What IEMs do you consider significantly better than the beloved Truthear Zero IEMs?

[Jimbob54]

View attachment 263087
Judging by the graphs Hexa is a detail oriented set, Hola is a wamth oriented set. I'm noting a lack of hype for sets that are all rounders at the moment. 7Hz Salnotes Zero and Tangzu Wan'er would be two still popular sub $25 sets to fulfil that need. I kind of split the difference with my Kiwi Cadenza, and payed a little more for it, $35.
View attachment 263088
I think it was worth the extra $10-15 for the extra tips it provides, but fit hasn't been a given for me in past purchases.
View attachment 263080

They should all focus on fit and comfort now. The FR thing should be something of a given. The zero had issues in the mass fit section. The Hexa are better (smaller for a start) but of course ear shapes are all over the place. But for my money the very smooth, rounded build of the Blessing 2 should be the goal, if with smaller nozzles.

 

[Leiker535]

But for my money the very smooth, rounded build of the Blessing 2 should be the goal, if with smaller nozzles.

Spot on. The only thing that kept me from getting the dusk and from not selling my Variations was the giga nozzle and the unnecessary pinna edges - "universal" custom iems are more prone to be universally awkward than comfortable in my experience.

I've also always wanted to try thieaudios and xenns audio catalog, but am kept away due the untold nozzle partnership with brazzers.

 

[Jimbob54]

Spot on. The only thing that kept me from getting the dusk and from not selling my Variations was the giga nozzle and the unnecessary pinna edges - "universal" custom iems are more prone to be universally awkward than comfortable in my experience.

I've also always wanted to try thieaudios and xenns audio catalog, but am kept away due the untold nozzle partnership with brazzers.

I have thieaudio oracle. Again, work for my ears but huge shell so won't work for others.

 

[Nango]

Don't think one can survive on the long run with "pay less for more". But who knows.

 

[Somafunk]

Been playing around with roon peq (and educating myself regarding filters/q factor etc) for a few weeks and now settled on a couple preset tunings each for my 7hz timeless and Dunu Vulkan depending on genre of music (electronic/techno and a more vocal tuning) I can say I now prefer the Vulkan for the majority of my listening over the Truthear Zero when using mojo2/poly.

 

[markanini]

Don't think one can survive on the long run with "pay less for more". But who knows.

Chinese economy is funny.

 

[julian_hughes]

I have the Truthear Zero and also Moondrop Kato, JVC HA-FDX1 and a few others. For me the reason to buy another IEM would be to get smaller size, better fit and isolation. In the past I've owned Massdrop Plus Universal and Vsonic GR07BE and, using different approaches, they both had much better fit and isolation that any of these *enormous* Moondrop and Campfire and Truthear type designs. The Massdrop was 3D printed and brilliantly designed to conform to human physiology and, despite 3 BA drivers per side, was rather slim. It felt like a custom IEM, absolutely perfectly sitting in the ear and achieving very good isolation without being deep fit. The Vsonic had swiveling/rotating nozzles (a slightly different way to the JVC method, and a bit better in use) and this alone let the thing sit absolutely perfectly in your ear. Again, not a very deep fit but really great isolation and comfort. Unfortunately Massdrop & Vsonic have the component quality and manufacturing QA of a drunk and almost everything they make seems to be cursed to die young. I've had 7 pairs of Massdrop IEMs fail (3 x Massdrop Plus, 2 x EDC3, 2 x Pinnacle PX), and 4 Vsonics (3 x GR07, 1 x VSD1S) - yes I got a lot of refunds and replacements! Meanwhile I have some Sennheiser CX95 well over a decade old which now look like shit but just won't die. And Shures go on forever. I hope the Truthears and Katos and JVC go on a long time but it is nice to know that now several manufacturers are making cheap IEMs which sound fine. It used to be an expensive nightmare finding replacements but right now I could confidently pick 4 or 5 IEMs from $50 to $200 and know I'll like the sound. I wouldn't love the bulk and fit though.

 

[lashto]

It's not Harman tuned and neither does Truthear claim it is:
View attachment 263054

Instead, they clearly write how they targeted IEF Neutral:
View attachment 263055

Here's Hola + Zero + Harman

AFAICS, the Hola and Zero are as close as it gets to each other. And as close as it gets to Harman (nowadays). There are +/- few dBs here and there but nothing I would care about.

Also, they are both much closer to Harman than to the bass-flat IEF-Neutral (much bigger, 5+ dBs diffs there)

So. Why should anyone care about what the manufacturer says or what they wanted to do?!

How about we use the "amazing powers" of our eyes and call those two IEMs Harman-tuned?! Because, you know, the actually are

 

[staticV3]

Here's Hola + Zero + Harman

mate it says "Timmy target" in the graph

How about we use the "amazing powers" of our eyes and call those two IEMs Harman-tuned?! Because, you know, the actually are

ironic lol.
How about you use the "amazing powers" of your eyes and read the target in this graph:

And then use those same eyes to observe how the Hola does not match that target.

 

[lashto]

that "timmy target" is just a slight variation of Harman. Should be easily visible from the two graphs above (that's why I put an original Harman right next to it). Feel free to put those two graphs to scale if you have difficulties.
Timmy/Harman/Thuthear are all just a few dBs away from each other. And all are 5+ dB away from IEF (particulary in the bass).

But nevermind, call it whatever works for you and be happy...

 

[Matias]

Here they are compared to Harman.

Squiglink - IEM frequency response database by Timmy Vangtan

Compare hundreds of frequency response graphs between IEMs and earphones from manufacturers like Moondrop, Sony, 64 Audio, Fiio, and more.

timmyv.squig.link

 

[lashto]

Here they are compared to Harman.

Squiglink - IEM frequency response database by Timmy Vangtan

Compare hundreds of frequency response graphs between IEMs and earphones from manufacturers like Moondrop, Sony, 64 Audio, Fiio, and more.

timmyv.squig.link

View attachment 263373

thanks @Matias . Maybe you can also put the "Timmy" and the "IEF" on the same graph to help everyone see the diffs and stop this useless "discussion".

Also, your squig.link does not work for me, is that feature paywall protected?!

 

[Matias]

I don't think it is possible to add both targets in there. And the link is public, free and open, should open for everyone.

 

[lashto]

I don't think it is possible to add both targets in there. And the link is public, free and open, should open for everyone.

thx for trying anyway.

For some reason that link does not work on my Linux machine (both FF & chrome show a blank page). All fine under Windows.

 

[lashto]

whaddayaknow, it actually works. Just keep "ctrl" pressed to select multiple target curves

Case closed hopefully

 

[GaryH]

Normalized at 500 Hz as they should be according to the industry standard:

Large differences in the treble over a broadband (more audible) range, as well as significant differences in the sub- and upper-bass. To claim these are 'as close as it gets' to eachother is patently wrong.

 

[staticV3]

Normalized at 500 Hz as they should be according to the industry standard

I know you like your standards, but honestly, a fixed 500Hz nomalization frequency does more harm than good.
It produces graphs like this, which are just difficult to read:



Instead, can we please normalize contextualized normalization? Simply look for plateaus in the error curve and align those to the target:


The easier the graph is to interpret, the better.

Same deal with Amir's method imo. What good does it do to stubbornly use 425Hz for every review?

 

[GaryH]

I know you like your standards, but honestly, a fixed 500Hz nomalization frequency does more harm than good.
It produces graphs like this, which are just difficult to read:
View attachment 263420

How is that difficult to read? It clearly shows the headphone has a v-shaped response, which it does.

View attachment 263412

And this shows a response that lacks sub-bass, is thick in the lower-mids and lacking in upper-mids / treble.

Instead, can we please normalize contextualized normalization?

That would be normalizing pseudoscience, allow anyone to massage the data to fit their subjective narrative, and do more harm than good.

Simply look for plateaus in the error curve and align those to the target:
View attachment 263421
View attachment 263411

So now these two magically both have near-ideal treble response and their only problems are with the bass and lower mids? Sound judgements don't work like that, we don't necessarily perceptually match error curve 'plateaus', and not in the treble either. I've previously posted the very good psychoacoustic and practical reasons why 500 Hz should and is used as the industry standard normalization frequency, as adopted and explained by acoustic scientists such as Dr Olive. Your argument in contrast is basically 'it looks nicer my way'. (Of course, it should go without saying we're talking about comparisons between different headphones and/or relative to a target here, so talk of single-headphone comparisons across different heads/rigs or assessing feedback mechanisms is, as usual, irrelevant to this discussion. *roll eyes*)

 

[markanini]

@GaryH I could imagine a few, but what are the reasons to normalize to 500Hz?

 

[GaryH]

See the post I linked in my previous comment.