Hey, CanGAF. My Shure SE215s died this morning, after around 27 months of faithful use. It happened when I detached the cable from the earpiece to clean the corrosion buildup (causing them to occasionally cut out), and snapped off one of the connection terminals. Now I get no sound from that side at all instead of it randomly cutting out due to the corrosion. But I digress.
I've been looking for some replacements today, and I've really liked using IEMs for the past couple of years. If I don't buy the same SE215s are replacements, I'm leaning towards the Hifiman RE-400s or Etymotic HF5s. Does CanGAF have any opinions on these?
To throw a fly in the ointment, somewhere locally is selling their last stock of Sennheiser Amperiors for about $150 less than anywhere else (RE-400s $110, HF5s $170, Amperior $220), so I'm tossing up between continuing with IEMs or going to on-ear cans. It seems like the overall sound, besides isolation is pretty great for the price. I know the prices aren't really close on these, are the HF5s worth $60 more than the RE-400s?
Of utmost importance to me is isolation, as I use them at work in an open plan office and use them to reduce distractions. I also occasionally travel with them and exercise on. Can CanGAF talk me down from buying the Amperiors? Should I even be bothering with them if isolation and occasional travel/exercise (running) is important?
Oh, I primarily listen either on my phone or office laptop. Usually higher bitrate mp3s or FLACs.
