This is unfortunate that most of the rest of the world refers to IEMs as earbuds. To me there are several classifications in this area. True earbuds are referred to as flathead earbuds because EVERYONE calls TWS (true wireless) IEMs earbuds nowadays.
Earbuds Round-Up
- Thread starter ClieOS
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Earphones. Ear Receivers. Ear Pieces. Ear Plugs.
anli
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Great, thanks - "flathead earbuds" is the best filter among all ones I have tried.
The demo tour unit for TGXear Desolation Sound came in, my first look at TGX buds, and any earbud at this price.
They're pretty good! Fantastic, even. Best resolution on an earbud I've heard so far. Tonally though it's not entirely my cup of tea– a touch too bright and a little shouty. The tonal unevenness that comes from non-in-ears is present and gives cymbals a bit of raspiness to them that just doesn't sit with me. I can definitely see someone going for them if they like bright-neutral though. Like I said, their resolution is superb, bass quality is pretty solid, and instrument separation is top-notch.
The cable is real nice as well, no microphonics whatsoever, light as a feather and very pretty.
For an earbud at this price point basically any flaw is going to be a deal-breaker, so even "good, but not my cup of tea" is enough for me to pass on it, but I'm sold on TGXear as a maker and on the idea of a top of the line earbud in general, which is something I've been skeptical about.
Interestingly, I feel DS has the most impressive cymbal realism of all the earbuds I've heard. I tried DAWN briefly with DS and I'm just not convinced there's enough power there for the 130ohm driver. I got volume but I didn't get much balance or control that I associate with DS from a DAP (e.g. DX300). Was the 'raspiness' present across sources?
Honestly I don't have any other 4.4mm sources
I'm not really the type that notices differences between sources beyond volume changes or deliberate distortion thoughHonestly I don't have any other 4.4mm sources
That's fair enough. I'm not sure you're giving yourself enough credit. I reckon you could!
hongky
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For me the biggest gain you can get for earbud listening is to add dedicated amp in your chainHonestly I don't have any other 4.4mm sources
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sofastreamer
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just got 5 Kbear Stellar from Amazon for about 20 EUR. Are you kidding me? how can these be so good for a V shaped set?? Not for vocal lovers obviously but with a competent sub bass and overall pretty smooth. Soundstage would bring many iems to shame, but in the earbud realm its just okish.
Now i will start reading the links provided by woodylover some time ago, about how to tune earbuds. just out of curiosity i want to try to make them flatter sounding on both ends. we will see how both my left hands will work that out. maybe i will get some fancy drivers later on, who knows
Now i will start reading the links provided by woodylover some time ago, about how to tune earbuds. just out of curiosity i want to try to make them flatter sounding on both ends. we will see how both my left hands will work that out. maybe i will get some fancy drivers later on, who knows
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chavez
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Funny enough how this is the worst prebuilt pair ive heard. I used their shells for another build.just got 5 Kbear Stellar from Amazon for about 20 EUR. Are you kidding me? how can these be so good for a V shaped set?? Not for vocal lovers obviously but with a competent sub bass and overall pretty smooth. Soundstage would bring many iems to shame, but in the earbud realm its just okish.
Now i will start reading the links provided by woodylover some time ago, about how to tune earbuds. just out of curiosity i want to try to make them flatter sounding on both ends. we will see how both my left hands will work that out. maybe i will get some fancy drivers later on, who knows
hvalle
New Head-Fier
Of all the thousand of headphones from the price segment from $2 to $150, the best in terms of sound for me personally remain Qian25 and Moondrop Nameless. Fortunately, I bought Qian25 with a margin, although there are already only 2 pairs left. But i have only one Moondrop and recently suddenly ordered to live long. Now, to my chagrin, I see that both models are not on the market and I don’t see an adequate replacement for them. Moondrops have the most neutral sound, without embellishment at a particular frequency. The Qian25 have a very slight low-end bias that only slightly embellishes the fast drums, while there is no booming humming bass.
Listening to my FF5 and DX320 last night, I was reminded of how much I enjoy that pairing, which, paradoxically (curse this hobby!), led me to wonder what an upgrade to the FF5 would be. I really enjoy the tonality of the FF5 with the DX320, but wouldn’t mind an upgrade in terms of technicalities. I own the RW-3000 and found them a little fatiguing with the 320, which is too bad, because that seems like the obvious choice, but there’s no accounting for synergy (the 3000 are amazing out my Shanling H7, where the added hint of warmth really works for me, so at least that worked out well).
So, what would you guys recommend as a bud with similar tonality to the FF5, but with improved technicalities, ideally driveable by the Amp14 card on my 320? Bonus points if it has a PK shell!
So, what would you guys recommend as a bud with similar tonality to the FF5, but with improved technicalities, ideally driveable by the Amp14 card on my 320? Bonus points if it has a PK shell!
I threw away the drivers and kept the shell for another build.just got 5 Kbear Stellar from Amazon for about 20 EUR. Are you kidding me? how can these be so good for a V shaped set?? Not for vocal lovers obviously but with a competent sub bass and overall pretty smooth. Soundstage would bring many iems to shame, but in the earbud realm its just okish.
Now i will start reading the links provided by woodylover some time ago, about how to tune earbuds. just out of curiosity i want to try to make them flatter sounding on both ends. we will see how both my left hands will work that out. maybe i will get some fancy drivers later on, who knows
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BCool
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DIY'd a pair for a friend:
130Ω Bery drivers are definitely my favourite, great bass, details and soundstage/imaging (which is useful as he'll likely be gaming with them).
130Ω Bery drivers are definitely my favourite, great bass, details and soundstage/imaging (which is useful as he'll likely be gaming with them).
I was going to suggest the RW3000 but as you said they can be a bit shouty with volume on some stuff. I also couldn't recommend the Yimans for that. The Amp 14 card doesn't make enough power. Have you tried the stock amp card or maybe even Amp12 with the FF5? The stock card is known to add some space, but is also less warm.
Or you could try the FF3 on an SS amp. If you used them on the Amp13, or 14 they might be a bit too warm.
Otherwise you may need to go DIY. I don't think there are too many out there with the tone/tuning of the FF5 but also with the technicalities of something like the Yinman or even more so the Moondrop Chaconne.
Have you tried the RW2000? They are a bit warmer, but also not as shouty as the RW3000 can be at volume. If you are sensitive to this area, there aren't a crap ton of recommendations (from me), because most sets are actually more shouty by a fair amount (IMHO).
Edit: It might be best to wait for the new lineup of Yinmans coming out fairly soon. A couple of those will be easily driven by your amp card.
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