I did borrow my friend's Havi B3. Of all my iems and earbuds I have own. Crazy Cellos are my favourite and are my current drivers.
Sound preference: warm, bass to runs deep and tight, treble accurate but not bright. I love vocals at the same time able to listen to the instruments coming along with it. I sub consciously pay more attentoom to the drumset. I have no idea why I am not a drummer I am a guitarist.
K500 earbuds (USD80)
Treble too sparkly. Too many peaks in the treble. Bright is not my preference (warm bodies mids and a deep tight bass) K500 bass runs deep but very little in quantity. Just too bright for me to enjoy. The K500 resolution edges out the Crazy Cellos because of the peaks in treble. Great earbuds but just not my taste.
KZ ATR USD5 (USED to be my current driver but now its replaced by you know what
)
Cellos offer much better details. The ATR bass lacks impact and bass details is not as distinct as the Cellos. The ATR perform better in vocals than the cellos at first. After burning in, the cellos vocals had much more body and edges out the ATR.
Is the Cellos 10 times better? Nope.
Is it worth the upgrade? Definitely for me.
KZ ZS3 (USD8)
ZS3 have more bass than the Cellos. At first I thought the bass of the ZS3 is tight. (coming from the upgrade from apple earpods) You got to listen to the Crazy Cellos. Tighter than the ZS3 very satisfying bass on the Cello. There is so much bass quantity on the ZS3 that vocals sound thin on the ZS3 and as a result the ZS3 sound dark. The crazy cellos are not dark but they are not bright.Isolation on the ZS3 is superb whats more cables are detachable definetely a ++ for me. I think they are neutral because I don't find them warm (coming from Monk+ and Shozy Cygnus and Havi
B3)
Is the Cellos 5 times better? Nope
Is it worth the upgrade? If you are not a basshead. Definitely.
Havi B3 Pro 1 (USD55)
Very wide soundstage. Blew me off when I listen to it. After further listening, I have found out its only strong point was its soundstage and vocals. Vocals feels intimate on the Havi. This have very good imaging and separation too. Bass is muddy. Drums do not sound good on this. Even as a dual dynamic, I have no idea how do bass sound this muddy. Still an upgrade from Apple earpods but the bass is just not satisfying. Treble is so-so. The really only thing that is impressive is its soundstage. Isolation of this beats the Cellos as well. In my opinion, sound wise I prefer the Crazy Cellos. I think I made the Havi sound very bad. I think they are good but does not fit my sound preference.
Shozy Cygnus (USD89)
Very mid centric. Instead I think Shozy overdid it. My music sounds weird to me I guess not the way that I like it to be. Vocals does great on this pair of earbuds but the Crazy Cellos are no pushover. Vocals goes to the Cygnus. Cygnus loses in terms of bass quality and quantity and soundstage. Crazy Cellos have a very wide soundstage and coupled with an accurate imaging and separation calls for a deadly combination. The only thing I can enjoy on the Cygnus is more vocal oriented songs. But the cellos are more all rounders. Rock, jazz, instrumental, blues most of the songs that I listen too.
Monk+
Monk+ are warm. Amping it gives good body to the vocals and a good amount of bass. Monk+ loses to the Cellos in terms of treble and detail retrival. Cymbals sounds good but it is not as accurate as the Crazy Cellos. Soundstage also loses to the Cellos.
Whats more you need to amp the Monk+ for it to compete with the Cellos.
Is the cellos 8 times better? Nope.
Is it a noticeable upgrade IMO? Yes.
Is the crazy cellos a new budget king? Definitely not but I just hope I get more opinions on the Shozy Zero. Would love to hear those. If not I do not think I will be spending any more money on any iems soon. Will be saving for some DAC and amp.
Well, this is all my opinions you are free to have yours. This is what my ear catches so if your ear catches something different do let others know as well.
Disclaimer: I compared both iems and earbuds together in terms of soundwise only. Do note that in terms of isolation, you should know earbuds loses miserably.