Apart from the aforementioned buds, I’d recommend Toneking TP16 as a budget all-rounder. I was a bit surprised these buds were not mentioned in the recent earbud videos by AWSMDanny and DMS, tbh. You can read some reviews on the Penon product page. (Is this reviewer “J.A.” @JAnonymous5150 ?)
A few Aliexpress sellers have been selling the buds for $12-13, so should be in your price range unless they ask more than a few dollars for shipping.
qian39 is the one i’ve preferred out of that price range
That is in fact my review. The TP16s are a great and very overlooked earbud.
I think this might be the first review is the Ucotech ES-P2! Unfortunately it’s in Korean but maybe YouTube will have auto translated captions. I’ll watch it throughout the day and post a summary if people are keen.
Hey buddy, long long long time no see!
Did someone ask for Dunu Alpha 3 review? Mine: Dunu Alpha 3 - Solid Buds - In-ear Gems
Kinda wish that Dunu does something better with these buds. Great build quality though.
Someone is striking while the iron is still hot…
Not that I’m not happy with Sunnivas or Serrati, but releasing new models that often, with such an increase in pricing…
That price though… 
Edit - Perhaps I am mistaken but it looks like you can get the same driver & shell on the new Black Sand Serratus which is half the price. Interesting to see if it’s just tuning costs, cable costs or some other acoustic design feature thats responsible for the price jump.
Edit 2 - I’m blind and can’t read - DIFFERENT DRIVERS
Price creep from gen to gen just got boosted to expotential growth… 
On a similar topic - thanks to @heartless I have the opportunity to listen to Sunniva for some time from now and on. First impressions:
BUT - apart from the shell being a problem (this is my private anatomy problem) - I would really have a hard time justifying the price of 350$ considering Serratus costs 200$, Rikubuds cost half of that or even now branded ones like Dunu Alpha 3, Fiio FF5 or FF3 exists and are probably overall better package for the money.
On the side note I also have FF5 for the past few days and while it is fun, nicely built, there is just something lacking in terms of the overall clarity.
Also -
Does anybody know - just what is the ‘black sand serratus’…
I mean it’s using a different driver, ‘SAND’ dampening(?), a different faceplate design and filter. Sounds like this is something completely different then to Serratus OG? Is this the Serratus Mk2 that has been whispered about? Am I going to feel like I am at the beach when using these and need to rinse off before getting in the car?
Yes. Same price afaik
Also DS is more of a niche build/collector’s item than really a follow up release or next gen, according to Jim.
I do share and agree about the worries related to prices. Until something comes close to Serratus or Ripples, it will be hard to swallow.
Waiting on Sunniva’s tuning foams to arrive. I also just got Alpha3 and will probably do a earbud roundup on those plus AR3 from Riku.
^^^ x2 but over time fit has got better for me but no where near perfect unlike @Rikudou_Goku’s buds which fit me 
I tried Serratus today after hearing Sunniva for quite a while…I simply could not stand the Serratus any more - sounded shouty and lean and overly bright. Probably our individual preferences playing here, but I feel the price of Sunniva is definitely justified.
If you have any tuning foams that you’d use in an IEM, you can use those as a placeholder to get an idea of what they’ll do. I did that with the Sunniva I got to demo
Sunniva is a great litmus test of where your brain burn-in stands. I absolutely found Sunniva too thick and muddy in the midbass as I listened to it at first, and it only cleaned up in my ears after I spent a bunch of time with it and put in the foams to mod it. Then it sounded better even in stock.
But clearly I listen to a brighter tonality so I am not interested in having to do brain burn-in every time I want to switch to Sunniva after a while off of them
Just got an email from Jim saying that my repaired Serratus has been posted back to me…I really love the Sunni’s but if iirc I preferred the the bass on Serratus…time will tell
I got it, opinion wether price increase is justified is purely subjective and based on the cost to value ratio which is even more subjective as based on personal point of view (and wallet’s point of view).
Truth to be said I am probably just sad that TGXear so quickly went out of my budget range and does not seem to stop, 200-250$ for buds was for me the max I could swallow 
Yep they’re getting near to Cypherus Audio Red and Black Dragon territory…more 
than I’m prepared to pay for a bud for sure.
I mean, I guess the argument about this would be that if Serratus/Ripples/Sunniva can match kilobuck+ IEMs at a fraction of the price, Desolation Sound would be competing with full-on Summit Fi, at the same price-to-performance ratio?
So that’s great and all, right?
Aye It’s getting kinda hectic for sure…the proof of the pudding I guess would be in the listening…but yeah crazy 
MX500 is why I’ve never even considered TGXear buds. Once you hit ~$100 I expect something that fits far better. That’s my personal breaking point where you’re no longer competing with IEMs for comfort but open backed headphones and MX500 will always come up short for me in that comparison.
Even with the best sound ever, if I can’t tolerate wearing it for long periods of time the value just isn’t there.
