elnero

I see your point although I highly doubt Shure would treat the warranty as if it were reset, that would be a first in my experience. I did email Sugarfried with some questions after I got the replacement pair but never heard back from him. I scoured the threads regarding the cable problems and found that Shure's answer was that yes, they found a problem with cables and the chemistry of some people (or something to that effect) was causing the cable to harden and crack. They've said they've fixed it but have not let on from what date this change has occurred so some people are still having problems and no one knows if their replacements have the new cable compound or not. My concern is a little convoluted I suppose, it's not so much about the cable but other aspects like the soft plastic pieces at the top of the driver housing coming away. Because I didn't have a receipt they went by the date code on the phones themselves to determine that they were less than two years old so I don't know what happens next time round if something like those soft plastic pieces come away again. I should probably clarify exactly what will happen in different instances as my assumption so far has been that in those cases I'd be left with a broken headphone that I couldn't sell or would take a severe loss on in which case I'd be left with nothing.

I'm not sure what you mean about the flat rate, are you talking out of warranty replacement? If so I believe the deal on the earlier models was great but when I was checking the US website it looked like the replacement charge for E500/530's was $350, you do bring up a good point and I should talk to Sugarfried to clarify this, if it was actually under $100 or something like that then I'd just stick with the E500's. Other than the RS-1's and W100's I was going to mention some of the other phones I've had or tried in the past that I didn't like so much but felt I was already yangin' on too much as it was. I have owned the HD580 and 600's in the past and also had an extensive audition of the HD650's as well. There are parts of their sound that I like but others not so much, I'm one of those that feels they need a rather beefy amp before I even start to like them plus I'm not terribly fond of their attempt at a speaker-like soundstage presentation, I tend to prefer the closer more onstage feel of Grado's or the in your head presentation of IEM's. I do have access to the HD650's and K701's for that matter, through another local guy. I'm hoping to borrow them at some point soon to refresh my thoughts on the 650's, give the 701's a proper audition and see how both fare with Pico. Having tried the various Senn iterations in the past though I don't hold much hope that they'll fare much better this time round.

I've come to a crossroads, when I was somewhat forced into downgrading to one phone some of the sting was taken out of it because I thought I'd found the perfect all-rounder for my preferences and budget in the E500's. I'm a bit of a basshead, I like my mids as well and I?m quite sensitive to sibilance so the overall balance of the E500's suits me, I know it's not the perfect phone and there's better on the market but I've always found them to be a satisfying listen that has allowed me to focus on the music not the equipment. Although the E500's satisfy me sonically I recently fell victim to the cable cracking problem, not only that but one of the soft plastic pieces at the top of one of the housings came completely away incidentally revealing another crack which, from the greening of the wire, appeared to be older than the one I noticed a the other side a few days before. Shure and SF Marketing here in Canada were an absolute pleasure to deal with; SF Marketing got me a replacement pair of SE530's within a week without any hassle. I?ve also read some comments from Sugarfried that suggest the problems should be resolved now but if it continues they will be replaced regardless of warranty status. That all sounds good but what about the soft plastic piece above the driver coming away? In my research it seems a less problem but one some others have had as well. So even though I love the E500's and Shure's customer service has been impeccable I'm still left wondering at the wisdom of having all my eggs in one basket. Given the reason for downgrading to one phone in first place was finances, if the E500's were to break again out of warranty, depending on the circumstances, it seems there might be a possibility they wouldn't be replaced and I'd be up shit creek without a paddle so it seems prudent at this juncture to explore other options. Sonically I tend to prefer good tonality and decay, a more liquid midrange but by the same token I've played bass and cello so I value a decent bottom end that has sufficient weight, punch and PRaT. The treble region has always been a source of contention with me; I like a clean clear treble but not to excess as I'm sensitive to that region and can easily find it distracting especially if there is exaggerated or overly hot sibilance. My favourite cans outside of the E500's have been the RS-1's and W100's. The W100's I loved for their liquidity and captivating musicality but an upper midrange coloration finally got the best of me. In some ways I preferred the RS-1's to the E500's, in particular their PRaT and those mids, but the RS-1's proved to be too damn finicky, in particular the treble became an issue that I could never quite solve without affecting other areas. In addition I found my ears would ring excessively after any amount of time with the RS-1's and that really started to concern me. If I were to change anything sonically about the E500's it might be for a bit more of a liquid midrange, possibly a tighter, snappier bass and I wouldn't be opposed to a bit more in the treble as long as it doesn't become distracting and/or exaggerate sibilance. To be honest I'm not sure what I'm looking for, the E500's have served all duties from outside on the go, to work, to home and their even the first phone I've found that I can lie down with so another IEM but one with at the very least replaceable cables and a more solid construction, seems to be the logical choice. Until recently I've had some tip/comfort issues with the E500's though so had been toying more with the idea of a full-sized phones for home and/or work and a cheap IEM for on the go outside. I retried the black olive tips though and I don't seem to get the burning sensation I did first time round, they're reasonably comfortable and, with the exception of the treble, sound better than the modified tri-flanges I had been using but which had started to cause excessive itching in my ear canal so the comfort thing seems to be less of an issue than it was. If I were to go with something other than an IEM for main use I'd give preference to a closed phone although under the right circumstances I wouldn't be opposed to open. I should also not that I just recently received the Pico, it's serving quite admirably as both source and amp so given my budget constraints I don't see that changing any time soon. On the subject of budget I should also note that if I do this I would be limited to what I can get for the E500's on the used market and I can probably come up with around $100 by selling a couple of small items. Due to those budget constraints I'd prefer to not get into a whole bunch of buying and selling to try things so I'm hoping with the advice of the experienced members here that I might be able to narrow the field down as much as possible beforehand.

Don't take too long, I'll be waiting with bated breath until such time that you grace these pages with your words of ultimate wisdom.

Well maybe therein lies the problem.

Ben Gramain, I understand why boomana responded the way she did, you're posts come across as pretty damn condescending to me as well.

Has anyone seen pricing on the IEM's as yet?

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I picked up a pair of recabled AKG K81DJ's with stock and velor pads for kicking around at work when I don't want to have IEM's in. When I got them they had the velor pads on them and I can't say I was terribly fond of the sound so I tried to put the stock pads on. In my attempts I managed to screw up the recable job, the cable came away from the heatshrink at the cup. I attempted to sell them as is or to send them to Warrior05 who originally recabled them but found no takers. They sat until December when I sent them to a friend on the mainland who does some DIY work. He redid the cable job differently and got the stock pads on for me. I have to admit I only did this to resell them but I've actually been quite liking them for casual listening/gaming at work so have decided to keep them for the time being but depending on what I decide to do about the E500's I may sell them in the near future.

I'm a bit late to the game, I completely missed this thread until now. I started 2007 with my job situation still in an odd state of limbo so I was still in downgrading mode. I believe I had sold the GS-1 so even though I had an X-DAC V3 courtesy of bahamaman's giveway, I didn't really have anything to use with it other than a Go-Vibe 5 I was using with my iPod and E500's. I still had the RS-1's at the first of the year as well but I finally gave in and sold them and the X-DAC in the spring to a somewhat local guy. I loved the RS-1's but they weren't seeing much use and I've also found that I'm one of those people who finds their ears ring after listening to them. At that point I was down to the Go-Vibe5, iPod and E500's. My job situation stabilized in the spring so some time after I picked up an AE-2 and after, looking towards rebuilding a modest home setup, started to look around for a cheaper DAC, in the $200 range, which I could hook up to my DVD player and AE-2. It was then that I read Justin's initial posts in regards to the Pico here. I'll admit I didn't quite get it at first but when I realized what he was trying to build I started to rethink my allocation of finances and how I listened to music. I finally gave in and decided to go with a computer/Pico/E500 setup instead of a DVD player/DAC/AE-2/E500 rig so I sold the AE-2 in anticipation of the Pico's arrival. So at the first of December all seemed set, all I had to do was stick it out until the Pico arrived. That was until first our DVD player died unexpectedly, thankfully my parents bought us an Oppo for Christmas, Then I fell victim to the E500 cable cracking problem. Not only did the cable crack but the soft rubber piece at the top of one of the housing came completely off revealing what appeared to be an older crack. SF Marketing here in Canada were great, they got me a replacement pair in about a week but this experience has really got me rethinking the wisdom of having an IEM as my sole high-end phone as they seem more vulnerable/prone to problems of this sort. 2008 has started with a bang though, the Pico has arrived and so far I'm thoroughly impressed with both it's amp and DAC capabilities but where I thought this would be it for my setup for awhile I find myself in flux yet again trying to decide what to do about headphones.

A bit of a HeadAmp and E500 fanboy here although I'm questioning my E500 love...

That sounds like it will be a good idea, I don't really want to put the feet on but at the same time I'd like to protect the bottom from getting scratched up.

Mine finally arrived. I can't believe how tiny it is, pics just don't portray it's stature in real life. Initial impressions are quite positive, very smooth yet very detailed.

I've never quite understood the whole burn-in/break-in argument, I worked for a speaker manufacturer and it was never even a question, we knew the drivers needed a break-in period and that was accounted for when designing. We ran the speakers in for a number of hours before they went out the door but it was also stated in the manual that they might not sound their best until there was some time spent on them. I'm not an electronics engineer and only have the basest knowledge of how all this stuff works. I've never really questioned whether burn-in/break-in applied to amplifiers, cd players, etc. I just figured the same applied to electronics in general. For the most part, to varying degrees I've experienced an amount of change with most of the electronics I've bought where I was actually able to pay attention to that sort of thing. Whether it was the piece of equipment or my brain I won't speculate too much on but I'd expect it's a degree of both. From my personal experience electronic break-in/burn-in has been fairly subtle while speakers/headphones have tended to exhibit the most change but again the difference hasn't been huge and the inherent character in both electronic and speaker/headphones doesn't tend to change so I have a hard time with these night and day comments that some people make and I also have a hard time believing that they can nail down changes in relatively short increments over long periods of time. I will digress a bit, in some cases the difference may come across as a bit more dramatic because the change that occurs might be one of great importance to listener. For instance, I'm very sensitive to sibilance and highs in general so if I were to buy a headphone that I loved with the exception that it initially had a harshness in that region but that smoothed out to an acceptable level over time I would probably describe that as a more dramatic difference than someone who doesn't have that same sensitivity.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow but considering tracking still says it just entered the system in VA (on Dec. 26, gotta love that cross border tracking) I'm doubting it.

I think he's still got his headphone rig/s but for reasons I'm not going to go into he hasn't been around the forums.

Why not? I think it looks hooooooot, especially it's shiny silver knob.

I miss Ken (Highwaystar)

Canada Post/USPS is the way to go when shipping either way I believe, I've had very few problems shipping with this method (knock on wood) although the past few years things have generally taken longer. From my understanding you guys in the US are rarely assessed any taxes, duties, etc. but that's not necessarily the case coming into Canada.

Damn boomana, just when I thought my lust for the ESW9's had abated you go and post further, even more positive impressions. I don't know why but these seem like they would really be up my alley. I'll definitely also be interested to hear your thoughts on how it performs with the Pico.

Ok, that clears things up, thanks.

I don't know much about it but I was told by someone that it was more like $400-500 to build a single ended Opus, is $200-250 more representative of the actual costs?

Interesting...

If there's ever a problem, fix it, call it an upgrade then charge for it.

Thanks for the thoughts on the ESW9's, in many respects they seem like they would be right up my alley but there are a few things that have me wondering as well. As always the only real way for me to tell will be to try them myself which I'm thinking very heavily of doing. From the limited amount I've read the A900LTD or Ti's also seem to be intriguing but those are out of my price range.