Trying to find the perfect IEM’s under $550ish, is it possible?

Sorry but this would be my take on that graph…

Each to their own :+1:

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Ultra-flat sound - some may prefer it. But for fun and the ultimate game in tuning, it is better only to be flat on mids. Hmmm, I mean … you guessed it! :relieved:

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Yanyin Aladdin retails for $250 excellent set

It’s just not true. Flat isn’t boring you do realise some of the best headphones out there measure flat right?

Planar bass is considered thunderous and most planars have dead flat bass. It’s not boring and is considered some of the best out there.

6XX has 1 to 2db from target on mid range otherwise follows target

For reference here the 6XX with only 3db boost in mid bass is considered a bass Bloomy headphone with only 3db.

In the mid range flat at 1khz, with 2db boost from flat target at 1.5khz and flat at 2khz is considered one of the richest mid range.

In fact once the 6XX has driver breakup above 6khz and scoops down really deviating from flat target you get a seriously bad veil the headphone is noted for.

This is why people use tube amps with tubes that have a treble emphasis and you hear reports of the veil lifting.

Saying flat is boring… Isn’t just some opinion it’s miss leading.

Certainly heaphones noted that target flat as possible are noted to have EXCELLENT timbre and life like representation, Susvara, ER2SE, ZMF Auteur, 6XX, Sundara is a big one on this list with life like organic representation.

You’ll notice where planars especially early ones like Audeze LCD2’s sounded wonk wasn’t cause of their flat bass, rich midrange like the 6XX it was cause of their treble.

Due to transducer massless design they have trouble stopping at high frequency unable to hit flat and are unnaturally dark and insanely high air frequencies causing masking and lacking detail covered by air frequencies stopping the treble resolution entirely.

The purpose of transducers is to reproduce music and sound as life like as possible.

As I said each to their own…I’m not an HP guy so HP graphs are :man_shrugging: but seeing as this’s a IEM thread let’s just guess which one of these two graphs appeals to me?..

Also a lot of what you like about a transducer will come down to your personal library and to some extent the source chain.

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Susvara, . . .ZMF Auteur, 6XX, Sundara

In Ear Monitors.

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At a quick glance of my library- I have rock, alt, edm, country, vocals, hip hop, some acoustics, some doobie brothers/ Boston, whatever you want to call that- so it legitimately swings all the way around

EJ07m will play anything, but you might also wanna keep an eye on Ej07m Kinda Lava edition, as that’s close to HBB’s library and he tuned it :slight_smile:

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I reference his reviews and list rankings quite a bit! Along with Goku, Precog, Ant and Crin- is that particular unit out yet and if it’s not do we know a price range? I’m willing to move up just a bit to find a nice, versatile end game for the next couple of years, if that’s even a thing in this hobby lol

I would say the Dunu Zen Pro, but those are $800. I have not tried the Timeless or FD5, but another excellent dynamic driver IEM is the JVC HA-FDX1. Dunu also has other interesting options, the original Zen goes for around $400-500 now used or open box, those are really good but you might need EQ in the high up treble since it’s rolled off. Best bass I’ve heard though. And also I’ve heard good things about the SA6.

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First units about to get shipped. Same price as ej07m :slight_smile:

“Look at that flat line”


Even a v-shaped set will look flat that way lol
That’s probably what you tried to do:

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So we’re thinking the Ej07m Kinda Lava edition is the move for sure??

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I was gonna grab the Lava’s too but wasn’t too sure about the tuning compared to the original 07M. I’d wait for some other reviews first like @nymz updated tier list to see how the Lava does :wink:

Also I’d avoid the ER2SE in terms of fit, and if you want rich mid-range and vocals. Don’t get me wrong they’re great, but I think it’s too neutral for what you’re looking for.

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I would be careful. How many people have listened the Kinda Lava? I have the feeling that they are recommending them without even actually have tried them.

I would be careful with the hype trains. The IEM community seems to be very prone to them. You have the Timeless, they were the last big hype on the community, and it seems a win for you, but I just warn you to be careful.

In particular, here in the Hifiguides forum, I would say that there’s a clear bias in favor of HBB tunned products. In part because he is active in the forums, he is a cool guy, and his previous colaborations have been successful, like the Mele and the Olina. Now it seems it’s Kinda Lava time…

But if you are new into the hobby I would say to you: “enjoy what you already have” . Enjoy your time with the music, with the Aria and with the Timeless. Don’t dream about how your music would sound with different gear. Play with them, listen different music, play with tips. Instal Wavelet or other EQ and play with it to find your preferred tuning…

In your next steps you will be spending a considerable amount of money and I can assure you that you will get a minor quality jump than what you already have experienced. So, from now on, your preferences are much more important, before more money usually meant better quality, now it’s not that clear, that’s what happened with yours Fiio. There’s not “this is better than that” at this point a lot of times is different ways of showing music. So it is more important to be informed, watch reviews, read forums… And, again, be careful about hype trains.

So, having said that, if you say “shut up, money is not a problem, I want to try something better”, then I would go directly for the Monarch MKII. I don’t have them, but they have already been tried by a lot of people, and the general consensus is to consider them a worthy top of the line IEM . I have the Clairvoyance and the MKII seem a better version of them. So I would say that they are as good as an IEM can be…

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Phew I wish, that’s a few hundred to rich for me and my effort at being somewhat frugal! I have been reading some excellent things about those though. I do have the mele currently and do enjoy that tune for the majority of my music, for what it can do, of course it has its limitations. I may wait for some reviews on this Lava or get impatient and pull the trigger :joy:

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That’s what I’m seeing too, I don’t know if I need something so accurate that it’s bland.

Looking at what we’ve got here though the IER-Z1R has a tasteful basss boost happening and excellent mids.

The treble is weird with the 3k scoop followed by the 4k, 6k and 8k peaks and followed by more scoops and peaks after that I mean the resolution isn’t gonna be great.

Sony in this $1,698.00 usd headphone has achieved some nice bass, great mids but the treble is just wonk. considering that full price the ER2SE is $75 - 100 USD and on adorama is $50 bucks… it doesn’t really make much sense to purchase the Sony IER - Z1R.

Source and amp gear if solid state is tuned flat anyway unless you’ve got tubes so you’re only dealing with distortion, power rating etc. Since we’re talking IEM’s here you’d need something very low distortion due to sensitivity.

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You clearly are just going off graphs if you think the Z1R’s treble is “wonk”. It has one of the best treble I’ve heard. It’s something you can’t tell by reading graphs alone. ER2SE also severely lacks soundstage vs Z1R having one of the best soundstage in an IEM in terms of depth and wideness, ERSE also has early treble roll off vs Z1R’s refined treble dynamics (which again, not show through graphs alone), and imaging/detail/vocals are all average on the ER2SE. ER2SE’s strong point is that it does timbre and dynamics better than other IEMs at its price point, key words–at its price point. Sure it’s a great IEM at $100, but not nearly close to competing with the Z1R in terms of bass, treble, imaging, and overall soundstage.

No one heard it, no one recommended it yet.

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