New site for work, new policy, now I’m back in the office. I’d like to get a nice pair of IEMs to run on my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with the DDhifi USB C balanced micro dongle (either 3.5 or 2.5 depending on what IEMs I get). I’d like to keep the total cost under $200 but I can go a little over that for the right setup. Let me know what you guys are using, I was looking at the Yume but as far as I can tell it would need a different cable to be balanced. I’m don’t really know much about IEMs so any guidance is appreciated. I mostly listen to electronic music, audio books, youtube videos, ect. I also work 10 hour days so something that doesn’t have harsh highs would be ideal, and something that’s comfortable of course. Right now I’m using my Samsung Galaxy Buds with medium tips and medium wings (I think) just to give an idea of my ear size.
Fiio FH3. Grab a Faaeal cable of whatever jack you want.
+1 for the FH3 recommendation. I don’t listen to electronic music myself, but I think they’d do very well for that genre.
As the others have said. Get the fiio fh3.
If you want something cheaper.
Blon BL-03
Final audio e3000
Ibasso it00
Are some other you could consider that are all non-fatiguing so you shouldn’t have much problems with using them for longer sessions.
- Fiio BTR5
- Fiio FH3
- Tri Through balanced 2.5mm cable
- Azla Sedna & Final type E eartips,
total cost less than $300,
I rec the Moondrop Starfields. They’ve got smooth highs and controlled bass. Overall, it’s a warm sounding IEM that has decent details and an excellent soundstage.
I’ve owned Starfields, FH3s and P1s. The P1s are so good out of an ES100 with a pretty heavy EQ. I haven’t touched my FH3s in months, since they’re a bit too big to wear for multiple hours a day, whereas the P1 just fades away. I got the P1 used for $70 to sweeten the deal.
If you showed me this crazy EQ and told me the headphones wouldn’t sound like straight garbage, I wouldn’t believe you. But my god did Tin really f*ck up the tuning on the P1s, because these are up there with my Hifiman HE500s for enjoyment with this EQ. Without the EQ they aren’t even worth the $70 they cost me used. So it permanently lives on my ES100 mk2.
In short, the Starfields are too annoyingly shouty in the mids (although the soundstage is great, the overall sound isn’t very coherent). The FH3s are all about that subbass, nothing really stands out, they’re just good, my biggest quirk is the shape being too big. P1s rule if you can live with a permanent EQ on a source and for comfort. The ES100 mk2 with the 2.5" balanced cable works perfectly.
The Hifiman RE400 and RE600 I tried before all these where straight garbage. The Tin T2s are not a bad headphone at $30 either. I found it pretty neutral, although the shell was a bit too hard for my ears after an hour.
With that much bass boost without any preamp reduction, it will clip a lot.
You should reduce the preamp by around 7db. But you are probably going to run out of headroom with the ES100.
There’s another toggle already doing a -6 preamp. I haven’t noticed any clipping at all.
If you are already reducing the preamp by 6 db. That should be fine.
Otherwise with as much bass boost you are using, it is definitely clipping.