If you have a vision that you want to see through, and it sounds like you do, go do the woodies, man!
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That’s amazing having been using the Yinman 600s recently, I definitely feel the wooden shell will help when it comes to timbre!
My vote goes to the metal mx500 shell. Seems less bulky and more secure fit compared to the wood and metal, which feels like it will stick out of ear a bit too much and the metal mx500 will be snug fit.
Even though I prefer the metal shells over wood ones, I have to say I was quite pleased to know that you got the idea of wood shells from 634ears - they are a company I hold very dear to my heart and respect a lot. I have three models from them, and will go for upgradation of those models in coming time.
I’d vote for wood, it looks better and after recently going bananas over the Yinman 600s, there might be some bias involved as well 
Fear not! It seems to be the majority vote anyway, and lots of users seem to find it more interesting.
What does this mean for the mx500 styled shell? It will be brough back in a future project! Just right now it will be held on for a bit and potentially fine tuned for that reason.
For now, the wooden shells and cleaner aspects of them will be featured in my current buds.
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Let’s go! Also didn’t know you had a IG!
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I was an IEM guy through and through. I could not forsake that isolation from outside noise and the visceral bass response. However, after going through lots of them over the ears, I somehow had a slight interest to may be try one earbud.
Years back I had tired Moonbud Vido, was a nice one but could not outperform my IEMs then. The outside noise drowned out the finer aspects of music. VE Monk was nothing interesting also. Hence, I wanted to try something different. I was not sure I would dive headfirst into this. May be just one or two buds just to sate my curiosity and I’ll be good - that’s what I though then.
Unlike a lot of other quite legitimate advice to start from the bottom, recognise one’s preferences, and then go into the higher tiers, I decided straight to go for mid and upper tier for my entry into the earbuds. Two reasons:
- I did not want to invest a lot into this section and did not want useless crap lying away once I have found my sweet spot.
- TGXear and Rikudougoku have quite extensive and rich audiophile journeys. Both of them know what they are hearing, and what they are saying. I respect their knowledge and skills. Most importantly, I could interact with them to know the types of sound of the different buds, and clarify my expectations with them.
Hence I went for Serratus and Rider 1. And I believed, at that time, that I will be done with them in my collection.
Now I own 4 earbuds, and 8 more are already ordered. I have sold my crown jewel FAudio Dark Sky and IMR Dark Matter. Trying to sell off the others as well, save for a few. Never expected to have such a hard enlightenment and conversion! 
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Welcome to the club, brother! I’ve also whittled down my collection to be mainly earbuds and just two IEMs. I’ve kept IEMs to use at work because we have an open plan office and earbuds will leak too much noise 
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I will have to keep few more iems in different price brackets for my review reference. But apart from that, no more.
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Me too…just pulled out my first ‘dope’ IEM purchase invoice, a Shure SE530 dated 10/07/10 (still got that set) for the £234 
…I love my IEM’s especially Z1R 
but after being blown away by Serratus I’m just waiting to see what Jim can do next?..the funny thing is Z1R fits me better than serratus so maybe I’ll try bell’s next time 
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Would it be possible to bridge Matrix and Discord?
Matrix? Sorry not following
@AceBee, thanks for posting this! It makes me feel a little less alone in my current disdain for having iems stuck in my ears. I saw your recent post over on the “other” site, too, just as eloquent but (if I recall) in a general forum frequented by people who’ve spent many, MANY thousands of dollars on iems. It was a great thing to see there.
I actually showed up here on hifi about a year ago looking for an iem with better staging for classical music, and @ttorbic and @nymz were kind enough to direct me to earbuds. Not sure I ever would have found them otherwise, but when I put that first pair in my ears I literally said “Oh f**** me” out loud and I’ve never looked back.
I’ve worked with both Riku and Jim since then, after picking up a half dozen cheaper buds along the way. (The LBBS was that initial “gateway drug.”) I’ve even made a few buds myself, and I swear that with $20 worth of material I can already make something that I’d take over a $500 iem. (Nothing that would touch the artistry of the aforementioned Riku and Jim, of course, but damn, how is this even possible?)
Anyway, what a strange and unexpected journey to get here and like I said, it’s good to see that I’m not alone!
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Good to know that I am not alone here, too! I was the same like them, have spent thousands of dollars on IEMs as well (not many thousands, but yeah it has crossed thousand). But now, I am selling most of them.
Instead of going for the popular items, I like to look for those brands which are less in focus. I do like to unearth treasures.
I have ordered few buds from LREY Portable Music and Kobe Audio, along with another artisan gentleman from South Korea, Dailymusic.
Recently ordered the last of the Rholupat 9th Anniversary from Indonesia as well, only 9 were ever made.
Also placed order for Valphonics Easybud. Thinking about Blur also, not sure how I will like them as they are a bit dark sounding as I gathered from others’ impressions.
Will let you guys keep updated how my adventures in the earbuds world go. For starters, I would say you should really look for Dailymusic Pipebuds. They are incredible, albeit a bit bulky. I will post an impression in comparison to Rikubuds Rider 1. After Pipebud-SB, I placed another order for Pipebud-SNF, based on Pipebud Simple shell and Nanofiber DD. Will post my impression once I get them.
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Better than Ripples…The rabbit hole never ends…
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Changed my Ripples order to Sunniva last night 
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Just ordered mine too 
…here’s a 15% discount code for anyone else thinking of grabbing this set SUNNIVA15OFF
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Guys, what is your impression of Newbsound Legend?
Really looking forward to Sunniva, much of my listening now revolves around my Serratus and Z1R so it will be interesting to see where Sunniva will fit in plus I’m getting Jim to do one of his funky cable colours on my set…feeling excited 
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