[Hisoundfi]

Initial impressions:

*The upper mids and treble isn't as bad as I thought they were going to be after reading some impressions.

*I really like the response from bass to lower midrange. Plenty of bass and good resolution.

*I don't find them to necessarily be sibilant. I'm not getting super harsh pronunciations of the letter S and TT, but rather the range right below that is very boosted to my ears.

*As the other guys said, I'm sure some burn time will make a noticeable improvement.

 

[nmatheis]

I did find them sibilant, but I listen to a couple vocalists who turn sibilant if I merely look at the wrong IEM while listening :blink:

 

[peter123]

Initial impressions:

*The upper mids and treble isn't as bad as I thought they were going to be after reading some impressions.

*I really like the response from bass to lower midrange. Plenty of bass and good resolution.

*I don't find them to necessarily be sibilant. I'm not getting super harsh pronunciations of the letter S and TT, but rather the range right below that is very boosted to my ears.

*As the other guys said, I'm sure some burn time will make a noticeable improvement.

Nice, thanks for sharing. I've got a feeling I'm gonna enjoy these.

 

[Hisoundfi]

Nice, thanks for sharing. I've got a feeling I'm gonna enjoy these.

Ya, they follow along the lines of the Duke.

The upper mids are super aggressive at first listen.

 

[nmatheis]

Ya, they follow along the lines of the Duke.

The upper mids are super aggressive at first listen.

Hmm... Looks like I was onto something, eh

 

[Hisoundfi]

I enjoy the hell out of these so far.

Can't wait for them to have 50 hours of play time like warrenpchi suggested.

I'm really glad I signed up for this one. Micro dynamic drivers almost always sound good to my ears.

 

[nmatheis]

+1 Hisoundfi about these sounding good. I hope I didn't give any wrong impressions above. One reason why they sounded somewhat aggressive to me was I'd just popped the Torque t096z + Smooth Valve out of my ears and quickly popped in the S500i. Quite a different sound sig! I imagine if I'd been listening to something like Dukes right beforehand, I'd have had a slightly different first take on the S500i.

Mine have had a good 40 hours of pink noise now. Time to finish off with a randomized mix of my music library, and then I'll start some serious listening. I think it's going to be good.

And yes, micro driver in good implementation is awesome

 

[mochill]

Microdynamics ftw

 

[B9Scrambler]

No idea how much burn time my pair has on them yet, but I've been occasionally popping them in to see how they're doing. They are definitely my kind of earphone.

Going to try some gaming with them later as well. See how that soundstage handles some tank warfare

 

[nmatheis]

From how you described your JVC, I thought you'd like the S500i B9Scrambler.

 

[metabaron]

Any driver flex with these? I remember the S600 were bad in that department. How easy are they to drive? How is the built? Bass response?

 

[nmatheis]

Any driver flex with these? I remember the S600 were bad in that department. How easy are they to drive? How is the built? Bass response?

Check your PMs

Quick n dirty answers

• No driver flex for me as of yet.
• Seem pretty easy to drive - meant for iPhone, after all.
• Build seems solid, but we just got them.
• Bass is quick n punchy - haven't checked extension yet

 

[B9Scrambler]

From how you described your JVC, I thought you'd like the S500i @B9Scrambler.

 
They are a little similar, but the JVCs are warmer and bassier.
 
I'm finally ready to post some first impressions. Meant to do that last night but the site was down for maintenance.
 
* When I first put these in, the VSonic VSD2 came to mind. Listening to them back to back the VSD2 is noticeably bassier and less mid-forward, but both have a nice big soundstage and slightly cold, analytical presentation. 
 
* Tried these out last night with World of Tanks (WoT). They did a great job of providing a nice visceral punch to each shot, ricochets pinged realistically of your hull, and all the little mechanical tings and crunches that they added to the game are picked up and displayed with nice detail.
 
* Treble and upper mids are a touch thin
 
* Bass is quick and punchy with good sub-bass extension.
 
Overall I am really enjoying these and am liking how they are shaping up. They are also obscenely small and comfortable. I experienced no discomfort during that 5 hour WoT session. So far so good.

 

[Waldweit]

Hey guys, looks nice.

Can somebody compare S500i to something like Vsonic VSD3S?

 

[nmatheis]

B9Scrambler

I'm glad you re-listened to VSD2 and found them much bassier. I've got VSD2 as well, and they didn't spring to mind for me when listening to S500i.

Out of the VSD series, I'm thinking S500i are most like VSD5 out of the box but would need to compare them. However, I'm betting the big money I prefer S500i hands-down over VSD5 if/when I do that comparison.

For micro driver IEM, I've tried ZA Tenore, Yamaha EPH100, and VE Duke. As I alluded to earlier, out of the box S500i struck me as "Baby Duke". Don't have EPH100 anymore, but from memory prefer S500i. EPH100 always struck me as too smooth. Same with Tenore. YMMV.