Are there budget ciem's? ($300 max)
Sep 12, 2022 at 1:43 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

Sound N00b

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I guess I have weird ear canals or something, I think the problem are my ear canals are very oval shaped. I have tried numerous ear tips for iems and the only ones which truly fit are foam tips. Foam tips wear out pretty quickly and also become uncomfortable for me due to the pressure they tend to exert when they expand. It's caused me enough problems where I am really tempted to try to spring for custom iems but I don't really have the budget for them. Are there any ciems which are under $300?

I feel like I am asking for a unicorn here so I can't get too picky but here are my general preferences. I listen the most to rock and some metal such as led zepellin, iron maiden, green day black sabbath ect. But that's really only like 30-50% of what I listen to and the rest is a complete hodgepodge of genres. I want an iem I get to be at least competent in any genre.

I am ideally looking for a sound signature which stays "fun" (enjoyment focused instead of neutrality focused) but without sacrificing resolution or making certain instruments sound very unnatural.

I have tried blon-03 and initially liked its pretty wild scooped sound signature but eventually found that the bass lingered around too long and made everything a bit too muddy for my liking. I appreciate detail but don't need a detail master it just can't be a weak point. Vocals were a bit too recessed for my tastes as well.

My current headphones are akg k712's and I don't like them for casual listening because it does stuff a bit too by the books especially with the bass. It tends to be controlled with a lot of detail (a plus) but when it's time for a big drum hit it tends to put it out "as written" instead of with the flair people want to hear out of those beats when casually listening.

The moondrop arias are the iems I currently use and while not perfect the ones I have been most satisfied by. They are a lot more measured and able to resolve more detailed but still manages to insert flair in bass hits and other places where I feel like there should be extra emphasis. Just because I like them though doesn't mean I want as close to the moondrop tuning as possible, just that I like what it achieves. I am always open to new takes on sound signature.

I will be shocked if there are $300 ciems at all so my preferences are extremely flexible. Also any ciem has to be decent from a standalone perspective. I would rather wear headphones or foam tips than a trash ciem whose only merit was that it was a good price for a custom.
 
Sep 12, 2022 at 9:26 PM Post #4 of 9
Have you tried various foams? Some are softer than others, and some are more durable. If you've just used Comply, they're expensive and fragile compared to Tennmak (available via Amazon) and AnjiRui (from Ali Express) and some of the no-names on Ali Express as well. If you do get CIEMs, you may have to factor in a visit to an audiologist for the impressions, which is going to up the budget. There are some DIY impression kits but reactions to them have been pretty mixed.
 
Sep 12, 2022 at 9:35 PM Post #5 of 9
Have you tried various foams? Some are softer than others, and some are more durable. If you've just used Comply, they're expensive and fragile compared to Tennmak (available via Amazon) and AnjiRui (from Ali Express) and some of the no-names on Ali Express as well. If you do get CIEMs, you may have to factor in a visit to an audiologist for the impressions, which is going to up the budget. There are some DIY impression kits but reactions to them have been pretty mixed.
Be warned though, foam tips wear out very quickly; 1-3 months of proper use and cleaning
 
Sep 14, 2022 at 12:50 PM Post #6 of 9
Be warned though, foam tips wear out very quickly; 1-3 months of proper use and cleaning
That's one of my big gripes with foams. For me foams are amazing the first 10 times you use them, good for a month, and meh if you want to stretch them for longer. I am partial to the ones they package with tinhifi earphones. You can actually buy them separately.
 
Sep 14, 2022 at 12:55 PM Post #7 of 9
The Thieaudio legacy line (l3, l4, l5) I know did ciems, not sure if they still do. However, https://itsfitlab.com/reshell/ does reshells for iems that you already own
That's one of the first places I checked but linsoul doesn't have a button offering a custom upgrade anymore. Not sure if that means they wont do them anymore but it's certainly not a good sign.

I feel like reshells would affect the sound since you are changing tube spacing, shape, cavity sizes, insertion depth ect. I mean practically everything changes the sound, my foam tips add a bass boost but I haven't really complained. That being said I am still worried about dropping x amount of dollars for a tuning I liked and then completely throwing that out of the window with a reshell. This route sounds really compelling but has anybody heard anything about acoustic differences in a reshell?
 
Sep 14, 2022 at 2:50 PM Post #8 of 9
That's one of the first places I checked but linsoul doesn't have a button offering a custom upgrade anymore. Not sure if that means they wont do them anymore but it's certainly not a good sign.

I feel like reshells would affect the sound since you are changing tube spacing, shape, cavity sizes, insertion depth ect. I mean practically everything changes the sound, my foam tips add a bass boost but I haven't really complained. That being said I am still worried about dropping x amount of dollars for a tuning I liked and then completely throwing that out of the window with a reshell. This route sounds really compelling but has anybody heard anything about acoustic differences in a reshell?
Yeah, it will change the sound if its not done right. I know dynamic drivers in particular are really tuned with the shape of the iem so itd be scary to do that. Ive heard good things about itsfit though and I imagine they take that into account and try to circumvent it. Still not going to personally do it but to each their own
 
Sep 16, 2022 at 1:23 PM Post #9 of 9
Definitely going to be following this thread. I recently got A12t's, and while those are in a completely different category of price and sound quality, I'm now a convert to CIEM's. I don't think I can go back to universal (at least not for my daily drivers). The comfort and isolation is just too good with customs. It's funny though, even though I now have essentially my endgame CIEM in the A12t's, I'm now on the lookout for more inexpensive CIEM's for situations where I don't have to worry about babying them.

That's one of the first places I checked but linsoul doesn't have a button offering a custom upgrade anymore. Not sure if that means they wont do them anymore but it's certainly not a good sign.

I believe I read a little while back that Thieaudio stopped making CIEM's.

Regarding itsfit, it does look like they make a $350 custom, though I realize that's just outside your budget. I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but your best bet might be to wait a bit and save up a little more so you can stretch your budget to around the $500 price point. That will open up a lot more options, such as the 64 Audio A2e or the Fearless S6 or S8 lines.

That said, make sure you are also budgeting for impressions as well, which can run $100 or so (varies depending on where you live and the audiologists you have access to).
 

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