I’m repairing a friend’s old iPod mini, and I’m wondering which IEMs under $50 I should recommend to pair with it? Something that’s not source picky… sure it’s got a Wolfson DAC but it’s nothing to write home about and it’s a pretty weak (20 yo) output stage.
Tuning: warm neutral or neutral with a bass lift.
And what about if we bump that budget up to $200? What would you recommend in that case?
Used or new are of interest in both cases! Thanks in advance for some tips 
Well depends on what you want but moondrop lan for both under 50 and under 200 would be my pick.
Can I provide more specific info on what I want that would help you make a suggestion, besides the warm-nutral or bass-lifted tuning preference?
Thanks, I hadn’t heard of the LAN before. High praise saying it’d beat out everything up to $200. How do you think it would compare to something like the Kiwi Ears Cadenza, in the <$50 category? Or Simgot EW200? CCA Trio?
Well mostly due to it being easy to drive and easy on the ears being relatively neutral and smooth while still having good dynamics.
If you want bass boosted sure the cadenza is nice. Simgot personally I cant rec due to their iems generally having uncontrolled mid to upper treble to my ears including the EM6L. Maybe the EW500LM is better but I cant be bothered to go down to try.
No idea about CCA/KZ havent followed them in forever.
If you want more bass boosted personally I think the Kinera Celest Gumiho or moondrop may(with the 3.5mm termination) are my picks but those would be under 100.
But yeah personal preference and types of songs played would help.
Out of dozens, the best I’ve run into is the 7hz Salnotes Zero:2 at $24 and 32 ohm, so you don’t need anything special to drive them. An Apple 3.5mm to USB adapter will blow the doors off them for $9 and sound really good.
Under $200 would be the Moondrop Starfield, just overall well rounded with no major problems in tuning or fit. Simgot EA500 is another I have and really like. The two nozzles let you customize the tuning a fairly good amount. Just not the LM version, they’re too V shaped and male vocals are distant compared to the originals.