Shure SE-425 compared to the SE-420

[CarlSeibert]

I made a long and detailed post elsewhere. The high points are:

The new model is moar better. More extended on top, better detail throughout the band, better background (or microdynamics), removable cable and nicer physical design.

They need a crapload of break in - a couple hundred hours at least - and as they break in, they may actually sound worse than straight out of the box.

I used a Richard Cheese album as an audio reference.

I was a hopeless fanboy for the 420, so if you don't like the 420, don't listen to me.

Shure SE-420 vs SE-425 (long) - Head-Fi.org Community

[jinp6301]

Thanks for the review. One of the IEMs that I was always curious about but never heard was the 420s. Great that they improved upon it

[CarlSeibert]

i personally find the idea of little balanced armatures needing hundreds of hours of roller coaster-esque mechanical break in to be highly dubious.

Some stuff doesn't seem to change much at all and some stuff does. Beats me why. In this case, I had the broadly similar 420s at hand, so the relative change over time, one against the other, was obvious. I never have bought the 'getting used to it' theory. That was controled out here in any case.

[Dusty Chalk]

What I find more dubious is that you used Richard Cheese for breakin ... is it really that full range?

Sent from mah Droid

[CarlSeibert]

Naw, for break in it's gotta be latin disco. That's a must.

Richard Cheese was a reference. It's all about the intellectual and emotional connection with the music, you see.