IEM discussion thread (Part 2)

I’ve heard it’s a little thin and light sounding

Depends on the source. And the tips. And the music. Run it off something like an Onix XM5 or Goldenwave Prelude, there will be plenty of meat on the bone for most. I would say that it’s sub bass kick is good enough for most people on most sources.

i can’t vouch for crin’s hangout.audio store, but they do have price range sliders and the graphs (graph.hangout.audio/iem/5128/) to go with it to help suss out the typical popular recs in the price range.

maybe obvious for some but it’s been helpful for me to keep track of recent releases prices/graphs

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One of my friends is asking for a <$120 IEM
Please recommend one please. I haven’t tried a lot of IEMs at this range. He wants to use it with iPod 6th gen ( Classy Fellow ) :sneezing_face:

Wide Stage & Mids Clarity is what he is asking

Looks like they not approved my review on Head Fi.So I leave it here.
This thing is build from a very thin and fragile plastic.The quality of material is comparable to children’s toys that can be found in a „Kinder egg surprise”.At this price point this must be a joke because 15$ Truthear Gate is build from better more solid materials.

Drivers inside are cheap and you can hear it very clearly.You can hear very poor treble performance.Trebles are „soft” with poor separation between the notes and they have very low resolution.Midrange is clean but resolution is simply poor because drivers are poor.Bass region is ok but I don’t hear any „Magic” from FatFreqency Bass Cannon V2 technology maybe because drivers inside Deuce ARE LOW QUALITY.

Imaging and staging is a very basic left and right type of presentation.

If you reading this because you looking for a good 2DD set but a Aoshida E20 for 30$ and pair it with Final Audio type E black eartips.

Aoshida E20 is superior IEM in all aspects.From solid build quality with aluminum vented faceplate to amazingly good sound performance becuse inside E20 you got good quality drivers beryllium+LCP and you can simply hear it.You hear better treble performance.You hear that treble sparkle,fast solid attack and great resolution and separation between the notes.You can hear much cleaner much more engaging midrange witch much better resolution because drivers are simply better.Bass region is solid,fast and it hits hard because is created from a Beryllium driver.

Soundstage and imaging is much better on Aoshida E20.Soundstge have a great depth for the price and very good width and height.Imaging is very precise.

When I received Deuce when I started touching it and listening to it…I started feeling basically scammed.

​I owned over 30 IEM’s and 14 pair of headphones and I was never more disappointed with any of them.

This IEM should cost 50$ at best.
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Guys, in order to save up some cash, should I go for a Kefine IEM instead? I heard the new one which name I have forgotten is pretty good.

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Truthear Hexa is a decent multi driver hybrid. Decent enough sound stage, decent clarity. Around $79

Shinheisser ie200 is a single dynamic and is comfortable and can be found on sale $99 or $119 it’s worth it at those prices

If he can extend the budget to $149 or buy open box from headphones.com the Meze Alba sound pretty fantastic (just bought wife a pair at Canjam Dallas)

There are a bunch of decent IEM in that price range, some will make sacrifices in one area to excel in another. That’s the trade off a lot of the time for cheaper IEM /headphones.

So it helps if he knows what they like and if you eq them it helps some of the short coming in an area.

I think the blessing 3 (which cost more) $250 right now on headphones.com are freaking amazing and could be very well end game for him, and can be EQ’d with Crin setting and they get close to the dusk ( if they like more bass / darker tone)

I was hesitant to buy another item after owning them because I wasn’t sure I’d find something that sounds better to my ears than the blessing 3.

I did!!! my U12T are the best sounding overall sound IEM or headphone to my ears and I have a LOT of IEM and Headphones… But they cost $2,200

So what I’m saying if they can wait and save for the blessing 3 they might not need to buy another IEM. I think the jump to get better IEM after them is 2 X 3 times the price.

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Hmm, yeah. I must admit that I also haven’t heard much in that pricerange that would fit the preferences.
I can only think of the Fiio FH3, but that one is at the upper limit of the budget and has it’s share of issues.
Based on what I’ve read the Tangzu YuXuanJi and Dunu Kima 2 might be worth checking out? Although I haven’t heard them myself and can’t vouch for them.

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Thanks a lot for the detailed recommendation list, I forwarded him the whole message.

$120 to a non-audiophile is a bit much I think so convincing is a waste.But I have to see where they would go from now on.

U12T was my favourite too, until I heard the Nostalgia Camelot and with a heavy heart I have to shift my love from U12T to Camelot

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Yeah, I totally forgot about the Kima 2

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Wide Stage & Mids Clarity is what he is asking<<

AFUL MagicOne. But it needs a lot of power as a single BA. A powerful dongle or desktop setup. Don’t buy it to run straight from phone or low-powered dongle, such as Apple dongle.

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There is a ton of stuff in that range. I still think the Olina SE is a great pick there, but I think they might be discontinued now. The Simgot EA500LM would be a good pick too, but is a bit brighter. They both have good treble and stage, but haven’t given up all of the bass. Most of the Simgot sets have a couple nozzles, so you can change the tuning by just switching out the nozzles.

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Do they need isolation? Cuz otherwise that is in the buds area.

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Recommendation Request, Can someone help me decide between the Kiwi Ke4’s vs Heydey Zetian Wu’s. I listen to varying male and female artists, but a good representation of the type of music I like is Bon Iver & Phoebe Bridgers. I’m looking fdr a pair of iems that let me hear the sounds that cheaper pairs would not (detail I guess) but I also would be looking for better bass.

I don’t have the kiwis to compare the two but imagine the heydays would have more detail. :thinking:

Looking for some advice regarding DACs and IEMs. I noticed throughout my short time in the hobby that there is an overwhelming amount of information regarding things like “this dac does not work with that iem” “this iem needs a really strong dac” “this iem works best with a neutral sounding dac” etc etc etc.

I guess what I am wondering is what would be an overall great portable DAC that would power most iems? I honestly still don’t even know how an underpower dac would affect sound of an iem?

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It’s a good question, man. I’m not the most knowledgeable regarding sources I’ll admit, but what I’ve found is that most dongles if not all power 95% of IEMs really well if not perfectly. The outliers are from Symphonium for example. Those, for whatever reason, really benefit from a lot more power that, for the most party, only desktop stuff can provide.

The Fosi DS2 is a great little dongle, not too expensive but plenty powerful for IEMs. I would say anything over 320 mw into 32 ohms should do the trick. More modern dongles are coming in at or over 500 mw which is wild! A bunch of the new stuff from FiiO are putting up those numbers.

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Dom much appreciate the advice brother. If I may… What does it mean when you say the iem works best when using a powerful source on the symphonium? How does it change sound?

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A real life example would be the Titan and the Crimson. Using a BTR7 or even a Muse M4, both sound much flatter and less dynamic compared to using desktop gear like the ones I own, SMSL SH-9 or even a cheap amp like the Topping L30. The Crimson especially. When I first heard that set it was on the BTR7 and man, it was disappointing to say the least.

The bass was flat, it lacked any sort of depth at all and the mids and treble were somewhat undefined. Once I got back to my house, I hooked them up to the L30 and they simply came alive with incredible dynamics, super deep bass and what sounded like a far more extended treble. This is the best way I can describe it. It was honestly like a totally different pair of IEMs really.

I’m not really sure of the science behind it, but I know what I heard that’s for damn sure!

Sources can make all the difference, that’s what I’ve learned the last year or so. I’m chasing better sources now, rather than chasing different IEMs :slight_smile:

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KE4 and it isn’t close.