advertisement


IEMs for Serious Music Listening

R

ryder

pfm Member
Due to unavoidable circumstances, my loudspeaker based system is getting less use. I recently acquired some mid-range IEMs to experiment and surprisingly the result isn’t too shabby. I was wondering if there’s anyone here who owns costly IEMs and derives enjoyment from them.

FWIW I’m not into full-sized headphones and prefer IEMs over them.
 
There’s such diminishing returns, if any, above the £300ish price point these days. Once you have found a preferred signature sound/frequency curve then it’s teeny-tiny improvements at best, perhaps the accessories are more lavish or it may just be a case of “want that one”……I’m very tempted in the new Symphonium Titan as I like big but clean bass - no real “need” for it but I live alone with a treated room/speakers so can listen as loud and as often as I wish.

I have the Symphonium Meteor £500, Sony XBA-N3 £200, 7Hz Zero 2 £20, Kiwi Ears Crinacle/Singolo £70, all used with a Hiby R6 iii Dap.

The Meteor is prob my fav, or the Sony….cant decide?…….. I can pick either up and be perfectly happy for my preferred listening genre of electronic music, they both graph similar but the Sony being a 1DD/1BA hits harder with more heft to the bass, the Meteor with 4BA’s has far better treble extension and also very good bass for a BA only set, but not quite the punch/tactile nature of the Sony.

The 7Hz Zero 2 is not far behind the above to be honest, it has very low distortion so is perfectly at ease being played around with peq from the Hiby so it’s good to develop a preferred signature curve or just play around with tuning.

If I was buying afresh as a gift for someone to get into the iem world then I’d be buying the Dunu Davinci, seems like extremely well tuned with good accessories for under £260.

Good eartips to ensure a seal are also very important as otherwise any iem will sound thin, currently my favourites are Penon Audio Liqueur ear tips and also Divinus Velvet, for certain iem’s Dunu S&S ear tips are good.

It’s hard to make recommendations regarding ear tips though as everyone’s ear canal size and angle is slightly different along with how the iem fits in the pinna of the ear.

I’ve been using iem’s for 20+ years from my first pair of Etymotic ER4-P which at the time I thought were great but I couldn’t listen to them now.

How do you listen, what setup do you have?
 
Thanks for the comprehensive post. I bought some Simgot EA500LMs about two months ago and was impressed by their price to performance ratio so I got the EA1000 last week. The IEMs are used with a FIIO KA13 and my phone is the source. Both EA1000 and FIIO KA13 are newly acquired.

I'm looking at the Elysian Pilgrim and an iBasso DAC/amp after this before I call it a day.
 
The Fiio KA13 is a genuine powerhouse of a dongle and can power any iem (and most headphones) without issues whilst the dual CS43131 dac chips are as good as anything else on the market, don't be suckered into believing the hype that a more expensive dac/amp will improve the sound much, if anything noticeable at all.

I've included a link below to show how the Pilgram stacks up against your simgot EA500/1000 iems and you will see with the pilgrim there is an increase of 5db sub bass from 80hz (very welcome over the bass anemic simgots imho), less mid rage bleeding into the mids (it may sound thin to you after the simgots) and a relaxed treble region (if you find the simgots quite shouty/shrill this is a good thing). The Pilgrim is an all round very well tuned iem with the build quality to match - I doubt you'd go far wrong if this is your final choice

hbb.squig.link

Squiglink - IEM frequency response database by Hawaii Bad Boy

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

In the graph linked above I've also shown the Dunu Davinci, the main difference between the Pilgrim and Davinci is the pilgrim has less mid bass leading into the mids, given the choice I'd choose the davinci over the pilgrim as it is tuned more akin to my personal preference.

Whatever you choose don't be taken in by hype, enjoy :)
 
CanJam London coming up in a few weeks. A great opportunity to see what's in the market at various price points (although I'm not sure I'd want to audition iem's there!).
 
Bodhi said:
The market for IEM's iso so massive now, you're probably better off posting that question on Headfi forum.
Click to expand...

I’ve been a member on headfi since 2004ish and it’s turned into a subjective “shill” city these days with every new iem being so much better than the iem that’s 6 months old and a must buy, I still post on it but I’m quite selective in my responses as the majority of posts talking about how an iem/dap/amplifier/dac sounds are just utter subjective flowery contradictory bullshit
 
I played around with a few cheaper ones but even though many were OK they weren't great but we are talking up to £150. I then bought a pair of Xenns Mangird Tea 2's which I really liked and still have. I got upgraditis and got offered a pair of Thieaudio Monarch 3's which I bought, I prefer them to the Xenns and use them all the time now pretty much but if I go back just to check the sound is pretty good too with them.

In cost the difference is quite large(double plus some I think) but in sound not huge. Not massively helpful I guess! 🙄😳
 
As posted before I enjoy my Timeless 7hz (I’m guessing the mention earlier meant about £220) and for reference I use Meze 109Pro and Audeze LCD-X for home listening and AKG Y500 for TV Bluetooth. I’m still impressed with the 7hz.
 
Thanks for all replies. Some good options listed here, some expensive, some close to the price of my current reference, the Simgot EA1000.

I like the EA1000 very much, excellent sound, but you know how it goes. I'm now aiming for endgame before I call it a day. I'm in no hurry as I want to spend some time with the EA1000 before thinking of the next step. There are so many choices and I'm not sure if I'm asking too much but things that I am looking for are better clarity, separation and detail, a more spacious and 3-dimensional sound and an airier and smoother treble.

The list has expanded from most to least expensive.

Thieaudio Prestige
Thieaudio Monarch Mk3
Elysian Pilgrim Noir
Elysian Pilgrim
Dunu Davinci
Final Audio A5000
7Hz Timeless AE

I'll take my time. Thanks.
 
Bodhi said:
The market for IEM's is so massive now, you may be better off posting that question on Headfi forum.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've checked the Headfi forum earlier. Initially I was just looking at the Elysian Pilgrim but the list has expanded, not good. Anyway I'm in no hurry.
 
ryder said:
Yes, I've checked the Headfi forum earlier. Initially I was just looking at the Elysian Pilgrim but the list has expanded, not good. Anyway I'm in no hurry.
Click to expand...
Don't underestimate my comment on amps - the issue is the sensitivity of iems compared with the relative inefficiency of traditional headphones. You will hear the noise floor of lesser headphone outputs.
 
I tried the Monarch MK2 last year thanks to a UK head member sending them to me and I enjoyed the sound but Jesuz they are "HUGE", they wouldn't stay in my ears due to shell design and the discomfort was noticeable after 20mins so try before you buy if at all possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top