[DynamicEars]

If CCA10 is better than ZS10 (which I very much agree) at almost half the price - than it is already quite something!
Plus nicer looking, better shell quality and the nice details in sound reproduction are there!
So I am not sure about "the hype", but I would personally recommend CCA10, especially to newcomers to HiFi at $25 range

Yes i agree, better than ZS10 at half the price is quite a steal buddy. For newcomers theyre indeed a good recommended stuff for step in or to search their preferred sound signature along with ****. Just not agreed with over hyped statement that made it sounds like top notch iem. For me who has listened to upper tier iem, they're OK, but not great.

 

[PhonoPhi]

Yes i agree, better than ZS10 at half the price is quite a steal buddy. For newcomers theyre indeed a good recommended stuff for step in or to search their preferred sound signature along with ****. Just not agreed with over hyped statement that made it sounds like top notch iem. For me who has listened to upper tier iem, they're OK, but not great.

I perceive the praise of CCA10 clearly linked to its price, and it is well deserved, in my opinion.

I've seen much more "hype" of ****.
(I got **** recently, and I very much agree, it is an interesting and worthy IEM to experience, one of the great recommendations of this forum).

 

[BadReligionPunk]

Hilarious that there is now an elitist Chifi faction that run around with their 160-250 dollar items schiit talking $25 iems that compare to other chifi in the 50 dollar range.

You guys should join a Toyota forums or something and constantly chime in about how horrible Corollas are and how they don't compare to your 7 series BMWs.

 

[HerrXRDS]

Hilarious that there is now an elitist Chifi faction that run around with their 160-250 dollar items schiit talking $25 iems that compare to other chifi in the 50 dollar range.

You guys should join a Toyota forums or something and constantly chime in about how horrible Corollas are and how they don't compare to your 7 series BMWs.

The thread title is "BEST Sub-100$ BUDGET EARPHONES". I thought anything under $100 is fair game. $25 to $50 is one meal away, Corolla to 7 series is maybe a few years of savings. Plus, Crescent is the same price as CA10 anyway.

 

[DynamicEars]

I perceive the praise of CCA10 clearly linked to its price, and it is well deserved, in my opinion.

I've seen much more "hype" of ****.
(I got **** recently, and I very much agree, it is an interesting and worthy IEM to experience, one of the great recommendations of this forum).

for their price, indeed they're great. Say it what the best iem under $25? i definitely will talk about C10 and **** and MH755 of course.
I have them, and for me they are good for the price, value wise. Just only say my opinions about that overly hype, because i found it sometimes a bit misleading, the giant slayer thing hype. I just want to say in my opinion, they're good for the price, i like them. But dont expect it to be giant slayer or TOTL level clarity / soundstage etc.
Easier way to explain : i give 8 out of 10 for sub $50 category, and i give 3 out of 10 for all price category. something like that. Sorry if my statement is misleading.

Hilarious that there is now an elitist Chifi faction that run around with their 160-250 dollar items schiit talking $25 iems that compare to other chifi in the 50 dollar range.

You guys should join a Toyota forums or something and constantly chime in about how horrible Corollas are and how they don't compare to your 7 series BMWs.

Once i have over $100 iems that sounds bad, so i will say it sounded bad. Don't get me wrong, in other way around i just want to tell my honest opinion about it, sometime overly hyped opinion about budget iem is too much, like i said, too subjective or maybe never had a chance listen to upper tier iem. They're telling like C10 is really top notch put aside the price, even i saw somewhere (i forgot though) clarity and details close to Andromeda. These kind of statements sometimes just misleading. I just want to tell my humble honest opinion to disagree. But again, if i only given $25 and live with 1 iem, i myself will choose either c10 or ****, because they're good for the price. I f I given $200 and choose between live with 1 iem or many iems, i will spend it for something like ikko OH1 or Kanas Pro or Tanchjim Oxygen rather than get so many sub $50 iems because that 1 iem is definitely above them in sound quality.
So, i apologize if my comments sounds like a jerk, I just don't want others to mislead with some overly hyped impressions about budget iems, that all. Im not bragging my upper tier stuff, just put my honest opinion.
Trust me, I've been in KZ blackhole last time, i learnt by experience, I've been hype train victim so many times. Cheers!

 

[PhonoPhi]

for their price, indeed they're great. Say it what the best iem under $25? i definitely will talk about C10 and **** and MH755 of course.
I have them, and for me they are good for the price, value wise. Just only say my opinions about that overly hype, because i found it sometimes a bit misleading, the giant slayer thing hype. I just want to say in my opinion, they're good for the price, i like them. But dont expect it to be giant slayer or TOTL level clarity / soundstage etc.
Easier way to explain : i give 8 out of 10 for sub $50 category, and i give 3 out of 10 for all price category. something like that. Sorry if my statement is misleading.



Once i have over $100 iems that sounds bad, so i will say it sounded bad. Don't get me wrong, in other way around i just want to tell my honest opinion about it, sometime overly hyped opinion about budget iem is too much, like i said, too subjective or maybe never had a chance listen to upper tier iem. They're telling like C10 is really top notch put aside the price, even i saw somewhere (i forgot though) clarity and details close to Andromeda. These kind of statements sometimes just misleading. I just want to tell my humble honest opinion to disagree. But again, if i only given $25 and live with 1 iem, i myself will choose either c10 or ****, because they're good for the price. I f I given $200 and choose between live with 1 iem or many iems, i will spend it for something like ikko OH1 or Kanas Pro or Tanchjim Oxygen rather than get so many sub $50 iems because that 1 iem is definitely above them in sound quality.
So, i apologize if my comments sounds like a jerk, I just don't want others to mislead with some overly hyped impressions about budget iems, that all. Im not bragging my upper tier stuff, just put my honest opinion.
Trust me, I've been in KZ blackhole last time, i learnt by experience, I've been hype train victim so many times. Cheers!

Right now (and for about an year so far), I feel quite opposite to the "blackhole", but a rather some nice "home base"

Since I did not subscribe to "hype", I was not burned. Some, like ZS10, AS06 for example, worked less...

The bottom line is one can't try all, and the progress in IEMs so far is breathtakingly fast-paced.
Thus, being limited by resources and the subjective choice of being limited to KZ/CCA worked quite well for me.
I still spent less than I would, for instance, on Fiio FH5 and FA7 alone and had a lot of fun figuring out what works for me better.

Now I am very happy with CCA C16 (and still using AS10 for string quartets), and will definitely explore at least 1-2 more of their (KZ/CCA) future developments

 

[stryed]

for their price, indeed they're great. Say it what the best iem under $25? i definitely will talk about C10 and **** and MH755 of course.
I have them, and for me they are good for the price, value wise. Just only say my opinions about that overly hype, because i found it sometimes a bit misleading, the giant slayer thing hype. I just want to say in my opinion, they're good for the price, i like them. But dont expect it to be giant slayer or TOTL level clarity / soundstage etc.
Easier way to explain : i give 8 out of 10 for sub $50 category, and i give 3 out of 10 for all price category. something like that. Sorry if my statement is misleading.



Once i have over $100 iems that sounds bad, so i will say it sounded bad. Don't get me wrong, in other way around i just want to tell my honest opinion about it, sometime overly hyped opinion about budget iem is too much, like i said, too subjective or maybe never had a chance listen to upper tier iem. They're telling like C10 is really top notch put aside the price, even i saw somewhere (i forgot though) clarity and details close to Andromeda. These kind of statements sometimes just misleading. I just want to tell my humble honest opinion to disagree. But again, if i only given $25 and live with 1 iem, i myself will choose either c10 or ****, because they're good for the price. I f I given $200 and choose between live with 1 iem or many iems, i will spend it for something like ikko OH1 or Kanas Pro or Tanchjim Oxygen rather than get so many sub $50 iems because that 1 iem is definitely above them in sound quality.
So, i apologize if my comments sounds like a jerk, I just don't want others to mislead with some overly hyped impressions about budget iems, that all. Im not bragging my upper tier stuff, just put my honest opinion.
Trust me, I've been in KZ blackhole last time, i learnt by experience, I've been hype train victim so many times. Cheers!

I agree that a 100-200usd is a big boost, but durability is something that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about value. A well built 20usd IEM that lasts long (like my KZ ZS5) gets major bonus points compared to all my others, most of which have died.

My IT01 is now having problems on the left side where it would drop out...Strangely, the other side is the one I thought would cause problems due to the frequent driver flex I had. But no, the left side is dying...100usd potentially gone after a year of use. I'm not sure I would invest in a Kanas Pro unless I get a good raise.

 

[stryed]

Received the CCA C10, Bought it just to see what the hype is all about. Meh. I guess it's better than the ZS7 but that doesn't say much. A single driver IEM in the same price range like the Moondrop Crescent does a better job handling complex tracks, sounds better too. Another example of throwing as many drivers as possible in a cheap IEM.

Wish the Crescent came in a different color. Sigh.

 

[DynamicEars]

Right now (and for about an year so far), I feel quite opposite to the "blackhole", but a rather some nice "home base"

Since I did not subscribe to "hype", I was not burned. Some, like ZS10, AS06 for example, worked less...

The bottom line is one can't try all, and the progress in IEMs so far is breathtakingly fast-paced.
Thus, being limited by resources and the subjective choice of being limited to KZ/CCA worked quite well for me.
I still spent less than I would, for instance, on Fiio FH5 and FA7 alone and had a lot of fun figuring out what works for me better.

Now I am very happy with CCA C16 (and still using AS10 for string quartets), and will definitely explore at least 1-2 more of their (KZ/CCA) future developments

Yes, don't get me wrong I still keep some of my KZs, definitely they're a good start point to chifi world and I didn't blame the hype train (maybe my last sentence as a victim made it sounds that bad) because these were my own decision. I bought after read reviews, but decision to buy always on my hand, when i buy them, i already made up my mind with all those risk (maybe some have subjective or too hyped reviews etc) in the end if i got spare $, i would like to try them (who knows chifi has more progress and leap in sound quality, and if they really are, we all will be happy right?). In the end sorry for this OOT things, just want to share my thoughts on my recent buys and caution there might be over hype impressions.

I agree that a 100-200usd is a big boost, but durability is something that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about value. A well built 20usd IEM that lasts long (like my KZ ZS5) gets major bonus points compared to all my others, most of which have died.

My IT01 is now having problems on the left side where it would drop out...Strangely, the other side is the one I thought would cause problems due to the frequent driver flex I had. But no, the left side is dying...100usd potentially gone after a year of use. I'm not sure I would invest in a Kanas Pro unless I get a good raise.

Yes chifi world are fragile from their quality control and durability, when we buy known bigname brand, you're not only buy for the sound (which is of course most important part) but extra for durability, after sales service, warranty, quality control from their R&D department. Only time will tell for this issue, but just be careful on carrying your stuff.

Wish the Crescent came in a different color. Sigh.

Same thought. if Moondrop release their product with matte black color, i will collect them. Sadly they only stick to their signature colors : silver and gold

 

[CoiL]

My IT01 is now having problems on the left side where it would drop out...Strangely, the other side is the one I thought would cause problems due to the frequent driver flex I had. But no, the left side is dying...100usd potentially gone after a year of use. I'm not sure I would invest in a Kanas Pro unless I get a good raise.

Sorry for talking higher priced IEM in sub-100 thread but KPE just runs over IT01, back and forth, many times And KPE has 2-pin cable which is much more durable + magnesium alloy strong shells.
Only backlash could be mirror-finishing depending on climate (moisture+sweat) You live and how You use them (gym+ sweat).
Just stop spending money on low-budget IEMs every time something new comes out and gets hype and collect for something worthy

 

[chinmie]

Sorry for talking higher priced IEM in sub-100 thread but KPE just runs over IT01, back and forth, many times And KPE has 2-pin cable which is much more durable + magnesium alloy strong shells.
Only backlash could be mirror-finishing depending on climate (moisture+sweat) You live and how You use them (gym+ sweat).
Just stop spending money on low-budget IEMs every time something new comes out and gets hype and collect for something worthy

you should listen to the standard kanas..more inline with the IT01 with resolution of the KPE level. also less shiny and not a fingerprint magnet.

i don't particularly prefer the KPE to the standard, but that might be mostly because at the time i was testing them both i already have the ER4XR and ER4PT, and they both are a better iem to the KPE (though also pricier).

the KSE (I'm gonna call the standard edition this way from now on ) is unique in tuning compared to what i have listened at that time.

 

[fredhubbard2]

So I've had a week off and been playing with the TRN v80 and TRN V30 i got. My preference is easily the V30. Both have that TRN house sound but that uneven treble has been dialled way back on the V30. The V20, V60 and V80 (especially) all have that distracting sibilance and dryness and even though it's still slightly there on the V30 it doesn't ruin music for me like the others could.

Bass has the depth of the V80 still, but it's ever so slightly thicker and a tad looser in comparison with the quickness of the V80, still as quick. I can't tell if the V30 goes deeper or if it's just that extra weight that's making me think it does? i think it's a tie. Bass does bleed occasionally in to lower mids but it rarely becomes a problem. Bass lovers will enjoy the V30 a lot. It's weighty but still nimble when it needs to be.

Mids are further forward in the V30, especially the lead vocals which take front stage and have great weight... FAR superior to it's siblings. The dryness is just clipped at the right time so sibilance is no longer a problem. Only on songs where sibilance could be a problem does it show.

Treble is much better. It sounds way more natural especially when compared with the other VXX sets. It's not perfect but it's not fizzy and overly bright like the others can be. For me it's just right. Clear with good air, snappy too.

The soundstage steals the show for me. It's bigger than average, it's similar to the CCA C10 in dimensions. Good in all directions, goes around and outside the head. Really helps bring the detail out which is also very good. I'm not sure if it's more detailed than the V80 but the fact mids aren't recessed anymore by that very V-shaped TRN sound definitely gives it an advantage if you like hearing detail. The open and airy treble is definitely bringing out some micro detail hidden in the V80's recessed mids.

Anyway it's £25 and is as good as any other good budget sets at that price point. i think it's as good as the C10 or **** or similarly priced KZ hybrids. Similar levels of detail, big and fun, multi genre.

I took delivery of TRN V30 over the weekend, very impressed, nice big soundstage. I am a big fan of the V20's these seem like a more refined version.. mine were only £15. am awaiting arrival of CCA C10 so looking fwd to comparing

 

[PhonoPhi]

Sorry for talking higher priced IEM in sub-100 thread but KPE just runs over IT01, back and forth, many times And KPE has 2-pin cable which is much more durable + magnesium alloy strong shells.
Only backlash could be mirror-finishing depending on climate (moisture+sweat) You live and how You use them (gym+ sweat).
Just stop spending money on low-budget IEMs every time something new comes out and gets hype and collect for something worthy

The progress in IEM is so fast-paced nowadays! The "worthy" of today will become much less relatively worthy tomorrow.

Take planars, for instance, - more and more available in IEMs to take on the best DDs of today, at least by the graphs

So why just not enjoy the ride of IEM progress with what is more affordable and fun

 

[hakuzen]

I agree that a 100-200usd is a big boost, but durability is something that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about value. A well built 20usd IEM that lasts long (like my KZ ZS5) gets major bonus points compared to all my others, most of which have died.

My IT01 is now having problems on the left side where it would drop out...Strangely, the other side is the one I thought would cause problems due to the frequent driver flex I had. But no, the left side is dying...100usd potentially gone after a year of use. I'm not sure I would invest in a Kanas Pro unless I get a good raise.

Wish the Crescent came in a different color. Sigh.

Yes, don't get me wrong I still keep some of my KZs, definitely they're a good start point to chifi world and I didn't blame the hype train (maybe my last sentence as a victim made it sounds that bad) because these were my own decision. I bought after read reviews, but decision to buy always on my hand, when i buy them, i already made up my mind with all those risk (maybe some have subjective or too hyped reviews etc) in the end if i got spare $, i would like to try them (who knows chifi has more progress and leap in sound quality, and if they really are, we all will be happy right?). In the end sorry for this OOT things, just want to share my thoughts on my recent buys and caution there might be over hype impressions.

Yes chifi world are fragile from their quality control and durability, when we buy known bigname brand, you're not only buy for the sound (which is of course most important part) but extra for durability, after sales service, warranty, quality control from their R&D department. Only time will tell for this issue, but just be careful on carrying your stuff.

Same thought. if Moondrop release their product with matte black color, i will collect them. Sadly they only stick to their signature colors : silver and gold

my first impression with moondrop crescent is a bliss compared to most (if not all) kzs and cca i've listened to.
tonality (forwarded mids, not highs roll-off) and textures are better to me.
but after two hours listening, volume started to decrease, and now left side is barely audible. condensation? dunno, this serious issue counteracts the excellent impression

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

The VSONIC VS3DS kinda pass under the radar but receive great reception among headfiers that give them a try....will the VS3 will gain some well deserved Love?

From me, Love it is, and to be honnest, i just doesnt have any expectation due to vague memories I have of the GR06 I own years ago, wich did not particularly blow my minds, was okay warm V shape sounding but not very details.

SOUNDSTAGE is quite out of this world, wasn't ready for that! But big housing give you a hint sometime. For a single 11mm dynamic drivers, imaging is extremely impressive and sens of deepness is intense.
BASS is really tigh and fast, more mid bass focused than sub, but control is nice, and the punch is well rounded up with extra weight.
MIDS are barely recessed, with light but accurate timbre, its clear without being too fowards, not the fullest mids for vocal but layering is so great you don't care.
TREBLE have nice sparkle to it, good grip and attack. Neither to bright or warm. Easy listening.

I never try the legendary Vsonic GR07, but VS3 are extremely agile iem and this crazy holographic soundstage sure kick ass for 55$. Need more listen, bu Vsonic is not a newcomer in audio world, it have lot of tuning experience upon its sleeve and VS3 proove it by how well balanced the U shape tuning is.