[Jacobguy]

Hey everyone I've been here before you guys helped me to get my first two sets of IEM's the Shure SE215's and Kinera Seed Yin. I use them every day working out, running, and while I'm sleeping so they take constant abuse and both sets are about done. Ive replaced the cable on my shures 3 times and my kineras not yet. both sets the left bud either doesn't work or shorts out consistently

anyways, the Kineras are too big and not comfortable for me and the Shure's are about perfect. I could just get another set of the Shure SE215's but time has passed and I imagine technology has too. So what's the best set for around 100? can be a bit above or below doesn't matter! Thanks so much!

 

[harry501501]

Even tho I don't like doing this as I haven't got it (yet), perhaps look at the Moondrop Starfield which is very well-reviewed at your price point.

 

[ChrisOc]

The TRI I3 is exceptionally good, although it may be slightly more expensive than $100. Check out the TRI thread.

The ISN D02 is a fun set which is highly competent. Check out the ISN thread.

Hope you find something you enjoy.

 

[baskingshark]

Hey everyone I've been here before you guys helped me to get my first two sets of IEM's the Shure SE215's and Kinera Seed Yin. I use them every day working out, running, and while I'm sleeping so they take constant abuse and both sets are about done. Ive replaced the cable on my shures 3 times and my kineras not yet. both sets the left bud either doesn't work or shorts out consistently

anyways, the Kineras are too big and not comfortable for me and the Shure's are about perfect. I could just get another set of the Shure SE215's but time has passed and I imagine technology has too. So what's the best set for around 100? can be a bit above or below doesn't matter! Thanks so much!

Shure SE215 is very overpriced and outdated in today's context. I got rid of my Shure SE215 after tasting some of the recent CHIFI sets. U can get much much better sound nowadays for cheaper too. It was good 10 years ago, not now.

It would be good if you could answer these questions so the community can advise better:
1) What are your preferred music genres
2) What is your preferred sound signature - V shaped, midcentric, neutral, basshead/bass averse, treblehead/treble sensitive?
3) Any particular source you are using it with? Ie smartphone or have something mroe powerful?

 

[Jacobguy]

Even tho I don't like doing this as I haven't got it (yet), perhaps look at the Moondrop Starfield which is very well-reviewed at your price point.

Thanks for the suggestion! it looks to be around my ballpark.

The TRI I3 is exceptionally good, although it may be slightly more expensive than $100. Check out the TRI thread.

The ISN D02 is a fun set which is highly competent. Check out the ISN thread.

Hope you find something you enjoy.

TRI I3 looks to be a little out of reach for me, although the ISN set looks to be good, i'd have to look at the size though.

Shure SE215 is very overpriced and outdated in today's context. I got rid of my Shure SE215 after tasting some of the recent CHIFI sets. U can get much much better sound nowadays for cheaper too. It was good 10 years ago, not now.

It would be good if you could answer these questions so the community can advise better:
1) What are your preferred music genres
2) What is your preferred sound signature - V shaped, midcentric, neutral, basshead/bass averse, treblehead/treble sensitive?
3) Any particular source you are using it with? Ie smartphone or have something mroe powerful?

Hey bud thanks for the response! I have three main genres in no specific order-
Hard rap (dababy, sadababy, Tgrizzly, NF etc)
Pop rap (Post malone, Lil mosey etc)
Country (almost all male artist)

Sound signature- honestly im not sure! I tend to work out a lot so I do like base and nice sound isolation is ideal for me. This may sound dumb but im still new at this but the sort of "surround sound" signature? sorry if im uneducated!

Yes, I am almost exclusively using these with my smartphone, a Samsung S10e.

Also a few notes that might help but the IEM's dont have to have them-
I dont care about a microphone or controller.
I would prefer them to be somewhat stylish (im 17 what can I say )
I have fairly small ears so the smaller the better
preferably durable
MMCX and 2 pin doesnt make a difference to me besides MMCX is more durable.

Thanks so much for the help everyone!

 

[baskingshark]

Hey bud thanks for the response! I have three main genres in no specific order-
Hard rap (dababy, sadababy, Tgrizzly, NF etc)
Pop rap (Post malone, Lil mosey etc)
Country (almost all male artist)

Sound signature- honestly im not sure! I tend to work out a lot so I do like base and nice sound isolation is ideal for me. This may sound dumb but im still new at this but the sort of "surround sound" signature? sorry if im uneducated!

Yes, I am almost exclusively using these with my smartphone, a Samsung S10e.

Also a few notes that might help but the IEM's dont have to have them-
I dont care about a microphone or controller.
I would prefer them to be somewhat stylish (im 17 what can I say )
I have fairly small ears so the smaller the better
preferably durable
MMCX and 2 pin doesnt make a difference to me besides MMCX is more durable.

Thanks so much for the help everyone!

Actually in my experience 2 pin has a longer lifespan than MMCX in general. I've always had problems with MMCX connectors in my journey.

Anyways for your genres do read about these stuff:

1) BLON BL-03 $25 USD - good timbre and tonality, harmanish with a midbass bump. The bass is a bit slow and technical aspects ain't the best, but it has good price to performance ratio. One thing is that the stock tips and cables ain't the best fitting as the nozzle is too short for most westerners. So most of us have to buy an aftermarket longer eartip eg Spinfit CP100/145 or use spacer mods. With a good fit, I dare say it can compete with $100 IEMs in the area of timbre and tonality. Isolation not the best.

2) BLON BL-05S $40 USD - this is different from the BLON BL-05 (non S), which is a bit shouty in the upper mids and has an off tonality in the mids. Skip the non S version. The BLON BL-05S looks ugly due to radioactive green colour, but it has very good technical performance at this price range. Nice timbre and tonality, non fatiguing, good all rounder. Fixes the slow bass and poor fit of the BLON BL-03 above. Better isolation than BLON BL-03.

3) iBasso IT00 $69 USD - U shaped, good subbass extension, almost basshead. Good technicalities. Has a bit of driver flex. Above average isolation.

4) Tin HIFI T2 Plus $50 USD - Mild V shaped, nice timbre and tonality, very inoffensive. But can be boring and not the best in technical performance. All rounder.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Jacobguy]

Actually in my experience 2 pin has a longer lifespan than MMCX in general. I've always had problems with MMCX connectors in my journey.

Anyways for your genres do read about these stuff:

1) BLON BL-03 $25 USD - good timbre and tonality, harmanish with a midbass bump. The bass is a bit slow and technical aspects ain't the best, but it has good price to performance ratio. One thing is that the stock tips and cables ain't the best fitting as the nozzle is too short for most westerners. So most of us have to buy an aftermarket longer eartip eg Spinfit CP100/145 or use spacer mods. With a good fit, I dare say it can compete with $100 IEMs in the area of timbre and tonality. Isolation not the best.

2) BLON BL-05S $40 USD - this is different from the BLON BL-05 (non S), which is a bit shouty in the upper mids and has an off tonality in the mids. Skip the non S version. The BLON BL-05S looks ugly due to radioactive green colour, but it has very good technical performance at this price range. Nice timbre and tonality, non fatiguing, good all rounder. Fixes the slow bass and poor fit of the BLON BL-03 above. Better isolation than BLON BL-03.

3) iBasso IT00 $69 USD - U shaped, good subbass extension, almost basshead. Good technicalities. Has a bit of driver flex. Above average isolation.

4) Tin HIFI T2 Plus $50 USD - Mild V shaped, nice timbre and tonality, very inoffensive. But can be boring and not the best in technical performance. All rounder.

Good luck in your search.

Thanks so much! Just ordered the iBasso IT00's. Soon enough ill grab a pair of the BL03's too.

 

[Jacobguy]

Actually in my experience 2 pin has a longer lifespan than MMCX in general. I've always had problems with MMCX connectors in my journey.

Anyways for your genres do read about these stuff:

1) BLON BL-03 $25 USD - good timbre and tonality, harmanish with a midbass bump. The bass is a bit slow and technical aspects ain't the best, but it has good price to performance ratio. One thing is that the stock tips and cables ain't the best fitting as the nozzle is too short for most westerners. So most of us have to buy an aftermarket longer eartip eg Spinfit CP100/145 or use spacer mods. With a good fit, I dare say it can compete with $100 IEMs in the area of timbre and tonality. Isolation not the best.

2) BLON BL-05S $40 USD - this is different from the BLON BL-05 (non S), which is a bit shouty in the upper mids and has an off tonality in the mids. Skip the non S version. The BLON BL-05S looks ugly due to radioactive green colour, but it has very good technical performance at this price range. Nice timbre and tonality, non fatiguing, good all rounder. Fixes the slow bass and poor fit of the BLON BL-03 above. Better isolation than BLON BL-03.

3) iBasso IT00 $69 USD - U shaped, good subbass extension, almost basshead. Good technicalities. Has a bit of driver flex. Above average isolation.

4) Tin HIFI T2 Plus $50 USD - Mild V shaped, nice timbre and tonality, very inoffensive. But can be boring and not the best in technical performance. All rounder.

Good luck in your search.

IBasso IT00's are in! I love them so far! Thanks for the help!

 

[baskingshark]

IBasso IT00's are in! I love them so far! Thanks for the help!

Do u get driver flex with them? If so, there's a few ways to mitigate it.

 

[earmonger]

Do u get driver flex with them? If so, there's a few ways to mitigate it.

How do you mitigate it?

 

[baskingshark]

How do you mitigate it?

Driver flex is usually due to a too tight seal, and is partially related to the tips we use + our ear anatomy. I found a few ways to mitigate it, YMMV:

1) Use foam tips instead of silicone tips, works sometimes for me. Probably cause the foam is porous and lets air escape thru the foams rather than going into the IEM shell.

2) Sometimes using another silicone tip that has lesser isolation/seal may reduce driver flex, though at the expense of isolation. Try a variety of different ear tips and sizes if you can, some tips give more driver flex than others.

3) Try opening your mouth and pulling upwards on the top of the ear before inserting the IEM, this opens the ear canal a bit for more space to insert the eartip, and hopefully some air can escape during insertion with the bigger diameter of the ear canal.

4) Insert the ear tip slowly or not too deeply initially, and slowly make fine adjustments to push it in. U can also angle the eartip during insertion instead of forcing it perpendicular to the ear canal (which squeezes the eartip opening shut).


For the IT00 in particular, I find foam tips and silicone tips like KZ Starlines and Final Audio E tips help to remove the driver flex, but YMMV as we have different ear anatomies.

 

[earmonger]

My mileage varied.

If I don't get a good seal then IEMs sound tinny. I'm not willing to sacrifice the sound that comes with a good seal.

I've gotten good results with large (my ears) AnjiRui Chinese foam tips. But IT00 are already a little treble-shy without EQ and foam muffles the highs. The silicones included with IT00 are the best fit with the best frequency response, and I still want to EQ up some of the highs even with those.

Pulling up the pinnae helps with driver flex on insertion, but I don't really care about that; I still get more flex after it's in. With the silicones, any jaw movement is likely to cause flex after insertion, and it sometimes takes a while to un-flex.

I do like the sound of IT00. A lot. But I don't think they did enough human testing to design for driver flex. The straight lower edge, where iBasso Audio It00 is printed, also grows uncomfortable for me against my curved ears. How I wish these were just that tiny bit better.

 

[Jacobguy]

Do u get driver flex with them? If so, there's a few ways to mitigate it.

Nope not on normal usage! I also have very small ears, though they fit well. Any small foam eartip suggestions or inexpensive cable options?

 

[baskingshark]

Nope not on normal usage! I also have very small ears, though they fit well. Any small foam eartip suggestions or inexpensive cable options?

I am not a foam fan cause they disintegrate after a few weeks. And they tend to lower the treble, so they will affect the sound signature of the IEM (they are good for overly bright sets as such).

For inexpensive cables, a very cheap and good set is the NiceHCK 8 or 16 core copper cables. They go about $7 USD during sales on aliexpress. Very supple and well braided, they measure very low in resistance too.

 

[earmonger]

I agree that Comply are really expensive for tips that don't last, although they are very good. And baskingshark is absolutely right, treble gets a little muffled. I use silicones whenever I can, but often I find that foam gives me a much superior seal.

So go to AliExpress and look for AnjiRui tips. You'll need to know what size the inner core is--don't tell Comply, but you can look at Comply's compatibility list

https://www.complyfoam.com/content/ALL MODELS COMPATIBILITY CHART.pdf

and then type in T400 or T500 (or whatever) and AnjiRui into the AliExpress search box to get the right nozzle size. For me, they last a lot longer than a few weeks, and they are quite cheap (though of course they'll take a while to arrive). You can get a SML assortment to try if you haven't used foams before--an experiment that costs just a few bucks--and if you know your size you can get a bunch at once. Prices vary for the same thing on AE, and don't forget to look at shipping.

I've tried some other tips from Ebay and AliExpress and there are a lot that don't stay on the nozzle--for instance SrLeeking from Ali Express, skip 'em. AnjiRui are dependable. Check the shapes in the photo--some (T300, T400 etc.) are bullet shaped (like Comply Isolation) while TS series are dome-shaped (like Comply Comfort).

Here's one seller I just ordered some TS400 from. I like to get black and red ones for left and right. They haven't arrived yet but if they're like my other AnjiRui they should be fine.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32854585130.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.f3cc4c4dsU3isv