Earbuds Round-Up
Sep 23, 2021 at 2:41 PM Post #57,902 of 75,900
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So my latest mod is also an improvement in fit, on the already great fitting K's bell shell. MMCX converted my old LB cable for the LBBS I already MMCX converted.

Wearing them down is way more stable now that there is something that sits in the inter-tragic notch. That and adding a chin cinch.
 
Sep 23, 2021 at 10:21 PM Post #57,904 of 75,900
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Sep 24, 2021 at 2:05 AM Post #57,905 of 75,900
Yes, it came with a tuning set installed. I will experiement with the rest of the tunning set when I'm less busy.
from my experience, you can get them fairly close to an HD650 with the type 1 tuning filter and HeiGi foams. The HeiGi also seem to keep them more stable in my ears.
 
Sep 24, 2021 at 10:54 AM Post #57,906 of 75,900
Sep 25, 2021 at 2:51 AM Post #57,907 of 75,900
Here is a list of currently available god-tier earbuds (many are under $300).

Blur are Singaporean; custom-made in Singapore. The offered combination of high quality build, superb customer-service, and excellent sound signature in my opinion has been unmatched by anything I have ever bought headphone/earphone wise over forty plus years... including all summit gear in which one or two of those criteria were grossly lacking (e.g. looked great but sounded like crap; sounded great but had serious QC issues; sounded great, superbly build but hurt like hell; sounded great but with minor QC issues and horrible customer service; etc.)

Thanks big time for your suggestions, in this post. It has some very helpful recommendations. I am going to check out these, "God-Tier Earbuds", no doubt. Noticed that the VE Zen 2.0 is among these titans, interesting, it is a strong contender for me.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 1:08 PM Post #57,908 of 75,900
Thanks to @ian91 I have not one, but two sets of Blur Buds inbound. I haven't had a set of buds for several years but actually found a pair recently that came with a Cowon iAudio DAP from the early 00s... listened in bed last night and thoroughly enjoyed - very surprised at the sound quality, excellent detailed and balanced sound, very nice soundstage too. I assume they are pretty cheap too having just been bundled with a DAP way back.

20210925_070952.jpg


I was debating the Fiio EM5 and after reading numerous reviews today, I took the plunge and a set arriving from Amazon on Tuesday - I've read about some quality issues but at least no problem with returns from Amazon, even indeed if I don't like, I have the 30 days return.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 1:16 PM Post #57,909 of 75,900
Thanks to @ian91 I have not one, but two sets of Blur Buds inbound. I haven't had a set of buds for several years but actually found a pair recently that came with a Cowon iAudio DAP from the early 00s... listened in bed last night and thoroughly enjoyed - very surprised at the sound quality, excellent detailed and balanced sound, very nice soundstage too. I assume they are pretty cheap too having just been bundled with a DAP way back.

20210925_070952.jpg

I was debating the Fiio EM5 and after reading numerous reviews today, I took the plunge and a set arriving from Amazon on Tuesday - I've read about some quality issues but at least no problem with returns from Amazon, even indeed if I don't like, I have the 30 days return.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the change of a bud for a while! Will be interested to hear your thoughts on the EM5.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 1:19 PM Post #57,910 of 75,900
Glad to hear you enjoyed the change of a bud for a while! Will be interested to hear your thoughts on the EM5.

Yes very keen to hear it, generally very positive reviews and I get the sense it will perform well with ambient and modern classical - I'll find out soon.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 3:32 PM Post #57,912 of 75,900
Those Cowon buds are probably better than you think. Seems like that was a decent period for buds, but I certainly wasn’t listening to them then. Try them with a couple brands of foams to get an idea what they are really capable of. I was blissfully in ER4Bs at that time and nearly getting run over every time I took a walk.

It will be interesting to read your listening impressions of your EM5 and Blur compared. Clash of Titans.
 
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Sep 25, 2021 at 3:55 PM Post #57,913 of 75,900
Those Cowon buds are probably better than you think. Seems like that was a decent period for buds, but I certainly wasn’t listening to them then. Try them with a couple brands of foams to get an idea what they are really capable of. I was blissfully in ER4Bs at that time and nearly getting run over every time I took a walk.

It will be interesting to read your listening impressions of your EM5 and Blur compared. Clash of Titans.

I was in the fortunate position at the time where I was importing Cowon for distribution - that meant lots of samples to try out! The X5 DAP was incredible back then.

Yeah they are well built and really did surprise me in terms of sound - I couldn't find any foam but ordered some from Amazon, plus I'll have what comes with the EM5. That will certainly make a difference.

Indeed, look forward to seeing how they all compare!
 
Sep 26, 2021 at 4:05 PM Post #57,914 of 75,900
Thanks to @ian91 I have not one, but two sets of Blur Buds inbound. I haven't had a set of buds for several years but actually found a pair recently that came with a Cowon iAudio DAP from the early 00s... listened in bed last night and thoroughly enjoyed - very surprised at the sound quality, excellent detailed and balanced sound, very nice soundstage too. I assume they are pretty cheap too having just been bundled with a DAP way back.

20210925_070952.jpg

I was debating the Fiio EM5 and after reading numerous reviews today, I took the plunge and a set arriving from Amazon on Tuesday - I've read about some quality issues but at least no problem with returns from Amazon, even indeed if I don't like, I have the 30 days return.
That iAudio earbud looks remarkably similar to an LG earbud that I have: https://shopee.com.my/LG+Retro+Nice...4.3624958.7&stm_medium=referral&stm_source=rw

If they are indeed the same, I can confirm that they do indeed sound good. Only downside is the ultra short cable on the LG unit (perfect for use with the Qudelix 5K tho!).
 
Sep 26, 2021 at 4:08 PM Post #57,915 of 75,900

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