Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
The IE80 sounds very good, with a good sound stage and great bass. However, the UE 900s seemed to have better separation, sounded better to me in the mid and high range and the sound was tighter and better controlled while still retaining decent bass.
The US 900s also had some fit and finish issues; I had to use superglue to put each earpiece back together after the faceplate popped off and there was some corrosion on one of the MMCX connectors, but even with those issues I considered picking them up again despite currently having the IE80s, Nuforce Primo 8s and some weird Chinese hybrids that would be amazing if I could get the sibilance under control. I've had no such issues with the IE80s. They just work all the time every time.
Both are very capable IEMs and it's going to come down to your personal preferences, but I hope I was of some help.
I suspect that it will wow you: going from a single dynamic driver at the <$100 range to 4 balanced armatures would be a huge jump in sound quality. You'll have a similar experience with the IE 80s, even though it's a dynamic driver as well. I envy you a little bit, to be honest. The prices go way up from here and the gains are smaller, unless you find some giant killer equipment.
The UE900s and the IE80 are actually both extremely comfortable. You'll likely have to get used to putting the cords over your ears but once you do it's hard to go back.