Just purely out of curiosity and I swear I am not trying to poke fun or be snarky, but what percentage of those were from Linsoul?
We were talking about unrealistic expectations. They can be very real. You know that. Nothing wrong in learning what the boundaries are. That’s the journey we’re all on here as I stated.
I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say then. What I was attempting to convey was that when someone has unrealistic expectations…
And then guessing that spending more money might get them there, they may still be disappointed. Just as I was after buying the Empire Ears Odin as @hawaiibadboy said I probably would be.
Just as you pointed out, looking at the entire picture, source quality, dac/amp/headphone/earphone synergies, ear tips/pads will all make reaching that “wow” moment more possible than just looking at 1 part of the chain.
I would be hypocritical to suggest anyone not to follow their own journey. I wasn’t saying that. I was saying that having unrealistic expectations during our journey can make it a never ending journey and a very unsatisfying one at that, but everyone is welcomed to take it. I personally feel it’s a little more constructive to reel those expectations in a bit if I want to enjoy myself and my gear or else I’ll end up like this…
And still not be happy. 
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And the way to find out if expectations are realistic or unrealistic is to try things, which you are somewhat trying to discourage. The best way to tell if something is realistic or unrealistic expectations is to try other things that actually sets those expectations. If you have the means to try out something you are interested in, I wouldn’t be dissuaded by the fear of it not stacking up, it will either break or confirm your expectations. Now if you really have to push things alot to try something like that, then it obs becomes less worthwhile, so it all depends on the situation
Or they could find it gets them where they wanted to be, they don’t know until they try, they could end up more satisfied since it would give them more of what they were expecting, or it couldn’t. That’s how you define expectations and find out if they are realistic or not. These days it’s hard to get any judge on that since expectations are blown out of the water pretty easily, so you just need to hear them yourself
Correct, but the chain is only going to be as good as the weakest link. I’m sure you would agree that typically the iem is going to be the most important part yes?
Gotcha, the way it read to me in that initial post was moreso “there’s definitely not any other worthwhile options from what you have, see look at these few people who rate it highly therefore it definitely will be the same case for you, anything potentially better for you will just be imaginary and it’s just diminishing returns so absolutely not worth trying,” which might be your experience, but that doesn’t mean it would be others.
Keeping things realistic is important, but you don’t want to reel in so much you aren’t willing to try other things, finding that happy medium is important, and again will differ from person to person
And who would be to blame for that? If you aren’t getting any worthwhile benefit or extra happiness from a setup like that I’m not sure why you would continue to invest time, money, and energy into something that isn’t worthwhile to you after you have experienced it
From my own personal experience, I am trying to discourage the idea that $$$ automatically will get anyone to their imagined WOW moment. This just is not true.
Try everything you can! I’ve never suggested otherwise.
I’m trying to give helpful advise because I own the IEMs being discussed here and can speak from experience. If I’m not being helpful, I’m happy to go away and enjoy my Monarch. 
I’m not trying to discourage anyone, I’m trying to help them make informed purchasing decisions.
M0N, I ask you for advise regularly because you have first hand experience with a lot of gear. I want to hear from you why you prefer or dislike gear that is being discussed.
If I recall, you just discouraged me away from purchasing a D90 a few days ago. lol
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Of course, but you never really said that. To me it more looked like trying to push the notion that spending more wouldn’t really ever be worthwhile and could not lead to that imagined moment. But looks like I misinterpreted it
To me this really looks like trying to dissuade someone from trying things higher end, but idk. Those things just happen to be more money, which you personally may not find worthwhile, but again that doesn’t mean others wouldn’t, it’s still absolutely worth trying and finding out for each person if they can
And this isn’t what I’m taking issue with nor discussing
I basically said try it and see how it goes, getting perspective is important, I didn’t even say anything positive or negative about it, not sure how this counts as trying to discourage you from trying a d90
Regardless, I will stop disrupting the thread now, apologies for any disruption/inconvenience I may have caused to the rest of the thread.
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I’m the poster child for “$$$ does not always = better”. Sorry I wasn’t as clear as I could have been.
I was attempting to reel in expectations that are not real. But as I think we both agree, we all should continue down the rabbit hole to find out for ourselves if we are driven to do so. I’m still digging it myself with no end in sight.
That is you dissuading me not to bother with a D90 when I own a Bifrost 2 and I appreciateed that advise. Thank you.
I always appreciate and value all your insights. Thank you for the discussion. You always give me something to think about. I’ll have to try to do a better job of expressing myself in the future. No promises tho.
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That wasn’t meant to sound condescending and I quickly clarified afterwords when you pointed it out, that was my bad. If it was meant to suggest that, I would have just straight up said so, I have no reason to try and act snarky about that, I would have just said something like “it’s probably not worth your time” (or something of the sort). It was mainly meant to be taken at face value, as in try it and see what happens
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You didn’t do anything wrong! You gave me advise that I value and probably helped me not make a mistake.
FYI… I did exactly this and ended up selling the jotunheim 2 this weekend. lol
I don’t think you realize how seriously we (or maybe just I) take your dac/amp advise, or audio advise in general.
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@Smue
I had a very bad experience with Thieaudio and Linsoul not too long ago, that is why I’m hesitant to buy from them again.
The only reason why I’m buying Monarch now is, there is no way I’m paying over 1k for IEMs, and Monarch seem to be up there with the top sets.
Besides anything over 500 usd it’s more about preferences and less about resolving ability IMO. There is no wow anymore just different strengths and weaknesses.
I’ll take anyones advice, specially from someone who heard these and lots of other iems.
@Resolution gave me his input and I appreciate it. It just happens to align with what I’m after. After Monarch no more iems for me for a long time.
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@progdvd That’s also the reason I decided to go for Monarch rather then play around with stuff like the SA6, S8F, EST112, 3DT. I think 3DT would be more of side-grade to FD5, maybe it’s more technical due to it’s multi-driver setup but I figured I’d try a different kind of tonality to see what’s up with that.
Been A/B testing them both so far and I probably can EQ the mid-bass a bit to match what I want, just really didn’t want to mess with EQ as I use many devices and not all DAC’s that are easily portable have EQ options in them. But will for sure look into that ~50 Ohm adapter.
The detail and imaging improvements are definitely noticeable on the Monarch, including the slightly “out of head” stage, it’s pretty nice. Just missing that mid-bass fullness. It is pretty fun to try new IEM’s though; going through different tracks and picking different thing out is pretty fascinating.
Expensive hobby though. Would love to one day audition some high end stuff. So, as much as I’d like to say this would be my end game I think the itch to play more will always be there when new stuff launches, for better or worse.
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S8F is freaking awesome to me, no matter what anybody else says, I love this set… To date still best one I tried.
Monarch might win in technicalities, bass rumble, stage, but S8F surely wins in overal tonality, speed and fit in my case. FD5 is nice too, stock not so much but when EQ’d they are fantastic.
It depends on one’s bank account, for me, yes it’s very expensive hobby, but I’m at this stage where I realy don’t want to buy anything else unless I hit the lottery.
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@Resolution Ooo yes; how do you like the S8F vs FD5 & Monarch? Would you take it over the FD5 for a V tune?
I sold the S8Z when I received the Lokahi. I sold the Lokahi when I heard the SA6. I prefer sets with a DD over all BA sets in general. Although the Lokahi sounded great for an all BA set, I preferred the overall package of the SA6. If I’m being completely honest, the Lokahi felt cheaply built, especially with whatever was going on inside the nozzle. I’d never seen anything like it. The DUW-03 cable was the biggest reason I kept the SA6 not to mention the SA6 is just beautiful and is a compliment to my collection I enjoy. The DUW-03 is the best cable I’ve come across.
I greatly prefer the ZEN to the FD5. The FD5 is bloated in the mids for my tastes. The Zen is one of my favorite IEMs because of its bass, coherency, stage and slam. It is beastly for heavy music. The FD5 doesn’t get much play with me at all. I’ve been contemplating selling it and giving it to a new home that would enjoy it, but don’t know if I want to deal with the bother. I feel about the same with all of my Fiio IEMs of which I own all the hybrids and dynamics.
My favorite IEMs are not V shaped. I’ve fallen in love with the tunings of the Mangird Tea and the Monarch most. I haven’t had much time with the Oracle yet and I do have the Excalibur ordered and coming soon. So, I will be able to evaluate all the Thieaudio hybrids at some point. I wasn’t going to even bother with the Excalibur, but I broke down and ordered it earlier this month.
As for IEMs like the Odin, which I owned and sold… I personally am a believer in if I am being asked to spend spend that much for an IEM, I expect to love it and for it to be better than what I already own or bring something new or different to the table. I preferred the Thieaudio offerings and spent a lot less $$$. It is a pretty IEM though.
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The Excalibur is very interesting, most of the hype seems directed at Oracle for being a mini-Clair.
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Monarch ordered. Hopefully I won’t get screwed like with the L4 ciem.
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Praying that you wont have problems with it.
S8F vs SA6…
Most of these earphones are all using the same drivers/driver technologies. Knowles and Sonnion. I think you’re right that consumers won’t be experiencing a giant leap forward when no manufacturers are innovating from the ground up. It doesn’t make much sense to me to spend gobs of cash on 1 item that’s using the same drivers or driver tech as something 5X less expensive and even sounds better, unless you really think a pretty faceplate design is worth thousands of $$$.
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Just an update.
@Resolution
Monarch is just as described. It exactly how I thought it will sound.
I just had 1-2 hours with them out of the box and not bad at all. Even the mid-bass I don’t find it lacking 
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