FYI: Excellent IEM headphone roundup/review site...

[lestatar]

To all:

Not sure what the rules are on abi posting links to threads from other sites, but...and apologies if this is old news to the folks here.

Here is a link to the best review of current portable IEM headphones I have ever seen...Nearly every brand/model is covered and the reviewer seems certainly expert and more importantly, unbiased and fair...

Also broken down into $ categories as well which is the most fair way to evaluate stuff sometimes - its just silly to compare $5USD headphones with $300USD ones...

Check it out...

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/m...4-10-a-453836/

On a personal note, I just got my hands on the Maximo iMetal 590 IEMs. Do the research...these are AMAZING! Best, most sonically balanced headphones I have heard in a long time, especially amazing at the steal of $40USD.

Truly, check out the reviews of the Maximon iMetal 590s online...

cheers!
-lestatar

[CrowdAds]

[kiyu727]

Originally Posted by lestatar

To all:

Not sure what the rules are on abi posting links to threads from other sites, but...

Here is a link to the best review of current portable IEM headphones I have ever seen...Nearly every brand/model is covered and the reviewer seems certainly expert and more importantly, unbiased and fair...

Also broken down into $ categories as well which is the most fair way to evaluate stuff sometimes - its just silly to compare $5USD headphones with $300USD ones...

Check it out...

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/m...4-10-a-453836/

Just as a home stereo/theater will only sound as good as the speakers used, your mp3 player lives and dies by your headphone quality...

You love music so you bought a quality mp3 player...you rip at high quality LAME or listen to stuff that's lossless - why stick with the generally subpar freebie headphones when you can have significantly better sound quality for not necessarily a whole lot of money?

On a personal note, I just got my hands on the Maximo iMetal 590 IEMs. Do the research...these are AMAZING! Best, most sonically balanced headphones I have heard in a long time, especially amazing at the steal of $40USD.

Truly, check out the reviews of the Maximon iMetal 590s online...

cheers!
-lestatar

all except Sony's and yet you post this in the sony section ...

[dfkt]

Thread moved. Lestatar, you might want to look around our headphone forum section as well, so you don't get stuck entirely in the Sony forums, where you posted this thread...

Originally Posted by lestatar

On a personal note, I just got my hands on the Maximo iMetal 590 IEMs. Do the research...these are AMAZING! Best, most sonically balanced headphones I have heard in a long time, especially amazing at the steal of $40USD.

Truly, check out the reviews of the Maximon iMetal 590s online...

We banned a few corporate shills of Maximo, people who worked for Maximo and praised their phones to high heaven in here. I wouldn't recommend phones from such company to anyone.

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Thread moved. Lestatar, you might want to look around our headphone forum section as well, so you don't get stuck entirely in the Sony forums, where you posted this thread...



We banned a few corporate shills of Maximo, people who worked for Maximo and praised their phones to high heaven in here. I wouldn't recommend phones from such company to anyone.

Thanks for the info!

You are completely right! I have been "stuck" in the Sony forums since I have a recent E series purchase - that's been my focus. But of course, abi forums are much bigger than just Sony. I have been doing myself a disservice!

Also, appreciate the tip about Maximo - of course, you have no way to know this for sure, but I have absolutely nothing at all to do with Maximo, except as a new customer. As a matter of fact, I had never heard about the company until 2 weeks ago when I started research on a set of quality, mid priced IEMs. My posting history here will be evidence of this. Maximo came to my attention because the web reviews for the Maximo stuff has been uniformly and glowingly positive. I have even found out that a senior Maximo rep is a regular and well-regarded poster on the generally respected Head-fi.org site.

I am very surprised to hear that there have been "shills" for Maximo here at abi. But the truth is the truth - I am a new customer of theirs and while no audiophile expert, I have definite audio prefernces and am just amazed at how great the i590s are, considering price, packaging, accessories, etc.

I won't even go into how great their customer service is - I had a small issue with my i590s and they have bent over backwards to make things right. So I will stick by my guns based on my own personal experience and continue to recommend the i590s - of course, headphones are so subjective but in my mind these Maximo's are a tremendous value for the money.

Anyway, thanks again for the tip and apologies for any offense!

cheers,
-lestatar

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by kiyu727

all except Sony's and yet you post this in the sony section ...

Hi kiyu: You are absolutely right - this was an unintentional oversight on my part.

I actually posted the review site on the Sony portion simply because that is where I have been most active and I was simply trying to provide a public service - however, in hindsight, you are correct in that I should definitely have posted my thread in the proper, parent forum at abi.

My mistake and apologies.

cheers!
-lestatar

[Enigmatic]

Originally Posted by lestatar

I have even found out that a senior Maximo rep is a regular and well-regarded poster on the generally respected Head-fi.org site.

Generally respected? Many of those members have unusual audio beliefs—e.g., http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f22/it...viewed-219297/.

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

Generally respected? Many of those members have unusual audio beliefs—e.g., http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f22/it...viewed-219297/.

Hi Enigmatic...thanks for the response!

Not sure of your point with the link though. Sure, to me [and I guess to most folks] that level of enthusiasm is a bit extreme [power cords costing hundreds of dollars???]. But then again, not being an expert on the subject, I have no way to objectively determine if those folks are actually a bit nutty or if they are simply extremely passionate about stuff they love. Of course, if folks over at Head-fi were going to start preaching about covering their DAPs with aluminum foil to prevent EM interference, then I might start to question their sanity.

If nothing else, you have to admire their level of detail and commitment, even if it is a bit "out there" at times.

But from the little bit of time I have spent recently perusing their forums, I have found most folks/posts to be very informative, friendly and, for the most part, as objective as possible given such subjective subject matter.

Without knowing the detailed history of Head-fi, I say "generally respected" simply as a result of how many sites [unrelated] seem to refer to Head-fi, and again, in usually positive terms.

IMO, the line between "enthusiast" and "obsessive" is pretty thin. I am sure Star Trek fans feel the same!

Different strokes...

Anyway, thanks for the response and the heads-up on Head-fi.

cheers,
-lestatar

[Dreamnine]

@lestatar - I have a look around head-fi sometimes, but there is a lot of bandwagon-jumping, and I couldn't get over the idea that the Sony X sounds better after it's burned in and other weird stuff.

[Marvin the Martian]

I read posts over there from time to time, but I do take them with the proverbial grain of salt. Some of the people over there are perfectly rational enthusiasts,and make great points..... and some of them are just plain nuts!

[Enigmatic]

Originally Posted by lestatar

Not sure of your point with the link though.

It is one example of some of the ridiculous beliefs held by some of those members. How that rubbish got by the moderators and administrators to become a sticky is incredible. The real deal on power cords: http://www.theaudiocritic.com/downloads/article_1.pdf:

The biggest and stupidest lie of them all on the subject of “clean” power is that you need a specially designed high-priced line cord to obtain the best possible sound. Any line cord rated to handle domestic ac voltages and currents will perform like any other. Ultrahigh-end line cords are a fraud. Your audio circuits don’t know, and don’t care, what’s on the ac side of the power transformer. All they’re interested in is the dc voltages they need. Think about it. Does your car care about the hose you filled the tank with?

[lestatar]

Hey Enigmatic, thanks, I suspected that was what your intention was. :-)

Personally, I am with you on this issue of power cords - what possible difference could it make? But as a non-expert layman, I will allow for the "slight" probability that it may actually make a difference in the eyes of some folks.

I guess my feelings are [if they matter] is that if they're not "harming" anyone, let 'em be.

e.g. I recall some of the arguments/discussions from the past [and still going on] about Monster Audio cables vs. similar gauge generic cables. I will never be able to tell the difference between the two nor is it likely that I will ever want to/be able to invest in a $200K home stereo setup where one "might" be able to discern the difference.

But at the same time, can I say for certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there will be no actual, measurable and thus audible difference? Probably not.

Anyway, thanks again for the heads up!

cheers,
-lestatar

[Enigmatic]

Originally Posted by lestatar

But at the same time, can I say for certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there will be no actual, measurable and thus audible difference? Probably not.

So far, no one has been able to hear the difference in double-blind listening tests if laboratory measurements alone predict that no one should be able to hear a difference in double-blind listening tests. I have discussed this and other myths on many of my previous posts in other threads. It is also explained in my signature. Please see, for example, http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...01&postcount=4.

http://www.theaudiocritic.com/downloads/article_1.pdf:

The Cable Lie

Logically this is not the lie to start with because cables are accessories, not primary audio components. But it is the hugest, dirtiest, most cynical, most intelligence-insulting and, above all, most fraudulently profitable lie in audio, and therefore must go to the head of the list.

The lie is that high-priced speaker cables and interconnects sound better than the standard, run-of-the-mill (say, Radio Shack) ones. It is a lie that has been exposed, shamed, and refuted over and over again by every genuine authority under the sun, but the tweako audio cultists hate authority and the innocents can’t distinguish it from self-serving charlatanry.

The simple truth is that resistance, inductance, and capacitance (R, L, and C) are the only cable parameters that affect performance in the range below radio frequencies. The signal has no idea whether it is being transmitted through cheap or expensive RLC. Yes, you have to pay a little more than rock bottom for decent plugs, shielding, insulation, etc., to avoid reliability problems, and you have to pay attention to resistance in longer connections. In basic electrical performance, however, a nice pair of straightened-out wire coat hangers with the ends scraped is not a whit inferior to a $2000 gee-whiz miracle cable. Nor is 16-gauge lamp cord at 18¢ a foot. Ultrahigh-priced cables are the biggest scam in consumer electronics, and the cowardly surrender of nearly all audio publications to the pressures of the cable marketers is truly depressing to behold.

This has been discussed in previous threads such as http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=43263, http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=27050, and http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=46172.

[lestatar]

Hey Enigmatic:

Thanks so much for the info [and education]!

In truth, as a layperson [and generally typical, but slightly-more-aware consumer] I must admit many of the concepts in this issue are over my head, but I do find discussions like this interesting nevertheless.

FWIW, as I mentioned before my own beliefs are that a good percentage of these "enthusiast" folks have probably fooled themselves a bit - but overall, they are quite harmless IMO. Again, different strokes...The folks with actual professional experience and pedigrees in the types of relevant fields we are discussing may be another matter, but again, my personal inclination is that the differences are so infinitesimal that they would be beyond the human capacity to discern.

A real world example:

Several years ago I purchased a 42" 1080i HDTV/LCD and I decided that HDMI cabling would be the best, most elegant connectivity solution. Of course, the salesperson tried to sell me a set of Monster Cable HDMI for $150.00. I laughed in his face - I explained I already had purchased online a set of decent/sufficient gold-plated HDMI cables with a lifetime warranty for $25USD, including shipping.

He asked me for the name of the site.

Cheers and thanks again for the info - I will certainly peruse through and [hopefully] learn something!
-lestatar

[lestatar]

Enigmatic [and dfkt if you are still reading this]...

Just went through the entire thread with this shemp person - that was one of the best threads I have read here at abi. THANKS!

But the best part for me was not actually the controversial topic/digression from shemp. The best part was that, for the most part, the thread stayed completely adult and didn't degenerate into a mean-spirited, all out flame war.

Now THAT is the way ADULTS should disagree on subjects - sticking by your guns [on both sides] but never really getting too personal by attacking people like children do.

Clearly everyone involved on the thread was having a pretty good time. And credit at least to shemp for not getting defensive - I found his language and tone especially good-natured [although perhaps a bit patronizing in that basically harmless "too bad they don't believe this" kind of way that "true believers" have].

Finally, I learned 3 important things from reading that thread:

- dkft is not to be messed with as he will personally go to the trouble to conduct experiments in order to prove his point beyond a shadow of a doubt;

- you Enigmatic, despite having clearly strong views on the audiophile morass, are still a civilized human being who, I think for the most part, embraces the "agree to disagree" mentality in the end;

- Marvin The Martian has got to be one of the most plugged in people around: the guy is like Quick Draw McGraw in finding the perfect links for everyone and everything on every topic.

cheers and thanks for a great read...will check out the others when I can.
-lestatar

PS: I too always believed Bose to be WAY OVERESTIMATED [IOW, crappy]...

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

@lestatar - I have a look around head-fi sometimes, but there is a lot of bandwagon-jumping, and I couldn't get over the idea that the Sony X sounds better after it's burned in and other weird stuff.

Hey Dreamnine, sorry for the late response.

You make a good point - you and others have for sure convinced me not to take everything from Head-fi as being THE GOSPEL [not that I really ever did in the first place - I am too old and skeptical for that sort of thing].

And totally agree with you on the burn-in thing regard digital devices like PMPs and MP3 players. I am no tech wizard, but that viewpoint seems to make no sense to me.

While I can see where burn-in "could" make a difference in things with actual, physical moving parts [like dynamic driver headphones, speakers, CARS], I just don't see how burning in a digital device could actually make any difference at all, least of all IMPROVE its performance.

Poppycock!

cheers,
-lestatar

[esanthosh]

What are you guys up-to? You mean to say that my inter-connect which is much more costlier per sq. inch than my house would not sound heavenly after 300 hours of burn-in?

May be instead of these "mass marketed" players, you should try burning in one of those newer "audiophile" players for 300 hours, then you will see the difference. Of course, you might need to charge them every 6 hours, live with bad UI, sometimes with hiss etc., But come on, aren't audiophiles supposed to do some sacrifices in pursuit of DA BEST SQ?

[Dreamnine]

"But the best part for me was not actually the controversial topic/digression from shemp. The best part was that, for the most part, the thread stayed completely adult and didn't degenerate into a mean-spirited, all out flame war."


You should have seen it before it was edited.

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

"But the best part for me was not actually the controversial topic/digression from shemp. The best part was that, for the most part, the thread stayed completely adult and didn't degenerate into a mean-spirited, all out flame war."


You should have seen it before it was edited.

<LOL!>

I stand corrected! Should have realized/guessed that the thread was a bit "too squeaky clean" for such a hotly debated topic.

Nice work mods...not that it's saying much, but you obviously fooled me!

cheers,
-lestatar

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by esanthosh

What are you guys up-to? You mean to say that my inter-connect which is much more costlier per sq. inch than my house would not sound heavenly after 300 hours of burn-in?

hey esanthosh: Well, I'm certainly not an authority, but I think I read somewhere that after the 300 hours burn-in period, you will only get another 300 hours of usuable life out of the inter-connect before it self-destructs, going up in a puff of white smoke like those cassette tapes from the old school Mission Impossible series.

So my suggestion is that you better do some speed listening ASAP...

I read it on Google - it MUST be true.

Originally Posted by esanthosh

May be instead of these "mass marketed" players, you should try burning in one of those newer "audiophile" players for 300 hours, then you will see the difference. Of course, you might need to charge them every 6 hours, live with bad UI, sometimes with hiss etc., But come on, aren't audiophiles supposed to do some sacrifices in pursuit of DA BEST SQ?

Hmmm, sounds like a lot of FUN! Next time I have a couple thousand on hand burning a hole in my pocket, I'll be sure to check em' out.

I guess till then, quality LAME rips on my Creative and Sony players with decent IEMs will just HAVE TO SUFFICE <lol>

cheers!
-lestatar

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by lestatar

I guess till then, quality LAME rips on my Creative and Sony players with decent IEMs will just HAVE TO SUFFICE <lol>

cheers!
-lestatar

How's this for ridiculous....some on Head-Fi use WAV files on their Sony X-series players to have gapless playback, and then complain about the battery life not being so great...if that's not a facepalm moment, I don't know what is.