Objectivist friendly and wallet friendly IEM?

[pk500]

Sound great but I have comfort issues with the shape of the shells and trouble getting tips that go deep enough/ stay put. In that regard, Etys win hands down ( I dont mind the deep insertion weirdness)

Horses for courses. I love the fit of the Starfields. I can't stand anything that inserts deeply into my ears, and my doc has told me that earbuds, in general -- especially deep ones -- will exacerbate ear wax accumulation in my waxy canals.

Glad you like the Etys.

 

[Pritaudio]

Listening to ety er2se, can’t get to get good seal no matter how far down the canal. Any jaw movement changes the seal and sound.
will try the other tips.
does this earphone require burn in. What is the recommended advice?

 

[Chromatischism]

No burn in but tips definitely make a difference. Have you tried all the ones they came with? My FiiOs included like 5 different sets, crazy.

 

[Pritaudio]

yes the larger tip gives me a better seal and hence sound.
I have to say that although these are ultra low distortion, measurements don’t convey separation/congestion during complex passages of music. I’m using the rme dac iem output, and it gives better detail retrievement than my Hifiman anandas. But the anandas never get congested. I’m considering topping a90 as I’m not happy with the rme dac headphone out.
maybe the sinad of rme 110db headphone out with lower power is not as good as 120db topping a90 with plenty of power and upgrade path. I will use the rme for dac and eq responsibility. At least the rme dac has 115db sinad.

 

[Pritaudio]

The er2se comes with three sets only.
2 three flange in small and large. And then foam which I’m yet to try.

 

[Jimbob54]

yes the larger tip gives me a better seal and hence sound.
I have to say that although these are ultra low distortion, measurements don’t convey separation/congestion during complex passages of music. I’m using the rme dac iem output, and it gives better detail retrievement than my Hifiman anandas. But the anandas never get congested. I’m considering topping a90 as I’m not happy with the rme dac headphone out.
maybe the sinad of rme 110db headphone out with lower power is not as good as 120db topping a90 with plenty of power and upgrade path. I will use the rme for dac and eq responsibility. At least the rme dac has 115db sinad.

Why not just adapt to 6.3mm and get the benefit of more power. My ER2SE need a lot of juice to sound good , especially with some EQ and pre amp reduction

 

[DanTheMan]

This thread inspired me to order a pair of $20 Moondrop IEMs. I love my Etymotic ER4xr, but I’m always worried about losing them. $20 won’t break my bank or my heart.

 

[Fregly]

This thread inspired me to order a pair of $20 Moondrop IEMs. I love my Etymotic ER4xr, but I’m always worried about losing them. $20 won’t break my bank or my heart.

You mean the Spaceship? The frequency graph looks quite good on it; I had an older model, the brass ones -- I forget the name -- and they were very good. The Spaceship is an improved version I gather.

 

[DanTheMan]

That’s the one. I can’t wait to try them out. A $20 ER4xr might be unrealistic expectations, but the graph looks good. I listened to the 4xr for hours today in anticipation.

 

[amanieux]

You need to explore the world of Chi-fi earphones .....

when will amir test iems ? it seems there is a lot of people saying that at a given price point iem always sound better than headphones so we'd love to have some objective measurements to dilute all these subjective impressions.

 

[Jimbob54]

when will amir test iems ? it seems there is a lot of people saying that at a given price point iem always sound better than headphones so we'd love to have some objective measurements to dilute all these subjective impressions.

I think its a WIP but possibly not yet got fit/ measurements dialled in as he would like to start rolling out any results.

 

[pk500]

when will amir test iems ? it seems there is a lot of people saying that at a given price point iem always sound better than headphones so we'd love to have some objective measurements to dilute all these subjective impressions.

I don't know about "always," but the Moondrop Starfield IEMs sound as good or better than any over-ear headphone I've heard at $110.

 

[markanini]

I ran AutoEQs ranking script with the USound target instead of the Harman in-ear target:
https://pastebin.com/RkVx3caV
You will find a few of the IEMs mentioned in this thread like the Starfield high up on the list.

 

[amanieux]

I don't know about "always," but the Moondrop Starfield IEMs sound as good or better than any over-ear headphone I've heard at $110.

i forgot to add that iem isolation vs open back headphones or speakers dramatically reduces "external noise" such as street noise, computer fan or air conditionner hum. these noises generates much higher signal/noise ratio than dac or amp electronic noise levels amir obcessively focuses on (we love your work anyway, thanks for sharing your results with us)

 

[amanieux]

Hybrid, the best of both worlds - KC2, T3, OH1

+1 for hybrid iem (speakers usually are hybrid also, no idea why headphones are mostly single drivers). what is your sub $150 iem recommendation as of today ? ( i use spring1 as a daily driver and like it but i am annoyed by the fish bowl echo in the bass, and yes i tried the grill mod but it did not work for me)

 

[buz]

I don't know about "always," but the Moondrop Starfield IEMs sound as good or better than any over-ear headphone I've heard at $110.

I have moondrop blessing 2 (basically the next level up in moondrop lineup) and while they are good, they don't reach hd800s level. They do reach hd600 (and possibly surpass) but there I would argue it is somewhat different, horses for courses. Hd800s is another level.

 

[amanieux]

Currently using KZ ZSR (looks like it's discontinued) and Galaxy Buds+ for in ear.

Ordered ER2SE instead of ER2XR, since this won't be my only IEM, I would use ER2SE as neutral, closer to reference sound. Hopefully I can get the fit going.

Still undecided on what to get for more 'fun' sounding IEM (relatively fun, compared to ER2SE, not looking for crazy V shape). Few items that I read up on so far.
- Moondrop Starfield - Paint chipping, might need to change filter often
- ThieAudio Legacy 3 - Might be too bassy
- Fiio FH3 - reviews are very polarizing
- Tin Hifi T4 - reviews seems to rate Starfield and Legacy 3 higher
- Blon BL-03 with upgraded cable + ear tips - Might end up upgrading not soon after

you can remove blon 03 from your list, it is much cheaper but not in the same category as the others in your list (blon03 = too much bass + no details)

 

[amanieux]

There are many cheap IEMs that can be transformed to whatever you want. For example, you can find $10 Panasonic HJE120 in almost every local store. They have low distortions and don't have sharp peaks and dips (test 1, test 2) so you can equalize them to sound at almost reference level with 10 band equalizer. But their cable is stiff and have microphonic effect. $10 Sony MH750 and MH755 have very good sound out of the box and very low distortions level. They are similar to Samsung Galaxy Buds+ which are very good too.

i tried panasonic hje120 and sony mh750 which are ok for $10 but considering a meal is $20 i think we can all afford to spend at least $30 in a iem which sounds better ( cca c10, tin t2, bqeyz k2, senfer dt6)

 

[amanieux]

I have moondrop blessing 2 (basically the next level up in moondrop lineup) and while they are good, they don't reach hd800s level. They do reach hd600 (and possibly surpass) but there I would argue it is somewhat different, horses for courses. Hd800s is another level.

i have no doubt hd800s is another level compared to a $300 iem but are you sure there is not a $600 iem that surpasses the $1700 hd800s ?

 

[markanini]

i tried panasonic hje120 and sony mh750 which are ok for $10 but considering a meal is $20 i think we can all afford to spend at least $30 in a iem which sounds better ( cca c10, tin t2, bqeyz k2, senfer dt6)

If an IEM sounded three times better because of the price I'd buy it but that's not a given. I'd love to know how they all in perform in a blind test.