Amazing sound quality inexpensive earbuds

Kbuzz, fit gets a little better when they get oily from the skin.

Great sounding , well balanced and not sibilent. Fit is a bit problematic. Does anyone make aftermarket buds for these like comply?

While ear buds are handy and sound good, doctors are warning us against usage - they are particularly dangerous for our hearing - the big headphones are somewhat better, but still loud speakers are the way to go.

Of course you can't carry them with you, but I just stopped mp3 usage, and I don't really miss it - I rather enjoy this glorious hobby for a long time to come...

My reference IEM is currently Westone 4. My daily use are earbuds called Blox TM7. Both have incredible soundstage. Unfortunately with the TM7, they are always sold out and always so within days of being available. Any earbud from Blox is incredible, again if you can get your hands on a pair.

Mtruong, which earphones do you like the best that have a more expansive stage?

I just tried the other 2 sets of tips and for my ears, the default double flange fit and sounded the best by far. The large made the bass very boomy, not tight and controlled at all. The small had no bass and highs were shrill. Doing some more critical listening, I've determined the greatest weakness of these earphones - the soundstage. Soundstage never got better with burn in. The music never extended beyond the width of my head. From the goldenears graphs, the Quads measure VERY well, and I can hear this, but they can't measure soundstage, and this is what I've determined makes the Quads inferior to the great earphones.

Mtruong34, I found widest rubbers to expand and clean midrange while smallest rubbers remove most of the bass. Have you tried it?

OK, I've let the quadbeats burn in about 20 more hours and there is slight improvement in the mid and bass. However, this slight improvement in the individual areas has magnified the overall enjoyment factor. I'm thinking this can be classified as tonal balance. With the excellent highs and mediocre mid and bass out of the box, the music just didn't seem right. Now that everything is more balanced, the musicality has jumped up quite a few notches.

I just posted my impression on head-fi:

I just got the LG Quadbeat Red version this past weekend. I've only burned in for about 10 hours and initial impressions indicate it's very very good for the $25 I paid. The HF is the best thing about these IEM's. Extremely clear, sparkly and non-fatiguing. The mids are not quite as good as the highs but that's just saying they are good and not excellent. Maybe they'll get better with more burn in. Bass is adequate - not boomy but not super tight either and highly dependent on a good fit. Soundstage is OK, not super wide or deep. So far, only listened with the default double flange tips which seem to work fine so far. Will try the others later. Also, the cable is a user-friendly flat design and exhibits some microphonics. As expected, since these are bundled 'phones, they are VERY easy to drive. Other earphones owned are Blox M2C & TM7 and Westone 4.

I'm happy guys that you like them. I would hesitate to recommend anything more expensive because of my limited experience and issues of fitting etc.

Thanks to everybody for your response and opinion/evaluation.

Kijanki,

Sounds similar to 3 pieces included with Klipsch s4.

The widest ones provide the most bass but become uncomfortable over time and tend to slip loose easily with me. BEst sound, not best fit.

The ones I use normally are not as wide and close to those sonically, save a tad of bass, but level is still good and way better than most standard earbuds. They also tend to seal fairly well and stay in my ear better.

The key is to not collapse it against the inner sleeve so as to keep it floating.

With stock attached pads (split pads) the sound was flat on bass, shrill on top, the small pads did not fit my ear well enough to really give much serious thought but sound was unremarkable. I even installed other pads that worked great on some Maxell buds that sound great for mowing on the tractor (low bar of performance but the blow away stock Apple buds). The large pads fit snug and just opened everything up, bass is great, mids are the sweetspot and highs after 30hrs are taming down a tad. The highs are not fatigueing but could be better.
For the price this is a case study in being way too critical IMO. Thanks a bunch for putting these buds on the radar, never would have discovered them without your help.
* I am not as of yet listeninv to these with any external pre or amp, I am purchasing a Fios. Cheers

Mapman, That's true but pieces here are extremely soft (thin rubber hollow inside) and don't put a lot of pressure.

I like the ones with the split and I have them seated nicely now. The first part of the split sits in the canal and the second part is a little bigger which seals the canal. I've never seen a design like this before but it works very well once I figured out how they fit my ear. They are pretty amazing for this price!

Realize of course that all ears are shaped differently. The piece that fits one best is likely to not fit another best. Its like fitting a pair of shoes for both function and comfort. See how many shoe designs and sizes are out there? As a result, no one piece is inherently better or worse than another. Some may just flat out s---, like a pair of cheap shoes.

Csontos, I'm also leaning toward largest piece that I tried again after Chadnliz post. I'm happy you like it.

Sure but I had all three well planted and settled. I think they're designed to incorporate resonance built in to the buds. Hence the differences in response.

Mapman, Yamaha EPH-100 might be the answer since it seals better by being pushed deeper into ear canal (rubber has to splits). Yamaha claims that smaller driver closer to eardrum produces sound without side reflections making it cleaner. It has good reviews but comes with only one rubber piece that is not available separately. Once it is gone $150 might be gone.

A hotter sounding than desired top end might well accompany a poor seal that defeats bass potential.

Turned up, I find the largest ones to have the best all round balance from top to bottom. Plenty of bottom end with those. Best upper bass/lower mid transition. I also don't find the top too hot with the large ones but I do with the others. Well worth the cost.

"The midrange is really the strength here. The bass is there but you may have to work for it."

That may be typical with all earbuds from what I have seen in that the tight seal is critical for the bass (ie to "pressurize" the ear fully). A tight seal also tends to work away from optimal comfort. That is the common dilemma with earbuds I would say. Resloving it with the right combo of tight seal and comfort is the key. There may be third party products of different shapes, materials and construction that might be tried with any particular set towards this end. YEs, even earbuds benefit from tweaks, though they are of a different nature than those needed for home audio systems.

Jp1208, It amazes me that piece of rubber changes sound that much. Smallest rubber kills the bass, split one expands mid-bass making midrange a little congested while largest rubber extends the bass and opens midrange. I agree with Chandliz that highs need some taming but it might come with time. It feels very tight at first but doesn't cause discomfort. Amount of bass is a very personal thing in headphones. I can correct it in my phone or headphone amp. What cannot be corrected are resonances that these earbuds seems to be free of. Waterfall diagram shows them to be free of resonances (aluminum body?) except for one resonance at about 20kHz.

Chandliz, Largest pieces are a little too large for my ears but give good bass. The only problem is that mid-bass is recessed and replaced with stronger midrange. Split rubbers give fuller sound - decent with Galaxy S3 but much cleaner with Fiio E07K fed by USB from the same Galaxy S3.

I needed to work the rubber pieces to find the one that would fit the ear properly. They sound average until you get them to fit right. The midrange is really the strength here. The bass is there but you may have to work for it. Pretty clean and open sound for $25 but I don't find them as comfortable as I would like.

I can say it is critical to install the right rubbers for your ears, mine came with the 2 layer rubber installed but after trying all 3 provided the single large pad took bass to entire new level.

I just got a pair of the 420's from Korea and am burning them in, out of box pretty average. Seems the midrange is there but they need tamed on highs and bass hopefully opens up. For $30 they seem nice so far.

Wow! NEver saw those AKGs! I would like to hear those and compare to the Klipsch.

The Klipsch S4s originally retailed for over $200 or so I think I recall.

Ear buds are mass market products used by many. That is good for audiophiles seeking good sound for not much.

Earbuds are a great place IMHO to establish a reference for how recordings actually sound prior to investing in speakers and all that goes with it, including having to deal with room acoustics.

Earbud's job is highly optimized. Closest proximity to your hearing sensors takes a lot of variables out of the equation for good sound, making getting it a lot easier and cheaper. You need a good transducer with flat response. Also a tight seal in the ear to provide optimal acoustics.

Headphone/earphone-centric web sites compile and publish detailed measurement charts facilitating quantitative comparisons of hundreds of product options. It is much easier to both on paper and in practice to assess and compare earbuds than say high end audio speakers.

Earbuds are inherently highly efficient. Demand on amplifier is low on the grand scale of things in that not much power is required to produce good bass. Source quality becomes more apparent in that many other variables downstream are not in the picture as with a home audio system.

Of course,you need speakers in a room then to translate the sound into something that resembles what you would hear were you listening live. Room acoustics and many other factors that keep us all buzzing on and on then become part of the secret sauce.

Mapman, you cannot go wrong with AKG K3003 and it is on sale right now for only $1300 (and it is not made of gold)

http://www.amazon.com/AKG-K3003I-Reference-Earphones-Control/dp/B006Q4NSK8

Amazon now has Klipsch s4 buds for just over $30. I thought these a good value at $80 prior when I bought them a year or two back.

Sounds like its a buyers market for good ear buds these days.

Milpai, I don't know. Impedance (24ohm) should be OK but loudness depends on the particular player. I don't have Discman to try.

Kijanki,
Do they work on a MP3 player/Discman or only on a smartphone?

Kijanki

I am still seeking a music device and have been dragging my feet a bit

will report back eventually

;^)

Philjolet, what do you think? Average, Great, Bad? Was I wrong?

mine has grooved installed and 2 pair solid in the bag

I got two pairs also, both unopened. The other pair does have the grooved ones installed. Oh well, I guess someone wasn't quite awake.

That's strange. I got two pairs and both came with groved pieces installed. They even show unopened box here: http://www.gooddigitalshop.com/lg-hss-f420-quadbeat-se-black-optimus-g-in-ear-headphone-earphone-handsfree.html

I'm examining them right now. You're right. I hadn't noticed it initially. The installed ones are not the grooved ones on mine. The slim ones are.

Another adventure!

Csontos, One that is installed has different shape. It is longer and has grove in the middle. That's the one with more bass (if you want it).

THe other thing with earbuds is that the snug firm fit is key to optimal sound. Same buds may not fit all ears, just like each needs different size shoes. The best ear buds may not sound good if the fit is not right and vice versa.

They come with three sizes, same shape.

I have found with my Klipsch earbuds that firm seating and
tight seal is key for good extended and dynamic earbud sound.
Same might be true for the LGs. Try different shape buds if
provided and see.

I agree with everything you've said. They need to be firmly planted, though. Otherwise, you might as well use the 3.00 ones. They do sound good. I wouldn't apologize.

Csontos, I was afraid of that. Give them time. Bottom is fuller and stronger with original double rubber pieces. I found that smaller piece reduces bass expanding midrange. I still believe it is great bargain for $29 total. As for typical $3 earbuds - I have few of them including one that came with Samsung Galaxy S3. All of them lack dynamics, are laid back and sound just opposite to vivid - muffled.

Didn't mean to be confrontational. I have just received them and boy are you in trouble, Kijanki! Just kidding:) I'm not an ear bud/phone guy so I can't give an educated opinion except to say they're better than the $3.00 ones I bought on a jet headed to Calgary recently. Great mid/top end, lacking at the bottom- typical of ear buds I suppose. My son's assessment will be more useful. I'm driving to Toronto tomorrow so I'll get his take on them.

have not listened to them yet, just wanted others to know it may take a few weeks to get them (from Korea) as I was getting a bit concerned

overall an easy purchase experience

I look forward to hearing them...

"Tell me what you think."

"I just hope you guys wont't kill me if I'm wrong."

Csontos - I guess I could have been clearer. OP- K definitely thinks these are
great. Was responding more to the OP's later posts that certainly ask for
confirmation. Lot's of subsequent 2nd party posts about having purchased the
earbuds (your own, for example). Not so many with 2nd opinions or details
about SQ. If I've missed any of that, let me know.

Have you read the OP's opening comment?

Will someone please comment about how they sound! Always appreciate tips on low cost/hi value gear so "Thanks" to Kijanki.

I guess there's not much to lose after all, :D