Thanks for this information, Dom. You’re speaking my love language, as I’m focusing more on boutique, bespoke tuners like Ruviest and 634ears than the “big boys.”
You have captured my attention with Symphony Ears. $275 for introductory model and $679 for flagship is more than reasonable!
That’s the way to do it, brother.
I can’t speak on those other models in terms of sound or anything else, but I can speak on the Hexad II. They’re great, I’m still listening and evaluating but overall, I can say they’re worth the asking price which will be around $400 at launch!
I’ll be comparing these to the Dunu 242 as soon as I get my pair back from my buddy.
Same here man the IEM Halcyon days are long gone, don’t get me wrong there are still amazing sets being released but they are few and far between with most being rehashes of previous models. We’ve had harmon tuned, basshead and new meta etc all done at varying prices points so kind 
Mentioning price, things have pretty much levelled off value wise..no more “I can’t believe this set is 200 bucks, a few years ago you would’ve had to spend 1k to get that kind of sound quality”. Add in the fact that a lot of “reviewers” are paid in kind shills, manufactures withholding driver information and dubious tech/design specs etc.
So I’m still here for the music, forum chat and my love of flatheads which make up 90% of my listening these days.
I think two years ago after a trip to Canjam London was my IEM turning point. After demo’ing quite a few endgame sets I asked myself did they blow me away? no, are they worth their asking price? (subjective I know) no, did my library sound more enjoyable? no not really. So I realised I’m happy with what I have and grateful for them and the music 
Preach, brother. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Supporting small, boutique IEM makers is what I’ll focus on from this point forward if I’m to spend any kind of money. I used to enjoy helping newcomers with advice and opinions, but sometimes it just feels like I’m fighting with a brick wall with what some folks want to argue about.
I’ll always enjoy the music, and hopefully this forum will always be here too
I might do that one day. I did hear some 2k+ iems and i think my point of good enough is around half of that price and lower
about flatheads that is actually something i miss in my collection. In know there is a discussion dedicated to that but would you mind sharing your top3 with just sound signatures
Might pick something up
also added m33 to my source portfolio lol and that dap sounds pretty great for the money
Most used ie everyday/fav…Fengru CZ32
Probably the best value flathead to date…Flathead Audio Studio, build 5*, great timbre, detail, air hard to fault anything tbh.
Fun/Bass library Valphonics Lander 20HZ…Best Bass FH I’ve heard by a mile with a surprisingly good soundstage.
I truly feel this is where the real innovations are to be found.
Agreed. I’m specifically looking for unique tuning at this point and the smaller guys are where it’s at. No doubt. They’re not concerned with what’s popular; I dig that.
100% this.
YES. All hail the brave freaks who flip the bird at the trends spawned by the Chi-fi big boys.
At this point, it would not surprise me to have one of those big boys put out a ‘meta’ meta tuning 
A new trend will emerge soon. It has to. Every IEM just sounds the same at this point unless you take the plunge on something boutique or unknown on AliX.
I seriously wonder sometimes if we’re not close to the point where there are no improvements to be made to the product. They’re all based on the same tech and principles after all. (I hope not because what will I do with all my human monies 
)
I just think good audio stays good, man. There’s been a ton of improvements over the last 5-6 years, since Covid, and I personally feel like we’ve hit a huge wall like you said. Physics cannot be defeated lol we can only do so much with the size of IEMs.
Definitely. Older sets needn’t be the lesser ones. But, hey, maybe a 30 drivers per side set (jkjk)?
Same here. I have Moondrop Meteor, FatFreq Deuce and Volume S. My travel IEM is the Cadenza4 and my daily at the office is Arcadia. I haven’t really looked into IEM since I bought those a while back.
C4 is stupidly good, especially when you feed it desktop power, it always makes me wonder why i would and did spend any more than what this thing costs.
Some improvements can be found for sure but they are comparatively small 
I still love the hobby and hearing new IEMs, been listening to a BCD prototype lately and got a live stage feeling i have never experienced before which was refreshing
Wait: Stuffing 25 BA drivers into one shell doesn’t guarantee an IEM is good?
Love,
Every Chi-fi Brand’s Marketing Director 
We all know quality requires at least 30 custom drivers per side
Edit: and a cable made of the hopes and dreams of audiophiles everywhere…
