Earphone help

nitro89

Hi, i know that earphones are discussed here all the time but i was wondering if someone can point me to some information about matching players to their earphones (preferred IEM), i mean hardware wise.
I own an M6sl and want to match the perfect earphones that will give me the best sound quality by specifications like: Frequency Range, Sensitivity, Impedance and so on.
so if anyone know what IEM specifications works best with the m6sl please post a guide or a link..

Thanks!

JkPwNsTeR

Welcome to MeizuMe. This is my personal list, I'm sure someone else may suggest otherwise:

UE-11 Pro Description - Products - Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors
If money is not a problem.

DealExtreme: $3.83 In-Ear Stereo Earbuds (3.5mm Metallic Orange)
If you can shop online.

Creative Headphones & Headsets - Noise Cancelling, Stereo Headphones, Earphones, Headsets
Found in stores.

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Blackstar

First of all, there is no "best" configuration out there as everyone has a different perception of sound. What sounds good to me, may not sound good to you.

Advertised frequency response of any earphone does not tell you anything about sound "quality". The human hearing can hear mainly the 20-20K Hz region, +/- 5% perhaps, but some headphones advertise being able to reproduce 100,000Hz frequency which shouldn't mean that much to you as your ears cant hear that frequency anyways.

Sensitivity and Impedance, yea you're getting somewhere.

Again correct me if i'm wrong (I own a M6 T1), but the M6SL uses the Wolfson sound chip. Hence its not quite as warm as the philips sound chip on the T1/TP/SP series, but it slightly more neutral. I also get a few reports that the issue of hissing is gone with the SL (I don't think its been proven yet though).

Producing a slightly more neutral sound signature (Albeit still warm), you pretty much have lots of flexibility in terms of what earphones to get.

The UE11 above is probably not the best solution for your M6SL, because:
a. They're customs, which means you have to get remolds for them every few months or however short periods your ear canals change shape.
b. They're damn expensive
c. They are extremely on the bassy side of things, Its overpowering IMO, but you may like that
d. I highly doubt the output an MP3 player can realise the true capabilities of those earphones
e. Have you even used an IEM before?

I'm going to assume you have unlimited budget and give you some suggestions, but it is up to you to do the research on each recommendation, to see what suits you most.

1. Sleek Audio SA6 - These are quite warm sounding with the bass+ and treble+ ports. It makes a great combo with most MP3 players (I use it with my M6), and has excellent detail and treble resolution with the right amount of bass. The price is quite fair for these and it is nearly able to compete with the triple.fi.10 and Shure SE530

2. Etymotic Research ER-4P - Quite possible the coldest and most analytical earphone out there. The reason why it makes a reasonable combination with the M6 is because whilst it has a lot of treble resolution and detail, but is low on bass. You can fix this with some EQ'ing using the M6.

3. Shure SE420 - upfront midrange, decent bass with strong low end attack, slight rolloff in treble

4. Westone UM2 - Very live sound, upfront midrange and very good amounts of bass. The UM2 is also a personal favourite of mine, as it produces a very warm sound with great exposure to the midrange.

(Note that the numbering is not in any order of preference)

Now theres abolutely no problem with buying ultra high end IEMs like the Shure SE530, UE11, Triple.fi 10, but it you plan to use only your M6 as your music source then I think its just a slight waste of your money since your source cannot stretch those IEMs to their limit.

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mbarry

Basically a Meizu would generally sound better with a low impedance high sensitivity earphone, like the Kanon Md-52's. A high output player like an iPod would be better off with a high impedance, low sensitivity headphone. Hope this helps.

JkPwNsTeR

Erm, maybe you could explain in plain English?

mbarry

Sure :P. Basically the smaller the drivers in your headphone/earphone, the better it will sound on a Meizu (Think Kanon MD 52's, those things are puny). The bigger the driver (Think Sennheiser Full sized cans) the better it wil sound on an iPod.

Blackstar

Well smaller driver doesnt necessarily mean lower impedance, The Etymotic Er-4S has a high impedance.

A low impedance, high sensitivity earphone would make your music sound louder on a portable DAP, but not necessarily sound "better".

ri_toast

wow! you should come over and listen to my audio technicas a700s. as far as i know my sl6 has almost the mv output of a cowon d2; which is 74 mv. i've never had an ipod but from what i'd read / understand THATS the player that needs low ohms high sensitivity.

sure there's lots of full size cans that need portable amps, alot that benefit from amps and some that run great from standard players.

you'd be right in saying that "generally smaller driver are easier to drive to potential with portable equipment."

lets face it no one wants full size cans on a portable, cept me

mbarry

Except you of course.

@Blackstar I was making a general statement, but yes, you are correct, sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

Blackstar

theres no need to be sorry We're a community! Sharing information, helping each other out, thats pretty how a forum functions =)