you can also spend 80 bucks.

Once again: the VB and Shrooms are very different sounding phones, they really don't have that much in common. I happen to like the bassy VB more - others might like the balanced, more neutral sound of the Shroom better.

Who knows what's going to happen once I add the Hippo Epic, Hippo Epic Sparkle, and Hippo Pearl to the list.

[sovesky]

Looking forward to it. I couldn't find much info about them on the internet (at least when comparing with the existing info about the VB for example).

[h1a8]

Originally Posted by dfkt

The price difference is really negligible between the two anyways. If you spend 60 bucks on a phone, you can also spend 80 bucks.

Once again: the VB and Shrooms are very different sounding phones, they really don't have that much in common. I happen to like the bassy VB more - others might like the balanced, more neutral sound of the Shroom better.

Who knows what's going to happen once I add the Hippo Epic, Hippo Epic Sparkle, and Hippo Pearl to the list.

I just ordered the hippo vb. Thank you for your lovely review and comparison of them on the chart. I trust you ears alot (u were spot on everything I've tried that u wrote about). I will report (maybe a review) when I received them and after maybe 24hr of burn in. Maybe i should burn them in for 50hr or more like u did.

[dfkt]

Thanks for the kind words. Hope you like the VB!

[miow]

dfkt, whats that about Hippo Epic, Epic Sparkle and Pearl? New models? Let me know EVERYTHING. Will be waiting for your opinions on those. I trust your ears too. I got the IE8's, have had alot of other IEMs and the Hippo VBs are my favorite ones next to the IE8's. Nothing can beat that powerful, refined bass in this price tag and I really appreciate their clarity and lively sound. For 54€ this was my 2010's best buy. Puts the Shure SE310/Sennheiser CX550 to shame.

[dfkt]

The Epic and Epic Sparkle sound rather good, but they've got horrible build quality and extremely cheesy looks. They're definitely not from the same OEM factory as the other, nicer, Hippo models.

The Epic has the left and right channels reversed, and one metal mesh was missing right out of the box. This is pretty much the shabbiest quality control I've seen so far. I know, it could be from a bad batch and other Epics might be perfectly fine - but I wouldn't gamble with that.

The Hippo Pearl is from the same OEM factory as the VB and Boom - black anodized metal housing, laser engraved fonts. Looks fancy, nice, and solid. I have not listened to the Pearl yet, it's on my "burn in station" at the moment.