I get what you’re saying and I definitely wish there were more releases and larger variety of IEMs released in that price range as well, but 2022 was a great year for planars and not just the sub-$100 stuff. If you look at how far that sub-$200 bracket came with just the planar releases, you really have to look to the $500 and up IEMs to objectively beat them in many ways. I’m hoping that realization will spur growth and diversification in that upper mid-fi range so we’ll hopefully see a turnover in that area soon with some new IEMs and some more varied driver configs.
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It was an epic fail move. That brand was on peoples lists, had a great crin collab (the 1st) and was beautiful.
Name of brand was about as good as it gets in chifi.
They got greedy and lost seller support because they pulled out the rug and expected to absorb the community.
Lesson learned by other OEM. I hope other OEM learned.
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Personally I wanna see more experimenting done with bone conduction. Sure, that’s only in the most expensive IEMs currently, but wasn’t it like that with planars as well in the beginning? Slowly the costs get trimmed down.
I do think that with the dozens if not hundreds of IEMs out there right now, a difference in tuning (in the most basic sense) doesn’t get people excited. Explore ways to get killer imaging and soundstage, make it an experience. People like to say ‘holographic’ and ‘virtual 3D’ a lot - make that a thing with sub-$1000 IEMs idk. Experimentation is what made ChiFi so exciting to begin with. And it always ends up with cheaper and cheaper offerings as development continues further down
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If they didn’t they should take a freshman econ or business class at their local university. I mean, anyone with half a brain should’ve been telling them that thinking they could ditch the brand recognition, loyalty, and association and just absorb the customers was a marketing and business 101 mistake. That’s not how consumer markets work. Like you, I hope other OEMs were paying attention.
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I totally agree. Putting out the millionth variation on Harman tuning just isn’t cutting it. Better presentation and techs leading to a better, more immersive user experience at a lower cost woukd definitely be welcome. Heck, just simply taking some risks and releasing unique takes on tuning again would be nice to see as well. You actually do see quite a bit of that in the higher end market, but mid-fi and lower is just getting more and more homogenous. At least it seems that way from where I’m sitting.
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Agree. I’m out this hobby for now unless something special grabs my attention or MEMs hit the market in a big way.
There seems a big hole between the 200 buck planars and the 6-700 tribrids.
The budget market is luney tunes (on a good way) at the moment.
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I agree. Nothing has piqued my interest enough to move on from the Kato. I’m sure there are IEMs that I’d like better- even at, or below, the price of the Kato- but I’m not convinced enough to spend money on them.
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I look at it as: it’s good to see that tuning has come far enough that a sub-$200 1 + 4 hybrid can be good enough to compete with a $700 tribrid.
You can spend more for prestige/clout but apparently Aur Audio and Sound Rhyme are kicking that mid-fi door in. They’re just doing it with tuning over tech.
Which is what wins at the end of the day
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Funny you say that, when I ordered my Z300, I added a HBBxQKZ to replace the pair my wife “stole”.
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Green reminds me of Tea 1, but with bass boost.
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That’s tickling my GAS in a big way.
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Mid bass slam! Loving it!
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I’m more of the mindset of if they like what the sound signature does for their library or if they just simply like the tuning. I feel like my preferred tuning comes down to basically balanced with a bit more oomph in the bass for that extra bit of fun and thunder (or should I be just saying a bassy-ish U-shaped signature?), seeing my listening tastes vere towards more musical and not so much analytical so getting high details in my music is not so much a big deal for me. Your tuning with the Mele and the Kai and the Kinda Lava (after EQ-ing it to the proposed target) definitely do the type of sound signature I can enjoy for hours on end with pretty much any music I throw at them and not feel like I’m missing much at all and I’ve got you to thank for helping me narrow down what I like dude. Sorry if that got rambley I should be asleep right now 
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BTW, I just saw pics of the box for the Z300 and I have to say BLON rolling with the jokes and putting “Oppoty & Driams Pt.2” on the front of it was a great call. Definitely have me a good chuckle! 
@hawaiibadboy Did you have anything to do with that choice?
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Wher did that come from because of a BLON typos?
On the OG BLON 03 box the motto is “Oppoty. Driams. Nevergiveup. Letmusicburn.” People make jokes about it all the time and BLON apparently took it good naturedly. 
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I was hoping you were behind this. Such a smart move and good on them for going with it. I mean, that’s some good marketing. 
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