Hi everyone,
I've been roaming these forums for over a year now mainly to gather as many perspectives in reviews of a given IEM in addition to other review sites and Youtube before pulling the trigger to buy it. You guys are really awesome in that respect since it gives a good reality check on whether a pair of headphones is "just good" or actually REALLY good. My methodology is not fool proof by any measure but I would like to believe that if 95% or more reviewers rate a pair of headphones a 4-5/5 or 8-10/10 not only in sound signature, but in detail and soundstage as well then it is very likely worth the buy over those that do not seem to meet those standards.
So far my audio setup in the past year has been...........
> daily driving a Huawei P20 Pro (very balanced dual speakers with Dolby Atmos)
> Realme X2 Pro for gaming (dual front speakers trades some deep bass for more sparkle & treble detail as well as 20% more volume than the P20 Pro which makes it good for stuff like clear diction on Zoom calls and blasting music. A convenient headphone jack is also present but is otherwise nothing special)
> LG V50 (dual front speakers have least bass compared to the two phones above and DTS:X seems to only boost the earpiece speaker instead of add fullness & soundstage like Dolby Atmos. The ESS Sabre 9218 is a pretty nice upper-midrange Quad-DAC which seems to explain why the speakers sound relatively lacking as well as the plastic rims -- a respectable design decision if the budget was somehow reduced back in 2019.)
I use it as my dedicated DAP with multiple gigabytes of custom YT Music playlist songs I have downloaded to listen to while traveling or testing or EQing headphones. My V50 happens to weigh virtually the same as my P20 Pro so it's pretty comfortable in the hand though for its size I wish hit had 10-15% extra battery capacity. It of course also doubles as a phone if my P20 Pro begins failing. To my relief it still seems to still work on Mint Mobile as of December 2021 -- maybe T-Mobile has somehow let MNVOs (budget cell carriers that bulk-buy expendable bandwidth from major carriers what own physical network infrastructure) decide if they want to discontinue or extend network support of certain phone models like the V50.
I was able to snag all three of these phones for under $250 and before inflation hit due to the shipping delays which is pretty sweet in hindsight 2020 into 2021
see what I did there? xD
> Finally is a brief summary of the DAC-AMP dongles, headphones, IEMs, and Bluetooth TWS earbuds I use most often:
As far as external DAC-AMPs I have invested in the Audioquest Jitterbug for noise filtering (I'm guessing it reduces signal noise more noticeably with certain sensitive or headphone-amp pairings?), the Hidizs S9 Pro for the Sabre ES9038Q2M (also available in the Shanling UA2 and bulkier, more expensive amps), build quality, and positive reviews, the
Charjenpro Microstick since it works with phone cases and its width is around the same as a 6-inch/15cm phone making it a good USB-C hub with a USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, and 3.5mm jack that happens to amplify well up to 80, maybe even 120 ohms.
Wired headphones ~ Dankpods-recommended Meze 99 Neo & "K240 Killer" Samson SR850s both with fur-feeling Defean Velour earpads which come in sizes for virtually any model of mass market over-ear cans currently on the market.
IEMs/wired earbuds ~ my "cheap n' faithful" Panasonic ErgoFits that I recently replaced with the $20 Tanchjim Tanya, the S.e.n.f.e.r D.T.6 since they pack DD-Piezo-BA tribrids if what's probably the best bang-for-buck in SQ/AQ technical capability for the forseable near future, the KZ CRN for their combo of comfort and great Crinacle-inspired 'balanced' tuning (at 35 bucks!), the Fiio FA1 for being near-flush comfortable in my ears (probably the best "active ANC alternative" when paired with foam tips) as well as the single large BA config that's quite unique in the sub-$100 price range, the BGVP Zero's compact size & dark/mids-bass weighted sound signature, and finally the BQEYZ KC2 for its balance and soundstage (now bested by the more comfy KZ CRN).
As for TWSs I've tried 3 pairs ~ the Lypertek Soundfree S20, Jlab Jbuds Air, and Taotronics SoundLiberty 94 (I'm trying to sell the first two so feel free to message me if you're interested).
The S20 I got after hearing Crinacle raving about the Lypertek Tevi/Purplay Z5 sounds satisfactory with some balance but not what I am accustomed to in soundstage -- the build quality is solid and it has physical "pinch-style" buttons instead of the ear-mashing variety which definitely makes it a good buy for half the Z5's price despite probably being slightly but noticeably worse in almost every other aspect. The Jbuds Air I got for free since it was sent to me by mistake instead of the Soundpeats H1 (for the low gaming latency) I had ordered & recieved a fund for; it sounds noticeably last-gen in clarity and is pretty bassy which is to be expected of mass-market TWS earbuds on the cheap end of the price spectrum. Finally the Taotronics 94 (sound signature wise it's a bit more relaxed than the Lypertek S20s and the fit takes a bit of fanagling, but stays fairly secure and comfy for at least 2-3 hours at a time) I got since was one of the few sub-$40 models I could find with consistent reviewers commending it for good low-end ANC for which
they were right which has turned out to be perfect for flying around the holidays this past December no matter what part of the cabin I sat in.
Usefully the Wavelett app allows you to EQ wireless earbuds as well. It does seem to bug out on my P20 Pro and LG V50 in that the EQ presets don't kick in for wired headphones I use with the app after use with the wireless ones so I have had to delete and reinstall Wavelett a few times to get it working again for the 3.5mm jack stuff.
I will give input regarding a couple of your thoughts since Page 259 in my next post..........
