IEM general discussion thread

The Simgot En700 Pro Dynamic Driver Earphone

Synopsis: The Simgot en700pro is a earphone with a 10mm dynamic driver. At a relatively low price, $150, I think it's a candidate for modding as it sounds decent with a powerful source and tip-rolling. Out of a phone, it's not so great, but about average for the price. The en700pro has a full bass, slightly warm midrange and a well extended treble. V-shape overall. Two different eartips are included to tune the sound.

Disclaimer: I was asked to write a review and was offered a sample set of earphones. I accepted for some reason.

Mostly, this is a review of me wrestling to get the best sound out of these earphones.

The Cable: It's a braided silver plated copper cable, light and not microphonic. The plastic coated earguides are pretty annoying but not impossible to deal with. I think the cable would be better without them.

The Eartips: A trick when designing earphone nozzles or eartips is a wider nozzle emphasizes the high notes, while a narrow nozzle emphasizes the bass. Have a look at your earphone collection and see how each company chose the nozzle accordingly.

For the en700pro, Simgot gives us 3 sizes of eartip in two options:

Eartip I: This one is to bring out the highs. The appearance of clarity is enhanced by emphasizing the treble, but it runs the risk of ear fatigue. And deafness.

Eartip II: This one emphasizes the bass. Should be less fatiguing, but a darker sound.

One point, 3 sizes will not be sufficient for many people to find a good fit. So, you may have to try your own tips. In fact, I would recommend it. Sony, Monster, JVC, hifiman, Noble, these will all fit.

Source: My old ipod 5.5 (with wolfson chip) and an Apex Glacier amp. The en700pro is a sensitive earphone, easily driven by my Samsung s9 note, but it sounds like a mediocre iem with a strong V-shape and not so great resolution. It scales well--when given a better source, the earphone can better show you what it's real capabilities are. You'll get better balance and increased tranparency with a better source.

That's actually the take home of this review, to some extent. My experience is that this earphone goes from the okay sounding one others are hearing to one with possible potential of acceptable decency out of a more powerful source.

Overall: With the right eartip (and from my amp), this is a slightly warm sound with decent detail, good timbre reproduction, and a big, natural soundstage for an in-ear monitor (as vented dynamic driver iems often do).

Let's look at each part of the frquency response:

Bass: Driven out of my amp I actually hear a decently textured, real air-moving bass. Balance is very dependent on eartip (or maybe a mod), but with a good shallow seal, no vacuum, it's can be a well balanced sound with some bass muscle undergirding. Otherwise, the bass is overdone and the midrange a bit subdued, with sharp treble as a cherry on top.

Midrange: Because the bass is a little boosted and the treble has good prominence, using eartip and fit are necessary to bring some prominence to the mids. Done right, the warmth of the midrange is more central in the tonal balance. It seems to fit most music genres better. Even string quartets did better. Timbre is good.

Treble: Actually pretty decent after getting the right tip, etc. Violins and more treble ranged instruments sound in their right place on stage and in the tonal mix. Treble extention is good. Overall, it balances the other parts of the frequency range within the context of a slightly warm sound well. Or, use eartip I and get lightly ear-stabbed.

Conclusion: The en700pro could be a decent earphone if you put some work on it and you have the set-up to drive it. You'll get an earphone that sounds good with a wide range of music for a reasonable price.

 

What is a very good IEM if you want more of a bass response kick? So something that goes well with Electronic, Rap/Hip-Hop, Modern Music. The un-reference IEM that isn't close to my Andros or Solaris. So pretty much the "fun" one.

Was thinking about getting the V2 Polaris that CA that is selling for $499 (the max I would pay actually), just curious what other options if I want bass cannon fun land. Design must allow me to put the cable behind my ear like a loop (like a lot of IEMs nowadays), and able to swamp out the cables.

 

@YMO Periodic Be has a shitload of bass and a fairly smooth response, can be modded to be downsloping (as opposed to the stock V), or fairly balanced.

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/periodic-audio-be-mod.6865/

 

Thanks man! Looks kind of complex at least to me. I don't have any equipment to test FR, and honestly the modding part kind-of turns me off. I just had too much bad luck when I tried to mod items myself (even the simple ones like this one) Screwed up too many video game systems over the years with my modding skills.

Yeah, I'm a wimp.

 

@YMO FWIW I actually like the stock signature of the Be for a fun-sounding IEM - the mods are just for if you're going less for 'fun' and more for balance. Kind of just posted that there to show they can sound a variety of ways.

If you can handle the V, really no need to mod. Or just tip rolling can give you some variation too.

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I'm stupid as f**k today.

After further review, it doesn't look like you can swap the cables out and doesn't look like the design will like the cable to go behind the ear like the CAs.

Editing my original post.

 

IMO he Be is not like the JVC FD0x IEMs in that it basically needs modification to be good (i.e. to fix a major issue), I found it enjoyable both stock and modded on my friend's pair. It all depends on the music of course but stock turning is certainly fun-oriented and engaging which has it's own appeal. I need to get my own so I can further listen...the mods are fairly straightforward and most are also easily reversible too but I'd likely leave it closer to stock and use them more while on the go & traveling.

Like most bullet/barrel style IEMs, they can easily be worn over-ear and they're pretty lightweight so either way works, but over is still the most secure fit. By lightweight, I mean around 10g total - from memory that's roughly 1/2 to 1/3 the weight of say Andros or FD01, both including tips/cable. I think both of those are in the 25-35g range (JVCs being heavier). The housing isn't too big but depending on your fit, there is a chance over-ear may not be the most comfortable so you'd have to try it out to know for sure. They were quite comfortable for me though, especially with the lighter weight factored in.

I'm probably of a minority that likes hardwired IEMs more as it's more compact. That is until something like Linum's T2 (or UE's IPX connector which I believe is the same) become more standard anyway. My friend has the original version of the Be and has had to send them in for servicing for the cable, the turnaround was around a week for him and free of charge. Periodic seems to have a good warranty overall and no questions asked about the cable, he's been pretty rough with his set too. I bet I could get their shells open to repair it myself if I had to but for those worried, it seems they'll do repair/replacement pretty fast. I've heard latest versions have a bit better cable QC too, so I'd not be too worried about that unless you're big on swapping to custom cables.

 

I'd enjoy both Dunu Falcon-C and IMR R1 with your specs.

 

This I enjoyed as well.

 

Looking for something similar to YMO. How would the Dunu Falcon-C sound sig compare to the EE Bravado (though the latter costs more than double)?

 

Sennheiser IE 500 Pro: Don’t. Here’s why:



The blue curve is the HiFi Walker A1, modded as per @james444 but with 100% Transpore tape instead of two strips of micropore or perforated micropore a la @Soups . On my home-made coupler, the blue curve is to me pretty close to neutral up to about 3 kHz (maybe a trifle low in the bass), then a bit lower than neutral to c. 5 kHz. From there, my neutral would be somewhere between the Kanas Pro (brown curve) and modded A1 out to 8-10 kHz, above which things are messed up by a resonant peak and where I start mistrusting my ears anyway.

The IE 500 Pros (green curve) are way underdone in the upper mids. The higher harmonics of low to mid male vocal and low-note instruments are suppressed to an extent which gives them a totally unnatural timbre. Further up the range, female vocals, piano notes, high-note strings and horns sound even less natural; and cymbals sound really strange because in addition to lowered low treble there’s a lift in the mid-treble, so the initial hit is suppressed but the shimmer is accentuated.

The bass and its relationship to the lower mids is ok – somewhat above neutral, but not tiring like I found the Kanas Pro bass, and with a good fast yet at the same time smooth DD texture. But in general, these are not earphones for anybody wanting anything close to neutral tonality and natural timbre.

All of which has me really scratching my head about how Sennheiser is marketing these. The whole IE Pro series is being pushed as superior to multi-BA earphones because of the single, dynamic driver – and the IE 500 Pro, top-of-the-line at $US 600, as having “extremely fine resolution and neutral sound”, “high-resolution, strong mid-ranges” in which muscians can “reliably locate themselves in the mix”, etc. (see here). It seems to me that a monitor which is this tonally off wouldn’t be doing stage musicians any favours at all, and I wonder whether Sennheiser tuned these solely by looking at measurements rather than by listening to them. It also makes me wonder what the IE 400 Pro sounds like; in light of this performance from the 500, “noticeable punch, clear high frequencies and transparent mid-range reproduction” (here) makes me think massive U.

These came courtesy of buddy @Brause , who talked nicely to Sennheiser in High German and got a pair on loan for review. He’s written more, and compared to the $99 IE 40 Pro (which although I didn’t particularly fancy, I too prefer to the 500) on his blog.

 

Thanks guys for your recommendations. Time to review and see which direction I'll take down the road......

 

Sound of the Sennheiser IE 500 PRO is nowhere near neutral. Many of their claims on their website are plain wrong, many make no sense, others are outright gaga: "Thanks to the twisted pair cable, it can be operated comfortably at high volumes."

Surely are the 599 USD/EUR IE 500 PRO better resolving than the 99 USD/EUR IE 40 PRO, but a price factor of 6 between them is not even remotely warranted, also considering that both are optically indistinguishable...only the cables are different and I prefer the one that comes with the IE 40 PRO. An indication that the IE 500 PRO are vastly overpriced is the 79 USD/EUR pricing of the (replacement) cable. The cable is approximately equivalent to a $7 cable I purchased from China (connectors are different).

In summary, I rather spend $99 on the IE 40 PRO and use the $500 saved for beer.

 

I’m after a no fuss iem, to plug into an iPhone 8 when travelling. Is the Campfire Audio Comet good bang for buck?

 

I like it cheap: check out the Moondrop Crescent single DDs for $27. They look like Campfires, feel like Campfires, but they are for people who like having money. The Crescents are warm, homogeneous sounding earphones that approach the Harman Target curve. But if you can't stand having money, get the not-as-homogenouse sounding Moondrop Kanas Pro at $180. No, please don't...

If you can fork out $100, I recommend the Sennheiser IE 40 PRO. What do I say? Get them both.

Spoiler: Graphs

 

My impressions on the Moondrop Kanas Pro: uneven tonality through a distinct misfit of a plump, untextured low end overwhelming the neutral, reasonably well resolving midrange and treble. Vocals both male and female are too thin. I find the $30 Moondrop Crescent "rounder" sounding; these are warm across the frequency spectrum and I wonder why they are 1/6th of the price of the Kanas Pro. Details HERE.

 

@Brause I actually just recently got a pair of Crescents. My Noble X bit the dust and I wanted something cheap for now with my eye on FD01+mod at a later date. I consulted the @shotgunshane IEM list for something cheap and available on Taobao and came up with the Crescent. I haven't had a whole lot of time to listen since I'm on vacation and haven't been commuting but I've listened some. Initial reaction is it sounds pretty good for the price. It can bring the bass and it's pretty clean. I don't love the dip around 7k to 10k. The guitar at The beginning of Paper Airplane by Alison Krauss and Union Station is a challenge for headphones to get right. Here it gets a bit muffled in the mix from how it should sound due to the dip. Treble sensitives may appreciate that but those who are really into their high end shimmer may find it lacking. I need to do some more listening and focus on acoustic timbre. Staging is pretty good, not super huge. Overall though I think it's going to fit the bill for a while. I did have one WTF moment with them when I was trying to remove the included tip and the whole end pulled right out of the barrel and exposed wires and all. It's just frictioned in and not super tight so that's a build concern. I currently have Symbios on there.

I can already see that if they last they'll definitely be worth the 22usd I paid on Taobao.

 

This seems to be a rare case of you liking something less than I do . I didn't find them too offensive, but in addition to the fatiguing bass (which @shotgunshane concluded was a result of too much low bass and not enough mid), I found the upper mids and lower treble were a bit recessed, an impression reinforced by relaxed transients and dynamics in that area.

@DigMe , no luck salvaging your Nobles then?

 

Nah, man.. I kinda made a mess of them but I think a driver was screwed up anyway.

 

The main reason why I am not keen on the MKP is that they don't deliver for the price -- Chifi prices have exploded recently. Why bother when you can get something like the Crescent for 1/6 of the MKP. Over at Head-Fi, I am facing severe criticism and opposition by the fanboys -- to the point that my integrity and honesty are being questioned. As a reviewer, I am a consumer's advocate (that's why the MOT label is unjustified) and not the extension of some company's marketing department or the member of a cult.