Beauty in the genes 
1 Like
Youāre too kind, sir - good thing he looks more like his mom 
1 Like
I donāt have Andromeda, but I listened to them once at a friendās. I was surprised that the soundstage was similar (maybe 5% wider to my ears) to the FH7 I have. I wasnāt impressed with the sound either. It may be different for you, but Andromeda I would not recommend them for a blind buy, even if they are half price. The new $1000 sets I think offer better sound and stage capabilities. By the way very nice child (and mother I guess) 
.
2 Likes
Iāll also add a Softears target curve to my squig. The Softears Volume signature sound really good on my Dunu Vulkan.
1 Like
Great write up my man @domq422 I definitely agree with that sentiment. Price is really just numbers in this hobby since so many things affect what makes an IEM great to YOU - library, fit, HRTF, tuning preferences and the list goes on. Like @MMag05 mentioned with the U12T, your preference and what you look for is so important when choosing a set. For example, I LOVE forward vocals, 3D staging, and scaling, which is why the OG Tea was such a perfect fit since it did all 3 of those amazingly. I also had the chance to try the U12T and Z1R, but they just didnāt click for me because the vocals were scooped on the U12T, thin on the Z1R (and fit), and both canāt scale too well (and not the most 3D Iāve heard - EJs). So really figuring out what you like can save you a lot of heartaches, and money!!
A podcast would be so cool. Love to meet you guys! Also, really cute kid @domq422!! I see youāre starting them young with those headphones 
And if youāre getting the prestige in the future I call first dips on your MMK2 (if youāre selling them that is otherwise ignore me) - would love to try them again with good fit this time lol.
Almost forgot about this IEM discussion thread - #5003 by VIVIDICI_111
Fuck it. Itās new years. Iāll pull the trigger for you guys. HNY 
Edit: Actually let me see what @paulwasabii says about them first. $200 is a good chunk of cash Left a comment on your TRN XuanSu video!
6 Likes
One more thing about EQing IEMs and then Iāll shut up. I realized how letās call it suboptimal it is not to EQ. When I think back to my time with car audio, that was basically one big EQ session. Nobody would expect there and then that youād have the perfect sound by simply integrating speakers and subs without adjusting all the levels.
Strange where this notion comes from that an IEM has to sound 100% perfect without twiddling and tweaking.
A podcast sounds like a crazy fun idea! Iād be down to put out an audio podcast, for sure. I have no idea what all goes into making one, but Iām sure with as many audio and tech savvy guys as we have on here, we could get it up and running.
P.S. I love the pic of pops passing down his hobby to his boy. Warms the heartā¦
3 Likes
I agree with the validity of the point youāre making, but I do still kinda feel like EQing IEMs is a bad thing in a particular use case:
One of the reasons Iām growing to prefer IEMs over headphones or earbuds is their ease of use when going outside, doing work or exercising, or when Iām on public transit or in public spaces. It is less convenient to be carrying around EQ equipment in many cases (and I donāt always want to be beholden to using my Q5K, sometimes my apple dongle is preferable). The reason I like IEMs gets watered down when I have to be using a particular setup in that way.
The other thing about EQ is that changing the FR with EQ does not necessarily change or upgrade technicalities. One thing about the SA6 to SA6 Ultra situation was how many people were asking āCan I EQ the SA6 to the Ultra and get the same sound?ā And itās like no, you canāt. You can approximate some things with the EQ adjustments, but if it was as easy as āEQ the SA6 to the Ultraā, there would be no need to sell the Ultra.
For me, EQ is like seasoning a meal with salt and pepper at the dinner table. It doesnāt take chicken piccata and turn it into chicken saagwala.
2 Likes
This depends on case by case, some transducer have a fundamental problem in its acoustic design. EQ wont fix that.
For example if its unwanted shell resonances due to lack of damping, EQ wont fix it.
But if the transducer is designed well, then EQ can help a lot.
5 Likes
Absolutely agree with you, IEMs are of course designed for portable and ease of use.
Still some of them respond well to a lot of salt and pepper and even chilli.
When I read a discussion about EQ on IEM:
HNY
1 Like
2022 summary
For me 2022, especially in the end was a bit of a let down. My company is in a place when it has couple of months of runway within which we need to find some major investment, so the first half of 2023 would be a typical āgo big or go homeā kind of situation. And by going big I mean literally 10x and go home literally means we go bankrupt.
From audio perspective this year is just mirror opposite. I went big 8 months into hobby buying MEST, then Serratus and now I have my endgames in source, IEM and buds already.
I really, really donāt need anything in audio at this point and I did not make any purchase in the past 4 months as I am more than well covered for all my use cases.
- Qudelix 5k + Erasmus on the go
- ZX300 + MEST/Serratus for evening listening sessions
- ZX300 + TGXear Qian39 as sleep buds
- DX3pro + Serratus/Saber 1 or Presonus speakers for listening at work
2023 plans
All further audio hobby moves would be dictated by audio status now and business situation. I may squeeze in some 300-600$ purchase in the first two/three months (looking at Meteor, Serial or Bell Ripples and Shanling M0 Pro) if I am not very rational, but that would be it for the first half of the year for sure.
And to be honest this purchase would be mostly dictated by a guy I befriended in Poland who has all the greatest IEM stuff around that he is willing to lend me, so I would like to get him something interesting to try in return (even though he does not want anything).
My work also slightly and slightly went away from āhands on engineeringā to āoffice/outlook engineering and managementā. To fill a hole it left behind to I decided to go into DIY buds that I would start in the first months of 2023. Now I am waiting for the raw materials - it also fills in some of the emptiness that I had by not having any shipping number to track maniacally for so long 
My plan is to explore how classic stock shells are made and how do they work with available drivers in the beginning and to eventually work on the design of a custom shell with ergonomics in mind as a priority. I hope to get something which would be more ear friendly (at least for me) than my favourite, but not perfect Qian39. After that it would need to end up in hands of some fine tuners like @Rikudou_Goku or someone else willing to make it sound good. For me anything that makes music sounds good enough, so this step is a must
I hope this could help at least a few of all the people for which the fit and comfort is the blocker of exploring beautiful flathead world 
8 Likes
Iām all in on EQing now. I think EQ is an amazing tool on the journey to finding your ideal sound. It can save a bunch of money and can be the thing that tips a really good headphone into āendgameā territory for you.
One thing I realized while trying many IEMs is that most arenāt that different from each other and the only way I found my ideal sound was by EQing. I think the current crop of IEMs that have come out recently, while objectively good sounding, do the hobby a disservice because they donāt really offer anything unique. It feels like we are in a cycle of everyone trying to produce small tweaks on a similar sound to distant themselves but it doesnāt move the needle far enough. I get it that its good business sense, would a company rather produce an IEM that 15% of the target audience absolutely loves or one that is good (not great) and 85% of the target audience enjoys?
7 Likes
Oh I feel your words in my soul, about where the state of the companies is at. You are hitting the nail on the head with this one! Once it clicked for me that all of the recent budget sets from Chu all the way to Cadenza are minor adjustments on the same safe tuning, I kinda fell out of love with all of them. Even Rosefinch is in that category, they just went full V-shape and owned having an overwhelming amount of bass in the signature. Pull the bass shelf down, and itās the same set as all the others too.
I saw the KBear Storm is a straight-up diffuse field IEM at $16, so Iām curious enough to try that, and I still want to try the SGOR Venus because itās not quite going for the full neutral-Harman tune. But most sets under $100 have bought into the homogenized ābe safe enough to get sales, donāt be specialā category.
1 Like
Wow - thatās interesting, those FH7s must have either seriously wide stage, or the Andromedas are just a scam
1 Like
See, now thatās an amazing case. You tried two IEMs, totaling nearly $4k (with Taxes it may be over $4k) and you still stuck with the good olā humble Tea MK1 - imagine being a dude that shot up from $200 to $1000 on a blind buy thinking it would be life changing?
Yeah. Thatās me. 
You have taken the smart approach, nicely done dude - I sometimes I had wished the god of Patience would bestow itās glorious hand on my shoulder because Jesus Christ - sometimes I need it
Haha my son asked me this morning if we could listen to music together and I damn near cried - what a wholesome moment and I just needed to share it. He also saw me organizing some IEMs and he asked if he could have a pair, I found my smallest tips I had and put them on my second pair of Rosefinchs and the shells were so massive in his little ears, I damn near bursted out laughing. He held them in his ears and really enjoyed the sound but after about 15 seconds, he said they were too itchy this life aināt for the faint hearted, kid
Anyways - i may just hold onto my Monarchās. I have this weird emotional attachment to some of my gear and even though one day, Iāll most likely stop using them, Iāll always keep them just because they were my first IEM that I purchased in that āEndgame/TOTLā price bracket and I think that just means more to me than the cash I could get from selling them - Iām sorry to disappoint you, brother 
I will give you this heads up though, there was a dude trying to get rid of his pair of MMKIIs over on Head-Fi and the last price I saw was $720 so 
6 Likes
Dude, I havenāt the slightest idea tbh but I do know my way around around cameras and microphones for the most part / I could probably get us up and going tbh
Aye - thanks man - I have to start em young I already take him to Guitar center every chance I get, I escort him into the drums room and just hand him the sticks, he knows what to do I missed my chance and dammit, I need to live vicariously through my spawn - itās one of the perks of having a kid
1 Like
Weāve all been there. Double flanges still make me feel that way. Why do they sound so good though?!?
1 Like
Trueā¦Iām currently browsing all the squigly sites for interesting sound signatures. There arenāt much that stick with me. The best find was the Softears Volume which I adore now. My favorite signatures can be counted on one hand.
Thereās the classic Serial/Yume2 signature my first target was based on.
Then the latest craze, my v2 target based on Devialet.
The Softears target. All their IEMs are loosely based on this.
And last but not least the evolved KZ/CCA fun signature which sounds so good with the 15$ CCA FLA with Hip-Hop and bass heavy genres.
3 Likes
Andromeda are not a scam, but they are way overrated in my opinion. I think there is a crowd of misguided followers 
1 Like