Too much sunlight now that you’re out of one rabbithole? 
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Right!? And then someone goes and puts up some good deals on sources in the buy and sell thread 
I can’t get away
Guys, big question!
Any recommendation for IEM with cleanest mids/vocals out there (by clearest I mean least grainy)?? I think Monarch MK2 is considered as a “king” in this category, but is there something from a bit lower price range like <600$? And I would like to treat this clear mids as one and only criteria 
Dark Magician used?
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If you can find one ya LOL. EJ07M is good too you can usually find them on sale for like 20% off. If you don’t mind thin vocals Variations and B2 Dusk is solid as well. I’m not quite a planar guy… yet… (didn’t vibe with S12 and Timeless) so dunno about those - heard HeyDay had clean mids as well.
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Looking at @nymz rank list you got the rsv and EJ07 (not M) that would be good options in that price range, at least used
I can attest EJ07M (KL), I have B2D (good micro detail retrieval) and Tea2 (which is my most vocal forward). The first thing I noticed in my first minute is how buttery smooth the vocals are compared to Tea2. In the next few hours I notice how good it is retrieving the micro details. Even though B2Dusk has good micro detail retrieval, the notes sounds thin.
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Well, I have decided to save up a bit more to get the Wu Heydays as a progression set and I don’t know it seems like this thing when you just see it with your own eyes, you just want to have it and cannot explain it. Sure it’s more laid-back and probably a bit disappointing to those who have or even prefer the original Wus when it comes its sounds, but I don’t know man, just wanted to hear the improved technicalities of it due to its new drivers.
Also it’s a self-gift, for it’s my birthday today for I cannot always let people that I am close with expect a gift from them, and I think it’s a pretty great gift.
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Hi guys, what do you think about Sennheiser IE 40 pro at the price 50$ nowadays? I’ve got a deal with my local seller. Is 50 bucks for this still worth it?
I don’t even think the stock IE200s are worth $50 man - maybe if you really like treble 
If they just added more bass and 2.5K it would’ve been a pretty solid set since dynamics and treble extension is very nice:
But as of now with this tuning at $150 is insane (yes even with vent blocked) - it’s borderline a scam.
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I suspected that Senn would do nothing with the IE200 and I was right. With this competition, I don’t understand why they do it?!? 
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So if even the IE 200 not worth 50$, basically the IE 40 Pro simply cannot compete anymore nowadays right? Such a shame, i just thought that 50$ deal for IE 40 pro is good enough to have them. I already known that IE 40 pro cannot compete in their original price anymore but damn,seems like even in the 50$ they cannot.
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Because normies buy them. Sennheiser is one of the big audio brand that people recognize.
The build quality and sense of ownership is quite high with Sennheiser being a German brand with good past reputation. Their styling and packaging is sophisticated and not silly flashy.
These things add up and people unaware of the chifi IEM scene will buy it.
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Hmm, that DM is always tempting, but I never seen it available in 2nd hand market in EU. On the other hand I always understood it has special sauce mids, not necessarily the cleanest.
I got a second thought on what I really desire - initially I thought about receiving smooth, ethereal/angelic vocals. But I went through my library and I realized that most of female vocalists I love have some kind of “grip”, texture in their voices (Feist, Lena Hall, Big Thief, Portishead) and smoothening it out would not be desirable and unrealistic. Not even thinking about male vocals like L. Cohen, Beck, Nick Mulvey where this timbre and grain is like those singers’ soul.
So all in all - unsurprisingly - I would like something natural and transparent. To give some context - when I directly compare Serratus to MEST in terms of vocals - listening through Serratus is like listening through very thin paper filter and via MEST is like standing in front of singer - crystal clear. Don’t get me wrong, as compared to anything else I have Serratus feels amazingly natural and clear and I don’t get this grain I hear in them when ABing against UMM. In MEST everything is in right place and how I imagine it should be. Or how I perceive them through proper stereo systems - angelic smooth voice for ones that have pne and grippy, drunken voice for those heavily experienced with rock and rolling. Why are you looking for something else some may ask? Because MESTs were not considered as particularly transparent in mids by many reviewers I respect. Monarchs for example are. So I am just wondering how clear is clear 
And speaking of grippy and angelic voices:
It is timestamped, please wait 30s. I love my wife with all my heart, but… 
I know this doesn’t mean much, but the DMs, in my opinion, don’t have the “cleanest” mids, they are slightly warm and laid back but in my opinion, they are the most enjoyable for me personally. The Monarch MKII have probably the “cleanest” mids I’ve heard but that doesn’t make them the most enjoyable, if that makes any sense at all. The problem with the Dark Magicians, like you’ve already said, is that they are hard to get a hold of. Not many are out there and not many go up for sale. I will say that the Serratus and the Monarch’s have a very similar timbre in terms of vocals with the Serratus having a lift in the treble area giving vocals more of an airy, thin nature. The Monarch’s are more natural to my ears and the DMs are thicker, slightly laid back and warmer.
I hope this helps.
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I think I am quite covered with warm laid back vocals, because of Erasmus and Riku Saber 1. Just wondering if cleanliness of vocals is more a function of frequency response or a function of driver setup (likely fast transients and decaying of BA+EST drivers)? 
I think the tuning definitely plays a huge part but also the ESTs in the Monarch’s being tuned so well gives that sense of naturalness. If the ESTs weren’t tuned properly, you’d get a “whispy”, thin nature in the treble and I think the same thing applies for BAs. I ain’t no expert though, so take this with a grain of salt.
Tuning+driver type+performance. 
Mostly tuning with mid-focus. More driver obviously helps, but also depends on the crossover etc. So, not too much mid-bass and treble since that takes away the focus. I’m telling you man, EJ07M is as clean as it gets under $600 for mids. You can get it for $535 right now from Letshuoer. Variations as well, but again, thin vocals - my preference is the EJ07M. Also graphs very similar to the MMK2:
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I almost bought it for 320Eur couple of months, but back then when I asked for advice most said that max what I would get would be a sidegrade to MEST. So I kind of crossed it off my list with no regrets. BTW if I look at the graphs Monarch is also much more similar to it than I ever thought! So maybe it is as clean as it gets already with UMM. Also, just to be clear - there are days I love to bath in warm pillowy sound signature, but more often than not I prefer this clarity - even cooking or tidying my apartment
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