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

IEMs / Other In-Ear Monitors (IEM)
26

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…

4 Likes
27

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:

2 Likes
28

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

29

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.

1 Like
30

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.

31

No one heard it, no one recommended it yet.

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32

It directly competes with the Z1R.

Its got huge soundstage the 10k scoop eludes to it being a soundstage monster. Like the HD800 tuning has similar character.

Sennheiser figured out during development of that headphone that if you drop the 10k frequency response theres a resonance peak behind it in the 8k region which cancels it out and creating an awesome large soundstaging effect. Etymotic research have used similar tuning queues.

That treble dynamics you’re hearing is the frequency response through the treble coming up and down through the range creating an illusion of dynamics in treble. You’re hearing mainly a contrast between peaks and scoops.

33

Precogvision:

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Crinacle:
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Yup, totally. Hey, whatever floats your boat man. Cheers.

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34

What your saying about the imaging isn’t accurate at all.

All IEM’s and headphones are mean’t to roll off around 20k hz or else you get over emphasised “Air” that hides detaill forming a resonance peak that not only hides detail but begins to ruin timbre and make symbol hits sound not as weighted as they should be.

Leading to an unnatural sound. If an IEM or anything reproducing sound doesn’t sound natural it means the tuning is off.

35

Theory is all fine and dandy, however, I highly recommend you to demo the Z1R if you can and A/B it with the ER2SE. My impression was based off of the 5 songs I A/B it with, spoilers, the Z1R outclassed the ER2SE in every metric and it wasn’t even close (maybe expect for the midrange). If it wasn’t for the huge fit I would’ve bought the Z1R for sure. I’ve owned many headphones like the LCD X, Sundara, and HD6XX, so I know what to expect in terms of a good timbre and tuning. Again, I recommend you to demo both and compare. Cheers.

3 Likes
36

Knowing how flat the diffuse target bass is and seeing it so low down means your Ikko OH10 is insanely bass boosted and even into mid bass where unlike the Z1R’s tastefull bass boost. you definitely won’t want that. It would be like mud.

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Here are both headphones compensated to diffused equally.

Diffused target is a bright target if you listen to any IEM or headphone tuned to diffused it is a bright tuning.

The lower treble from the Etymotic research target is fine. It represents more modern targets like Harman’s targets [Specific to treble] as both have figured if resonance builds up and causes issues in higher frequencies where its most sensitive.

If the ER2SE and Z1R are an example of bass and mids… the IKKO OH10 is the opposite.

37

I highly recommend removing the filter on the Mele and doing the alcohol swab mod. I just did it and it got close enough my Timeless that I ended up returning them (so I can put that money towards whatever my end game IEM will be)

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38

To give you an idea of what’s going on in flat vs coloured.

Dr Sean olive runs a pretty sweet demo of what is actually happened. Notice the weird honky vocals as the scale is changed

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39

I would consider looking at the Thieaudio Oracle or Dunu SA6 in this price range. Both have outstanding and versatile tuning. SA6 if you prioritize fit, Oracle if you gotta have that DD bass.

5 Likes
40

I’ll certainly check out the Oracle then! Thanks for your recommendations Sam!

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41

The 07M is a more technical version (detail, imaging, 3D, soundstage) of the SA6 and Oracle. If I were to rank them it’d be 07M–>SA6–>Oracle. Similar tuning on all three but the 07M has better bass and the most natural timbre based on my memory. I’d get the 07M.

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42

That is exactly what I would write. With EJ07m, I don’t understand why anyone will turn to the other two IEMs. According to some, the Mon MK2 is only a step forward from 07m, that speaks for itself!

1 Like
43

I am so interested to see what everyone’s reaction is to the kinda lava compared to the ejo7m with the HBB tuning. Depending on what the reception is, I’ll end up doing one of those. I actually grabbed an Olina to hold me over in the meantime. I’m also very interested in the Hekili, but I was told the Shuoer is a definite step up.

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44

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Ayyyyy let’s go!!!

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45

Lol this guy it’s hilarious , he talks about iem’s he never tried , and we suppose to take him serios :see_no_evil:

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