I’d like to add a second answer, the ThieAudio Excalibur. It’s the overlooked one in the original ThieAudio quartet, but I have been listening to it nearly constantly since I got it like a week ago. I have owned the Oracle (which this is replacing) and currently own the OG Monarch and I have to say the Excaliburs might be my favorite of the three. Even if I ultimately decide that it’s not my favorite over the Monarchs, I can still definitely say that this IEM is an engaging set from a technical and tonal perspective that holds is own within the ThieAudio lineup and outside of it. The Excaliburs fill the fun/engaging niche for my rock heavy library so very well.
Edit: Listening to Dream Theater right now with the Excaliburs plugged into my RME ADI-2 and it’s just sick how well these IEMs render this music. Powerful, dynamic, very detailed, but not in your face and topping it all off with excellent tone and timbre.
I have actually wanted to try these out for some time now, but they seem to be pretty rare in the wild. They always intrigued me as kinda off the beaten path for a planar. When I had the P1s that also feature a 10mm planar driver (instead of the common 14.x) I really wanted to AB the two, but couldn’t find anyone with one and couldn’t seem to talk myself in to the $630 or whatever it was just for curiosity’s sake.
Have you gotten to compare them with any other planars? If so would you mind sharing a few basic impressions?
Fiio FH3 - a little bit unusual treble tuning is its biggest strength and weakness. Depending on a song it can sound between terrible and spectacular. I personally just love how it does subbass and high treble. It is one of these sets that “have special sauce”. Without a doubt not the objectively best set out there, but to my ears with a song matching its strong points FH3 can outperform a lot of stuff.
Being perfectly honest, the TRI Meteor is one of my favorite low-cost IEMs. It has an addicting immersive quality to it that I really enjoy, especially with things like neo prog and harder rock genres. That enjoyment of the Meteors has had me looking into the Starseas a couple times, but the reports of extreme driver flex have stopped me. IEMs I have owned in the past that have driver flex issues tend to cause pressure build-up issues for my ears.
Still super tempted to try them though. The Starseas and the Meteors are some of the best looking IEMs in their price range, IMO.
I do think the Starsea is a VERY good IEM, but the fit and the driver flex are things that you will have to take into account if that’s what you want to deal with
I take people’s concerns regarding driver flex seriously (on any IEM for that matter), but I’m not sure what exactly it is; probably it’s because I haven’t experienced any kind of discomfort when inserting/having the Starsea buds in my ears.
Maybe it’s plain luck (better quality pair, compatible ear canal shape etc.), but I imagine for people experiencing driver flex it should be pretty bad in order to hold them back from buying an IEM.
I have Always been interested by these since i came in thé iem game. They were on m’y watchlist for 11.11/bf, and notes i would get those if they were less than 100$… They are 102$ right now. Too bad, as they would have been compared to olina and trn ST5.
I experience driver flex on the ibasso it00, only eith silicone tips, not with foams (which happen to be my prefernece so i no longer experience it), which is another one that should be on this list and one that I still frequently use. Little crackle during insertion and that was it, I never understood the big deal either.
I think the Fiio FD7 has been out long enough and also iirc was kind of slamed by reviewers.
Its basically my endgame iem and honestly is pretty unique in the tuning department with reguards to Be drivers. Neutral warm with a good amount of air and the flexibility of easily cable rolling to change the sound to your liking since its so sensitive to cables.
The main downside is that the mid/upper trebble is kind of diffuse so you are generally stuck to hard bore tips to funnel the treble and its very easy to make the top end sound extra soft with something like xelastic or sedna crystal.
I compared with the 7Hertz Timeless, P1, which I have. In my opinion the Tender 1 is far superior…more accurate and can handle lots more clean power without distortion. Tender 1 needs a powerful desktop amplifier to be appreciated with a long long long break in period…I do some times listen with my Monolith Portable Thx amplifier but I don’t get the fullness, thickness of the music like a powerful desktop. My main gig I run is the SMSL SP400/M400 stack, high gain using balanced output and every now and again the RME ADI-2 DAC FS with high output. There are a few reviewers out there that can explain better than I can.
This review sums it up for me, I agree with him 100%:
