LETSHUOER S15 LOOKING GOOD 
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Yeah it does… graph looks good, same can’t be said about the shells though 
I also hadn’t seen the graph of my pair of timeless until right now. What is up with QC hitting me the right way? 
I’ve never seen a pair of Timeless with a flat pinna like my pair. That’s so strange.
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You and your QC luck ugh 
The plating looks like a medieval armor drawn by a kid LOL
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Alright guys, so it’s that time of the year again - What’s everyone’s pick for the WORST IEM of 2023?
Comment to win a THIEAUDIO Hype 2 as courtesy from @Sonofholhorse
I’ll also be including the BLON Z300, Kiwi Ears FORTEZA & Dolce, and some cables as another giveaway! So 2 giveaways this time + another one on Christmas so stay tuned for that 
Happy Holidays Everyone!!
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The worst IEM I heard this year was the Blessing 3. It is bright and thin, the bass has no impact and to top it all the fit didn’t work with my ears (too bulky in the intertragal notch area).
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I’m thinking of starting a band called Intertragal Notch 
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…Thieaudio Hype 2. Sorry kids, don’t touch this trash. Wouldn’t take it for free.
/s 
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I had to Google it y’all, I’m not that smart
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Worst IEM of 2023 for me goes to the IE600. Yes, the same IE600 that many swear by but I had very high hopes going in and ended up binning them after a few days of tip rolling (to no avail). Sibilant beyond pleasure for me…
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TRN BAX PRO 100%
Way over dampened Bass
Way over priced $400+
Just a terrible tuned IEM that really had so much potential kinda sad.
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It was the Aful Performer 8 for me,something with the treble just didn’t sit right,little bit to piercing at times,have never had that with any other iem
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lol. It just goes to show how different everyone’s ears are. Right now I’m listening to HYPE2 on M7, 4.4, and I can’t describe the drum&bass it sounds like, just incredibly full, rich, layered, crazy images, good resolution for the price,sub-bass directly into the brain and chest growls like an animal 
.
It needs some amplification with a good source. Amazing IEM. I have no sibilance with the IE600 and this is the most technical single DD on the market at the moment…
The worst IEM I heard demo was the Rai Penta (it’s an old IEM, but I listened to it now 
) - it costs $1100 and sounds like a $200-300 ChiFi IEM.
BTW admiration for the initiative with the gift and you have made a good choice of IEM to give as a gift. Because you could have just picked some garbage like Simgot, for example 
.
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I’m lucky enough to have dodged any truly terrible IEMs, but my worst disappointment in 2023 has to be Penon 10th Anniversary. Had so high hopes… 2DD, fun tuning. Turned out to be a 10 week wait to get my set, followed up by pillowy bass and not nearly as sparkly or detailed highs as I had hoped. And all for 500 dollars 
At least I learned I’m not touching any smaller sized dynamic drivers anymore 
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I’ve owned a couple of low end iem’s - chu 2, hola and space travel. I don’t really listen to them and can’t really say they’re bad as for the price, they’re fantastic.
I did also order the Zero red and aria 2, but sent them both back. Whilst they were great for the price, I think I’ve been spoiled by higher end iem’s .
So having considered all the iem’s I’ve purchased this year, I’d say I was most disappointed in the Penon Turbo. I sold it on after 2 weeks. It had big bass yeah, but it was very obvious it was Ba. Also I felt it’s imaging, separation and overall resolution was substandard for a $500 iem.
So the Turbo gets my vote.
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…oof, worst IEM is actually a difficult question, because to me a set has to be truly awful with no redeeming qualities whatsoever to even achieve the honour of being called bad. Of which I haven’t had a single IEM like that this year (thankfully).
So rather I’d name the sets which disappointed/underwhelmed me the most which I had the chance to try.
The Tanchjim Kara would be the first. It’s by no means bad, but given the competition in its price brackets and competing sets from both this and earlier years, I truly expected a lot more given I hold Tanchjim in high regards. Although you could reasonably argue I set myself up for this, going into it expecting a lot.
The set I was even more disappointed with was the Simgot EA1000 though. Yes, really. After hearing so much praise for this set I expected something truly amazing, and got my chance listening to the set thanks to a friend who also owned an EA500. And what can I say - after having tried both, I preferred the EA500 over the Fermat without a doubt. And after having finally heard the Binary Chopin last week, I see even less reason to recommend the Fermat over that or the EA500. Again, you could argue I set myself up for this, having such high expectations from all the impressions I read. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
Again, I need to stress, the Fermat is not a bad IEM at all; it’s just the one I got the most underwhelmed/disappointed by this year.
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Tough one, heard so much good stuff this year. And most stuff coming out is average or good sounding.
My worst experience is maybe Symphonium Audio Meteor, love the cable and design.
Bass has a softer texture, not as good as many other BA sets. Mids are super veiled, overall muffled sound. It sounds like you are listening to music playing in another room. Immense ear pressure and bad nozzle angle comfort.
I really wanted to love Meteor, was ready to buy it.
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Even though it’s cheap - Fiio FF1 - absolute car crash on every level from build to SQ to design choices.
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Yeah, the Meteor is my pick as well. I have never been more disappointed by an IEM. Just like you, I was fully ready to fall in love and set my eyes on them. Luckily for my wallet, electric guitars had almost 0 bite to them, and female vocals were seemingly underwater. They just did not work with my library.
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It’s interesting how polarising the meteor has been.
I’d be interesting to hear it myself, as I have the Helios SE, and I love it. My favourite iem.
Obviously they’re tuned very differently, but I’d still like to see (hear) how Symphonium got it wrong on this one.
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Man, I don’t think they got it wrong honestly, I really think it comes down to library on this one. Lots of songs on my rotation have a darker mastering with lots of guitars and female vocals involved so any IEM that has worked for me in the past has a relaxed pinna with some bite in the treble, or a harmen tuned upper mids bringing plenty of clarity to the mix. My tastes have yet again changed since I first heard the Meteor and from memory, the Hisenior T4s I think have a similar tuning and I’ve been really enjoying them. I think a 2nd listen to the Meteor would probably yield a better result for me.
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