Shure E2 Vs. Sennheiser CX300

[EmeraldICE898]

I've been looking at these two earbuds for a while, trying to decide what pair I should get. Does anyone have some insight? I'm open for other suggestions... Mostly just trying to get a sweet bang for the buck pair of earbuds.
Spending limit is about $80 or even $100 if they are worth it.

Thanks.

[bfcoughlin]

I have the Senn CX300s. Now, I'm not an audiophile by any means, but when I listened with them, I heard things in the music that I'd never heard before. Every note seemed sharp and distinct. Then, about a month ago, the left earphone died. There's a two year warranty, but I couldn't find the receipt.

So I bought a pair of V-Moda Vibes. They are nice (and I like the Y-shaped cord). They were lightyears ahead of the stock buds, but I just thought I was missing something in terms of sound. So I coughed up the 30 bucks to send the Senns back; they sent me a new pair. WOW! I just can't believe the difference--every sound, every note is distinct. I feel like I hear ALL the music. It's so much richer.

This is just a subjective opinion from someone who really doesn't "speak" sound. One disadvantage of the Senns is that there's a lot of cord noise. They're great if you're sitting there, listening to music; but if you get up even to walk around, you're gonna hear the cord rubbing. The stock buds and the Vibes don't have that problem.

[EmeraldICE898]

Thanks for the post.
Basically, this is how my current "setup" works:
I have all of my music stored on this computer that I use to sync with my Touch. All of those files are in 128 kbps.

I also have a duplicate set of more than half of my music set up on a shared hard drive and they are all apple lossless files.

I've been using apple earbuds ever since the first iPod I ever got (Mini). Since then I've owned 4 other iPods and have used the earbuds with them as well.
Recently I got a Sennheiser HD-595 and since then, I CAN tell the difference and the apple earbuds sound like crap to me. Not only that, but with those headphones I can also tell the difference between a 128 file vs. a lossless file, although my ability to tell stops at 192 VBR (I've done a self test). So when I am listening to music at my computer with those headphones, I always use the music that is stored on the shared HD.

My question is:
When I get high quality earbuds, like the CX300's, will I be able to tell the difference? What do you encode at and can you tell the difference? Basically I'm asking if I'll need to start encoding my iPod music at a higher bitrate.

[bfcoughlin]

I'm afraid that's way beyond me! I hope someone else can answer your question.

[pyroboy145]

I cannot say for certain, since you are different than me, but I can tell when there is a significant change. I have actually been meaning to go back and re get some of my music at higher bit rates because I can hear the cracks, but many of those were coded around at or lower than 128 kbps. Once you get to 192 kbps you may still be able to tell the difference but it won't be so easy even with a pretty decent set of phones.

[captainnewbie]

The only issue i have with both the CX300's and the Shure e2c's are that they appear to be the most copied (fake) earphones on the market. wild horses could not get me to buy another pair of CX300's, and much the same goes for the Shures.

the V-Moda's had the most questionable build quality i've ever experienced, and a few week after i tested a pair (which were faulty at the time) the gave up the ghost completely.

The Shures lean towards.....being lean, whilst the CX300's an V-Moda's are more weighty. the only solution i've tried is the Ultimate Ears Metro.fi 2's, which have good bass and pace, and bullet proof build quality. the Metro's are far more accomplished than the CX300's, and inspire more confidence than the V-Moda's.