alphaphoenix

Interesting. I just bought the C3 from the same person on ebay and finally love them. I've owned them before about a year ago and quickly sold them because of what I thought was inferier SQ. I later realized that a good seal makes all the difference and later found out the large earpieces were the ones for me all along and the newer, clear silicon tips that are now standard on the Image line are of better quality and more rigid. Also, due to the oval design of the eartips, I had to play around with the position and angle in relation to the earpiece housing in my ear. This time around, they are my favorite IEM. I've owned most of the top tier IEM with the exception of the Westone 3 and the sound signature really does it for me. I'm listening to WMA lossess on my 8GB Zune and I'm very happy. The details, the range (low, med, high) is even to my ears and for me, it matches very well. I'm thinking about buying another new set as a backup pair. Regarding the wire issue that seems to a plague to these great IEM, Professor Thump shared his technique of pitching the cord and layering it eveing from left to right. I tried this technique and no kinks in the cable. Before, I was wrapping them around my fingers, but soon learned like before that the cable doesn't like this type of thing. As a consequence, the C3 requires more TLC for long time use without issues with the cord. I assume we got the same C3 and the only thing I can think up that may contribute to the less than stellar expectations is the seal. Among my IEM, the C3 is the most finicky about a good-perfect seal.