What has been your best bass experience so far?

[IDvsEGO]

Seems like a lot of the requests lately have been for "best bass for $XXX" so I figured I would start a thread that was kind of relevant to that and may help collect some thoughts. So anybody else want to share what some of your best portable bass experience has been? All mine are off a samsung galaxy captivate with poweramp player and no add on amp.

xears N3i - good bass but not user friendly at all. cloth jcord and huge bodies. pita, never use them anymore.

hippo VB - sub bass and good clarity across for me. big body made fit an issue and build quality came to be a problem but man could they do the bass thing well without shaming the rest of the spectrum.

philips she3580 - I dont want to be a FOTM fanboy so I will toss up the stuff people DONT liek to talk about first...terrible terrible cable. nozzles are a slightly off norm size so spare tips are a bit loose but usable. there is soem distortion and a little bleed over at times. now the good stuff. $10 and they boom like crazy, go lower than the E10 for sure. rest of the sound is decent too. Not some crazy "you get $100 sound for $10 but you get more than your moneys worth at $10 for sure.

Soundmagic E10 - doesnt have the sub bass rumble of the two above but is a great all arounder with enough bass to appease me. and they have that feature that I loved about the hippo...they sound good with anything so I don't have to swap out or skip tracks.

XB500 - crazy bass but I found they needed EQing to sound less than muffled...which of course made the bass less impactful. great for specific use if you only listen to hip hop or maybe electronic music. so comfortable and deep bass.

cortex 2500 - my favorite so far in my limited bass heavy cans. the rest of the sound is good enough that I am not ashamed to love them. worth $50 IMHO. I paid $25 so I am thrilled.


OK, so you guys post yours. Maybe if we get enough I will quote your replies and add them to this OP for easier reference.

[El C]

None of my headphones are particularly bass-heavy, but can I mention the ZO2 as an option?

[cnhardwick]

Audio Technica ATH-M50 has been my best for bass so far, but then it is my only set of headphones, I do not have a lot to go on. Nevertheless, I think others would agree it is a decent option in the $100-150 price range.

As far as IEM, I might give it to the MEElectronics CC51, but due to build quality issues I cannot recommend it. The MEElectronics M11+ would probably be next in line, but the M6 is almost as good and a whole lot less expensive. I have shied away from bass heavy IEM though and would trust IDvsEGO's list more than mine.

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by El C

None of my headphones are particularly bass-heavy, but can I mention the ZO2 as an option?

from what I have heard the ZO2 is a great option to transform the sound sig of your sets. I think another fun thread would be one dedicated to before and after impressions of sets from ZO/ZO2 owners. Like i said, I don't ahve one but i remember the difference mu J3 with BBE made in the sennheiser hd428. night and day for me. I bet the ZO2 could make for some great experiences. anybody want tos end me one so I can kick off that thread too

[reventon]

it has to be Cortex CHP2500 for me. The downside is, right ear gets uncomfortable after wearing it for 30 mins or more. For $25, its extremely VFM.

The Meelec M6 are good bass IEM. They are not bass monsters like VB but they are very good for the price ($12), great accessories, good quality wire and comfortable fit. If the fit is perfect, you get excellent bass.

[dfkt]

ClarityOne probably have the best bass I've heard so far.

[steinburger1109]

Fischer Audio Eterna v1 have quite thunderous bass, IMO. Though I only have them, ATH-M50, and used to have Panasonic RP-HJE900. Fischer had the biggest bass of the two, but the HJE weren't far behind, and they had better bass.

[Lagoo56]

I've never heard real bass until I received the Soundmagic E10's and Xeport 5010's in the mail lol thats all I can say about those two. I'm listening to the 5010's after receiving them in the mail and they are great in the bass department. Its nice that I can actually like them right out of the box before the whole burn in process.

[Syndrome]

To answer your thread title: http://www.sunfire.com/productdetail.asp?id=10

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by dfkt

ClarityOne probably have the best bass I've heard so far.

Are they THAT good??? I just read about them,...are they worth it??? (I'm going IEM crazy now that I can use 'em!!!)

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by steinburger1109

Fischer Audio Eterna v1 have quite thunderous bass, IMO. Though I only have them, ATH-M50, and used to have Panasonic RP-HJE900. Fischer had the biggest bass of the two, but the HJE weren't far behind, and they had better bass.

I liked the eternas too but it has been too long since I have heard them to post an impression.

Originally Posted by Lagoo56

I've never heard real bass until I received the Soundmagic E10's and Xeport 5010's in the mail lol thats all I can say about those two. I'm listening to the 5010's after receiving them in the mail and they are great in the bass department. Its nice that I can actually like them right out of the box before the whole burn in process.

Glad you like the E10...I know I do. how do the xeport compare?

Originally Posted by Syndrome

To answer your thread title: http://www.sunfire.com/productdetail.asp?id=10

lol...yeah, I know...the actual post does say "portable" though. I am the first to say that no portable experience truly recreates a good home or car subwoofer. as a matter of fact, I posted just that same sentiment over at head-fi before starting this thread.

[Syndrome]

Ok fine, for headphones I'd say the ATH-M50's are my favorite for bass. I liked them more than my Ultrasone HFI-780's because the highs weren't so harsh. I've got the CHP-2500's and I think the bass on them is alright, its a bit more mid-bass and the highs/mids will distort at high volumes.

In IEM's nothing touched the quality of my old Westone ES3X. It was very very tight and fast, and I could EQ it until it was HUGE with zero distortion. I EQ any full size headphone(ATH-M50, KRK KNS8400, M-Audio Q-40, SRH-840) that much and it sounds like a camel fart.

And BTW at a 9" cube the Junior would practically be portable if it wasn't 40 pounds...

[Adub]

M50 vote here as well, with BBE on the pc or on the iphone they are fucking immaculate.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Adub

M50 vote here as well, with BBE on the pc or on the iphone they are fucking immaculate.

I've never had anything shake on my head and keep the rest of the frequency response all nice and pretty.

[IDvsEGO]

I wish I could audition a set of m50s. I hear all ranges of impressions on them. I have a guitar center near me but they wont let you hear a set unless it is already open and I hate to to the buy and return trick if I KNOW I am not making the purchase with that store.

[nupi]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Are they THAT good??? I just read about them,...are they worth it??? (I'm going IEM crazy now that I can use 'em!!!)

Better than your beloved FX500/700? My FX500 cable starts to harden and I am looking for some nice IEM for work and travel (I might yet spring for customs but after having heard the universal JH5, JH13 and JH16 at Jaben last year, I was not particularly impressed, especially not for the sticker price)...

As for best bass experience, I think I have to go with either my FX500 or my D2000 with J$ pads

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by nupi

Better than your beloved FX500/700? My FX500 cable starts to harden and I am looking for some nice IEM for work and travel (I might yet spring for customs but after having heard the universal JH5, JH13 and JH16 at Jaben last year, I was not particularly impressed, especially not for the sticker price)...

As for best bass experience, I think I have to go with either my FX500 or my D2000 with J$ pads

WTF are you talking about? I have no favorite iem, and I'm more of a headphone guy. And I surely don't own the fx700 or 500,... Wrong target bro,...and I was actually asking dfkt the question.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Are they THAT good??? I just read about them,...are they worth it??? (I'm going IEM crazy now that I can use 'em!!!)

There's a lot of marketing bullshit going on with them, but their bass indeed is excellent. At louder listening levels they are not so refined overall with their V-shaped frequency response and somewhat aggressive treble, but because of that they work especially well at low listening levels (due to how human ears loudness contour reacts). Their build quality is meh - typical generic China OEM cable and housing, so their price might be a bit too high. But they're certainly awesome for games and movies at any rate - and for music too.

[nupi]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

WTF are you talking about? I have no favorite iem, and I'm more of a headphone guy. And I surely don't own the fx700 or 500,... Wrong target bro,...and I was actually asking dfkt the question.

I quoted the wrong post, meant dfkt :P

[WalkGood]

If you love bass the HD 650s will not fail you, depending on the recording they have tremendous bass impact and IMHO to my ears the best bass I’ve heard in headphones.