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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
 
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
kijanki's avatar
kijanki OP
4,432 posts
 
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.
mtruong34
34 posts
 
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.
mtruong34
34 posts
 
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.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki OP
4,432 posts
 
Mtruong34, I found widest rubbers to expand and clean midrange while smallest rubbers remove most of the bass. Have you tried it?
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