[robar]

Took them off burn-in after 100 or so hours, there wasn't as much change as I'd like. Still a warm, punchy signature. The mid-bass still sounds a bit boomy or intrusive with foams on (I used offset donut foams).

Because of that, I pulled the foams off and the boominess disappears, mid-bass punch is tamed and the mids/highs are now presented in a more forward fashion. Upper mids/lower treble almost becomes fatiguing and is borderline too much for me (can easily be fixed with EQ, but for the sake of giving impressions I listened without EQ). Definitely a driver to use without foams IMO.


When it comes to IEM's I prefer a sound sig that is somewhat harman like, but with 1-3db less upper mids/lower treble and a bit less bass by 2-3 db that tapers into the lower mids a bit smoother (ie: my mh755/mh750 I pull about -3db at 31/62 hz and -1.5 db around 125hz via eq).


That being said with no foams the bass is still decent in quantity until it reaches into the sub-bass (50-60hz and below), these drivers start picking up around 30-33hz when I did a sweep and the bass is fairly level from 35h40hz up. In other words bass rolls off around 30-33hz.

Bass/mid-bass and lower mids are good but the upper mids/lower treble is a bit harsh if I turn the volume up above my average listening volume (low for most). So if I was in a somewhat noisy place, out and about or when driving/commuting it may be fatiguing/too harsh. When sitting at home or in a quiet environment they are ok.

It sounds like you prefer a lean, flat/smooth sound signature. Have you tried removing the white cover from the speakers? I almost always remove any cover from new speakers for similar reason that you brought up - it usually creates harsh upper mids, boomy bass, makes the tuning process harder.
I personally could never again use an earbud without foam. I used them like that throughout my teen and I've had enough of harsh thin sound + hard plastic in my ears haha.

I prefer a sound signature that evokes a large set of speakers, so deep impactful bass, natural and smooth midrange, airy treble. I'm experimenting with methods of side-by-side comparison of earbuds and speakers for tuning purposes. I'll share the process in the close future.

Question for everybody: How do you evaluate your tunings? Do you have some kind of a reference gear or benchmark that you use? How do you assess sound signature? It can get quite subjective, especially when comparing different kind of audio gears. I mean, sometimes a so-called V-shaped earbud can sound much flatter than a trendy closed headphone. Sometimes a so-called flat earbud can sound anemic and dull compared to even a small bookshelf speaker. How do you navigate between the relative (compare only to earbuds) and the absolute (compare between other types of audio reproduction). I guess it also depends on the individual ear + shell synergy. For example, I have some shells that go very deep and tight into my ears, which magnifies the feeling of pressure and harshness, so with these shells I prefer a less obtrusive signature. While with other shells that have a more relaxed fit, I can get braver and tune the sound to be more exciting.

 

[assassin10000]

It sounds like you prefer a lean, flat/smooth sound signature. Have you tried removing the white cover from the speakers? I almost always remove any cover from new speakers for similar reason that you brought up - it usually creates harsh upper mids, boomy bass, makes the tuning process harder.
I personally could never again use an earbud without foam. I used them like that throughout my teen and I've had enough of harsh thin sound + hard plastic in my ears haha.

I prefer a sound signature that evokes a large set of speakers, so deep impactful bass, natural and smooth midrange, airy treble. I'm experimenting with methods of side-by-side comparison of earbuds and speakers for tuning purposes. I'll share the process in the close future.

Question for everybody: How do you evaluate your tunings? Do you have some kind of a reference gear or benchmark that you use? How do you assess sound signature? It can get quite subjective, especially when comparing different kind of audio gears. I mean, sometimes a so-called V-shaped earbud can sound much flatter than a trendy closed headphone. Sometimes a so-called flat earbud can sound anemic and dull compared to even a small bookshelf speaker. How do you navigate between the relative (compare only to earbuds) and the absolute (compare between other types of audio reproduction). I guess it also depends on the individual ear + shell synergy. For example, I have some shells that go very deep and tight into my ears, which magnifies the feeling of pressure and harshness, so with these shells I prefer a less obtrusive signature. While with other shells that have a more relaxed fit, I can get braver and tune the sound to be more exciting.

I recently tried a bright/neutral IEM (T2+) and it was not for me. I like a modified Harman (-2/3 db of both bass and upper mids/lower treble to the 2020 curve). So a mild U or V shape, as I like the mids and vocals to be well presented.

For the bass I prefer it someehat boosted, with an emphasis towards sub-bass. I tend to EQ -2db or so at 125/150hz to clean up the bass. Makes it sound more like speakers with a separate subwoofer.


As far as removing the white tuning cotton, I'm not sure I want to as they do sound pretty good with no foams. That and I don't have any others currently in case I damage them.

These are even better with EQ as it has a +5db peak around 5-600hz that once tamed helps the sound, that and -2db for the upper mids/ lower treble. Since I wear them over ear the 'hardness' is a basically a non-issue for comfort.


I usually let my ears reset overnight before going back to check or finalize tuning. Usually there are small changes to be done, as during tuning I adjust to the changes as they are being made which can lean towards going too far in one direction or another.


I'm trying to setup a measurement rig currently. Got a Dayton IMM-6 a couple days ago but it appears my laptop soundcard does not like to register sound below 150hz and above 8khz (rolls off hard on both ends). I've ordered an adapter to try my USB-C DAC which has a mic input to see if that works.

 

[DBaldock9]

...

I'm trying to setup a measurement rig currently. Got a Dayton IMM-6 a couple days ago but it appears my laptop soundcard does not like to register sound below 150hz and above 8khz (rolls off hard on both ends). I've ordered an adapter to try my USB-C DAC which has a mic input to see if that works.

If the Mic Input rolls off the lows & highs, it may work to use an external Mic preamp, and the Line Input on your computer.

 

[robar]

I recently tried a bright/neutral IEM (T2+) and it was not for me. I like a modified Harman (-2/3 db of both bass and upper mids/lower treble to the 2020 curve). So a mild U or V shape, as I like the mids and vocals to be well presented.

For the bass I prefer it someehat boosted, with an emphasis towards sub-bass. I tend to EQ -2db or so at 125/150hz to clean up the bass. Makes it sound more like speakers with a separate subwoofer.


As far as removing the white tuning cotton, I'm not sure I want to as they do sound pretty good with no foams. That and I don't have any others currently in case I damage them.

These are even better with EQ as it has a +5db peak around 5-600hz that once tamed helps the sound, that and -2db for the upper mids/ lower treble. Since I wear them over ear the 'hardness' is a basically a non-issue for comfort.


I usually let my ears reset overnight before going back to check or finalize tuning. Usually there are small changes to be done, as during tuning I adjust to the changes as they are being made which can lean towards going too far in one direction or another.


I'm trying to setup a measurement rig currently. Got a Dayton IMM-6 a couple days ago but it appears my laptop soundcard does not like to register sound below 150hz and above 8khz (rolls off hard on both ends). I've ordered an adapter to try my USB-C DAC which has a mic input to see if that works.

I see. But how do you know what the harman curve sounds like? Even if you measure the response, it will never match up with those curves because they are designed for a different type of audio device and with a specific measuring rig which adds a lot of specific resonances into the graph, which we will never be able to replicate with diy gear. And even the harman curve is just a wild guesswork based on some assumptions and tests, this is why it changes all the time etc. What I mean is that how do you get a semi-objective reference to make a judgement about tuning? Or it's just all subjective based on some song that you listened to a lot, or do you compare it to a favorite audio gear of yours? I'm just interested in other people's methods.
I don't trust in listening to frequency sweeps, it's quite misleading in my opinion, maybe it helps notice sudden peaks but it's too linear to use it as a test for overall signature or tonal balance, we never really hear more distant frequencies side by side.

At the moment, I can roughly categorize the overall signature by measuring + side-by-side comparing it to different signature gear + listening to some test music. I mean playing the music on two devices real time and quicky switching back and forth, so that the differences in signature are obvious. This gets me in the ballpark of "decent" or "optimal" sound, but for fine tuning I'm not sure what to do besides taste + picking something that we like listening to and a/b test the hell out of it.

For overall signature I had some insights though when I compared earbuds directly to speakers that I like (will post pics soon), it's very different to actually listen to them back and forth than just remembering how something sounded on a speaker. The mids and highs are richer airier and smoother than on most earbuds, while the bass is really tight and deep. There is a certain fluidity of sound that only my favorite builds can kind of emulate from my collection. Many earbuds just sound too dry or lifeless or dull or muddy. For my revelation the overall signature of my so called "neutral" and "u-shaped" buds were the closest. The "neutral" had the closest midrange while the "u-shaped" had the closest bass/treble and airiness. (based on 19-21 heavy bass speaker) I plan to listen this way a lot to train my ears to better pick up the nuances of speaker-like sound. The DAC choice helps a lot of course, my es9018 dac was crucial to get the treble/airiness up to speed against the speaker

 

[assassin10000]

I see. But how do you know what the harman curve sounds like? Even if you measure the response, it will never match up with those curves because they are designed for a different type of audio device and with a specific measuring rig which adds a lot of specific resonances into the graph, which we will never be able to replicate with diy gear. And even the harman curve is just a wild guesswork based on some assumptions and tests, this is why it changes all the time etc. What I mean is that how do you get a semi-objective reference to make a judgement about tuning. Or it's just all subjective based on some song that you listened to a lot, or do you compare it to a favorite audio gear of yours? I'm just interested in other people's methods. I don't trust in listening to frequency sweeps, it's quite misleading in my opinion, maybe it helps notice sudden peaks but it's too linear to use it as a test for overall signature or tonal balance, we never really hear more distant frequencies side by side.

At the moment, I can roughly categorize the overall signature by measuring + side-by-side comparing it to different signature gear + listening to some test music. I mean playing the music on both real time and quicky switching back and forth, so that the differences in signature are obvios. This gets me in the ballpark of "decent" or "optimal" sound, but for fine tuning I'm not sure what to do besides taste + picking something that we like listening to and a/b test the hell out of it.

For overall signature I had some insights though when I compared earbuds directly to speakers that I like (will post pics soon), it's very different to actually listen to them back and forth than just remembering how something sounded on a speaker. The mids and highs are richer airier and smoother than on most earbuds, while the bass is really tight and deep. There is a certain fluidity of sound that only my favorite builds can kind of emulate from my collection. Many earbuds just sound too dry or lifeless or dull. For my relevation the overall signature of my so called "neutral" and "u-shaped" buds were the closest. The "neutral" had the closest midrange while the "u-shaped" had the closest bass/treble and airiness. (based on 19-21 heavy bass speaker) I plan to listen this way a lot to train my ears to better pick up the nuances of speaker-like sound. The DAC choice helps a lot of course, my es9018 dac was crucial to get the treble/airiness up to speed against the speaker

I had a pair of the buds+ which measure to match the harman 2020 curve and based on what I subjectively liked/disliked about it, is my frame of reference. At least for an initial description of my preferred sound sig.

I agree graphs are not an end all be all, they just give the initial idea of the sound. Kind of like ordering a burger or sandwich, you kind of know what you're going to get but the flavor can be wildly different depending on ingredients and preparation.

I only use sweeps to figure out roll-off or if an area seems peaky to isolate where the problem is.


Otherwise, for me it's mostly subjective listening. I compare with songs (some I've listened to for 15-20+ years) and various genres, I sometimes a/b vs other earbuds to understand the differences. It's hard to put into words but listening to them is the only way to tell if I like them or the changes I make. I haven't been able to do any measurements for more objective tuning (yet). My setup is still 'under construction'.


I think of the 'fluidity' you are talking about as the dynamics of the sound. I agree, it is very hard to find a setup that does well presenting a dynamic, musical, detailed, airy but not shouty or fatiguing sound. That also presents clean, articulate bass with depth and no bleed or muddiness.

For my DIY builds, the best (by memory only, as I still need a replacement driver) was the 150Ω redfilm pk1 driver.


I agree, many buds just don't quite 'do it' for me; like the ry4s, diy sr2 16Ω, b40, pt15, pt25 or bk2 or other buds. Others like them but to me they just didn't sound the way I want/like (veiled, dull, lifeless, sharp, shouty, grainy, etc).

The Ourart ACG did wonderful mids & highs, and then original ST-10 does bass very well while still being a bud with neutral mids & highs. I've sold the ACG but kept the ST-10 for reference (for now).

 

[robar]

Here's the quick setup that allows me to quickly switch back-and-forth between earbud and speaker. Because my main interest is general impressions about tuning, I'm not concerned about lossless audio and stuff like that.
So, I open Spotify on both my laptop and mobile phone. I plug my dac into the laptop and connect the earbud. I connect my phone to the speakers (Mordaunt Short MS904 speakers via bluetooth dac/amp in this case) With the playback device option in spotify, I can switch between the two setups even in the middle of a song by a single click.

I had a pair of the buds+ which measure to match the harman 2020 curve and based on what I subjectively liked/disliked about it, is my frame of reference. At least for an initial description of my preferred sound sig.

I agree graphs are not an end all be all, they just give the initial idea of the sound. Kind of like ordering a burger or sandwich, you kind of know what you're going to get but the flavor can be wildly different depending on ingredients and preparation.

I only use sweeps to figure out roll-off or if an area seems peaky to isolate where the problem is.


Otherwise, for me it's mostly subjective listening. I compare with songs (some I've listened to for 15-20+ years) and various genres, I sometimes a/b vs other earbuds to understand the differences. It's hard to put into words but listening to them is the only way to tell if I like them or the changes I make. I haven't been able to do any measurements for more objective tuning (yet). My setup is still 'under construction'.


I think of the 'fluidity' you are talking about as the dynamics of the sound. I agree, it is very hard to find a setup that does well presenting a dynamic, musical, detailed, airy but not shouty or fatiguing sound. That also presents clean, articulate bass with depth and no bleed or muddiness.

For my DIY builds, the best (by memory only, as I still need a replacement driver) was the 150Ω redfilm pk1 driver.


I agree, many buds just don't quite 'do it' for me; like the ry4s, diy sr2 16Ω, b40, pt15, pt25 or bk2 or other buds. Others like them but to me they just didn't sound the way I want/like (veiled, dull, lifeless, sharp, shouty, grainy, etc).

The Ourart ACG did wonderful mids & highs, and then original ST-10 does bass very well while still being a bud with neutral mids & highs. I've sold the ACG but kept the ST-10 for reference (for now).

Thanks for your insights, much appreciated! I'll keep in mind your recommendation, do you have any other earbud/headphone in mind which act as a nice tuning reference?

For me "fluidity" means a certain ability of the speaker/earbud to evoke a full, 3D, immersive sound, it's mainly about the raw performance of the speaker (weighted by the quality of dac and tuning) A bit similar to 24fps vs 60fps, or saying the lines vs acting it out.
Most cheap earbuds (even the decently tuned blue qian25) has a dry, almost 2D-like effect, the life is just somehow missing in the sound. I tried to build several things with salvaged drivers from vidos, ry4x, ry4c etc but something is just missing, my B40 speakers are a bit better but they still lack the depth and energy to sound convincing to me. Fortunately even the cheapest recommended diy drivers are a big step forwards in this regard.

 

[assassin10000]

Due to curiosity. I decided to get a measurement setup.

It's in progress still, after my initial problem. (The onboard soundcard of my laptop, had terrible results, rolled off both below 200hz and above 8khz. Solved it by bypassing the onboard soundcard and using my USB-C DAC.)

(Laptop -> USB C adapter -> TC35B -> IMM-6 -> DIY coupler)

Of course, this is an earbud thread so ignore the DIY IEM coupler in the above pic.


Earbud measurements mostly seem off, either boosted from bass thru the lower mids or lacking bass altogether trying to avoid that problem while measuring.

I'm guessing a partial seal like our ears have, will give a much more accurate measurement. To do this, a partial ear (auricle) is needed to hold the earbud and needs to attach to the mic somehow. I know others have ordered silicone outer ears to try but I decided to home-brew one.


Used some thermoplastic to make a negative impression of my ear. FYI this takes forever to cool, since body temp keeps it from cooling quickly (takes over an hour). Had to do it a 2nd time as I didn't realize the inside would still be soft after 30 minutes.

The second time through I used ice cubes against it to help reduce its temp. Still took almost an hour before I felt safe trying to remove it from my ear without it deforming. Once out I stuck it in the freezer.



After pulling the mold out of the freezer I used hot glue to make the outer ear shape. With frequent trips of 5-10 minutes to the freezer so the hot glue didn't heat the mold up enough to soften it. Used a piece of latex hose for the connection/ear canal.



Surprisingly it wasn't crazy hard to remove once fully cooled off. Worked around the edges a bit to break the initial hold and then it popped right off.




It works. Shortened the hose piece quite a bit compared to the pics above. I wanted the resonant peak as close to 8k as I could get it, ended up around 7k. Close enough for now.



Here's some measurements of three 14.8mm drivers I have built and laying around.




I'm not 100% satisfied but it's better than holding it against a tube and measurements are repeatable. The hot glue doesn't conform like an ear or softer material would, so there is room for improvement.

Anyone got any additional ideas of materials or a coupler design that would be worth trying?

 

[robar]

Hello there!
Any notable purchases in the current sale?
Has anyone tried these drivers?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32974104608.html (150ohm 15.4mm mx760-style cover)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001133291418.html (19-21 balanced version steel mesh)
Also thinking about the n52 300ohm and others but I'd prefer the smaller covers and cheaper price of the above, also I'm a bit afraid the 300ohm would need more power than I could provide.

What do you think about this kind of shell?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001283457554.html
.
Any experience with cheap bluetooth receivers by the way? The disposable 10 dollar ones like xiaomi/ugreen/baseus etc Just for low impedance stuff for casual use.

 

[730user]

robar
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32974104608.html - bad sound

 

[robar]

By the way, I got the ES9023 PCM2706 dac and unfortunately it's not really ideal for what I wanted to use it. While it works OK with android, the pcm2706 completely bypasses the windows system volume, so it always work at max level. The seller sent an obscure driver which I didn't install in the end. On android it offers a definite improvement but the sound opens up by increasing the volume, so this is ideally designed with 100% volume and a separate amplifier in mind. I would say this is a good budget device for connecting a speaker/headphone amp to the computer, but not for directly driving earphones/headphones. I connected it to my simple 2.1 pc speaker and it improved the SQ quite a bit so I did find some use for it. If you want a cheap standalone solution for PC, just buy the bigger brother es9018k2m stick, that works really well with earphone/headphones.

robar
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32974104608.html - bad sound

Thanks! Is this your personal experience? I'll skip it then..

 

[Plicco]

Hello everyone,
I'm a new used passionate about DIY in many fields and recently I've been trying to learn something about making my own audio stuff, both to save money and improve the quality of my gears, but also of course to have fun and learn.

My first project would be a pair of earbuds, because I find IEM really uncomfortable for my ears unfortunately, so I use them only when I want to have a full immersion listening session but not in everyday life, which means I often end up listening to music with crappy cheap buds with bad cables.
I would also like to make them mmcx so I can use my good cables across many different buds and IEM, I had **** ones (I guess dt15) but the glue came apart with the hot weather and I literally step into one of the drivers while walking, which made me feel pretty frustrated and started to make my interest in DIY grow.

Anyway, my first question would be about drivers, I've seen a lot of them on Ali, some cheap and some very expensive, but many of them without reviews, so I thought I would ask you guys for help in choosing the best ones.
I'll start by saying that I've heard about the red film ones and the beryllium, the red film unfortunately are 14.8 which feels a bit small to me (the ones available now at least, I wish I could still find the 150 ohm ones) and the beryllium are on my radar as a quality buy not crazy expensive choice, yet I'd like to get something to practice with before building with them.

Ideally I would also be interested in good choices around 5/7$ but I'm not sure they would be better than the insanely cheap 2/3$ ones, so I don't know if it's worth buying them instead of going straight for beryllium after messing with a couple cheap ones.
I'm just drowning in the ocean of drivers!
I was also trying to find some good 64 ohm ones, but I can't seem to find anything worth considering, unless again we go into the price range of the beryllium.

I would have another million questions, but for now I'll ask just another one: do you know the difference between the metal shells sold on NSC, the zejat a10 and f1, they seem really very similar.

Ideally I'm aiming at building something with a sound signature similar to the **** ****, airy and wide, not too bassy and with as much details as possible, mids present but not dominating, let's just say pretty neutral and a bit cold, that's my style

Of course I would appreciate every suggestion, I went back to page maybe 120 but reading everything is overwhelming, so I hope you won't mind if I asked for advice!
Thank you very much and compliments for your works, I've seen some pretty stunning earbuds on these pages!!!

 

[robar]

Hello everyone,
I'm a new used passionate about DIY in many fields and recently I've been trying to learn something about making my own audio stuff, both to save money and improve the quality of my gears, but also of course to have fun and learn.

My first project would be a pair of earbuds, because I find IEM really uncomfortable for my ears unfortunately, so I use them only when I want to have a full immersion listening session but not in everyday life, which means I often end up listening to music with crappy cheap buds with bad cables.
I would also like to make them mmcx so I can use my good cables across many different buds and IEM, I had **** ones (I guess dt15) but the glue came apart with the hot weather and I literally step into one of the drivers while walking, which made me feel pretty frustrated and started to make my interest in DIY grow.

Anyway, my first question would be about drivers, I've seen a lot of them on Ali, some cheap and some very expensive, but many of them without reviews, so I thought I would ask you guys for help in choosing the best ones.
I'll start by saying that I've heard about the red film ones and the beryllium, the red film unfortunately are 14.8 which feels a bit small to me (the ones available now at least, I wish I could still find the 150 ohm ones) and the beryllium are on my radar as a quality buy not crazy expensive choice, yet I'd like to get something to practice with before building with them.

Ideally I would also be interested in good choices around 5/7$ but I'm not sure they would be better than the insanely cheap 2/3$ ones, so I don't know if it's worth buying them instead of going straight for beryllium after messing with a couple cheap ones.
I'm just drowning in the ocean of drivers!
I was also trying to find some good 64 ohm ones, but I can't seem to find anything worth considering, unless again we go into the price range of the beryllium.

I would have another million questions, but for now I'll ask just another one: do you know the difference between the metal shells sold on NSC, the zejat a10 and f1, they seem really very similar.

Ideally I'm aiming at building something with a sound signature similar to the **** ****, airy and wide, not too bassy and with as much details as possible, mids present but not dominating, let's just say pretty neutral and a bit cold, that's my style

Of course I would appreciate every suggestion, I went back to page maybe 120 but reading everything is overwhelming, so I hope you won't mind if I asked for advice!
Thank you very much and compliments for your works, I've seen some pretty stunning earbuds on these pages!!!

From the cheap 15.4mm ones, I can recommend these

19-21 "heavy bass" - for me this is a pretty airy, slightly cold driver, from my collection this has the best extension, detail and balance
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000281063945.html

N50 steel mesh - this is smoother, less airly and somewhat more midcentric, still nice. Overall mellow character. In default setup it has a warmish v-shaped signature but you can tune it to pretty flat (put in most shells that are not mx500, or remove foam from speaker, add standard horseshoe to bundled shell) or even improve the v-shape to be tighter and cleaner (remove foam, switch to standard shell with standard horseshoe). For me it lacks a bit impact and sparkle but still a solid choice in this price point, I also like the fit that the smaller steel mesh cover provides.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33027995148.html

I don't glue and use simple cables, not mmcx, so please take that into account

other cheap speakers I've tried:
I also have the 64ohm titanium with blue dot (costs around 5-6usd) which is darkish and bassy so I'm not sure if it's your cup of tea.
EMX500 speaker is the cheapest (about 3usd at jietu, also sold in 5 pair sets for about 12usd), it's bright with decent bass, but for me it's a bit too thin and grainy, much much better than vido speaker for example but I would just buy the 19-21 heavy bass instead. I also tried the N52 32ohm speaker which is kind of similar to the N50, but I compared them side by side and the n52 was brighter grainier, I prefer the N50.

 

[furyossa]

From the cheap 15.4mm ones, I can recommend these

19-21 "heavy bass" - for me this is a pretty airy, slightly cold driver, from my collection this has the best extension, detail and balance
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000281063945.html

N50 steel mesh - this is smoother, less airly and somewhat more midcentric, still nice. Overall mellow character. In default setup it has a warmish v-shaped signature but you can tune it to pretty flat (put in most shells that are not mx500, or remove foam from speaker, add standard horseshoe to bundled shell) or even improve the v-shape to be tighter and cleaner (remove foam, switch to standard shell with standard horseshoe). For me it lacks a bit impact and sparkle but still a solid choice in this price point, I also like the fit that the smaller steel mesh cover provides.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33027995148.html

I don't glue and use simple cables, not mmcx, so please take that into account

other cheap speakers I've tried:
I also have the 64ohm titanium with blue dot (costs around 5-6usd) which is darkish and bassy so I'm not sure if it's your cup of tea.
EMX500 speaker is the cheapest (about 3usd at jietu, also sold in 5 pair sets for about 12usd), it's bright with decent bass, but for me it's a bit too thin and grainy, much much better than vido speaker for example but I would just buy the 19-21 heavy bass instead. I also tried the N52 32ohm speaker which is kind of similar to the N50, but I compared them side by side and the n52 was brighter grainier, I prefer the N50.

You explained everything, man

Hello everyone,
I'm a new used passionate about DIY in many fields and recently I've been trying to learn something about making my own audio stuff, both to save money and improve the quality of my gears, but also of course to have fun and learn.

My first project would be a pair of earbuds, because I find IEM really uncomfortable for my ears unfortunately, so I use them only when I want to have a full immersion listening session but not in everyday life, which means I often end up listening to music with crappy cheap buds with bad cables.
I would also like to make them mmcx so I can use my good cables across many different buds and IEM, I had **** ones (I guess dt15) but the glue came apart with the hot weather and I literally step into one of the drivers while walking, which made me feel pretty frustrated and started to make my interest in DIY grow.

Anyway, my first question would be about drivers, I've seen a lot of them on Ali, some cheap and some very expensive, but many of them without reviews, so I thought I would ask you guys for help in choosing the best ones.
I'll start by saying that I've heard about the red film ones and the beryllium, the red film unfortunately are 14.8 which feels a bit small to me (the ones available now at least, I wish I could still find the 150 ohm ones) and the beryllium are on my radar as a quality buy not crazy expensive choice, yet I'd like to get something to practice with before building with them.

Ideally I would also be interested in good choices around 5/7$ but I'm not sure they would be better than the insanely cheap 2/3$ ones, so I don't know if it's worth buying them instead of going straight for beryllium after messing with a couple cheap ones.
I'm just drowning in the ocean of drivers!
I was also trying to find some good 64 ohm ones, but I can't seem to find anything worth considering, unless again we go into the price range of the beryllium.

I would have another million questions, but for now I'll ask just another one: do you know the difference between the metal shells sold on NSC, the zejat a10 and f1, they seem really very similar.

Ideally I'm aiming at building something with a sound signature similar to the **** ****, airy and wide, not too bassy and with as much details as possible, mids present but not dominating, let's just say pretty neutral and a bit cold, that's my style

Of course I would appreciate every suggestion, I went back to page maybe 120 but reading everything is overwhelming, so I hope you won't mind if I asked for advice!
Thank you very much and compliments for your works, I've seen some pretty stunning earbuds on these pages!!!

When I start with this hobby I read probably 90% of this thread. It's so informative but the main benefit is you can meet very nice people
and learn a lot from them and share different ideas.
My suggestion is not so different from @robar.
First, you need some tools On Ali, of course, you can find all or in the local hardware store. Good soldering skills are also big plus.
As for the drivers, start with 2-3 pairs of 32,64,150 ohm (in range of 10$), when you master these than try beryllium or graphene drivers.
You will be more proud of these cheap drivers, because you will in most cases, use them more often. You can experiment, try different builds
with or without mmcx but for these IMHO, you'll not need some fancy cables or mmcx. Pure wire connection with driver is the safest and of course,
you can always change the cables when it gets damaged. And stay away from glue
For high impedance drivers, I use metal shells and mmcx with balanced cables so you will spend probably more than 50$ and more nerves and little glue
For me personally the goal of this hobby is not to go and find TOTL earbuds, which not exists , but to try and tune more different drivers and build and get different
sound signatures to be able to enjoy different music genres.
So, there is no strict rule which drivers to buy first, expensive or cheap, in the end, you will buy both

 

[assassin10000]

^ what they said.

If you have used buds with the larger 15.4mm drivers and had no discomfort, then consider it a good thing that you won't be limited to the smaller selection of 14.8mm drivers, like I am.

I prefer the fit of the smaller drivers. The larger become uncomfortable to me during longer sessions and I typically use them for long sessions...

 

[Plicco]

Thank you @robar and @furyossa those are great advice!

And yes the nice thing about DIY for me is customisation, finding the best combination of drivers, cables, shells and tuning for my ear and my preferences. For now I'd like to start with cheap things to use mostly for phone calls or on the go, where there is too much noise to make quality too important, then I'd like to build some better ones, at least those beryllium ones which are now priced at 15$ which seems pretty good to me.

I already build cables for bigger hi-fi devices so I'm used to soldering, just not too trained with really small things
That's why I would be happy to build some good enough cable (as long as we don't go into cables snake oil zone) and then swap drivers and shells to try different things, I see a cable as a long lasting value

I guess I've pretty much seen all the choices, there's maybe just one more I'm curious to ask you about, which is this one:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BT81nG

Seems better than the ones with red film at the same price, and I would prefer this also because of the plastic case, I'd probably buy one of the two along with the 19-21 you suggested.

Thank you very much for now, I'll go back to read this whole thread!