I have been using bluetooth IEMs for the last few months because i was having a major problem with my cat chewing the very very thin cord in the 20 buck skullcandy and panasonic earbuds i tried. the noise floor on these are horrible and they sound basically no different from the cheap headphones even with Apt-X (no LDAC support and the LGV35 often barely uses apt-x and sticks to AAC). that plus the fact that i feel i am wasting the powerful DAC on my phone for the sake of being able to just put them anywhere without the cat chewing on them (i haven’t put my old ones in cases since they didn’t have any and its more convinient to always plug them in)
i’m hoping for a budget under 50 bucks but can go up to around 70 and have a couple conditions for them
a removable cable (or a case that can hold the IEMs)
a metal earwax filter instead of a mesh one (IEMs always have an issue of me where they later lose all their volume because the filter is basically broken and i have to completely remove it to get the volume back… if there is a way to fix this i will retract this)
a bit of a V shape or warm shape… i like a good amount of bass and a lot of punch to the sound, not much clarity issues to say the last… and i do like higher pitched noises like hihats but not too much to the point of it legitimately hurting… something that can still feel warm and textured and stuff without being muddy
personally am used to IEMS that hang down but can easily work with the ear fitting kind.
HAS TO BE ABLE TO RUN ON THE LG V35s DAC/AMP… i will get a fiio BTR5 or so when i get a brand new phone in a couple years but i dont need a better dac for now
my other options were the blon b03 and the KZ ZS10 pro… i just like a sound thats definitely punchy and more focused on intensity. im a pop, hip hop and indie rock nerd (one review on headfi did say the urbanfun aren’t great for fast rock)
Just was saying from one of the more critical reviews on headfi
When listening DDIAMOND from intense math-rock band BATTLES, the lack of punch and separation with the bass is evident, it’s even hard to follow kick drum which is very forward with most IEM, as well, sub synth bass lack roundness and mix too much with rest of instrument including the voice, the only thing that positively surprised me with how ISS014 deal with this tracks is how non-agressive it becomes, but this means it sounds dull too, so I really don’t suggest these IEM for fast rock or anything that need fast punchy bass.
I think these will check off most of your boxes. I found the treble region a bit fatiguing in the beginning, but the highs do calm down a bit over time. You can easily correct this with ear tips; Final Audio E Series if you’re looking to calm the treble significantly. However, I will say that the cable, tips, and other accessories (carrying pouch included) are very good at this price range. They were my EDC for commuting before I shifted to my ISN H40’s just a few weeks ago.
i’ll see… but also i wonder if i even want a lot of highs anyway… im used to the sennheisers sound which is much more midfoward and my only issue with them at first was for a little while sounds felt like a slight bit too low pitched compared to the M50s (basically like a 5hz lowering of the frequencies)
Really enjoy my Shozy Form 1.1 for rock / electronic / hip-hop. Powerful bass and energetic highs. Really fun sound. I 2nd what @Chocolate_Bear said about the Final E series tips. I have them on the Shozys and I like them a lot.
The BLON have a similar signature but you will have to mess around with cable changes and tip rolling. I used Dakoni bulletz on them and that worked well, but you have to like foams. I ended up switching to Final tips on them as well.
FYI, for substantial signature changes, I use Final Audio E tips (small bore), JVC Spiral dots (wide bore), and Sedna EarFits (wide bore; if Spiral Dots and Spinfits had a baby).
Regular sizes fit the BLON just fine. I use the regular size and they don’t budge.
Pretty sure those are for Shure size nozzles. @duke86fan The Guideray Gr-i are on sale on Aliexpress for under $35 right now. Might be a week or so to get them but killer price for what you get.
now im confused and dont even know what i would even notice compared to the cheap earbuds and bluetooth… i also am trying to pay for things like a DAC, a USB conditioner, a balanced cable, more records, a headphone amp, and the issue of barely hearing the difference between FLAC and MP3 and even in the NPR test kind of prefering the 128kb compression because it gave a texture and bite more than the much smoother 320 and wav
i got too many things i want so i dunno what to start with
Out of all the audio equipment you just mentioned, the headphones by far make the biggest difference. Especially when you are talking easy to drive IEMs. Sounds to me like you are getting too caught up in the tiny details. Headphones and records first, everything else second. Just have fun. That’s my two cents.
I mean, if you really want to you could order a couple different pairs and compare and return what you don’t like. Or just go with your gut. That helps me sometimes.
And yes, having fun is the most important thing.
but the next open back headphones i’m getting really need an amp… same with the big closed backs… iems are fine for now but for future i’d have to go with amps and amp dacs next or maybe just stick with records and 58X’s i dunno
Yeah if you need an amp to drive your headphones that’s a different story. However things like power conditioning / balanced vs single ended / FLAC vs MP3 are things I wouldn’t get caught up in early on. I believe some of those things make a difference, but I wouldn’t worry about them until you have a decent resolving chain set up of dac / amp / headphones.
