Tons of people in the audiophile community love to try to aim for the most analytical IEMs with the perfect technicalities and all that good stuff. I’m curious as to what you all love to use when you just simply want to enjoy some tunes, watch youtube, whatever it is you like to do when chilling.
What sound signature do you enjoy most?
And what is your main genre?
I’m currently waiting on my Olina SE to arrive, but in terms of my favorite genre I would say Metalcore/Heavy Metal. A weird “relaxing” genre for sure but for some reason listening to energetic music relaxes me. Could be why I can get through the day without coffee lol. Warm Neutral is what I enjoy the most.
I fluctuate so much in my taste, but I’ve learned that I lean toward a warmer signature, that needs to have good bass impact, mostly mid bass, in order for me to actually enjoy the music. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a brighter set, but I know for a fact that I wouldn’t enjoy it based on my experience with the sets I’ve already owned - I kind of wish I had that taste in brighter sets, mostly due to the advantages of imaging and resolution but hey, I like what I like, ya know?
My main genre right now is jazz, and my main set for that is the IKKO OH10 - I finally found the right tips and these things are fantastic! The KBear Rosefinch is second if I want even more warmth.
It’s similar with me, brighter setup just feels too fatiguing for me. I might need to experiment more though cause so far most of my experience with headphones comes from my HD 6XXs that I use daily for hours. And for IEMs it’s some Kbears 2 and Sony earbuds which are quite V shaped lol. I’m super excited to get my Olina SE for some actual solid quality IEMs.
From what I read, the Olina SE is a fantastic set, most likely the benchmark in the $100 range. You’ll definitely enjoy it - It seems that HBB retuned it and fixed those overly hot upper mids and treble, you should really have a banger on your hands.
It’s not a basshead set I do agree if you care about sub-bass. However I like midbass thump more than subbass presence (evidently for my love of N3).
But I’ve been surprisingly enjoying listening to bassy hip hop songs and RnB on Serratus, the quality of midbass is just so nice. You will feel the depth of the slams, has decent thumps, instrument separation is really good. Even the depth of the voice of the singers I can sometimes pinpoint the moment they change their tone. The timbre made the hiphop songs enjoying (though missing the sub-bass presence that bassheads enjoys while rocking their head).
To note I am using Topping G5, this dac amp actually have removed my bass bloat and peak clean making my listening free from color/distortion so it may be possible that the subbass might have been as well wiped.
I’m on my dac/amp’s 2nd battery cycle today rotating to hiphop and country music the whole day while working. I really enjoy the tonality of this set.
I’m extremely excited for them to arrive. Haven’t had a proper set of IEMs/earbuds so it’s like I’m gonna be losing my IEM audiophile virginity. Only thing I’m worried about is it will open up my love to spend too much money, and go for more IEMs lol.
