Short and tragic love story w/ Earbuds
As promised below I send my short comparison of all 5 earbuds I have at hand based on 3 songs + lots of time with LBBS and Qian39 beforehand.
I based the comparison on the critical listening of 3 songs on each - Fiona Apple - Valentine for female vocals, piano, stage, Dr Dre - Still DRE for slam, male vocals and general fun factor, Radiohead - Everything in the right place for representation of electrical sound, complex passages and layering and ability to overwhelm you with music. With LBBS and Qian39 I spent quite a few hours before as well.
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Qian39: build: 3, cable: 3, bass: 8, vocals: 5, technicalities: 5, comfort 4 - OVERALL: 6
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Qian69: build 4, cable: 3, bass: 5, vocals: 6, technicalities: 6, comfort: 5, OVERALL: 5
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KBear Stella: build: 3, cable: 3, bass: 6, vocals: 6, technicalities: 5, comfort 4, OVERALL: 5
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FAAEL Iris: build: 3, cable: 7, bass: 3, vocals: 5, technicalities: 5, comfort: 6, OVERALL: 4
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Ksearphone LBBS: build: 9, cable: 7, bass: 7, vocals: 9, technicalities: 7, comfort 4 - OVERALL: 9
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Tea for reference: build: 10, cable: 8, bass: 10, vocals: 9, technicalities: 9, comfort 10 - OVERALL: 10
TLDR: the world of earbud is not as cheap and beautiful for me as I believed based on Rikudoku’s opinion. The comfort is tricky (in fact, it is a killer for me), the technicalities for critical listening are not available for cheap, the sound overall is in most cases not on the level as of affordable IEMs. Out of all those 5 sets I listened 4 were below 20$, so expectations should have not been too high, but a good attempt with Qian39 gave me some promises that were not kept in the end
LBBS is definitely a must have for 50$, Qian39 is (was) also good option for some fun listening on the go where you need some awareness, but rest is generally meh and not worth spending money on.
There are 2 problems I have - comfort or how secure the bud feels in the ear. Donuts, hiegi, stock - nothing works for me - I constantly need to fix the fit as I feel it would fall out. On the go it is impossible to work with, but it is good for sleeping or sitting in all cases.
Second problem are the technicalities or ability of those buds to present some separated layers in more complex passages. It is not present anywhere, but in LBBS to some extent, but even there it is nowhere near to multidriver IEMs or even S12.
Qian39 has great bass and is good for fun listening.
LBBS - if having better fit - could be my go to for acoustic music as I have never heard it better sounding than there. Vocals are also top level, soundstage is great. Bass is great quality, but may be more prominent in some cases. It was also sibilant in some songs.
Qian69 - has less bass than 39, maybe better techs (in terms of details and layering), but smaller stage and a little bit veiled sound.
Iris and Stella is nothing to talk about really
Build for all apart from LBBs is just worth the price.
Overall I feel that my journey with Earbuds is not finished (I would look for some earhooks or silicon tips), but it is not as beautiful as I thought it would be. It was supposed to be my area to explore next in the audio world.
Photos to follow tomorrow
Qian69
Qian39
Kbear
Faael
