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Which curve for an IEM would be better for music production (no EQ)

which one is better for producing music?

  • ie200

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • ie100 pro

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • other

    Votes: 4 80.0%

  • Total voters
    5

fountain

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Jan 24, 2024
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I'm between these two IEM's for producing my music (mainly beats and electronic) but I can't decide which one would be better, I'll add both curves in the thread so if you want could help me decide between these two. However any IEM suggestions for producing music and also enjoying listening songs at the same time would be much appreciate it.
Thank you :)
 

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The Moondrop Blessing 3 is about the most neutral one I've heard out of the box. The Moondrop Chu 2 is what I use daily and it's amazing for the price. Read the review here, it trades blows with many several times it's price. Also low profile like the Sennheiser, looks very discrete.
 
If you're going to use headphones (especially IEMs) for mixing / producing, it's probably smart to use something like Sonarworks or Can Opener to get a room sim going... the crosstalk and reverb you get from monitors in-room are dramatically different than what you get from headphones and it can really affect mixing decisions.

Otherwise the most important thing is to listen to music on them a lot so your ear adjusts to them. The FR is important but that's not the most important thing for your ability to use them effectively.
 
I've tried 30+ IEMs for the same purpose as you. Still using a pair of monitors as my main tool. My best IEMs so far are Truthear Gate and and Truthear Hexa. Everything else I tried has some issue with the frequency response. Even Hexa is slightly too lean but more resolving than Gate. I've ordered Truthear Nova because of that. On the graph Nova has higher bass levels than Hexa, the mid-range around 4kHz can be adjusted by swapping out knowles style dampers the nozzle, so no need for EQ if you need to personalize the response in a critical vocal range. I can let you know what I feel about it when it gets to me.

One important thing to pay attention to is the output impedance of the 3.5mm output you are connecting to. It varies between 0-90Ohm depending on your audio interface and you want max 2Ohm out to hear the true response of the IEM. If your audio interface doesn't have this, it's fine to substitute with a JCally JM7 or Fiio KA11 DAC-amp.
 
Personally I've settled on Truthear Novas with a bit of EQ for professional work (mixing, mastering, restoration, QC) and I'm really happy with them. In fact I like them so much that I've ordered a spare pair, just in case something happens to my main pair.
For anything that's not too demanding (practice, studio setup, location recording, casual listening...) I've been fine using them without any EQ.

(note that the supplied cable is very microphonic, so you may want to plan on getting a replacement from the start)
 
If you’re set on a pair of iems there are many options around the 20-50$ pricerange. Numerous of them having been reviewed on here. Spending more on iems is a fool’s errand imho.
I would strongly suggest a pair of studio monitors, if you’re you going to mix/produce music - or perhaps go the route earlier mentioned with some room simulation.
I am not a producer or sound engineer of any sort, but finding out how headphones, monitors and iems correlate with one another vs the actual mix is more important than hunting down a pair of iems/headphones with the perfect frequency response. With training your ears will get to know what sounds good or indeed where you need to take account of X transducer’s peculiarities.
Great gear is not in any way, shape or form a guarantee for a great mix. A person with great ears and the technical knowhow is.
Best of luck going forth.
 
@fountain
A singluar, correct IEM response that'll guarantee good mixes for all users does not exist.

Instead, it is up to the user to play around with EQ and try different targets and frequency responses of other IEM models to find a resonse which sounds good, or sounds correct.

A few aspects that've helped me a lot are:
  • A comfortable IEM shell that I can wear for a long time
  • IEM cables that go over your ears to reduce microphonics
  • Ear tips that seal well (for example, Sony MH755 eartips in S fit my ears very well, and so I use them with almost every IEM I get)
  • An IEM with smooth treble response devoid of big dips and peaks (as measured on a B&K5128)
    Some examples:
graph (2).png graph (3).png
graph (5).png graph (4).png

One budget IEM with surprisingly even treble response (and shockingly low distortion) is the 7Hz Zero:2.

I believe with the right ear tips and some slight EQ (here's mine, but do experiment), it could be all you'll ever need.
 
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