IEM discussion thread (Part 1)

[Rikudou_Goku]

The No.3 has a lot of bass quantity but nothing else. Very unnatural sounding due to poor timbre and technicalities are very lacking for something at that price.

[Flatlander3kgt]

Some good research reading … RikudouGoku’s Database

Non-biased and experienced recommendations on iems? He is right here and his database is ever growing.

Careful of the many “official” reviews on forums and youtube. Some are in it for the money and won’t be critical of anything, and most of them are very good audiophile language “poets”… making just about anything sound good. Makes for some entertaining reading though, lol.

[igor0203]

Thanks for this list, I knew I saw it somewhere but couldn’t find it anymore.
Looking RikudouGoku’s list, he rated Fiio FH3 very highly, so it seems I must follow this path

[Rikudou_Goku]

Indeed, the FH3 is the cheapest S ranked iem I have.

[igor0203]

FH3 ordered

Thanks a lot guys! I will surely buy some more to find out what suits me the most

[Rikudou_Goku]

Do remember that there is a sale coming up next week on aliexpress.

[igor0203]

I’m from Europe and in most cases, what I save with discounts, I end up paying for customs and taxes.
I ended up paying 145eur so I think I got pretty good deal

[Rikudou_Goku]

Yeah that’s a pain. Sweden’s 25% vat doesn’t help either…

[igor0203]

Yup, usually sucks being in EU.

I saw you wrote you can’t recommend Urbanfun’s, could you explain what is the issue with them, please?

[Rikudou_Goku]

They still got qc problems with their mmcx connectors and also uncertainties about the driver coating (you either get beryllium or a “noble metal”).

This has been going on for a year already. Shows that they don’t care about their customers.

[igor0203]

Ouch…that’s basically fraud. Thanks, I’ll definitely skip them.

[Rikudou_Goku]

Indeed it is. They are permanently blacklisted for me.

[init]

just received Fiio FH5 I won a bid on auction, used and daaaaaamn I love its cable

[Resolution]

@init

just received Fiio FH5

FH5 or FD5? The FD5 cable is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

[init]

FH5, I got FD5 too and I agree it’s great cable.
I’m impressed by the FH5 cable too though, especially because I paid like £100 for it

[Ohmboy]

@init

I’m impressed by the FH5 cable too though, especially because I paid like £100 for it

Hope they throw in the IEM?

[init]

yes
They’re really ok, just not an upgrade of any kind for me in any department. So I am leaving myself a cable

[McLovin]

@Ohmboy

Saving for the DX300 at the mo which will hopefully be my source till I can save more and for some L&P swank lol.

Would highly recommend! Pairs really well with my Andromeda 2020. Gives the Andromeda 2020 more life and air to it.

@Rikudou_Goku

Personally I wouldnt spend that much on a portable source. I rather put it on a desktop setup, cheaper and better quality from that.

You arent going to be able to listen to the iem at its fullest potential if you are using it outside anyway with all the distractions.

Honestly, I’d disagree at least for high end IEMs. I have the RME ADI 2 DAC FS for IEMs and I will always choose the DX300 or Shanling M8 over the RME unless I need to use audio for my desktop.

[SM_Music]

Really?
I mainly use IEM’s when OTG and both high-end IEM’s and DAP’s are useful in that context. And I can still clearly tell the difference from high to low-end gear.

I will rec a high-end Dap any day.

[Rikudou_Goku]

Yeah, of course the difference is still there. But when desktop sources gives you so much more (DX160 < Asgard 3 at half the price for example), it is hard for me to look at portable sources now.

You get a lot more from desktop sources than portable. If I am outside just walking around in a store or something, I wont really pay attention to the sound that much, thats why I feel like spending too much on portable sources is a waste of money. I wont go over mid-tier daps for that reason.