[vladstef]

You tuck them into the intertragic notch (ie perpendicular your ear), with the front of the earbud (where the sound comes out) facing forwards and the back of the earbud facing behind you. This allows the sound to go right into your ear canal.

When you wear an earbud the “normal” way, all of the sound hits the inside of the ear, (dissipating in multiple directions), before making a 90 degree turn to travel down the ear canal. That’s like facing your full size speakers directly towards a wall, and you standing besides them to listen. It makes no sense because so much energy is lost bouncing against the wall.

Think of the large 10mm driver on the i-into i8 and it will make sense.

If you still can’t picture it, I can post a photo.

This is how I wear earbuds as well, driver facing forward not towards my head. I actually think that 90% of earbuds have a fundamentally flawed design and I don't get why big earbud manufacturers didn't adopt Apple earpod design (probably because it uses a relatively speaking small 13.5mm drivers and no one wanted to battle the issues of making it larger to fit regular 15.4 drivers). It's a shame given how good earbuds are and how much value you get IF your ears allow you to extract the most out of buds.

(Might be going slightly off topic but the things that I will mention here are all from China and well below 100$.)
I tried quite hard to make my own Final Audio Piano Forte, bought the shells and tried all kinds of drivers in them (EMX500, Vido, MS16, RY4s...) with a million of different tuning configurations and I could never escape the bass-low mid range just overwhelming other frequencies. Earbuds are tuned to compensate for some leakage and once you force it into canal bad things happen, mostly because drivers end up having way too much pressure to the front of membrane resulting in a massive change to frequency response.

 

[Selenium]

You seem to know your stuff here
I'm looking for some IEMs to use while on bus or walking on foot... I don't want great sound quality, I just want it decent enough. The environment is noisy anyway. For isolation, it's best to stay in the middle grounds, because too much isolation means I won't be aware of my surroundings (e.g. a car horning at me).

Now, this list is very nice, but the problem is my "unusual" taste for sound signature. I have a Sennheiser CX300II and I could just use that one, but I hate how it sounds. It was my first non-standard IEM (standard being included with a phone or something) and I kiked it at the beginning, but after I got an Audio Technica AD900X, I just can't stand it anymore. I got used to much better, more natural sound, and now the Sennheiser sounds muddy AF. I can't hear anything but the bass there, it obstructs all the details in mids.

TL;DR I want to stay as far as possible away from V shape, at least the kind of it seen in Sennheiser CX300II.

What I want is a large soundstage with good instrument separation and lots of details, because I listen to classical music. I mean, I won't get all that, but I want to get close to it.

Any suggestions in the price range around $30?

ZS6

 

[HUGO SILVA]

Not sure. Both are totally different. The B100 are more fluid and coherent, the T2 are more neutral and accurate. Worth having both.

and B100 is better tham B150?

 

[SilverLodestar]

My ZhiYin Z5000 came in the mail today I have to say, they really disappointed me at first when I first stuck them in my ears with the included (weird) tips. They immediately sounded muddy and very bass-heavy. I’ve been tip rolling (and even cable rolling) for the last 15 minutes or so, and these are really starting to shine.

I found that the double-flanged eartips that came with my Fidue A65 work well with these to help lessen the bass and driver flex as well. Driver flex is much less cumbersome now. On top of that, I also discovered that the back vents let out a lot of treble presence, so I sealed them up with micropore tape. The treble is quite sparkly now and vocals seem to have more life to them now instead of being buried under a veil. I feel like vocals in general (after tip rolling and sealing the back vents) are forward and slightly dry, kinda like the T2, but not quite. I may do a side-by-side comparison of them soon. Midrange instruments are also lively, not recessed, and natural sounding. Timbre is excellent, from the few acoustic tracks I’ve tested. Bass is now controlled and pleasant. It has good punch, while not bleeding into the midrange. No longer does it overshadow the mids and cover the rest of the signature in a thick veil. I feel like the sound can finally breathe. There are so many possibilities when it comes to sound, it’s really fun to play around with them.

More first impressions/experiments to come!

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

My ZhiYin Z5000 came in the mail today I have to say, they really disappointed me at first when I first stuck them in my ears with the included (weird) tips. They immediately sounded muddy and very bass-heavy. I’ve been tip rolling (and even cable rolling) for the last 15 minutes or so, and these are really starting to shine.

I found that the double-flanged eartips that came with my Fidue A65 work well with these to help lessen the bass and driver flex as well. Driver flex is much less cumbersome now. On top of that, I also discovered that the back vents let out a lot of treble presence, so I sealed them up with micropore tape. The treble is quite sparkly now and vocals seem to have more life to them now instead of being buried under a veil. I feel like vocals in general (after tip rolling and sealing the back vents) are forward and slightly dry, kinda like the T2, but not quite. I may do a side-by-side comparison of them soon. Midrange instruments are also lively, not recessed, and natural sounding. Timbre is excellent, from the few acoustic tracks I’ve tested. Bass is now controlled and pleasant. It has good punch, while not bleeding into the midrange. No longer does it overshadow the mids and cover the rest of the signature in a thick veil. I feel like the sound can finally breathe. There are so many possibilities when it comes to sound, it’s really fun to play around with them.

More first impressions/experiments to come!

Reading this make me throw fancy IEM and play this with my Z5000:
Dance dance dance.
BRO!

 

[groucho69]

You tuck them into the intertragic notch (ie perpendicular your ear), with the front of the earbud (where the sound comes out) facing forwards and the back of the earbud facing behind you. This allows the sound to go right into your ear canal.

When you wear an earbud the “normal” way, all of the sound hits the inside of the ear, (dissipating in multiple directions), before making a 90 degree turn to travel down the ear canal. That’s like facing your full size speakers directly towards a wall, and you standing besides them to listen. It makes no sense because so much energy is lost bouncing against the wall.

Think of the large 10mm driver on the i-into i8 and it will make sense.

If you still can’t picture it, I can post a photo.

 

[HungryPanda]

Reading this make me throw fancy IEM and play this with my Z5000:
Dance dance dance.
BRO!

Lykke Li sounds great on anything

 

[Otto Motor]

and B100 is better tham B150?

I was told that they are so close that the B150 are redundant.

 

[Otto Motor]

Intertragic notch? How tragic!

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Lykke Li sounds great on anything

Not on my 6ba DIY crap....wait will test it right now lol:
no, sound like shyt....the vocal is very okay....but the rest is like puting scalpel in my ears.

But yeah, Lykke isn't the best test track cause there no bass. Listen to her instead of using anxiolytic hehe

 

[Slater]

Please do..I can't picture it. Seems physically impossible in my mind.

I can picture it but I have the wrong ears. A photo may help my cosmetic surgeon, though.

OK, the below photo is how most people wear earbuds. See how it's facing flat and pointing towards the inside "meat" of the ear (ie the acoustic meatus)? The sound has to travel 90 degrees to get down the ear canal. Lots of energy is being lost this way, and the sound is crap due to not having any sort of seal. The volume has to be higher to compensate, often causing distortion as well as more noise leakage to those around you (due to the higher volume). Also the sub bass and bass suffers significantly with this configuration.



To wear them "sideways", I'm saying to rotate them 90 degrees, tucked into the intertragic notch, so the "screen" part of the earbud (where the sound comes out) is facing FORWARDS. You will get a much better seal this way, the sound will instantly become fuller, richer, have significantly more sub bass/bass, and they can be used more efficiently at lower volume (and have less distortion) because the sound is coming out of the driver and POINTING directly at your eardrum. Note that this guy below has the bottom/wire part of the earbud pointing at a ridiculous angle - you can easily wear earbuds with the wire part pointing down, so I'm not sure why he has his pointing straight out like that. It's the only photo I could find on Google, so excuse that part. What you're paying attention to is the main BODY of the earbud (the large round part where the driver is located). See how it's rotated 90 degrees from the 1st photo, and the "screen" part of the earbud (where the sound comes out) is facing FORWARDS?

 

[bsoplinger]

and B100 is better tham B150?

I was told that they are so close that the B150 are redundant.

I'll disagree. The $20 additional for the B150 over the B100 gets you a single BA just like the B100 but with a different tuning. I'd say harsher V moreso for the masses with the B100 and less V giving a smoother sound across the spectrum at the cost of "fun" sound with the B150. Basically I'd think any given person would be able to tell them apart and prefer one over the other based on their listening preferences. Since there is just 1 BA you get a seamless sound across the spectrum that just sounds right, lacking a better descriptive turn of phrase. Unless you are expecting huge amounts of dynamic heavy bass I'd think you'd like either of these assuming you've gotten the one that best suits your listening style.

Personally I own the B150, B200 and B400. Each sounds similar in tuning yet each does have an audible improvement over the previous model. Bass and especially sub bass gets tighter, more controlled, fuller at each level. Highs extend more at each step and get smoother not that the B150 is harsh. Mids get even more detailed yielding better separation and more levels of instruments with difficult, complex passages. I think I'd say that the B400 has the most dynamic sound from a BA among those I own. I have a few tracks that I listen to with synthesized bass that's ridiculously low at levels and frequencies no instruments will ever produce. The B400 really rumbles when playing, typically something I only get with full sized cans like my Fostex TH-X00 purplehearts and a few hybrid IEMs. But enough about the ones priced out of this topic's range.

 

[pauliunas]

ZS6

http://www.thephonograph.net/headphones-frequency-response/kz/kz-zs6-frequency-response-curve/

http://www.thephonograph.net/headph...ennheiser-cx-300-ii-frequency-response-curve/

"I want to stay as far as possible away from V shape, at least the kind of it seen in Sennheiser CX300II."

I think this is exactly what I want to stay away from...

 

[TLDRonin]

My ZhiYin Z5000 came in the mail today I have to say, they really disappointed me at first when I first stuck them in my ears with the included (weird) tips. They immediately sounded muddy and very bass-heavy. I’ve been tip rolling (and even cable rolling) for the last 15 minutes or so, and these are really starting to shine.

I found that the double-flanged eartips that came with my Fidue A65 work well with these to help lessen the bass and driver flex as well. Driver flex is much less cumbersome now. On top of that, I also discovered that the back vents let out a lot of treble presence, so I sealed them up with micropore tape. The treble is quite sparkly now and vocals seem to have more life to them now instead of being buried under a veil. I feel like vocals in general (after tip rolling and sealing the back vents) are forward and slightly dry, kinda like the T2, but not quite. I may do a side-by-side comparison of them soon. Midrange instruments are also lively, not recessed, and natural sounding. Timbre is excellent, from the few acoustic tracks I’ve tested. Bass is now controlled and pleasant. It has good punch, while not bleeding into the midrange. No longer does it overshadow the mids and cover the rest of the signature in a thick veil. I feel like the sound can finally breathe. There are so many possibilities when it comes to sound, it’s really fun to play around with them.

More first impressions/experiments to come!

I had the similar first impression. The first 2 days I had them I tried "burning" them at night, and they eventually really cleared up. I probably just got used to them rather than burn in changing anything

I'll have to try the back vent mod. If they could let in a little more treble, these z5000s would be almost perfect for me

 

[mbwilson111]

See how it's rotated 90 degrees from the 1st photo, and the "screen" part of the earbud (where the sound comes out) is facing FORWARDS?

That just looks to me like most of the sound would be going out into the air. I thought you were going to take a picture of your pt15 in YOUR ear! Please do that. Surely you can do it as a selfie or have someone help you...