Ways of improving IEM sound quality? (Grado GR10)

[shogun168]

Hey all,

 

So I'm entirely new to the area of high end of audio so excuse the noob like questions ... but I was wondering what the best ways of improving the sound quality I'm getting from my Grado GR10s and Shure SE535s.

 

Are the methods different to over the ear headphones? 

 

Currently I'm running off the onboard audio from my ROG Maximus VII Hero. Not complaining about the sound quality I've had so far, just wondered if I'm missing out on anything.

 

Would an AMP/DAC be a good addition to my setup, and if so, which? I listen to a wide mix of musical genres from Hendrix to The Glitch Mob to Jay Z ... 

 

Sources for my albums are usually all 16/24 bit FLAC files.

[BoredErica]

Probably not. One thing I would worry about is whether you hear noise when nothing is played, because in ears tend to be really sensitive. Since you didn't even mention that, there isn't a problem. If there's no problem, there's nothing to fix. You could make sure that the eartips on your IEMs are fit snugly and fit correctly. Helps them from falling out of your ear when running and helps to get a nice seal. You can always try fiddling around with EQ to see if it makes things sound better.

[Captain_Slow]

I feel my Fiio E07k/E17K/E09K makes my UE900/IE80 sound quite a bit better.

 

also getting some Comply Foam Tips will improve the sound quit alot also.

[BoredErica]

I feel many things, many of which are probably not related to reality.

[shogun168]

I feel my Fiio E07k/E17K/E09K makes my UE900/IE80 sound quite a bit better.

 

also getting some Comply Foam Tips will improve the sound quit alot also.

 

Ah I see .. so these Fiio amps made yours sound better? Better how? louder? clearer?

 

Never been a fan of foam tips personally, could never get used to them but I can see how they'd make a better seal ... 

 

Probably not. One thing I would worry about is whether you hear noise when nothing is played, because in ears tend to be really sensitive. Since you didn't even mention that, there isn't a problem. If there's no problem, there's nothing to fix. You could make sure that the eartips on your IEMs are fit snugly and fit correctly. Helps them from falling out of your ear when running and helps to get a nice seal. You can always try fiddling around with EQ to see if it makes things sound better.

 

Actually, that's one complaint I do have .. i get weird faint electronic feedback when i'm not playing anything .. like the sound of an old modem playing dial tones which is weird. I don't notice it when i'm playing music but it's just when there's silence ...

[creatip123]

Ah I see .. so these Fiio amps made yours sound better? Better how? louder? clearer?

 

Never been a fan of foam tips personally, could never get used to them but I can see how they'd make a better seal ... 

 

 

Actually, that's one complaint I do have .. i get weird faint electronic feedback when i'm not playing anything .. like the sound of an old modem playing dial tones which is weird. I don't notice it when i'm playing music but it's just when there's silence ...

 

Seems like you got grounding issues on your PC. Dunno much about ways to fix it, so just wait for someone who knows better.

 

Oh and comply does miracles, at least in my experiences. Almost every IEM I've tried and got my hands on, sounds better with the comply. Give them a try, if only just for kicks....

[BoredErica]

 

Ah I see .. so these Fiio amps made yours sound better? Better how? louder? clearer?

 

Never been a fan of foam tips personally, could never get used to them but I can see how they'd make a better seal ... 

 

 

Actually, that's one complaint I do have .. i get weird faint electronic feedback when i'm not playing anything .. like the sound of an old modem playing dial tones which is weird. I don't notice it when i'm playing music but it's just when there's silence ...

If it's noise floor, then it's a hissing sound. If it's electronic buzzing (which might even change in intensity depending on what you're doing on the computer), it's some sort of power source problem like ground loop. I fixed my ground loop issues by using a ground loop isolator (costs less than 20 bucks).

 

The need for a better dac/amp could stem from wanting to decrease the noise floor (hiss) you may hear and also to reduce the output impedance. The output impedance causing issues....well, possibly I guess, considering these are in ears not headphones. Basically, the lower the impedance of your in ears or headphones, the lower the output impedance of an amp has to be to not muck up anything. In ears tend to have pretty low impedance, so they can deal with relatively less output impedance before some of the sound changes. Still, the difference probably won't be that big unless Asus mobo secretly has ridiculous output impedance. (It's hard to find output impedance specs for motherboards.)

 

If you get an aftermarket amp, your in-ears get can louder for sure, but is having the ability to listen to your music way past the threshold of pain actually that useful?

 

One could argue that getting something like Odac/O2 (dac and amp combo) makes sense because it removes and psychological burden (and the burden is quite real from past experiences)... Because now you know whatever problems you may or may not have had on your motherboard audio, they are gone now forever. And you can plug in all kinds of headphones, speakers, in ears into that thing and it'll work, and work very well. A Fiio-solution would work too and cost less. These types of products are for people who haz cash. They are not good performance per dollar buys, but neither are $300+ in ears, so if you can afford two in ears like that you might find the O2/Odac a fine buy. On the other hand, recommending some guy who is barely scraping by with an $80 headset to get a $250 amp/dac is ridiculous, so often we don't recommend them.

 

Also, yeah, some other earphone tips may help to make sure they fit your ear perfectly. They're also relatively cheap. None of the solutions listed will double your sound quality though. Don't expect your earphones to be suddenly unleashed and transformed, lol. People use the phrase "night and day" way too often.

[Krishtrinity]

Hey all,

 

So I'm entirely new to the area of high end of audio so excuse the noob like questions ... but I was wondering what the best ways of improving the sound quality I'm getting from my Grado GR10s and Shure SE535s.

 

Are the methods different to over the ear headphones? 

 

Currently I'm running off the onboard audio from my ROG Maximus VII Hero. Not complaining about the sound quality I've had so far, just wondered if I'm missing out on anything.

 

Would an AMP/DAC be a good addition to my setup, and if so, which? I listen to a wide mix of musical genres from Hendrix to The Glitch Mob to Jay Z ... 

 

Sources for my albums are usually all 16/24 bit FLAC files.

Schiit MODI+MAGNI will definitely  be a improvement