The BL03 FR almost matches BGGAR’s preference curve to a tee. For some, that’s all you need.
As I said, it all comes down to personal preference and what is important to the individual. For some, that attractive FR and a $26.00 price tag is something the HE-6 can not touch.
Cost next to nothing and produce good sound.
I don’t think 03 can do a single thing better than HE-6, sound-wise. I’ll trade my 03 for one any day. I just don’t know what an HE-6 equivalent IEM might be yet. No more BLON’s for me; I’ve graduated. I like my YBF, but it’s just a skeleton of the sound it could ultimately be. A mere taste.
I’ll just see myself out of this conversation then, it does say minimum cost but whatever. Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.
+1. I’m right behind you.
The BL-03s are one of the cheapest IEMs ever that gave me a form of mindfuck, therefore questioning myself back then on why I bought the Shure SE215s instead of the Tin T2s and BL-03s earlier back then xD
What a few might have personally felt were “top tier” a while ago, no longer appear to be and probably weren’t to begin with. But then again, this is all personal opinion. Some may not agree with my opinion, but this is they way I’ve felt for a long time and others here seem to agree.
That’s okay. In my opinion and with my tastes, I like them and that’s all that matters. That is what I was trying to tell OP. Find what traits matter to you and what you like, ignore tier lists because they are pointless. You were trying to say a similar message no? This is subjective, try to demo, and find things that matter best to you?
I think a lot of this will obviously come down to sound signature preferences, libraries and sources…synergy at this level can also play a big part but at the end of the day if you’re set jams with your library then 
For some people, the holy grail of their preferred sound will never be attained. Being extremely particular in such things, makes it even more difficult to attain.
Minimal cost for real hi-fi satisfaction? For me, the Mangird Tea. They have shown me that I don’t need to spend exorbitant amounts of money to satisfy my hi-fi needs. Guess I’m a bit easier to please than some folks. 
Tier means nothing to me, and it shouldn’t mean anything to anyone but the person making the list. It’s really useless, unless you find your ears completely agree with someone else’s.
Should I also mention that I still have and love the ibasso it00 and final a3000 within their price range? Did they blow me out of the water? No. Are they great for what they are, absolutely.
I completely agree. By the looks of BGGAR’s @hawaiibadboy reviews and tier list, I think he’d agree as well. I bring Chris up because he has more hands-on experience than anyone reviewing IEMs today probably other than Crin.
I guess the best answers are from the people who have heard things way at the top(which is why I’m asking, since I haven’t yet). I found Tea to be pretty nice overall. . . but also pretty dry, low res sounding, and lacking bass compared FH3. What have you heard above Tea so far?
I just want to know what is the lowest priced IEM that people have heard that really sounds full-stop high-end. Not what the definition of perfection might be, or how OK ultra-budget can sound. : |
None… I have stopped looking. 
Alright, what’s your definition of full stop high end? I am just having trouble trying to understand what you mean by that, as imo things continue to get better as you go up, it’s not like it has plateaued for me personally, basically you get what you pay for
For me, it was easy. I went in the hifi store and demo’d everything, and HE-6 & LCD-3 amazed me(no complaints, loved it all). Fully extended, defined bass, liquid smooth treble, lifelife vocals and the rest. All the qualities you don’t get to experience with common headphones, and none of the drawbacks. They are no-brainer hifi buys, for me. What IEM(s) did that for you, after hearing a bunch?
The first iem that really pulled me in was the hyla ce-5 (I had heard others at the time, but this was the one that really pulled my interest toward iems), and then from there things took off. In the end, right now I’m personally at the point where I’ve found 4 iems that fully cover whatever I could ask out of iems, but they do happen to be up there in price so might not be what you are looking for since I wouldn’t call them bang for buck (but if you are looking for bang for buck in the high end that’s a mistake in itself imo). I do have somewhat of a list of the iem’s I ended up going through in the what’s your iem progression thread, so it might be valuable to check out that thread for both my and other’s progressions and where we have found ourselves
I don’t have a solid option worth recommending over them yet, so you’re in a good spot. For now ;p I was worried they wouldn’t fit, but they’re fine! (FH3 is nice, too)
I have been constantly impressed by the JVC HA-FDX1. It’s stock tonality, even with the filters, is not my favorite, especially in the upper midrange 4-5kHz, it can be forward and too much. But the technical performance is absolutely amazing, especially for $250. The dynamic impact and overall presentation of the sound is very much reminiscent of full size headphones. I tried the Dunu Zen, and I much prefer the JVC, it just sounds more natural. I think the bass and treble is nearly perfect, it’s just that upper midrange that needs some EQ. And I’ve actually equalized it to sound very much like my Focal Clear MG Pro. I’ve tried equalizing many other IEMs around and above this price range: ER2SE, Kinera Nanna 2.0, Dunu Zen, Sennheiser IE800S, Meze 12 Classics, Klipsch X20i, and I still prefer the FDX1. The only ones that comes close and beats it without EQ is the Sennheiser IE800S, but I thought the midrange was a little too sucked out in the 2-3kHz region, making things sound too distant. I’d still take an EQ’d FDX1 over the iE800S.
Very good iem, only issue I had with it was that I just could not get it to fit comfortably, which is of course a big problem. Was very sad to see them go.
