best earbuds for under $100 for mids, highs, vocals and aucuistic

[GanjaBaker]

hi guys, i love my music and i'm looking for a good pair of in ear headphones. The types of music i listen to are vocal heavy with mainly mids and highs. i want a pair that are very durable. im looking around $100au. so far i am looking at the, Shure SE215, ATH-IM70 (i like the idea of the detachable cabe because thats how mine tend to break). some say these headphones are more for bass then highs. can you guys give me any other in ear headphones? 

thanks in advance.

Felix.

[shadowblitz3]

klipsch s4i rugged?

[FatalityDiablo]

se215 are very popular for their flat frequency curve, I would say if you rly can get them for 100au then yes definitely. you can get ear tips and separate cables very easy for them.

[GanjaBaker]

some people say that the se215s arn't good for highs, is that true ? (i know nothing about audio, but LOVE my music so i want to be sure before buying)

[NannerBeans]

some people say that the se215s arn't good for highs, is that true ? (i know nothing about audio, but LOVE my music so i want to be sure before buying)

People say they're warm and not neutral. That could mean it has less highs. I don't remember to be honest. I really like the Fostex TE05 and you might be able to get them used for about $100. They're $150 retail though. You'll find some used ones on Head-Fi classifieds. 

[ShearMe]

some people say that the se215s arn't good for highs, is that true ? (i know nothing about audio, but LOVE my music so i want to be sure before buying)

People say they are warm (good mids), and they are, but they are also quite analytical in the treble. I thought they were amazing for well recorded and mastered music, but if your music sucks they will let you know it.

[GanjaBaker]

thank you guys so much! i think i'm hooked on the se215s now!

 

but i wont be buying them soon so if anyone else knows of any better ones around this price let me know

 

thanks

[GanjaBaker]

"These I find are not very bright at all, which makes it easier for me to listen to music for longer periods of time. On the downside, music doesn't seem as lively on the top end. Cymbals and other percussion instruments don't seem that lively and kind of take a backseat to the low and mid range."

 

this is a quote from a review i read, does everyone else think  that the music doesn't sound as lively ?

[ShearMe]

"These I find are not very bright at all, which makes it easier for me to listen to music for longer periods of time. On the downside, music doesn't seem as lively on the top end. Cymbals and other percussion instruments don't seem that lively and kind of take a backseat to the low and mid range."

 

this is a quote from a review i read, does everyone else think  that the music doesn't sound as lively ?

 

One man's lively is another's harsh.

[KaminKevCrew]

The SE215's are great, and very durable. For me, they have a fine set of highs (although I love the Shure sound Sig, and have since gone to more expensive options) It's not that the highs are missing, by any stretch of the imagination, it's just that they aren't at the front of the music. Vocals, and the mids take center stage most of the time with shure gear, and that's the way I feel that it should be. There is plenty of resolution in the highs, and it's easy to pick everything out, it's just that it's not overpowering. The 215's actually have the most bass of any of the shure line, and the blue editions have even more. 

 

I agree very much with ShearMe about how lively for one person can mean harsh to another. Also, if you don't have high quality audio (as in lossless for everything) and your music isn't well mastered, many highs will be very harsh, and you will end up with a lot of sibilance in your ears, which is something that I think the shures mitigate very well. Inner Fidelity does have a page about the whole Shure line (Excluding the SE846's which came out later) and I think that the whole writeup is very well done, but then so are most of their reviews. They also back everything they say with graphs of their own testing that is done with a dummy head, so that the numbers they get are what would come into your head (What with the sound bouncing around your ears for a bit before hitting the eardrum. 

 

215's will be awesome for highs, especially if they are your first "Pro-grade"/High end set of cans. They are built like tanks, and Shure is known for having excellent customer service, even outside of warranty. Be aware, the clear cable is slightly thinner, and it has a bit of texture, compared to the blacks having a slightly thicker, smooth cable. 

[dougoftheabaci]

+1 to Shure SE215. I've bought/recommended those for/to quite a few people. They are a well-built headphone, good strong cable, nice natural sound signature (not quite neutral, a bit more lively than truly flat, but in a good way).

[casserly]

I currently have the shure se-215 and I thoroughly enjoy them I really do believe that they sound great for a pair of $100 iems - to me they do sound a bit warmer than a flat headphone but they're certainly not bass heavy.
My biggest gripe with them are also one of the parts than is a positive: the detachable cables. I love the fact that they have detachable cables but I don't believe that their design is good enough. Im currently on my third pair of cables now (in approx 1.5 years) and Im expecting to have problems with this cable as well. Alot of people have had the issue that the audio cuts off at times on one side and from what I know this isn't a problem on just the se215's but the ones higher up as well; the lock mechanism (or what you would call it) seems to be quite imperfect.

But anyway, I DO love the warmish sound of them so I believe that they would be a good choice. I would also recommend the Yamaha eph-100 (I think that there's a newed model out now: eph-m100 but I dont really know), or possibly the new sennheiser momentums (the iem's ofc. They sound good, quite a "fun" headphone, just like the Yamaha's but I hate their design).

 

Good luck in your purchase

[dustySoda]

klipsch s4i rugged?

Honestly, the regular S4 or the R6s are fine by themselves. Rugged versions are clunky and plastiky

[KaminKevCrew]

Honestly, the regular S4 or the R6s are fine by themselves. Rugged versions are clunky and plastiky

+1 to that. Plus, a friend had a pair, and she takes pretty decent care (about average for most people) of her headphones, etc. and they broke within about 6 months.

[GanjaBaker]

thank you guys so much, the last concern i have before making the decision is that some people say the sound sig is bad (don't know what the sound signature is ?

 

"I feel that every time i listen to Shure IEM's, i feel that i'm listening to music through a cheap radio..

Just my own thoughts"

 

(i just want to make sure these earbuds are for me before making the purchase)

[ShearMe]

thank you guys so much, the last concern i have before making the decision is that some people say the sound sig is bad (don't know what the sound signature is ?

 

"I feel that every time i listen to Shure IEM's, i feel that i'm listening to music through a cheap radio..

Just my own thoughts"

 

(i just want to make sure these earbuds are for me before making the purchase)

 

Someone who thinks they're listening through a cheap radio either has never listened to a cheap radio or has a fake pair of SE215's.  :rolleyes:

[Lays]

Someone who thinks they're listening through a cheap radio either has never listened to a cheap radio or has a fake pair of SE215's.  :rolleyes:

 

 

Or a terrible seal, usually IEM's sound somewhat radio-ish to me if they don't have a good seal.

 

Also hi friend.

[KaminKevCrew]

+1 to all that about the seal. Without a good seal, and one that is done properly, the sound will be terrible. I think that for you, either you have not been having the right tips installed, and the leakage has been causing the sound to not be very good (can happen if the tips are too big, or too small) or, you could have been pressing them in too far. If you press the tips in too far, the port on the IEM can get blocked by some of the skin in your inner ear, where it curved into the eardrum, and that can cause the sound to be incredibly wonky. I would recommend trying to listen to a pair, and mess with the tips/fit, to make sure that it's just right before passing judgement on them. Also, keep in mind, the tips can be a bit of bear to take off, just take your time, and pinch HARD! lol... Just make sure you don't break the nozzle, although that's actually quite hard to do.

 

Kevin

 

/EDIT: A sound signature is basically what the "loudness" (in DB) the headphones produce at a given frequency compared to other frequencies. Basically if you look at a graph of the response of any given pair of headphones, it will give you an idea of how they will sound in person.

 

e.g. A bass heavy headphone will have a hump in the bass above 0 (with a flat line being a perfect reference sound) and a headphone known for its highs will generally have more in the higher end of the graph.