Oh man, I need to trade in my Tea for one of those.
FDX1 is definitely worth trying on your journey. They are well built, nicely tuned, lively and dynamic. They were a little bit on the flatter side of things than I ended up preferring (I can’t help it, I’m addicted to bass) but I am glad I owned them for a while.
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I finally struck gold with the FiiO FD5s, they have everything that I wanted out of an IEM. Amazing soundstage, separation of details, clarity, texture and an amazing build quality with a good selection of tips and a nice cable. some IEM’s that I tried and did not fulfill my needs include Moondrop Starfields/Aria, Final Audio A4000, KZ Zax/ZS10 Pros, FiiO FH3, Tin T2. These put my Sennheiser HD560s to shame and now I’m kind of on a quest to find cans that sound as good as these, but afraid of what is going to cost me to achieve the same level of sonic quality but from full sized over ears.
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My “so far” endgame IEM is easily my Campfire audio Andromeda 2020, Supreme comfort, amazing sound, Good lows , highs and everything in between . I was a little worried when I purchased these but the second I listened to them I was hooked. The smoky litz cable that came with it is so nice I ordered the balanced version of the same cable. I then purchased the IFI IEMatch dongle and use it with my desktop amps and also portable with my BTR3K. Covers the bases very well.
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love love love that iem too! JVC was phenomenal, after using the Tin T2 i went hard on headphones where i started looking down on iems again. The JVC made me stop looking down on them again, because i was amazed by it. That iem is crazy good, love the detail, impact, speed, timbre, tonal balance is a litle sus but still good. Just a great iem and for a while it was 200 NEW which is nuts. don’t know what it’s at atm but that was indeed one of the iems that made me change my mind. I’m still for some reason really picky about iems so it’s still one of my fav iems ever.
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Andromeda brothers! lol I recently got the Andros Pacific blue verions and loooooove it. like you mentioned, great highs, lows, mids etc etc. just phenomenal! Currently my favorite piece of audio gear
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Definitely my favorite portable for sure, problem is I have waaay too many IEMs, headphones etc that it is hard to find the time to listen to them all. gonna need to thin the herd soon !!
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would be nice if there more hours in a day to listen to all of your gear lol. thining out the herd is probably a good idea
And now for the BIGGEST problem… finding the time to do that!!
Just tried the FDX1. I think it has a good core sound, and definitely good bass, but very much lacks extension on both ends. The fit is…frustratingly bad x_x Straight nozzles would’ve been the right choice, like TIN models.
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I like a lot about FD5! Resolution, extension, bass, spaciousness, imaging, material quality, cable, price. 
It really steps the quality bar UP against the rest at that price.
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Since you’ve experienced some pretty high end gear, what have you found to be gold so far? Any suggestions for over ear open backs that’ll give me a similar experience as the FD5’s?
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Well, HE-6 & LCD-3 are still my #1’s so far. Arya might be a winner. Or might be a downgrade. I’d like to try it next. I did not like Sundara, and wasn’t real thrilled about HE-500 & 400. Mobius sounded excellent, but the pads get sooo hot. I think LCD-GX would be worth trying(but don’t expect LCD-3/HE-6 bass); have heard good things. Also heard great things about Nectar Hive.
If I were to buy a cheap headphone now, I’d try HD660(love the sound for gaming, but not that great for technical performance) or LCD-1. Otherwise, I would try GX/LCD-3/HE-6/Arya/Hive(+energizer).
(I would be lying if I didn’t mention this Vokyl Erupt I’m using right now, that I’ll probably keep forever, along with my AD700X & 900X. Flawed, but has very fun bass & soundstage for gaming. I love this thing, and I think it outdoes a lot of the competition as a whole, even with its silly tuning. Sold my backup pair recently)
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After hearing my FD5’s my 560S is dead to me, they’ve basically been downgrade to gaming headsets. So I’m kind of on a search for something that’ll come close sonically to the FD5. I’m actually thinking about returning them cause the headband adjustment and pad on tops are wonky and builds up pressure on one side of my head. How do you like the HD660 for gaming? I’m super curious about the 6xx myself, but the consensus is they have an intimate soundstage which isn’t the best for gaming. This rabbit hole is TOO deep!
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They are a no-brainer. I’d buy one and use it all the time, if I had extra bonus cash. I did a FPS gaming shootout with them and Sundara & AD700X (and others), and I preferred those 2 over Sundara, and 660 over AD700X. I haven’t heard a headphone I liked more than 660 for gaming yet. As comfortable as it gets, and low/no fatigue treble. It’s the HD600 I wish I had years ago lol. Soundstage is large, and details are clear, UNLIKE HD600.
They would be a more comfortable, more natural sounding, bass-lite version of the Erupt, basically. I cannot express how much joy/terror the Erupt is when playing dark horror games(like Horror Of The Deep or The Land of Pain) with creepy sub-bass ambiance, though… @_@ 
Erupt will not let you down with horror games.
But, for IEMs, FD5 is vastly ahead of what 660 can do, and for serious/competitive gaming FD5 is the no-brainer choice. The sharp treble isn’t so noticeable in-game, but definitely is with music.
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You can try the dt880’s. I love the FD5 because they remind me of the dt880’s but in iem form with boosted bass. Great for gaming as well.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I know it shouldn’t matter but I’m personally not a fan of the industrial look and build of Beyer’s which is why I never went down that route and also the lack of a removable cable on the entry models. Them Focal Clears doe 
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