Which IEM with ~500 to 1k budget

[Yanec]

Thank you again all for all the answers.

I've received the Zero:2 . I must admit that I'm impressed by it for its price. I find my WF-1000XM still have a better sound but it is still really impressive.

I've gave a try for the AutoEq and tried some error fixing to stick to the Harman curve. I have a nice result on the Sony, a little bit less good with the Zero2.
I also tried to simulate other IEMs but I don't have the same feeling as the original (I guess the IEM I try to use is not able to have the same frequency response even with correction).

I'll try and buy the 3 IEMs Anaveragebear suggested to have a feel of the sounds they can have.
The Qudelix 5k seems to be a good solution for the bluetooth need.

What do you think about the shure solution : https://www.shure.com/fr-FR/produits/accessoires/rmce-tw2?variant=RMCE-TW2 ?
It ties me to the shure products but if there is a good one for me it would be an even easier way to have bluetooth on IEMs

For the Bluetooth, I used all of these and some other. The one that clearly has the edge is the Shanling MW200. It is rarely found so that's why many forget it or haven't tried it. Still available new on eBay directly from a Chinese seller, who is a good seller btw.

For the iems, I have all of the ones you mentioned and the ones recommended. Most of these are good imo. As said many times above, no need to spend much. Yes, the Monarch mk3 is better than the Red but is the difference worthy $1k...unless you make really good money I would say no. If I can recommend something additional to all great advises above: try mid-level. The Kiwi Quintet as an example - 99% of the Monarch mk3 sound, 1/3 of the cost. And it is better than a $50 iem, more so than the Monarch is better than it.

As to the headphones, try Sennheiser Momentum 4 instead of your Sony...you will be pleasantly surprised, cheaper but noticeably better. Absolutely no need going into nonsense price category.

Of course, this is my personal opinion, most people have their own favorites.

 

[Gipada]

Hello,

I'm still in the wait for the other iems, I'll make them arrive next week.

I've ordered the hibi w3 that should arrive before the end of this month.

About the source and needs : usually it will be my Phone (a zenphone 9 with Spotify, do lossless services worth the money ?)
And maybe my pc. So probable a good Dac will help.

For the Bluetooth it will be more for commuting and I can sacrifice a little bit of quality to gain in practicality. But still looking.

As far as iems vs over-ear headphones, iems is the way to go for me, over-ear are really discomfortable to me giving me a sense of heating near my ears.

 

[Gipada]

Hi all,

First of all thank you for all the feedback and advices.

I've received everything and managed to take time to do some tests.

First I've tried the Hiby w3, which gives bluetooth support to the IEMs. I think it's great, I can't hear any difference between the bluetooth and the phone itself (which is a Zenfone 9). So I know have iems with bluetooth.

Source is spotifiy on the phone, set to highest quality possible ( I don't have more info). I've tried mainly with "He's a pirate" and "sound of silence" (disturbed version) that I find very good to test.
When using wavelet, I used either profile from the application itself or from autoEq.

Here are my result :
- LINSOUL TANGZU : this is the one that fit the least with my taste, I feel like it lacks details in music ( I have no idea how to describe it in another way)
- TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero : the sound is good to me, wavelet profil increase treble quality to my taste but I find it less confortable
- Linsoul 7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 : very good without correction (maybe highs are a bit too much), better with fix profil
- TRUTHEAR Hexa : very good at the very beginning, and even better with profil (Truthear Hexa on autoEq). It is defenetly the one that sounds the best to me (with profil activated). Very confortable too.
- Sony WF-1000XM4 : very good as well, better with profile but still a little bit less good to me than the Hexa. Still a little bit more versatile with no cables and parametric ANC ; so on the good it's pretty usefull.

I must dmit I'm very pleased and impressed with all this. The hexa is a very nice discovery and it will be the one I'll bring with me whenever I have the opportunity to use it (and sony as backup for walking/running). The other ones are very good too, and will be very good backups.

If you have other recommandations to still improve things, I'll be more than glad to receive feedback.

Thank you !