$200-300 ear canal buds frustration....need help with buying

[mx_599]

let me first say i apologize for asking a question you guys probably get sick of seeing. well i already searched and i am hoping you can still help me with a few concerns:

1) lots of threads i was seeing were a couple years old. i don't want to base my decision on old posts that are not accurate. for instance, i am leaning towards the Westone UM2....is this still top of the line?

2) i don't want to make this purchase and then find out there were newer ones out or just around the corner that are cheaper and better than the Shures, Westone, etc...

3) i found a comment somewhere saying $100 models are now giving the couple hundred dollar ones from a couple years ago a run for their money. this is exactly what i am afraid of with buying the Westone UM2

4) how about bit rate of songs? i can re-rip a lot of mine....but that could be tedious and impossible for some. many of mine are ripped at 128. will they suck with high end ear buds, or will it still sound okay? for future reference, is 192 about the minimum? or even higher? if i re-rip a bunch of songs i don't want to do it again down the road

i don't consider myself an audiophile but i never had my ears tested either for ranges or anything. i know i won't have an opportunity to try different ones before i buy. it is a one shot deal.

can anyone offer advice for me?

thank you

[Jackonicko]

It may have been me that said: "$100 models are now giving the couple hundred dollar ones from a couple years ago a run for their money."

I certainly feel that the UM2 and ER4 and E3C are bettered by some cheaper, more recent ear gear.

I'd certainly recommend 192 as a good compromise - I can hear a big difference between 128 and 160, and a difference again between 160 and 192, but 256 doesn't sound any better than 192 to me, and the jump to 320 uses too much space. But the right bit rate will vary from person to person. Rip the same song at several bit rates and see which one sounds best to you.

[Claus-DK]

If you could stretch your budget a little, I would go for the Shure E500...
Or maybe the Q-jays when they come out, I'm extremley satisfied with the D-jays, so I am deffenitely going to buy a pair of Q-Jays also...

I rip everything in 320kbs, I do not really care if I have 4100 or 4800 songs on my Ipod..

[mx_599]

It may have been me that said: "$100 models are now giving the couple hundred dollar ones from a couple years ago a run for their money."

I certainly feel that the UM2 and ER4 and E3C are bettered by some cheaper, more recent ear gear.

I'd certainly recommend 192 as a good compromise - I can hear a big difference between 128 and 160, and a difference again between 160 and 192, but 256 doesn't sound any better than 192 to me, and the jump to 320 uses too much space. But the right bit rate will vary from person to person. Rip the same song at several bit rates and see which one sounds best to you.
could you list a couple of the newer $100 models so i have a starting point to search?

thanks

[mx_599]

If you could stretch your budget a little, I would go for the Shure E500...
Or maybe the Q-jays when they come out, I'm extremley satisfied with the D-jays, so I am deffenitely going to buy a pair of Q-Jays also...

I rip everything in 320kbs, I do not really care if I have 4100 or 4800 songs on my Ipod..
i am worried about those high end Shures. that is my question. are they still one of the best? the reviews of those and the UM2 are always a couple years old it seems. i am assuming they are still at the head of the field?

if i buy now, am i missing something way better just about to come out?

who makes the Q-jays so i can try to find them on google.

thanks again guys. i know what a PITA it can be to answer repetitive questions. i am an established member on some mountain bike forums and see it all the time :D

[Macromedia]

It may have been me that said: "$100 models are now giving the couple hundred dollar ones from a couple years ago a run for their money."

I certainly feel that the UM2 and ER4 and E3C are bettered by some cheaper, more recent ear gear.

I'd certainly recommend 192 as a good compromise - I can hear a big difference between 128 and 160, and a difference again between 160 and 192, but 256 doesn't sound any better than 192 to me, and the jump to 320 uses too much space. But the right bit rate will vary from person to person. Rip the same song at several bit rates and see which one sounds best to you.
I disagree with you on this one. I find the high end IEMs are much better than the $100 crowd. I personally like the Westone UM2 the best. With the Westone 3 coming out, I may have a new favorite.

[mx_599]

I disagree with you on this one. I find the high end IEMs are much better than the $100 crowd. I personally like the Westone UM2 the best. With the Westone 3 coming out, I may have a new favorite.
okay i found the Qjays. do you have any idea of the specs or release dates of new UM3 or Qjays?

[Macromedia]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=217299
There is the link for the Westone 3.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=224270

[Benco]

If I were you, I would go with the Shure E5c. With the newer E500 avaliable, these can be had for $250ish on eBay, new with shure's great warranty, and are still $499 retail. They are amazing IEM's, but will reveal flaws in 192kbps MP3s. I would recommend ripping to
V0 if you wanted to get the best out of them, or just RockBox your iPod and play FLAC only.

[Claus-DK]

i am worried about those high end Shures. that is my question. are they still one of the best? the reviews of those and the UM2 are always a couple years old it seems. i am assuming they are still at the head of the field?

if i buy now, am i missing something way better just about to come out?

who makes the Q-jays so i can try to find them on google.

thanks again guys. i know what a PITA it can be to answer repetitive questions. i am an established member on some mountain bike forums and see it all the time :D

I find my shure fantastic, of course I can only judge from the ones I tried/own. They plays better than the dt880, not that you can compare their sound, but the shures does it better (for me, I miss the impact on the bass on the dt880)

I also likes them more than my d-JAYS ( www.jays.se ) and they are a 100 dollar headphone/IEM, not that the d-JAYS does not play well they sound very nice, but it depends much of your taste in headphones..
At work I use my d-JAYS because they are less demanding for my brain, with the SHUREs i just float away and enjoy the music...I can easyli use the SHUREs for 8 hours straigth, they are just so involving that I can't concentrate on my work....

My percefect IEM would be something like a crossbreed of d-JAYS/E500/dt880 The bass of E500, the mids from d-JAYS and the highs from dt880, and the detail of E500..And it seems like the q-JAYS are just what I'm looking for at least from the reviews....