Also KutuzovGambit, who I trust and exchange conversations with every now and then:
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Thank you both for the reviews! Looks to be a solid offering for the price. I’m convinced I want to try it now.
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I saw a few reviews on headfi and I was immediately interested. I’ll definitely wait for some more reviews, but if someone like HBB reviews it and gives it top marks, I’ll be pulling the trigger.
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Haha I see that Penon had sent KutuzovGambit the review unit 
poor @nymz for not having good interactions with them
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Budget series - Intro
As of today, I’m starting my own series of IEMs below 50 dollars or just slightly above it, and let me straight explain you why:
- Current state
The current sub-50 market is a dog’s race for that sweet market quota. Actually it’s pretty easy to understand the why - whoever rules in that bracket, it’s bound to sell thousands of IEMs, that even when the price and margin are this low, the profit level is absurd. Most sub-50 will cost pennies to produce in scale and then just throw a cheap box/cable/tips and add a markup.
Business side along, this translates into one thing and one thing at all: competition. And why is competition important? Well, competition converts into an excess of offers, leaving more freedom and options to the buyers. In that regard, that’s a win.
Today is also the right time as sound quality under 50 bucks has sky rocketed over the sun in the last few months with so much good stuff coming out and putting past offers, way above this price range, to a shame.
- The trade-offs
Not all will be flowers and sunny days. It comes out with the price.
The most evident will be trade-offs: you are trading off sound quality for a lower price. No matter what anyone tells you, even me, you will be losing sound quality over good but also more expensive offers. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need expensive stuff and diminishing returns are pretty real. But regarding sub 50 dollars, it’s still a compromise zone.
Another evident trade-off would be Quality Control. You will have QC problems in every bracket, but the lower, the usual worse. If you read the paragraph above where I talk about cheap production and margins, it’s easy to understand why:
To the customer, QC is a must. To the supplier, QC is a cost.
At the end of the day, once you already paid and used a, let’s say, 20 dollar IEM, you probably won’t ask for a refund as you have to send your item to the factory and that would cost you more, while the manufacturer already cashed out on your twenty.
Again, what you expect and what you get won’t be the same things in this bracket.
Another thing to keep in mind would be build quality: if you expect your sub-50 to be well built, you’re dead wrong.
Yes, there are exceptions, like Tripowin Mele that is built like a tank, but the general rule will be using hard plastic, with bad soldering jobs or bad connectors, that you could probably just smash it with your own fingers if you are strong enough.
- The benchmarks
For this, I will have 3 benchmarkers, for a reason:
- [20$] Moondrop Chu - Tips: Final E - best all-rounder sub-50 and one of the cheapest. Grab one right now, ask questions later. Great tuning, average techs. Build quality is good, if you ignore the terrible and non-replaceable cable. Comes with Spring tips;
- [15$] CCA CRA - Tips: Final E - Stock tuning has major flaws like the 4.7k energy, but the techs are good, bass is good and responds very well to EQ (which I like), fixing its problems and turning it into a power house. Build quality is bad, as you can probably smash it with your own hands if you are strong enough;
- [50$] Tripowin Mele - Tips: Spinfit CP100 - The more (mid) bassy solution for those that prefer more warm/musical options. Its darker treble makes it shine with volume cranking and suits best for those that fall into the Rock/RnB/HipHop libraries.To me, the budget beast for this type of tuning, and I’m not the only one saying that (even Crin agrees lol). Techs are average. Build quality is excellent and comes with an okay cable, very usable.
As for sources, I don’t own many cheap ones, and that’s the purpose of this test. I will use Qudelix 5k, USB plugged, as I figured this would be the maximum people would use with IEMs around this price bracket.
- Why am I doing this?
To be honest, I need a set in stone starting point. It’s very hard for me to go from a 1k IEM to a 30usd one without being visceral to it. I feel more comfortable way above this bracket and sure, I can get a take in 5 mins, but I need people to know what my preferences are at this moment, and those are the three above. This will also help me with my time management.
Every IEM that comes out, I test it and knock one of the above, it gets into the pedestal. Easy as that.
My goal, as always, is to help people. To some people 50 bucks is lunch money, to others it’s the max they can produce after months of savings. Never underestimate someone based on their collection - music is the only thing that matters, IEMs are just the way to reach them.
In another full disclosure statement, reviewers get a lot of stuff sent. It’s our job to deal with it asap. Do I like reviewing 10 budget IEMs instead of using the best ones I own? Of course not, but that’s how we grow, how we evolve. If that’s what it takes to reach a certain point and help people on the way, so be it.
To all the manufacturers, game is on.
As always, with love,
nymz
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The Tea 2 has grown on me. Ended up making the cut of my current sixteen IEMs down to five. Finding I’m really gravitating toward them on my country playlists. Got up two hours before the kids today to enjoy the pleasure of some fresh roasted coffee and a nice cup of the Tea. Love the early hours of the morning just sitting on the porch before the sun rises with a cup of coffee and some music.
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I wake up 1 hour ealier than I needed to, every single day, just so I can enjoy some peace and music, while I also deal with audio e-mails, news, discords etc. Love that time of the day.
Tea2 is a beast. It’s highly regarded by me for a reason, but I tend to not over-sell because:
- Bias
- 350 usd
But it’s punching up there.
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That is dedication to music right there! Two hours before the kids - crikey!
I’m quite curious what made you choose the Tea 2 over the Canon in your Great IEM Purge lol. Obviously YMMV since HBB preferred Canon, but I’m interested in hearing your take!
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I’m still not entirely sure from a technical perspective. Something about the Canon just didn’t sit right with me in the treble region. My best guess is that it’s the small dip at 3k and the rise back up to the 4-5k. But, that’s just me looking at charts and trying to make sense of what I hear. The Tea 2 just overall sounded smoother and more consistent across the treble region.
Edit: Worth noting it maybe be why I also like Serial so much. Seeing it graphs so smooth in the upper frequencies. Still trying to make sense of all the technical reasons why I prefer an IEM.
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Thanks! Could also be coherency and timbre. I can’t identify coherency issues yet, but timbre yes.
Btw I think you took the best approach to this hobby - order a bunch of stuff, listen to music, rank, prune. Glad to have you in the community and sharing your thoughts!
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Now that you have had some time with the canons what is your thoughts on it compared to the Olina?
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I also listen to music during the first part of the work day, and do written work communication, and drink some coffee in my home office.
I don’t know if I can get up any earlier. My office is three hours ahead of where I live, so I already get up around 5:30 am, just to be at work by 9am their time. I do get off work around 2:30pm, so that is cool.
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That’s basicly my dream. Start working early (from home) and close it by lunch time. Amazing!
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You must really love your job to commute 6h a day 
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Funny enough this wasn’t even my first purge. Had another before finding this forum. This was my collection one month into the hobby five months ago. Went the cheaper route first. Theres at least another 10 sold or returned after this. Only two still with me today as my beater IEMs. A lot of lessons, notes and decision were made. That and finding @hawaiibadboy on YouTube really helped determine my preferences. Glad to be part of this community and hobby.
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if I never sold/got rid of stuff my closet would be full of headphones and I’d have 3 watch boxes of IEM’s
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Lol you think you might be biased a bit lol and the price is fair apparently for the quality. I never heard it and most likely will it hear it. Take care and have a great day.
It’s not bias per se, but bias other people will think I have. I think they are phenomenal. Give them a couple months and the same effect as mangird tea OG will happen 
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Yeah I just finished critical listening last night so hopefully can write up my thoughts this weekend. I couldn’t compare all the tuning configurations though because that’s 8 combos lol
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