HE2006: HeadRoom

HeadRoom, feeding your near-field addiction, created a headphone saloon with many different listening stations to sample their entire line of products. Seems many people spent a whole day in this room alone.

Below, the "special room." John from VRS saw me, took me by the arm, and led me through a door into a tiny space I can only assume is used for brooms and bad children. There, away from the causal listeners, sat an all-out headphone assault. The Wadia "more-expensive-than-sin" CD player fed the $4000 HeadRoom "anything-but-portable" Max headphone amp and the top models from Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic and AKG. After a few minutes of listening, I was wondering if I could carve out the desk space for this system.

| Permalink | Headphone Amps , Headphones - Full Size , Headphones - In Ear , Shows and Expos | Posted by Josh Ray on Jun 14 '06

Shure E4c Versus Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5Pro

In a head to head battle over at Enjoy the Music, the Shure E4c gets slapped around by Ultimate Ear's Super.fi 5pros:

"So my initial impression from this very demanding track is that the Shures will make you sit up and listen, while the Ultimate Ears present a more sober and solid picture, offering much greater bass and midrange presence, which will make for better long term listening. Switching rapidly from one to the other left me in no doubt. The solid bass of the Ultimate Ears makes the music seem far better balanced."

With the Shure at $299 and the super.fi 5Pro at $249, we're looking at a pretty solid win for Ultimate Ears...interesting, though, considering we covered an Earphone Shootout from Extreme Tech which puts Shure as top dog. But, you know, Extreme Tech isn't exactly your regular audio publication...

Shure E4c Versus Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5Pro [Enjoy the Music]
Ultimate Ears
Shure

| Permalink | Headphones - In Ear | Posted by Josh Ray on Oct 31 '05

Shure E5C Review

Audio Ideas Guide takes a look at Shure's top of the line E5C isolating headphones and provides this piece of useful advice:

"A word of caution to anyone using the headphones for the first time: Start with the volume ALL THE WAY DOWN."

You think he made the mistake himself? Yeah, probably. After blasting out his eardrums, he compares the Shures to Sennheiser's HD 580 open headphones and proclaims them as different as headphones can get, which isn't much of a surprise. Of course, it should come as no surprise that the Shures are top notch and awesome for anything portable. Price runs $499. If that's too much for you, check out the $179 Shure E4C we posted on earlier.

Shure E5C Review [Audio Ideas Guide]
Shure Home

| Permalink | Headphones - In Ear | Posted by Josh Ray on Aug 12 '05

Earphones Roundup

Excellent roundup of earphones from those masters of all-things-geek over at ExtremeTech. They compare Etymotic Research's ER-6, Shure E3c and E4c, Ultimate Ears' super.fi 5EB and 5Pro as well as the useless Koss Plug against the stock ear buds from Apple, Sony and the like.

This review is a good read if you're in the market or would like to be in the market. The usual suspects clean up - Shure, namely. Overall, pitching the buds that came with your portable device is a must if you want to hear your music properly. Additionally, the review did a nice job of comparing the comfort levels which, of course, vary depending on the size and shape of your own wax-laden canals.

ExtremeTech Earphone Roundup [via DapReview]

Permalink | | Posted to Headphones - In Ear

Review: Shure E4C Earphones

Shure has been getting lots of good press recently and here's another example. G4TV, the TV station feeding your video-game addiction, covers the Shure E4C heahphones priced at $179. Makes sense since we've only been seeing Shure's ads everywhere on the internet.

One little issue they have is the ear pieces themselves. A number of different reviewers have taken issue with the multitude of fitting pieces and the lack of finding a suitable match. G4TV seems to find a fit, but others have not, nor with Shure's competitor Etymotics. Of course, read HeadFi Forums and they'll tell you the only way to go is with a custom molding of your inner ear. Hey, can't argue with the logic, only the price.

Shure E4C Review [G4TV]
Shure [Shure Home]

Permalink | | Posted to Headphones - In Ear