Also can anyone comment on IEM’s. These little units seem to have gotten very complicated over the past couple of years with many having about 12 drivers in each ear bud.
The manufactures flagships are not cheap costing anything upto £5000 for a pair!
Ones like Empire Ears Odin seem very popular but at £3500 how do they compare to over ear headphones?
The IEM experience for me is just different to conventional 'phones. I have a decent pair of Grado ones (not 5k though!) and I think they provide a very hermetic experience. You really are locked into the sound and listening experience. Compared to a very good pair of closed back ZMF headphones I use them for a different type of listening. Comfort is a factor too and personally I have struggled to get a pair of IEMs that are properly comfortable.
Hard to explain but I prefer the headphone experience to the best IEMs I have heard.
Re DAPs, have to say my AK Kann Alpha plus good headphones is a remarkably good listen.
Bruce
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I bought a very nice Astel & Kern DAP with Shure SE 525 in ear phones all with a view to use it on business trips on the train/plane etc, then Covid hit, its barely been out since! :0(
I don’t use IEMs very often, but do have a pair of Fiio FH1s for when I’m travelling.
They only have one bass driver and one dynamic driver, but are very comfortable and detailed.
You get an enormous amount of ear tips with them, so you can make them really comfortable for you and the tips can also alter the sound signature, depending on what you want. Plus a very good and secure storage box.
For the money, less than £100, they are very good, with plenty of kit and good packaging.
DG…
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I’ve been using Shure SE846 for a few years now, they were the top of Shure’s range at the time and sound quality is fantastic although there are some exotic and very expensive alternatives around these days.
In some respects IEMs give you a very close connection to the music that even the best HiFi systems would struggle to match, but it’s a very different listening experience that doesn’t appeal to everybody. Selecting the right tips to get a good seal in your ear canal is absolutely critical. Get this wrong and you will get poor sound and no bass.
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Like Chris, I use the Shure SE846 IEM’s but this is more for work and holiday environments when I want something very high quality yet discreet. They have excellent isolation too which works well in an open plan office. At home I also have Sony MDZ1R over the ear headphones. They are semi closed back but have very little sound leakage. Depending on where you are going to use the headphones will determine whether you go for closed or open as to whether you’ll disturb or be disturbed by others.
I’ve haven’t heard the term IEM, but assume they are what is otherwise known as earbuds? I really dislike them myself - better than nothing if I have to travel light, but none I’ve tried have been comfortable or sounded natural (of course I may simply have never tried the right ones!) For hifi headphones, used when there is either background noise, or when close to anyone else not wearing headphones, dictates closed back, and it seems good sound quality akin to decent speakers means a price of maybe £1500 -£3000….
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IEM = in ear monitors.
Interestingly, I prefer in ear than over ear. I hate the weight of over ear and I get sweaty/itchy around the ear cups.
Earbuds just sit in the outer ear. IEMs (such as the Shure SE846 below) sit the driver assembly enclosure in the outer ear and have the sound outlet ‘piped’ into the ear canal via a flexible foam or silicone sleeve which also provides the seal.
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Thanks for clarifying.
So how does sound quality compare with good closed back ‘phones, and at what sort of cost? Are they available closed back to be inaudible to others and significantly reduce external noise?
I maybe wrong but I think all IEM’s are essentially closed back by design.
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That’s essentially correct, as achieving a good seal is vital to performance. They don’t produce enough noise to distract others if they don’t seal, they just sound crap.
Two remarks to make to this…
- As others also said the Sony is leagues away from a separate Dac
- The Sony and also others also can be used as DAC’s for other devices…
I have had for years the Shures and can confirm that they are great. Just recently they have gotten to a generation 2 which is obviously an improved version of the same. I also have auditioned the Shure KSE1200 which is again in another league, but has the disadvantage of requiring an additional device and an additional factor of limited battery capacity, while they are amazing.
Since now a couple of years I have the SONY IER-Z1R and I have to say they are a dream and in a different league than the Shures…. In the meanwhile also the market has evolved and you have multiple high end IEMS which do an amazing job in bringing you into musical heaven…. And I would argue that they in these case like with mine are also competing with the high end over ears solutions….
Obviously the Sony IEMS form a good combination with the Sony Walkman, while I belief they would also excel on other devices….
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Bert, what are they like to drive without the high gain mode. I still like the look of the Sony NW-WM1ZM2 but having spoken to Sony they tell me if I get a non UK one then I will have no warranty.
I unfortunately can’t tell you. As I have the version 1 of Walkman and I almost immediately implemented the fix to have it at full capacity. I normally play at 80-85 of 120… the saying in reviews is the the Sony IEM is a bit less easy to drive than other IEMS ……, but as the Sony IEM are readily available you should be able to try it somewhere before you buy, while you would of course miss a bit the burn in effect. If I am a measure, I love my combination. And I don’t have (yet) the improved version 2…… while I would out of certainty want to go for a non European version…
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