Help me with IEM choice please!

[KloakMunk]

hey i was buying a iem china stuff for like 2 dollars. it made me want to buy some higher priced but no super high.
i was looking at aliexpress and i was looking at the Moondrop CHU II, and KZ's ZSN pro 2 and Castor Pro Bass boosted and the zs10 zs12 as16 and so on..
and the Wan er 2 and gate. but i was thinking of buying more than one but then i saw the SIMGOT ew300 dsp. and i was thinking. is it best buying say
one castor pro and one wan er and a zsn pro.
OR should i just buy a nicer like EW300 from simgot? i mean i can only use one at the time anyway and an nice one would be better.
but i use my beyerdynamic DT770 80ohm at home and i use galaxy buds 2
and sennheiser cx truewireless a bit. and i want them to be having the sub bass but i really like dt770. dont know if they are really flat.

what should i do?

 

[Curvature]

My thoughts here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/iem-addiction.66584/#post-2419690

 

[KloakMunk]

thanks for your comment. dont know what to take out from it. i want some in-ear earphones that is good. quality control and sound and so on. i have wireless buds already and i want something sounding better. i use sennheiser cx truewireless and galaxy buds 2. and rocking my beyerdynamics dt770 at home. but i want to explore the IEM stage. and was asking if its best to buy 3 pair of budget iems or a bit more expensive one from the beginning? not your oppinion about wireless or wired. i want to have the in ear soundstage and wired to explore the different DACs and AMPs. i have a bass booster from m audio and i got an xrtfy usb dac and an other dac that can simulate 7.1 for gaming but it sounds good with the mode off in my phone to. and i have some sources at home that i want to explore. i really want it to sound exactly as Beyerdynamics DT770 80ohm but that in ear feeling. so what do i do?

 

[Curvature]

Let me restate. IEM response in your ears are inherently unpredictable and difficult to measure for clear physical reasons. Beyond FR, there are otherwise no meaningful differences between IEMs.

The best IEM ensures a good seal and sit close to the ear drum. The only ones that match that criteria that I've experienced are by Etymotic.

However, those are passive IEMs, and active IEMs are far better because they are wireless, offer noise cancellation are easier to integrate with EQ. Active IEMs also have more consistent unit-to-unit response because they form an integrated system, while passive IEMs have to manually matched. No active IEMs are deep insert as far as I know, but that tradeoff is worth it given the other advantages.

My recommendation for anyone looking for good IEMs is to buy from big brands, Samsung and Apple foremost. They are proven to be excellent.

For headphones, the recommendation is Apple and Sony for actives and Sennheiser and a other few boutique brands, like Dan Clark, for passives.

A method for PEQ is necessary for satisfaction and accuracy as well.

 

[zonk]

I like very much to listen with IEMs but it's a different experience to Over-Ear headphones or speakers. To get satisfying sound a good seal is essential and probably EQ to adjust FR to your personal taste (for example with Equalizer APO Software or Qudelix 5k, depending on your use case).

IEM recommendations:
up to 50€:
- Truthear Gate
- Moondrop Chu 2
- Tangzu Wan'er SG 2
- 7Hz x Crinacle Zero 2
- KZ PRX (but KZ has sometimes quality issues)

up to 100€:
- Truthear Zero RED (big nozzle, can cause comfort issues)
- Moondrop May
- Simgot EW300
- Truthear Hexa

Some of the IEMs have been measured here, other measurement sources are:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets/
https://squig.link/
https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/blob/master/results/INDEX.md

The "7Hz x Crinacle Zero 2" could be a good start, and then see if you want something else.

 

[sq225917]

Theres loads of raw differences beyond frequency response. Impedance, sensitivity, distortion, impulse response to name but a few. Sure starting with a FR balance that you like, or can easily EQ from is a good start, but ignoring the rest is akin to ignoring all the typical measurements you see for loudspeakers beyond raw FR.

 

[Curvature]

Theres loads of raw differences beyond frequency response. Impedance, sensitivity, distortion, impulse response to name but a few. Sure starting with a FR balance that you like, or can easily EQ from is a good start, but ignoring the rest is akin to ignoring all the typical measurements you see for loudspeakers beyond raw FR.

Impulse response is another mathematical representation of frequency response.

Sensitivity and impedance only matter for passive IEMs when matching to amps. By themselves they are not important. Another good reason to switch to active.

Very few IEMs audibly distort at regular listening levels. Same goes for speakers and headphones. Distortion is simply not an important factor. Etymotics distort at very low frequencies if you specifically boost that area through EQ, but the answer is not to boost, but to attenuate the rest of the frequency range.

 

[KloakMunk]

thanks dudes i gfo with hexa

 

[KloakMunk]

im happy about my choice

 

[xFtesht]

Try Letshuoer S08 or S12/S12 ultra. You will be very surprised how under 100 iems can sound.