EBS_freak

I doubt I have the receipt!

I have one SM58 which has always been awful - I kinda knew that it was a duff mic from the word go but didn't think it would actually be duff given that it was from a "reputable dealer" doing a show special. Box, case and cable ties all present... all looked to be spot on. Anyway, in the height of boredom I stripped down this mic to see why this mic has never been as good as my other 58s (not that I tend to use 58s now, I favour 935s and 945s, Audix and Heil). All of it checked out to the letter. After looking at all the fake sites etc on how to spot them, it came down to one thing that my mic is missing - the rubbish bin imprinted in the xlr connector at the end of the mic. So yeah, finally confirmed after ten+ years. Fake - and that would explain why it sounds even worse than a standard 58 and has a tendency to feedback at any opportunity! Guess I now know why the show special was 50% off! The fakes back then seem to be better than the fakes now!

In the interest of keeping the balance, the Smooth Hound even comes with tape to stick it to your guitar. All solutions have pros and cons.

And in the interest of keeping the balance, particularly if you are an IEM user, the 8ms latency from the Smooth Hound is awful. A consideration that you should take into account if you have anything digital in the chain - e.g. digital pedals, digital mixers... all of which will add their own latency. For a comparison, G30 as mentioned above, <4ms. Smooth Hound 8ms.

Analogue yes - due to the companders. Only the very best systems will give you the sense of a wired system. The lows and highs are generally impacted. Generally the more expensive you go, the better the compander. With digital, there is no perceivable loss at all - although there will be a slight (but in reality unnoticeable) delay as the signal goes through the analogue to digital (and back) conversion.

Sounding great.

Is this what everybody is buying? https://www.geekbuying.com/item/KZ-ZS10-HiFi-10-Drivers-Earphones-394070.html

And the UE reference monitors (which are sold as being as flat as you could realistically expect) Again, smooth until you get into the 2k and above region. This is where the crossovers are critical - and simply sticking drivers in a shell makes for an awful sounding earpiece. Funnily enough though - and as JH has often stated - flat is boring - but crucially it's what the earpiece is doing in the 1kJz+ range that makes or breaks the IEM.

I've uploaded the response of my Roxannes (bass in neutral position on the controller) - as you can see, the troublesome balanced armature 2k region is still present in these also. That's the nature of balanced armatures for you!

Ah sod it. I'll join in too. Off to geekbuy to have a closer look. 32 Ohm for starters... so they are harder to drive than your typical IEM. Interestingly enough, if that response graph is to be believed, these headphones will be proper mellow in the highs due to that steep roll off. Also, that peak between 2k and 5k is a little worrying - that is where the human ear is most sensitive (think baby's crying)... so they could sound quite harsh. The bass looks fairly encouraging - but that will be down to the imbalance between the dynamic and balanced armatures. In short, from that graph, far from flat. Could make for an interesting piece - just got to wait for it to arrive. "Shocking bass" would never be a marketing term I would use either!

They seem to be on uk ebay, shipped direct from china.

In terms of construction, not a great deal. It's the frequency response that matters. For hearing aids, they tend to be hyped around 2k and not very linear in terms of their response. They also tend to not go very low. Things have moved on though - there's dsp in hearing aids that can assist with compensating for an individual's frequency loss and also flattening out the frequency response of the balanced armature itself. For IEMs though, the devices are all passive, so like speaker manufacturer, the deficiencies have to be scienced out of the equation. It was Jerry H that realised that you could get the extended lows out of an IEM by using a pace maker balanced armature in conjunction with a traditional BA. By putting the drivers in phase (to some extent) by changing the bore and length of the connecting tubes and by dampening the air flow to reduce the peaks, you could get a pleasant sounding IEM, albeit far from flat. That is why for some time that his inears could do what everybody else's couldn't - getting the extended lows. Of course, by then specifying your own balanced armatures, you can have drivers that are designed for sub, low, mids and highs which work in conjunction with your own specific crossover design. Each of these BAs will each have their own peaks and that's where the tuning and crossover design comes in again. The more drivers you have, the higher the complexity and task of actually getting a nice sounding ear without the inherent peaks that you get from a balanced armature. Some manufacturers are better at this than others (remember that the final product is the sum of lots and lots of variables) and of course will result in a specific sound signature. That is why when people A/B brands, they'll tend to favour a particular brand because their sound signature is more to their liking. Additionally, by specifying the impedance, you have more control in controlling what the super highs are doing - which is why balanced armatures can reach super high frequencies - that give the feeling of "air" to the sound. Thats the high level version anyway :-p

How did this clown get in here? What is this nonsense?

Oh wow - looks like they could be Knowles drives in those KZs. OK, off the shelf armatures... but assuming that they have got some level of knowledge in tuning, damping and implementing the passive crossover, they could be a very good shout... especially for that kind of money. It would be silly not to take the risk at that price. Great find @Ceebass

I'm guessing they are off the shelf bulk purchase balanced armatures - probably from the Chinese wholesale manufacturers where a single balanced armature can be had for as little as 1 USD. Given that KZ themselves originate from China, it doesn't work out why their retail costs are so low. The main players in the IEM world tend to stick with Sonion and Knowles (I don't believe Sony make their balanced armatures available to others) as the manufacture and audio output from balanced armatures can vary widely. Given the prices of the balanced armatures from these manufacturers, (a quick look shows that they are more like 9x the prices of the Chinese equivalents), it doesn't take long to work out why their is the price difference. It's probably worth also mentioning that the balanced armatures that you buy direct from the manufacturers are primarily used for hearing aids and pace makers, not hifi audio reproduction. Additionally, the various balanced armatures used by the CIEM world, (eg the quad balanced armatures etc) are specifically made for each IEM company, the specs of which are kept between the manufacturer and IEM company... and certainly not available off the shelf to anybody. For BAs like that, you'll pay a premium... and there will be a minimum order. This is why a lot of the small fish IEM companies using off the shelf components don't tend to compete with the offerings from the larger players. The KZs are definitely worth a go though - in fact, I may be tempted myself! I quite like the idea of having a dynamic drive in the mix. In fact, I have GAS for the new Ultimate Ears Live piece... I want to hear it!!

Probably speakers in the audience facing back at the band so you can hear yourselves. Or something equally as daft.

The Shure 215 - the gateway drug of the IEM world!

As above - the 30ms or above latency will kill ya!

I've come across them before (well, not this model, their others) but never heard them. As you say, they tend to appear on forums. Almost worth a shot for that kinda money isn't it? :-p

And another one...

I'm not too sure what will happen re: the G3/G4 - I'm watching with interest to see what happens. The later G3 units have the same boards in as the G4 and it appears to be just a cosmetic and software change. The actual RF performance and sound quality doesn't seem to have changed... so maybe the G3s will have very high residuals. I certainly haven't seen anybody pulling out any deals... yet.

I'm all about channel strips. Much prefer to sims (on bass that is)

Well, this is true I guess. I suppose having been through the route, nothing really compares to the full on custom for fit, isolation and comfort... even the sleeves (they have a tendency to separate from the monitor). Sometimes it's better to bite the bullet than spend little amounts trying out different approaches. In other words, save up and do it, rather than throwing money at lesser options. Again, depends what your budget is looking like - but experience has shown me that most people go through the dabbling with 215s and tips, sleeves, etc... and when they look back at the investment, they could have gone for a custom. ok maybe it's a bit more difficult to do that with Inearz currently out the game (and the lower priced UE900s off the scene)... but null audio may be the answer for the pathway to a cheaper IEM?

I've found with IEMs, plugins aren't great. You can certainly get away with them without though. Im currently messing around with Dante interfaces and Live Professor and getting some great results. I'm so tempted to get the Waves bridge... but don't want to be locked into Waves plugins...

@TPJ and @dand666 - There's always Null audio in Singapore, they do get mentioned on headfi from time to time, but I have no direct experience of their reshells. https://www.null-audio.com/collections/earphone-remolding-service Just looked into the cost - nominally about £135 with postage and import on costs. You'll probably get it around the £200 mark door to door with all the extra costs, so comparable to what inearz was doing it for.