Help choosing IEMs

I’m wanting to get myself a pair of IEMs for both travel and in bed use for both portability and sound leakage reasons.

I’m thinking roughly upto £200 range since in my experience IEMs tend to feel like they’re bruising my ears after longer listening sessions at work etc.

Mainly thinking of neutral with a bass emphasis or a bassy sound signature, with good soundstage if possible and good imaging if I can get all that at this sort of price range (I haven’t really looked much at IEMs since I don’t really know where to start)

From what I’ve seen about them, I like the look of the Ikko oh1 and the fiio fh3s, but any suggestions would be great since I’ve not looked much into this.

You may want to look into the ibasso IT-03 (not the IT-03w).

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Thanks, I’ll take a look at those too

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I enjoy my wireless Apple ear buds in sleep. Not having wires attached when falling asleep is great.

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I think the FH3 present a really nice value. The bass isn’t overwhelming, but can definitely slam and is emphasized a bit. Soundstage is average (in my opinion), and details/imaging is really nice.

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I don’t necessarily think I’ll want to fall asleep with them in but I suppose you never know :sweat_smile: I could always try my fiancée’s AirPods Pro for both testing fit and seeing whether I could fall asleep with them in

I use to have a horrible time getting to sleep. Years and years of sleeping pills and therapy. Just in the last year I’ve begun to be able to fall asleep normally. I am a BIG fan of ASMR. It helps me to calm down at night and fall asleep. I usually take them out before I fall asleep, but I have fallen asleep with them in.

I can’t lay my head on a pillow with anything in my ear, so I use two pillows. I hold onto one and have the top of my head on the other. Between the two pillows is where I position my ear.

For sleep, I couldn’t imagine anything else but my Apple wireless because I like to switch sides while falling asleep. I used to try it with wires but it sucked! You should definitely try your fiancée’s if she’ll part with them. They aren’t bad.

If you’re more concerned with audio quality and want a sealed experience, I can give you some recommendations of some IEMs I own and have used first hand in the 200 dollar range…

Blon BL-03 - Everyone should just have one of these. Just buy it!
Fiio FD1 - 60 bucks gets you possibly an end-game IEM.
Fiio FH3 - The new hotness. Can’t recommend this set enough if you take your music seriously.
Moondrop Starfield - At the bottom of my recommendations but it’s a solid performer and the reason I got into IEMS.

For that price range, some might recommend the Thieaudio Legacy 3 or the Urbanfun. Both of these sets can be great, but you might end up with garbage. IMO, it’s not worth the risk.

Here are some reviewers tier ranks that post at this site… More perspectives!

The “Head Concert” list has the IEMs listed by price, so you can go right to the price limit you can afford and check out everything above that pricepoint to find out what will work best for you.

Additional advise… TIPS, TIPS, TIPS!!! You can buy the best most expensive IEM on the planet and it will sound like total garbage if you cannot produce a good seal between your ears and the IEM. The IEM is only as good as your tips and seal are. Don’t overlook the process of finding the right tips for your sound preferences and comfort. In the end, it’s more important than the IEM itself.

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i can second this recommendation and I think it meets your preferred signature. However, I have not tried many iems

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Thanks guys, I’ll take a look at what’s in my price range etc to see what’d suit me, the ibasso do look good so far.

Thanks for the long post @PapaEmeritus, I have actually bought a pair of bl03s from drop but they’re getting shipped on the 16th of September but I’m getting a bit impatient and really want to see what I can play around with :joy:

In terms of looking at tips, where would be a good place to start? As I only really know about dekoni ones etc. I think the tips are what made me not really enjoy my se215s since I don’t think I got a good seal and they just sounded tinny.

Spinfits CP145
Final Audio Type E
Sony Hybrids (EP-EX11)
Acoustune AET08/07
JVC Spiral dot/Spiral dot ++
AZLA Sednaearfit

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I know I am a bit late but so far that has been working out for me so far all around, would be the Moondrop Starfields. Neutral sound but still cool to listen to and there’s some bass that’s good enough but not bass head levels of bass. Sound isolation improved once I fitted it with SpinFit’s CP145s and I recommend to changing the cable for its cable is fragile in terms of durability. Overall it’s your vanilla sound IEM but a vanilla sound like made from Belgium as Zeos’ description and he’s right.

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Before you do anything, you need to resolve this first.

You have to find tips that are comfortable and seal perfectly. IEMs have different insertion depths into your ear, so even if you think you’ve figured out what tip size fits you properly, that tip size very well might not work for you with different IEMs.

My suggestion would be to go with an inexpensive IEM like the Fiio FD1 (or an IEM you already own) and use the rest of your money to begin building a tip collection. I know it’s not exciting, but if you don’t have the proper tips, the IEM is useless.

For reference, here’s a photo that shows some of my IEMs and how different the tips are on each of them…

My personal rec are Spinfits.

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Where can I buy these from? Do they only come with Final’s IEMs? I’m interested in trying them since you rec them so highly. Can’t have enough tips!

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They come with the Final E series (E500, E1000…). I recommend the E1000 since they actually have a very good sound profile (only iem I consider “true” neutral, still looking for an upgrade for them lol). and the E500 has extremely bad imaging, sucks for music but extremely good for games/VR.

You can buy the tips separately though, but with the E1000 you are getting the iem at a muuuuuch cheaper cost. (very high value.)

But here is where you can buy them separately (my Type E collection comes from owning the E500, E1000, E2000, E3000, E4000 and the E5000…wait…thats the entire lineup looool :joy:): https://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/collections/final-spares/products/final-silicone-eartips-type-e-black-assorted-ss-s-m-l-ll-5-pairs

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You rock! As always, thanks! :grinning:

ARGH! SOLD OUT?!?!?!?

EDIT: Do all the tip sizes come with the E1000 for only $29 bucks and the IEM?

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yeah lol

Be sure it is the TYPE E and not some other types like A/B…

And also that it is the Black ones as the clear version is a little bit different.

Here is where I bought the E1000: https://www.amazon.co.jp/final-E1000-カナル型-イヤホン-ブラック/dp/B07KF5FQJN

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yup you get everything, SS/S/M/L/LL

EDIT: I bought from amazon japan where the E1000 itself is for 2000 japanese yen, so around 20 usd! Shipping did take it up to around 30 usd though…but the value in the iem itself is crazy!

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Sweet! I’m looking at this…

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Audio-Monitor-Headphones-Interchangeable/dp/B07RGXHYBW

Are you in the US? Then it might be cheaper for you to get it from amazon.com rather than amazon japan.

In my case this is what happens if I buy from amazon.com lol
image

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Yep. That’s why I sent that previous link. It’s prime so it would be here in two days. 29 bucks would be a steal for all those tip sizes let alone the IEM as well. Crazy.

Ordered.

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