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Amazing sound quality inexpensive earbuds

I'd like to share my experience with quality earbuds for my Galaxy S3. I read reviews of many headphones looking for something reasonable and when I almost pulled trigger on $150 Yamaha EPH-100 I found this review of LG Quadbeat SE (also known as HSS-F420):

http://en.goldenears.net/15834 (a lot of earbuds reviewed there)

Just look how clean waterfall diagram is. I ordered them from gooddigitalshop.com that is Korean company located in Seoul. I got them within a week and am absolutely amazed with the sound not to mention that they costed me $21 ($29 with shipping). I used Paypal but they also accept credit card. Not only that sound is clean transparent and very, very dynamic with beautiful midrange, but also comfort is great. I ordered second pair for my wife and just got confirmation that it was shipped. Yamaha might be good as well but it is 16ohm - minimum recommended for S3. LG Quadbeat SE is 24 ohm. I also have AKG K271 mkII and this LG earbud is pretty close. Be sure it is SE version since they make another regular Quadbeats. SE version has red logo on the back of each earbud. I hope this might be of use to anybody looking for high quality earbuds.
128x128kijanki
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
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.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki OP
4,412 posts
 
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.
jp1208
502 posts
 
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.
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kijanki OP
4,412 posts
 
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.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,915 posts
 
"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.
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