IEM discussion thread (Part 1)

From my experience, avoid Olina, Oxygen, or S12 shell shapes. Average to poor passive isolation.

It really depends on the fit, but for me, it’s the shells from Yanyin that fit me like a glove, e.g. Aladdin, Canon. XINHS Erasmus also fits me like a glove.

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Generally any non-vented all BA sets should be good way to go for you. Audiosense T800 has like -30dB passive isolation. You may have pressure build up which may be very uncomfortable in long run (especially during flights, where there is huge pressure drop already in the plane and you would need to equilize it quite often)

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Speaking of Erasmus - correct me if I am wrong, but I have never seen your impressions on them, have I? :sweat_smile:

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Good tip, will be looking at BA sets.

Yeah you’re right haha. Tbh haven’t had much free time to listen to music these days. Ripples jumped the queue haha but I’ll try to share impressions in the near future

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Man, I hope you can sneak away for a few this coming week, we all need music in our lives, it’s in our blood :handshake:

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Considering how much I enjoy the KBEar Stellar… definitely an “analog” sound… I’ve never been able to get over my interest in the DB Monroe IEMs. They’re still available on Ali, basically $100 from Yaoyaotiger. I’m really tempted to finally cross that curiosity of my list. I think I’d go for yellow if I did… liking the pink though.

It really is just because listening to my Stellar right now, I’d like the same vibe with the fit and seal of an IEM. I think a warm/fuzzy analog sound is the “automatically comes with caveats” tuning profile I could most stick with through its low points / poor matches.

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Hi Music lovers (and gear lovers of course)…I strongly believed 2 things and its been true again and again.

  1. Budget is where many true gems are there and I need to stick to budget.
  2. Budget gear always needs tweaks to tap ULTIMATE potential.

QKZ HBB Khan:

Most surprised package. Did not impressed me out of the box. Bass is strong and thin/lean mids…its just sounded different.

But again I started tweaking sound to my taste first thing tips…tried many but so far the only tips that fits and sounds GREAT are cp145.

Then cable…yes believe me or not…due to Khans impedence sensitivity it aounds different on differemt gear and cable. The magic happened when I used Tripowin Altea pure copper with Litz…now Bass is perfect with excellent Note weight on Mids just perfect…Treble I dont need any tweaks just perfect as is.

With this tweaks…Khan just sounds BIG/GRAND/VISCEREAL…unbelievable pairing with Jcally AP90 AKM dongle on Neutron player again with my favoirite settings…64 bit processing and PCM to DSD playback.

Tanchjim TANYA:

Again another surprise package…I bought this only for the filters to be used on Olina…when i listened first it needed lot of power still something lacking it did not open up…I just kept it away due to non removable cable.

Again curiosity I try to risk it…took out the two pin connector from some old KZ iem…went to a electronic repair shop nearby…cut Tanya cable and ask them to Solder the two pins on them so I can use balanced cable…oh boy what a surprise post this mod. Tanya becomes Bass and Mids monster…musical bliss with power.

These are my current fav rotation gear currently and my S12 finds a box to rest for long i guess. Thanks for reading.




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I currently own Yanyin canon which I love, just had the Tangzu Wa’ner arrive today to have a foray into the budget realm. These will be returned to Amazon. I think I just need to mind my business and continue to live vicariously through others

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Haha yeah I don’t really bother with budget IEM sets anymore. Earbuds, on the other hand…:raised_hands::raised_hands:

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I keep telling people let me do the dirty work in the budget realm, so you don’t have to.

Because this is some hella redundant (and with a ceiling, no less. Nobody is going to release a $20 set that competes with a Yume II or something. Lets be real) stuff out there. You honestly need 1 or 2 budget sets to figure out what you like and have beaters for when you don’t want to risk your nice IEMs. And then move out!

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@GooberBM I gotta say you are crushing it with your work in the budget world. I really appreciate your in depth analysis on sets that don’t get as much attention from more established reviewers.

Speaking of I have had the Rosefinch in my cart for a week now and everyday I have to stop myself from pulling the trigger… Maybe one day soon I will haha

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I picked up the IE600 again after being all Serratus all the time since getting them and man I forgot how good these sound! People say they are a little much in the treble but after listening to the Serratus all I hear are delicious mids and bass :yum:

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I don’t have a gimmick like Nymz’ cookies…but join us anyway?

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DO IT. Slams like a truck.

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Absolutely

F’n

DO. IT.

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I just picked up the Rosefinch for $13 on Amazon. That’s the cost of two beers. Sold!

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Slams harder than the MM???

I wouldn’t say it slams harder, but maybe it’s just because the overall bass quality is far superior on the MMs so there’s depth, and proper separation from the rest of the freq. so it’s better defined … yeah, maybe it does slam harder actually now that I think of it :handshake:

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Holy shit - the Rosefinch is absolutely taking over / I am so happy :face_holding_back_tears:

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