I got a taste for IEMs, and now I want more

[ziggurcat]

After years of dealing with Apple ear buds, I decided to get myself a "proper" pair of in-ear headphones with the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero 2, and they are pretty nice-sounding to my ears (I think I might like them better than the FiiO FT1 OE headphones I have, honestly). I will continue to use the Zero 2s with my phone, but I think I might want a "nicer" pair of IEMs for my desktop system.

I am currently looking at the 7Hz x Crinacle Divine and the Moondrop Aria 2 IEMs, and while there is frequency response information around, what I am probably most interested in would be how they fare, distortion-wise. The one thing about the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero 2s is they have incredibly low distortion levels, and no obvious resonance issues. I'm definitely not looking for anything that exactly matches that, but it would be nice if the distortion levels were reasonably similar.

Does anyone here have any thoughts/additional data on the Divines/Aria 2s? Are there better options?

Edit:

I've also seen some chatter about the Simgot EW200s as well (for a more budget-friendly option).

 

[Jiraya369]

i used to use a moondrop x crinacle dusk, but it wasnt too comfy for me due to the big shell hurting my ears when it rested on my ears. Additionally the nozzle may have been too thick for me.

I got a Truthear Gate and eq'd it to my tastes. Complete game changer. Who knew low distortion and a fairly smooth FR could be so nice when you can eq to taste? Lol

If I were looking at a new iem, it'd be the 7hz divine because it's jm-1 but even then, why not get the crinear daybreak? Based on graphs, it's PERFECT for my ears. So yeah, basically iems are all FR and comfort and distortion isn't really noticeable in general and even in iems they only climb up at 114 db spl.

My EQ of the Gate, I have a peak at 3-5khz and 9-12khz cus of my hrtf im guessing, i really hate that, once corrected for that the sound is crystal clear, dynamic, fun, all the other subjective terms. It's neutral for my ears with a bass boost

 

[Soandso]

I still really like the etymotic "ER#.." series iems and found adapting to their deep insertion is pretty quick for me at least. Once adept at wearing them they are possibly the most handy being so compact to quickly remove (and subsequently re-insert securely) for daily occurrences like engaging in inter-personal interactions or some unwired task. One audio blogger (Steven Stone) measured a ER4XR total harmonic distortion at 0.15% and the ER4SR at 0.81%. He summarized the ER4XR as flat down to ~150Hz and as go down in frequency by increments when reach 25Hz the ER4XR adds 1-3 dB; while describing the ER4SR a flat down to ~80Hz and as go down in frequency when 20Hz the ER4SR loses 1-2dB.

 

[ziggurcat]

I ended up landing on the Truthear Hexas about 2 weeks ago, and they're pretty nice! I might still get the 7Hz Divines, but I don't want to go too crazy with buying new things I don't necessarily need right now. As far as EQ of the Hexas goes, I have been following the same philosophy as with speaker calibration in that I am only cutting peaks, not boosting any dips. I also don't have the means to take measurements of the pair that I have, so I've just used measurements from Super Review via Squiglink, and I used the JM-1 10db tilt target. Filters were all generated in REW. Sounds perfectly fine to my ears, so that's what I'm sticking with for now.

I have no clue about determining my personal hrtf, and I definitely do not have the equipment for that.

 

[staticV3]

As far as EQ of the Hexas goes, I have been following the same philosophy as with speaker calibration in that I am only cutting peaks, not boosting any dips.

That philosophy does not usually apply to headphones or earphones.

In the first place, any boost that you might apply will immediately be cancelled out by a respective pre gain, so the final filter response will always be a pure cut filter, no matter how crazy you boost things.

In other words, restricting yourself to cut filters only makes reaching the desired target response more difficult with zero benefit.

 

[ziggurcat]

That philosophy does not usually apply to headphones or earphones.

In the first place, any boost that you might apply will immediately be cancelled out by a respective pre gain, so the final filter response will always be a pure cut filter, no matter how crazy you boost things.

In other words, restricting yourself to cut filters only makes reaching the desired target response more difficult with zero benefit.

There isn't even really any boosting necessary, to be honest.

 

[DVDdoug]

I am probably most interested in would be how they fare, distortion-wise.

Personally, I've never heard distortion from ANYTHING unless it was broken or overdriven. (That's ignoring things like cell phones, some old analog records, or low-quality MP3s, etc.)

You can sometimes overdrive an amplifier, speaker, or headphone into distortion, especially when boosting the bass. But I don't know if IEMs are as-prone to that. They may "typically" have more headroom (as long as the amplifier has headroom.)

 

[half_dog]

Personally, I've never heard distortion from ANYTHING unless it was broken or overdriven. (That's ignoring things like cell phones, some old analog records, or low-quality MP3s, etc.)

You can sometimes overdrive an amplifier, speaker, or headphone into distortion, especially when boosting the bass. But I don't know if IEMs are as-prone to that. They may "typically" have more headroom (as long as the amplifier has headroom.)

I had a not so good experience with Etymotics (ER3XR and ER4XR). Some tracks like Contra La Pared from Sean Paul, when the bass hits both IEMs make cracks sounds and is more noticiable when Sean Paul is singing. Those were the only headphones/IEMs that I have witnessed this and I don't music that loud.

 

[Brian Hall]

Before trying more expensive IEMs and thinking higher price is always better, try out some more inexpensive IEMs.

These are great and currently $23 at amazon:

Moondrop Chu II IEM Review

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Moondrop Chu II In-Ear Monitor. It is on kind loan from a member and costs just $19. Compared to some other IEMs I have tested, these are lighter weight due to lack of extra metallic parts. They are also a bit smaller which...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I mention those because I've been listening with my HD800s for a couple of hours and just switched over to the chu 2s. Still sounds great, just not as wide a soundstage.

 

[ziggurcat]

Before trying more expensive IEMs and thinking higher price is always better, try out some more inexpensive IEMs.

These are great and currently $23 at amazon:

Moondrop Chu II IEM Review

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Moondrop Chu II In-Ear Monitor. It is on kind loan from a member and costs just $19. Compared to some other IEMs I have tested, these are lighter weight due to lack of extra metallic parts. They are also a bit smaller which...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I mention those because I've been listening with my HD800s for a couple of hours and just switched over to the chu 2s. Still sounds great, just not as wide a soundstage.

Oh believe me, I'm not one of those people who think more expensive = better. I'm quite satisfied with my Hexas and 7Hz Zero 2s. I'm a sucker for nicer-looking gear, but I will not pay the pretty tax on something that measures like dog doo doo.

That philosophy does not usually apply to headphones or earphones.

In the first place, any boost that you might apply will immediately be cancelled out by a respective pre gain, so the final filter response will always be a pure cut filter, no matter how crazy you boost things.

In other words, restricting yourself to cut filters only makes reaching the desired target response more difficult with zero benefit.

I have re-ran the EQ process in REW, and allowed for some boosting of the response (6dB individual, 3dB overall in the settings), and it does conform a little bit more to the JM-1 target I've used. How does one figure out the preamp gain if REW doesn't spit out that information? The highest peak in the filter is 1.8dB above 0dB, so is it as easy as setting the preamp gain to -1.8dB?

 

[staticV3]

I have re-ran the EQ process in REW, and allowed for some boosting of the response (6dB individual, 3dB overall in the settings), and it does conform a little bit more to the JM-1 target I've used. How does one figure out the preamp gain if REW doesn't spit out that information? The highest peak in the filter is 1.8dB above 0dB, so is it as easy as setting the preamp gain to -1.8dB?

Overlapping filters can result in higher overall gain than the individual filter gains.

To figure out the overall gain, you can load the preset into Equalizer APO and note down the Peak gain number displayed in the configuration editor.

Or you can load the preset into one of the many squig.link variations and when you re export the preset a pre gain line will be added to the .txt with appropriate gain.

Or you can stay in REW and look at the filter response graph in the EQ window and note down its highest dB value.

Or you can save predicted response as measurement in the EQ window, then do A/B Trace Arithmetic with the raw and EQed response and that will also plot the filter response from which you can read the Peak gain.

 

[ziggurcat]

Overlapping filters can result in higher overall gain than the individual filter gains.

To figure out the overall gain, you can load the preset into Equalizer APO and note down the Peak gain number displayed in the configuration editor.

Or you can load the preset into one of the many squig.link variations and when you re export the preset a pre gain line will be added to the .txt with appropriate gain.

Or you can stay in REW and look at the filter response graph in the EQ window and note down its highest dB value.

Or you can save predicted response as measurement in the EQ window, then do A/B Trace Arithmetic with the raw and EQed response and that will also plot the filter response from which you can read the Peak gain.

I have EQ'd each channel individually rather than a combined L+R response -- popping the filter files for the left and right channels into squiglink gives interesting results. -1.9dB preamp gain for the right channel, -3.8dB for the left. I'll look in REW using the A/B trace you mentioned.

Edit:

Just to make sure I'm doing things correctly -- In REW, I selected the trace arithmetic tool, have the OG FR set as A, and the EQ'd FR as B, then select A/B in the drop down menu. When A/B is selected, there's some other options that show up (Max Gain, Lower Limit and Upper Limit). Max Gain is checked with a default of 0.0 value -- do I set that to the highest dB value from the EQ filters (which is +6.0dB) or do I leave is as is (0.0dB)? If I set it to +6.0dB, and click Generate, the info from the graph it spits out shows a "Data Range" value of -1.0 to +4.7dB for the left channel, and -1.5 to +4.9 for the right channel. If I leave the Max Gain at 0.0, the "Data Range" shows -1.0 to 0.0 for the left/-1.5 to 0.0 for the right. The "Data Offset" for both shows a value of +3.01dB regardless of whether I set Max Gain to +6dB or leave it at 0dB.

 

[Jiraya369]

I ended up landing on the Truthear Hexas about 2 weeks ago, and they're pretty nice! I might still get the 7Hz Divines, but I don't want to go too crazy with buying new things I don't necessarily need right now. As far as EQ of the Hexas goes, I have been following the same philosophy as with speaker calibration in that I am only cutting peaks, not boosting any dips. I also don't have the means to take measurements of the pair that I have, so I've just used measurements from Super Review via Squiglink, and I used the JM-1 10db tilt target. Filters were all generated in REW. Sounds perfectly fine to my ears, so that's what I'm sticking with for now.

I have no clue about determining my personal hrtf, and I definitely do not have the equipment for that.

sine sweep, find out peaks using a sine sweep like in an online tone generator and turn those places down.