[B9Scrambler]

I'm curious about what other $10 IEM's you'd recommend that's significantly better?

 
Mmmhmmm
 

 

[yangian]

   
From my understanding, no amount of EQ can improve clarity and details retrieval. And yes, this is the so called mythical giant killer I am looking/waiting for. Why brag and hype over a budget IBM if sound signature and personal taste is all that is to offer? I own several KZ earphone due to hype in this thread and find all of them (ED9, DT3, ANW, ZS1, etc etc) so terribly lacking in detail retrieval I wonder why they are so hyped in the first place. Technically these are only at the same league as the ASUS IEM that comes with mobile phone.

 
Detail retieval is the least difference as comparing to those TOTL products. I don't have those KZs,Now I have ATE, I think it has 95% details of IE800. If you listening carefully, almost everything is there, though lacking clarity. Those KZsare hyped because they are SOOOOO cheap!!! That's ok if you pursue extra 5% or 10% details, clarity etc., you must pay >20 times price!!! That the reason why they are hyped

 

[Enuma-elis]

Hi guys. I've found these customs for rather low price $118 for hybrid 1+1. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Hisenior-Hybrid-DD-Knowles-BA-Balanced-Armature-ED-TWFK-Drivers-UIEM-CIEM-Noise-Cancelling-In-Ear/633941_32734529283.html Seems like a cheapest customs, I've ever seen. Have they been here before? Any experiences?

 

[crabdog]

  Hi guys. I've found these customs for rather low price $118 for hybrid 1+1. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Hisenior-Hybrid-DD-Knowles-BA-Balanced-Armature-ED-TWFK-Drivers-UIEM-CIEM-Noise-Cancelling-In-Ear/633941_32734529283.html Seems like a cheapest customs, I've ever seen. Have they been here before? Any experiences?

Great find! I have the original Hisenior which is very average in my opinion. But the cable is pretty sweet - I've been using it with my **** 4in1. Would love to know how these sound.
 
However as far as the cheapest custom shaped hybrid custom....KZ ZST is retailing for around $20 lol.
 
EDIT: also noticed on the new hybrid UIEM models they have the same nozzle as the old single DD. It doesn't have any 'ridge' to keep eartips in place and the nozzle is very narrow so I often got tips stuck in my ears after I took them out. That really should have been addressed by now.

 

[ld100]

 

 
Unicorns do exist... But I have not been able to pin one down after months of reading and searching. In all seriousness I strongly feel that such animal does not exist. If you stop reading all hype posts and pay attention to posts from knowledgeable members it becomes quite clear that after all hype cheap Chinese iems are still cheap Chinese iems. 

 

[ld100]

  I've heard a lot of people say 'you get what you pay for' when it comes to premium kit (not just audio).
 
However when you look at some company balance sheets like Apple they're creaming it in, huge profits, big offices, CEO's on massive salaries.
 
The flip side to this must be a company that is a small startup that designs a great product and sells it without making a big profit on each unit sold. People dismiss them as being 'budget' and yet their product is everybit as good as the big brands. Examples that come to mind with phones are Xiaomi, Oneplusone, Huawei 
 
My own opinion is that there are similar brands out there with earphones/headphones, anyone who dismisses a because a £100 IEM can't be a good as a £500 IEM purely based on price is being short sighted.
 
Beware the hype train, but keep your mind open to new brands is my view.

 
Tell me what I can get under a 100 which equals to 500 dollars IEMs? I still have not seen anything that would do that. Lots of things being hyped up and but pretty much all hype trains hit the brick wall pretty quickly. 4in1 hype was unstoppable last week. Then very quickly some cool heads chimed in and now it is clearly just a nice 30$ IEM that some like and some don't. Go back two weeks ago and it was a giant killer end all game stopper.

 

[MuZo2]

   
Tell me what I can get under a 100 which equals to 500 dollars IEMs? I still have not seen anything that would do that. Lots of things being hyped up and but pretty much all hype trains hit the brick wall pretty quickly. 4in1 hype was unstoppable last week. Then very quickly some cool heads chimed in and now it is clearly just a nice 30$ IEM that some like and some don't. Go back two weeks ago and it was a giant killer end all game stopper.

Is there 500$ or 1000$ iem which is liked by all ?

 

[loomisjohnson]

   

As there is no one iem(TOTL/Mid-fi/low end)  which is perfect suits all music genres. audio123 has suggested TOTL iems to each and everyone and not all have the means to get even one. Lets say you save and get a total iem of your sound preference(note most of TOTL iem are hard to audition unless you go and visit CANJAM)  in range of 1-1.5k are you going to use it for all music and everywhere?
Also its better to climb the ladder than to go and buy a TOTL iem.
a) You appreciate technicalities of TOTL iem that way
b) You dont take a big hit if TOTL iem is not to your sound preference.
If I have 1-1.5K budget I will go for 2-3Mid fi IEMs instead if one TOTL.

personally, the objective of this hobby (obsession?) isn't to find the game-ending, "best" IEM--it's to try out many different IEMs on the journey itself. so while certainly nobody "needs" more than 3 or 4 IEMs, i would never so limit myself, anymore than i would limit myself to just a few great restaurants or record albums.
the real significant factor here is that the law of diminishing returns kicks in sooner in headphonia than in almost any other pursuit. listening to my newest toy, the kz zs3, or to the **** dt2, i'm  struck by how closely they approximate much pricier western models--not to say that they're better, but that they can actually compete is the very ethos of this thread.

 

[Vidal]

Depends against which £500 earphone your pitching it against doesn't it? Are all £500 earphones equally brilliant? No, not at all.
 
Obviously this is very subjective but esteemed reviewer Joker rates the $120 dollar Brainwavz B2 better than the $435 Shure SE535s for sound.
 
The Shure's are highly rated by most so these aren't just a crappy set. The Vsonic VC1000 also are rated really highly. 

 

[crabdog]

Would be awesome if we could get back on the topic of Chinese iems/dacs/amps.
 

 

[Saoshyant]

windcar For detail retrieval at that price range, you might have better luck with the Asian earbuds instead of IEMs. I've yet to hear a TOTL clarity/detail IEM, so all I can speak from is theory. The Rose Mojito is very talented in this respect, but I have no basis for judgement, although others here might.

 

[audio123]

I'm curious about what other $10 IEM's you'd recommend that's significantly better?

i rather dont use any iems. They offer good price but sound and qc are poor. U got to agree on that fact. Vjjb k4 is a good starter.

 

[Enuma-elis]

 

Great find! I have the original Hisenior which is very average in my opinion. But the cable is pretty sweet - I've been using it with my **** 4in1. Would love to know how these sound.
 
However as far as the cheapest custom shaped hybrid custom....KZ ZST is retailing for around $20 lol.
 
EDIT: also noticed on the new hybrid UIEM models they have the same nozzle as the old single DD. It doesn't have any 'ridge' to keep eartips in place and the nozzle is very narrow so I often got tips stuck in my ears after I took them out. That really should have been addressed by now.

Well, I think these are real customs in fact. That's why I made all the fuss. But thanks/nothanks for mentioning the ZST, will be ordering them soon .

 

[c0rp1]

Any impressions of the KZ ZSTs ? Still waiting for the **** 4in1 but am eager to pull the trigger on the KZs.

 

[reluctant_engineer]

 
Same cable as with Yinjw "IE800" wooden red housing one has. Pretty great but nothing special to me.

 
That's interesting. Yeah it's not the best cable on a budget earphone (I like the cable on KZ ED9 better), but it's definitely great for a 5$ earphone.