[notamethlab]

  I'm one of those people on this website who has bought probably thirty pairs of headphones and still continues to purchase more despite the best efforts of other members telling me to stop.
 
A disease is one of the reasons to continue purchasing more and also being a curious person... as I still haven't received most of my earbuds yet, it's easy just to keep ordering more until I finally do.
 
I think the fact that anyone can pop down $15 at a time to buy earbuds, even if they end up buying one-hundred pairs over a couple of years. Yes, it was a bad business decision and a waste of money, but it's too easy to do. I would have never bought thirty pairs of headphones in my life if I got them from a store. But uploading my credit information to Ali and clicking the button that says Buy is just too easy, and they made it this way for a reason, so people end up buying things they don't need or want. I've bought thirty pairs so far... I don't even know if it's a waste of money because it takes 1-2 months to get them in the mail. By that time, I'll have ordered another ten or twenty earbuds... when I finally get the realization and the credit card statement showing how much money I wasted. The realization will start setting in.
 
Sometimes it's hard to rationalize an expensive purchase unless everyone is on board of how amazing they are. The Red Demun's from Indonesia are starting to gain popularity. They are looking to hold actual great value for someone wanting to buy TOTL earbuds, but it's going to cost a Canadian like me about $100.00 to buy them. Even though it's probably a better business decision to buy them, there is a high chance of being robbed while listening to them in a public place.
 
I think my goal in life right here, right now, is to help find people a fantastic ear bud choice, even if I go bankrupt doing it. I want to find a pair people will enjoy, and that may look simple, so they don't lose their life while being robbed because a potential person/criminal sees they have a superiorly high value they can't afford, so they rob you. I can tell you right now, things like the Monk+ Espresso's, I won't be wearing them in some cities near me because of this reason.

 
 Where I live the most common headphone that is robbed are Beats, unless you live in some sketchy neighborhood where everyone happens to be an audiophile I seriously doubt you'll get robbed b/c of your demuns lmao.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

 
 Where I live the most common headphone that is robbed are Beats, unless you live in some sketchy neighborhood where everyone happens to be an audiophile I seriously doubt you'll get robbed b/c of your demuns lmao.

I haven't seen them in person but I can say after seeing the photos of them, I'm pretty sure you're wrong. They are some of the most beautiful ear buds I've ever seen in my life and I know anyone with a pair of eyes will know they have a higher value than a pair of Beats.

 

[notamethlab]

  I haven't seen them in person but I can say after seeing the photos of them, I'm pretty sure you're wrong. They are some of the most beautiful ear buds I've ever seen in my life and I know anyone with a pair of eyes will know they have a higher value than a pair of Beats.

Dang I didn't realize Canada was that dangerous.
 
Anyways you stated you are in search of the finding a fantastic ear bud for people. I think the monk+ is that ear bud, everyone should own a pair in my opinion.

 

[Skullophile]

My name is Skulloohile and I was an addict. I'd reasearch iems for a solid chunk of each night. And just keep buying them and buying them. So to try to put an end to it I bought a pair of JH Angies.

I feel like if I didn't work my way up through somewhere between 40 and 80 iems I would have missed the magic that the Angies can make. Some (or me at an earlier stage) could find them boring but they are a reference quality studio suited iem. They do everything right. This is starting to sound like an ad... That's not the intention.

I'm tryna say everyone has a journey and you can't cheat to the end. You've gotta grow your knowledge and your ears. If you don't know what signature you wanna settle down to then buying a random 1k$ iem is never going to make you happy.

Would I prefer a $1k iem or 20 x $50 iems?

I'd go with the $1k iem but mainly because I've had 20 fifty dollar iems and yeah..

If I only owned a 1k iem and hadn't worked my way up the snakes and ladder then I'd go with the 20 and iems.

These days I research and troll eBay and the classifieds way less and I'm much happier. But hey, the research was
a part of the journey.

 

[loomisjohnson]

 

  It is easy to pay top bucks to get great performing earphones.
but getting a low budget earphones that can perform greatly is more thrilling.
and the portable market recently is getting more and more insane with their pricing.
who knows one day we might hit a jackpot with low budget earphone that can perform closely to the top bucks one.

 


I do agree with both schools of thought. It is rather similar to watch collecting; where for me as a budding collector, will find some good and cheap pieces e.g. Seiko, Timex, and slowly move up the ranks (and usually correspondingly, price). Once you amass a growing collection, some people will keep their collection and have it grow even more, and some may trim their collection to a few key watches, to differing extents.

In my own earphone journey, I am also reaching a point that I have quite a diverse collection (not to the point of TOTL, in the high $XXX and to $XXXX range), and I feel my A4s, with a couple more earphones, are hitting the sweet spot. I would admit not listening much to my KZ IEMs as much as before, despite them being really good bang for the buck earphones. Whether I will start to trim my collection to a select few IEMs, is still an unknown though!

interesting question. i personally lean to the more-is-better camp for a couple of reasons:
1. unless you listen to very high quality files on very good sources (which i infrequenttly do), the benefits of having an expensive, endgame iem are somewhat mooted--a lot of cheaper pieces may actually be better optimized for lower-quality sources or files. sorta like how that beer tastes better with a hot dog than a fine bordeaux.
2. the warp speed evolution of the budget chifi industry has thrown the whole price value thing so out of kilter that spending a lot on an iem is no longer a guarantee that it will be significantly better. likewise, the law of diminishing returns sets in very early in this game--the qualitative difference between my favorite $150-200 phones and my favorite $40 phones are often merely incremental. 
3. as per rubick, the whole treasure hunt aspect of wading through low-priced pieces is a big part of the fun--i find it more satisfying to unearth an obscure $20 gem than to drop $400 on some highly-touted, widely acclaimed phone.
4. the consequences of being disappointed by a $10 piece are, of course, significantly less than being disappointed by a mega-buck piece

 

[rubick]

  interesting question. i personally lean to the more-is-better camp for a couple of reasons:
1. unless you listen to very high quality files on very good sources (which i infrequenttly do), the benefits of having an expensive, endgame iem are somewhat mooted--a lot of cheaper pieces may actually be better optimized for lower-quality sources or files. sorta like how that beer tastes better with a hot dog than a fine bordeaux.
2. the warp speed evolution of the budget chifi industry has thrown the whole price value thing so out of kilter that spending a lot on an iem is no longer a guarantee that it will be significantly better. likewise, the law of diminishing returns sets in very early in this game--the qualitative difference between my favorite $150-200 phones and my favorite $40 phones are often merely incremental. 
3. as per rubick, the whole treasure hunt aspect of wading through low-priced pieces is a big part of the fun--i find it more satisfying to unearth an obscure $20 gem than to drop $400 on some highly-touted, widely acclaimed phone.
4. the consequences of being disappointed by a $10 piece are, of course, significantly less than being disappointed by a mega-buck piece

 
and to add on, when you are on the go, the difference between a TOTL and a budget-fi earphone will be lesser due to the noisy ambience. 
when using a 4digits earphone, I have to properly pamper it, take out of  pelican case to use. after finishing, need to properly put back into the pelican case.
when using a budget-fi earphone, i can just chuck it here and there. roll the wire up and chuck it into the pocket

 

[faw88]

How do you guys reckon the LZ-A4 Stacks up to the DIY 846's ? the A4's are 2BA+1DD and in a similar price range theres sellers selling 5BA and even 6BA sets. But I know its not as simple as loading a lot of driver and expecting something to sound great. Whats the better choice amongst these?

 

[Saoshyant]

  I haven't seen them in person but I can say after seeing the photos of them, I'm pretty sure you're wrong. They are some of the most beautiful ear buds I've ever seen in my life and I know anyone with a pair of eyes will know they have a higher value than a pair of Beats.

 
I believe you're overestimating people.  Many people honestly believe if it's not Sony or Beats, it's not worth their time.  Plus looking at something purely for aesthetics will by no means tell you the quality of the product itself.

 

[TwoPalms]

How do you guys reckon the LZ-A4 Stacks up to the DIY 846's ? the A4's are 2BA+1DD and in a similar price range theres sellers selling 5BA and even 6BA sets. But I know its not as simple as loading a lot of driver and expecting something to sound great. Whats the better choice amongst these?

DIY846 5BA is good for its price, but is not for everyone. I think LZ A4 is unique IEM. can accept all kinds of music. For me LZ A4 far better.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

  Dang I didn't realize Canada was that dangerous.
 
Anyways you stated you are in search of the finding a fantastic ear bud for people. I think the monk+ is that ear bud, everyone should own a pair in my opinion.

I would own a pair of Monks already if the stinking shipping didn't take two months! Almost all my other orders are here, except for Monk. It's ridiculous. I'm going e-packet next time or never ordering them again.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

   
and to add on, when you are on the go, the difference between a TOTL and a budget-fi earphone will be lesser due to the noisy ambience. 
when using a 4digits earphone, I have to properly pamper it, take out of  pelican case to use. after finishing, need to properly put back into the pelican case.
when using a budget-fi earphone, i can just chuck it here and there. roll the wire up and chuck it into the pocket

I think what you said is head on. That's the way I am, I want the cheaper and easier route of storage, the pocket. Because of the noise on public transit I'm really reluctant to ever buy an expensive earbud, because of the noise... I may by expensive IEM's, but the most expensive earbud I would probably ever buy would be $40-50 US and that's a lot in Canadian dollars and even then it might be too much.
 
I remember giving up ear buds years ago because of the lack of outside noise isolation, but this website has appealed me to buy them again.

 

[burgunder]

To add to the discussion I think it's great that you can try different soundsignatures for cheap before you take the plunge and buy something more expensive. If you ever take that jump

 

[toddy0191]

Following on from the disappointment of my urbanfuns being delivered to the wrong address; a nice present has arrived today!




I never stop being surprised at the level of packaging, and these are no exception. Lovely box.

Cable is nice and thick and there's no cheapy plastic here; everything's metal (driver casing, y splitter and right angled jack).

I like the fact that the two earpieces are magnetic and "stick" together.

Really like the double flanged ear tips and they fit my ears perfectly. If they don't fit though, you're in trouble as all the included tips look the same size.( edit: they're all slightly different with slightly being the operative word. There are S M and L.)

With a brief listen they sound WAY above their price. Nice wide soundstage lovely treble and thundering bass that isn't muddy. Can't wait to listen more.

Take a bow 1clearhead

What a find!

 

[Vidal]

Following on from the disappointment of my urbanfuns being delivered to the wrong address; a nice present has arrived today!




I never stop being surprised at the level of packaging, and these are no exception. Lovely box.

Cable is nice and thick and there's no cheapy plastic here; everything's metal (driver casing, y splitter and right angled jack).

I like the fact that the two earpieces are magnetic and "stick" together.

Really like the double flanged ear tips and they fit my ears perfectly. If they don't fit though, you're in trouble as all the included tips look the same size.( edit: they're all slightly different with slightly being the operative word. There are S M and L.)

With a brief listen they sound WAY above their price. Nice wide soundstage lovely treble and thundering bass that isn't muddy. Can't wait to listen more.

Take a bow @1clearhead

What a find!

 
I'm hoping mine arrive today as well, fingers crossed. Come on Royal Mail

 

[JacKallen]

My name is Skulloohile and I was an addict. I'd reasearch iems for a solid chunk of each night. And just keep buying them and buying them. So to try to put an end to it I bought a pair of JH Angies.

I feel like if I didn't work my way up through somewhere between 40 and 80 iems I would have missed the magic that the Angies can make. Some (or me at an earlier stage) could find them boring but they are a reference quality studio suited iem. They do everything right. This is starting to sound like an ad... That's not the intention.

I'm tryna say everyone has a journey and you can't cheat to the end. You've gotta grow your knowledge and your ears. If you don't know what signature you wanna settle down to then buying a random 1k$ iem is never going to make you happy.

Would I prefer a $1k iem or 20 x $50 iems?

I'd go with the $1k iem but mainly because I've had 20 fifty dollar iems and yeah..

If I only owned a 1k iem and hadn't worked my way up the snakes and ladder then I'd go with the 20 and iems.

These days I research and troll eBay and the classifieds way less and I'm much happier. But hey, the research was
a part of the journey.

I definitely agree that the sound signature is equally important as the quality. But the tonality varies a lot with top tier headphones too. If you want a more fun signature there are something like the Westones, if you want more analytical you can go for Shure, etc.
Still, the emotional side of me understands the thrill you might get from receiving another pair of headphones, plus the research behind it. My rational side just doesn't.