I can’t wear my IEMs all day like I often do my headphones (ear irritation), so I save them for portable/travel use. But I’ve got to say, when I do use them at my desk, plugged into my Asgard in lieu of my big cans, man. There’s just something more immersive about them. And my IEMs aren’t anything to get excited about.
I certainly prefer iems to headphones.
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For me yes IEM’s have largely replaced my headphones, the price to performance you get versus headphones is simply crushing. Once you find the right IEM combined the right tip all day wearing is possible, the key I found was shallow insertion, the deeper you go I find around the 2 hour mark gets uncomfortable and from then on it just gets worse. Getting that perfect combination however is tricky!
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Well, i don’t, but i can say for sure, even my cheapest IEMs have satisfied me more than my more expensive headphones, soundwise.
As for fit and comfort, over ears any day, for example, if i’m gonna stay on a Discord call with my friends for two or more hours, i pick up my headphones, but if i’m gonna listen to music for just a few minutes, then my IEMs come out to play.
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When I next feel like I’ve got cash to burn I really want to give a higher end set of IEMs a spin. If my decent but cheap and now several years old $150 Fischer DBA-02s are giving me such pleasure, I can’t help but wonder happens when I move up market.
Why, in particular?
I prefer them due to the sound, fit/comfort and the value they have over headphones.
so ehm, I guess pretty much all aspects on iems win over headphones for me.
Heck, I think I prefer earbuds (less due to sound, more due to comfort here) over headphones as well…
iems > earbuds > headphones
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I’ve definitely started to prefer IEMs a lot more than my headphones now. The comfort and presentation are the two main reasons for me, although there are a few headphones that I would maybe say are more comfortable to me.
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I use the Koss ksc75 for gaming though. That one has unrivaled comfort for me, only beaten by speakers lol.
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Getting there. Historically I’ve been a headphone guy, but then I got the FiiO FH3s and they pretty much blew up my entire collection, stomping headphones that were 7 times their price. I’ve since found another set of headphones that I’m pretty in love with and are competing in a lot of ways. I can’t say one is better than the other though, they each just give me something different when I’m in the mood to swap. But again, the headphones cost quite a bit more. I’m going to be taking the dive into high end multi-driver IEMs pretty soon and I have a feeling that they may just wipe headphones off the map for me, for music listening anyway. Headphones are still vastly superior for gaming in my experience.
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IEMs are preferred due to comfort, value, and portability now at this point. When I game I use Elex/95x though all day every day. Outside of that I mainly just use my most comfortable IEMs with good vocal detail due to my day job. Due to the oppressive nature of work from home sitting in one place I tend to like IEMs for listening to music too atm since I don’t have to set at my desk/workstation to enjoy them.
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Speaker system > IEM’s > HP’s
On a continually move barge a speaker system is out of the question plus for a “good” one loads a 
…so out of the question twice.
HP’s try and fail at replicating a speaker system and in mostly cases are hot and heavy 
…but I’ve not heard the SR1a though if that counts as a HP 
IEM’s…Don’t try at anything tbh they’re for the most part comfy, light with good sound insulation, don’t take any fancy shit to power them apart from a good source, a tidy Dac/Amp or DAP all the while delivering some amazing quality tunes direct to your melon man 
lol
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Definitely prefer IEMs over headphones both because of sound and comfort. However I have to say the comfort issues are because of physical problems to be fair. In the price range I’m shopping, IEMs trash pretty much all headphones so that’s an easy choice as well.
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I do like my jbl bookshelfs 100% shit is fire. 
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definitely speakers over all other transducers for me as well…
Since I can use them 24/7 without any comfort issues lol.
(although I still prefer the sound of my iems, but that is probably due to my entry level speakers (Swan M10)…)
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I have a pair of Vanatoo Transparent Ones that are fantastic, but I often forget I have them because I can only rarely use them.
Haha, there’s just no way.
But I’ll give it a while and see what happens.
Similar to speakers vs headphones (though the differences are far more pronounced and varied), at the £300 level IEMs haven’t really bested headphones for me, but they are a different experience.
Usually the sound is even closer than headphones, but the soundstage, layering and tactile feeling is always inferior.
I heard the Noble Khan back a while ago and it’s hands down the greatest in ear I’ve ever heard - that is some serious resolution - every stat must be maxed out - but I feel like even at that point, with everything being so good, the inherent soundstage limitations compared to headphones has been reached; they’re still inferior in that sense.
But every day a new brilliant IEM comes out it seems, the technology has come along way, but I suspect without TOTL CIEMs, they’ll never best headphones - that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t pick them up for their unique experience though, they’re fun sometimes (once you get the right cable and tips).
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No. Hell no. Hell to the no!! Speakers and head phones only for me. But that is because of a physical limitation that I have. Because of the tumors and the associated surgeries to remove them and then reconstruct what was left of my ears multiple times, I have been told never to put those kinds of things in my ears. So that is that. They look cool, but I’ll never know how they sound.
i like everything for what it is and what it gives.
Speakers: hearing soundwaves literally coming at you from the outside, reverberating around in your room, largest perceived size of sound by far imo
Headphones: your own helmet of great sound, two snuggling cushions of joy and your head in the middle. Something really special happening directly outside of your ears with frequencies seeking their way into them. Intimate experience without any discomfort.
IEMs: Brainfuck. Most intimate experience by far. Combined with the slightly sexual aspect though, the very intimate and very direct-to-brain sensation is a bit too much to be comfortable with for longer sessions imo. No matter how good and how comfortable the IEMs are, it’s always a relief to me to switch back to headphones. With IEMs it’s always like somebody’s just having his fingers resting on the left and right side of my brain. Sometimes i just don’t want to be touched. Maybe i am a woman.
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Headphones first for me cause they simply sound better. Of course not all headphones sound better, but with a well-done headphone vs well-done IEM no contest. IEMs are great tho!
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