I went to Japan a few weeks ago and bought myself a small gift.
Posted Aug 2, 2014, 9:00 AM UTC
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Now treat yourself to a pair of Comply foam tips. They are fairly delicate but the fit and isolation is amazing. They will be the icing on your sonic cake....
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I just ordered a bunch of comply tips online. What do you mean, delicate?
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They are very soft, which makes them very comfortable, but they just aren't very durable. They start to split after a while. You can still wear them, but eventually you will need to replace them... Sound-wise they are amazing so it's easy to put up with but they aren't exactly cheap. Another option might be custom made silicone tips, they obviously cost more initially partly because you will need to have a mould taken by an audiologist, but you may save money in the long run. Have a look at these links:
http://www.elacin.com/gb/en/shure-se-custom-fit-sleeves
http://www.sensaphonics.com/for-shure-earphones
http://www.perfectfitears.co.uk/product-list/earbud-sleeves/
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/snugs-ear-docks-custom-moulded-ear-sleeves-for-iem-earphones.html
Edit: Just to be clear, I don't have a pair custom of tips yet but I am seriously considering them. These are the options I found while doing my own research.
Edit 2: Some words.
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Getting custom tips is absolutely not an option where I live. I'd have to do remote research, and then take a plane at best.
I'll see how my comply tips behave. I'm actually getting them as a replacement for my silicone tips, because I lost one of them and getting brand replacement would cost me twice as much as the 6 pairs of comply tips I ordered.
I could never get a good fit with the silicone tips, so paying $40 plus shipping seemed like a waste of money to me. I was hoping to get a better experience with the comfy tips.
Then again, the cable has been cracking a little, and Sennheiser doesn't seem to replace it. Part of the casing has come off as well. Maybe I'll do some modding on these CX680, and get the cable replaced myself, because I actually like how they sound, and the earfin stuff is pretty nifty.
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Every headphone enthusiast needs to check out Stax if they're in Japan. Was planning to buy headphones and some speaker parts for a home stereo build, ended up getting the Stax 507and amp for a little over a grand. Absolutely zero regrets. You can even test them out at Yodobashi and see how they fare against Sennheiser 800 and such. Much cheaper and more available than outside of Japan.
Also check out the exclusives from Audio-Technica, Sony, Fostex, Denon, etc.
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Yes indeed, my $300 Stax system punches right up there with pretty much all my other gear.
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Is it just that their collection is huge or is it that its really cheap in there?
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I bought a pair of Shure SE 535 Limited Edition while I was visiting Tokyo, Japan.
I wasn't really looking for headphones but they were much cheaper than here in Sweden so I went for it.
Their headphone collection was really huge and had all of them displayed for the customers to listen.
Unfortunately, the original gray cable had small problem just a few days in with the left ear, no sound.
So I replaced it with a clear cable ( which IMO looks better) and sent the original cable to Shure for a replacement.
Where's this shop you say you bought this from? How deep are the discounts? Going to japan late this year and it'll be nice to pop by.
Not OP but I was in Tokyo last month. The best stores were Yodobashi Akiba (big department store) and E-Earphone (small shop that's a little hard to find) both in Akihabara. If you buy Japanese brands you'll typically see lower prices than online shops like Amazon but for foreign brands they are often the same price if not more expensive.
Compared to Sweden, it was almost 145 USD discount. The shop was in Akihabara. I believe the store was called Sofmap but their sign was suuuuper small. Better luck just browsing big electronic stores.
great to hear that, OP, Softmap is affiliated to Bic Camera, and together with Labi Yamada Denki and Yodobashi Camera, form the three big retailers of electronics in Japan, as I know. As indicated, e-earphone is a hell of a shop, but they are only present in Akihabara, whereas Yodobashi and Bic Camera are quite ubiquitous. But then again, if you come to Tokyo, Akihabara is a good place for tourism, so why not take a look around. Anyway, hope everybody that comes here has a nice time. Enjoy your new IEMS!
EDIT: when shopping in those stores around Japan, be sure to take your passport with tourism visa, so you can buy stuff duty-free (consumption tax is 8% at the time being, raising to 10% next fiscal year).
In my experience, haggling or pricematching with kakaku.com always gave me deeper discounts than duty-free. They usually don't let you do both.
It was my understanding that the store will still charge tax, and you have to fill out a refund form after leaving the country.
When I was in Japan I bought my headphones at a store called Joshin
how much is "much cheaper?"
145 USD less compared to the price in Sweden.
Cheapest price (at least listed on this website that checks a lot of different vendors) is 42,800 yen which is around the $417 mark.
http://s.kakaku.com/search_results/?query=shure+se535&sact=Suggest
How do they sound? Any tracks that are particularly nice with them?