Can anyone suggest an IEM that is warm and specialized for listening for pleasure? I have enough cans and a few IEMS that are analytical and want to broaden my horizons, perhaps even be able to listen to some music that isn’t as well recorded. Any price range is ok, as I will be checking out the used market as well.
Perhaps a Tripowin Mele or Kiwiears Cadenza could fit the bill? The new Blon HBB collab (Z300) may be worth keeping an eye on, too.
Well if any price range is okay, I’d look into the Symphonium Meteor. I’d say that’s a default Rec under $1k for a warm IEM.
Edit: in the off chance you come back to this comment in the future, I can now confirm that yes while the Meteor is a very warm IEM, I could also consider it quite dark to my ears. FYI.
what is your budget? perhaps take a look at the Final E3000?
Mele, KW kadenza, Senn IE80S…
I’d say KBear Xuanwu or the new HBB Z300 at the cheaper budget.
Cadenza can be a little harsh at 3k for a warm set. There’s no Xuanwu graph yet but it smoother than Cadenza. Because you want less analytical, those are great budget picks
Kiwi Ears Cadenza
Moondrop Starfield
Ikko OH10/Thor Mjolnir MK2
Thanks for the suggestions! I didn’t realize how many brands there were. This will take some research.
Re your question the E3000 will be good for my budget option for travel, I should be able to demo them today. But I will also consider something in the $1000 range as well eventually, but that will take some time to look up.
Warm = Penon OR ISN in different levels from Warmest to cold 4 BEST CONTEDERS
GLOBE
SERIAL
EST50
H50
If I were you and you’re serious about looking in the $1k range, I’d give a long hard look to the SoftEars Twilight. Now, these aren’t a super warm set, but they have a touch of euphonic warmth and oodles of musicality. The reason I’m recommending them is because you said you want something specialized for listening pleasure. The Twilights may well be the peak of musicality for my money under $1k. They make listening a pleasure and getting lost and swept up in the music easy. They’re technically competent, but by no means analytical, with great dynamics amd balance. They’re articulate in the low end, smooth and musical through the mids, and the treble is extended, but totally without fatigue or sibilance. Truly a special IEM in my book. I found them after an extended search for an awesome single DD and couldn’t be any happier with them.
Edit: For an affordable used pair, check out the TRI i3 (OG, not the i3 Pros). Warm, surpisingly cohesive for a tribrid, with good timbre,nand a very musical presentation. I’m amazed that these don’t get more love.
As a starter
TANGZU Wu Zetian ! ! !
Warm wall of sound.
Pure musical enjoyment.
And if you like it and want to spend more for better technicalities
Oriolus Szalayi
I love my Szalayis! Great rec!
Recs that I own currently own go to TRI I3 ( not the Pro) if you can find it used, SA Meteor and ISN EST50. If you take a look at the graph of the i3 don’t let it scare you. All three choices are a fun colored sound and work well on low quality recordings.
Interesting, I’d put the EST50 over Serial for warmth easily
The EST50 are everything I had always thought the Xenns Up would be, based on reviews. The Xenns up turned out to be pretty close to the Serials for me.
This is a fact. Juzear 41T is close to them too. Three different driver configurations of a similar sound signature
Thanks again to everyone that made suggestions! Unfortunately many of the brands are not available here or have to be imported and tariffs are high for electronics in Korea, so my options are limited. So I am sticking to what is in the shop I go to. I plan to demo these:
The three available are:
IKKO OH10
Softears Twilight
Final E3000
Yes indeed! and I am considering going higher, a one and done [famous last words?] for IEMS, as I am more of a headphone person. Last time in the shop I made the mistake of asking about a warm IEM and they gave me one to try, I made a point of not looking at the price tag until after I listened and was shocked to find how bassy it was [FiR Audio Xenon 6], not to mention the insane price tag. But it will be fun to try more stuff out for sure~
I demoed a few over the weekend and…you were right! the Twilight was so nice. The KIIO OH10 was also good but I kept coming back to the Twilight. The owner told me to try the Lime Ears Anima and Pneuma just to see what you get at those insane prices. The Anima was wonky, insane clarity but timbre wasn’t to my liking for my acoustic genres, and the Pneuma strangely sounds very similar to the Twilight for me, at almost triple the price.
Do you know if you can install a triple flang tip on these for more isolation?
Yes, if you’re ears will take it, you can definitely use a triple flange tip. One of the tips I have been rolling while deciding which I’m gonna stick with is a double flange and it works very well. I thought you might like the Twilights! They’re a very musical set and I find them making me want to listen to more music which is one of the things I look for in a good IEM. The Lime Ears IEMs that I have owned and tried like the Aether have always been a little off to me. I really liked certain things about the Aether Rs, but also found them to get quickly fatiguing after the first hour or so of listening and I could never really put my finger on why.