[Alex.Grimm]

Seems like I can't seem to pull the trigger on HE 150PRO!
There are a lot of conflicting reviews and it's messing up my mind!!

So, anyone kind enough to comment on the SQ of that earbud and a better alternative (if any) in the 50-60 USD mark?I
was looking for a flatter (with decent sub-bass) sounding earbud for gaming btw.

Try Earbuds Anonymous about 25$ with promocode. But I would recommend more Sabia v7 or Willsound MK2

 

[Chris674]

they are still in the process of burning, although female vocals can be piercing on some mastering, but it sounds clear and detailed for my ears, but requires thicker foams and greasy sources, but they are large in diameter for small ears. Little mid bass but sub bass appears out of nowhere on electronic tracks. Interesting earbuds.

I can confirm everything said here. These are my exact observations. I would add that I think they have a really impressive soundstage. Very wide and deep. I think the B40 is a great comparison for soundstage and imaging but it is not as warm sounding. Very clean and clear. Kind of reminds me of my AKG 701s. Well worth the price

 

[citral23]

The EBX is also like this, very bass light on usual acoustic music but fire some techno tracks and suddenly, huge sub.

 

[Chris674]

Thanks a lot Hmm I'm not sure if I want a bass light earbud, I was looking for a warm signature with good midbass, to compensate for the ambient noise while on the go or in an office. That would be the main point for me with this shell design, for sitting still at home in silence, I don't care about the shell so much. May I ask, do you have B40 or Qian25/39/69 to compare the bass levels?

The bass on the B40 is a lot warmer. This bud threw me for a loop because, like he said, sometimes it's very bass light on one track and the next it's got a bit of sub rumble. Still, I would classify these as treble focused. Detail and clarity seem to be what these are about. I don't think they're just your average low cost earbud though.

 

[robar]

@Chris674 @citral23 Thanks a lot for your thoughts on the Knight I'll think about it… actually I've just completed the first prototype of my custom DIY build based on Qian69 shell.. and it sounds incredible for my ears, basically much better tonally than anything I've had so far. Deep bass, touch of warmth, smooth natural mids and highs, plus details on the same level as RY4S UE. No sibilance or harshness, everything is where it should be, according to my current taste. With the fit and comfort of Q69 shell of course plus a 4usd driver, so it sort of knocked out the Knight for me. Might as well buy better components and upgrade it further. Only problem so far is that it's incredibly easy to drive, can't go further than 1-2 volume steps on my dac, might need higher impedance driver
What would you call as a reference/well balanced sound in the sub 25usd scene? At this point I would rather need a good benchmark/reference for my diy builds, to evaluate the tuning and to provide with a point of comparison. BK2? Is there anything cheaper with very well balanced sound and good bass extension? Or a biti more expensive that worth saving up to?

 

[citral23]

@Chris674 @citral23 Thanks a lot for your thoughts on the Knight I'll think about it… actually I've just completed the first prototype of my custom DIY build based on Qian69 shell.. and it sounds incredible for my ears, basically much better tonally than anything I've had so far. Deep bass, touch of warmth, smooth natural mids and highs, plus details on the same level as RY4S UE. No sibilance or harshness, everything is where it should be, according to my current taste. With the fit and comfort of Q69 shell of course plus a 4usd driver, so it sort of knocked out the Knight for me. Might as well buy better components and upgrade it further. What would you call as a reference/well balanced sound in the sub 25usd scene? At this point I would rather need a good benchmark/reference for my diy builds, to evaluate the tuning and to provide with a point of comparison. BK2? Is there anything cheaper with very well balanced sound and good bass extension? Or a biti more expensive that worth saving up to?

Mate, you seem to know exactly what you want, and I'm not a shill at all, so let me get this straight again : the BK2 is a great earbud if you come from the IEM world, and want to dip a toe into the earbuds world. You'll get more than adequate amount of sub and mid-bass compared to other offerings in the 20-60$ range, but it's going to be fast and well textured bass, so that will be a change from your average slow bloated crappy cheapo iem bass, and you get the earbuds big soundstage on top. Now if you're already into earbuds and want some very specific technical abilities, it's probably not that one. It does not have amazing resolving power, clarity nor percussion effect that some earbuds have (often to the detriment of bass quantity)

 

[robar]

Mate, you seem to know exactly what you want, and I'm not a shill at all, so let me get this straight again : the BK2 is a great earbud if you come from the IEM world, and want to dip a toe into the earbuds world. You'll get adequate amount of sub and mid-bass compared to other offerings in the 20-60$ range, but it's going to be fast and well textured bass, so that will be a change from your average slow bloated crappy cheapo iem bass, and you get the earbuds big soundstage on top. Now if you're already into earbuds and want some very specific technical abilities, it's probably not that one. It does not have amazing resolving power, clarity nor percussion effect that some earbuds have (often to the detriment of bass quantity)

Well to be accurate, I know what I definitely NOT want but need help with what considered to be very good in terms of sound signature by the more experienced folks. I haven't had any higher tier buds so far (above 15usd) and I don't have any fellow earbud lovers here so I can't listen to anything before ordering something, this is my biggest problem. BK2 is definitely on my list! I'm just a bit hesitant about these mmcx buds, mainly quality control and durability of the connections.

 

[citral23]

Well to be accurate, I know what I definitely NOT want but need help with what considered to be very good in terms of sound signature by the more experienced folks. I haven't had any higher tier buds so far (above 15usd) and I don't have any fellow earbud lovers here so I can't listen to anything before ordering something, this is my biggest problem. BK2 is definitely on my list! I'm just a bit hesitant about these mmcx buds, mainly quality control and durability of the connections.

Mmcx is a non-issue if you don't swap cables tbh. The BK2 stock cable is nothing to write home about but it does the job fine, much better than the T2 cable for example.

If you tell me what you don't want I might be able to help more.

 

[robar]

If you tell me what you don't want I might be able to help more.

Got it thanks. I don't want: weak/passive bass (need depth, impact), bright/thin midrange (I prefer warm/smooth) and any sibilance/harshness in the upper mids. I'm a bit afraid that I would find the BK2 too bright, but that's part of the lottery of course. A frequency response graph would be great if it's next to something I know. I guess you don't have budget earbuds to compare. Apart from this, I don't have sufficient gear to driver 100+ohm buds properly, at least Faael Rosemary 150ohm is unusable for me. My builds are usually very sensitive low impedance units, so I don't really want to invest in amps at this point, my biggest problem is too much volume actually haha.

 

[Chris674]

@Chris674 @citral23 Thanks a lot for your thoughts on the Knight I'll think about it… actually I've just completed the first prototype of my custom DIY build based on Qian69 shell.. and it sounds incredible for my ears, basically much better tonally than anything I've had so far. Deep bass, touch of warmth, smooth natural mids and highs, plus details on the same level as RY4S UE. No sibilance or harshness, everything is where it should be, according to my current taste. With the fit and comfort of Q69 shell of course plus a 4usd driver, so it sort of knocked out the Knight for me. Might as well buy better components and upgrade it further. Only problem so far is that it's incredibly easy to drive, can't go further than 1-2 volume steps on my dac, might need higher impedance driver
What would you call as a reference/well balanced sound in the sub 25usd scene? At this point I would rather need a good benchmark/reference for my diy builds, to evaluate the tuning and to provide with a point of comparison. BK2? Is there anything cheaper with very well balanced sound and good bass extension? Or a biti more expensive that worth saving up to?

Honestly, the Earbuds Anonymous bud almost ended my search. I told my wife that I was done buying after I heard it. There is a lot of REALLY warm bass. Even though it somewhat dominates the sound signature it doesn't touch the mids at all. They are extremely clear and sit perfectly notched into the bass. It's seriously like the bass wraps around the mids. The treble just floats above. It does somewhat roll off but it's a very good match with the other ranges. I don't own any super high end buds so I don't know how it sits against TOTL buds but I own the Blons, all the Tin Hifi stuff, Sennheiser HD650's, Grados and AKG 701s and these are right up with all my favorites.

 

[citral23]

Got it thanks. I don't want: weak/passive bass (need depth, impact), bright/thin midrange (I prefer warm/smooth) and any sibilance/harshness in the upper mids. I'm a bit afraid that I would find the BK2 too bright, but that's part of the lottery of course. A frequency response graph would be great if it's next to something I know. I guess you don't have budget earbuds to compare. Apart from this, I don't have sufficient gear to driver 100+ohm buds properly, at least Faael Rosemary 150ohm is unusable for me. My builds are usually very sensitive low impedance units, so I don't really want to invest in amps at this point, my biggest problem is too much volume actually haha.

You sound like a client for the TO400s but I'm not sure why you're afraid of amping. A zishan z3 drives it perfectly fine at 35€, so does a nx1s for about the same price, and any decent dac will do, too.

 

[Smugsie]

that's a difficult one...

There's a lot of things to consider:
Budget?, Comfort size restrictions (will mx500 shell be too big for comfortable sleeping buds?), tuning would have to be dark/warm to compensate for the lack of foams used.

From personal experience, small comfortable shell + soft good quality(non itchy) full foams beats foamless for sleeping. It softens the plastic contact on your ear that would create hotspots after a short while.

There are some reall nice quality velvety feeling foams out there to use and shell wise I'd opt for pk or monk lite/Qian type shells as they are the most comfortable IMO.

If it was me I'd be using pk type earbud mmcx modded to accept a bluetooth cable and using the softest full foams. That would give you a really great sleeping bud experience provided you are streaming from a smartphone which I assume will be the case for your friend if you are on youtube/spotify or whatever. But even a wired pk earbud with soft full foams is great as a sleeping bud. You really dont gain much at all going foamless as the pressure from plastic on your inner ear is much more felt this way.

Hi, I know there were more people that replied but I just wanted to use the time I have to say thanks to everyone.
No foams, as my friend said he got annoyed of all the foams he lost back when he used those type of earbuds. I ended up getting the ESEP-01BL that @noknok23 suggested.
Until next time

 

[Chris674]

Mate, you seem to know exactly what you want, and I'm not a shill at all, so let me get this straight again : the BK2 is a great earbud if you come from the IEM world, and want to dip a toe into the earbuds world. You'll get more than adequate amount of sub and mid-bass compared to other offerings in the 20-60$ range, but it's going to be fast and well textured bass, so that will be a change from your average slow bloated crappy cheapo iem bass, and you get the earbuds big soundstage on top. Now if you're already into earbuds and want some very specific technical abilities, it's probably not that one. It does not have amazing resolving power, clarity nor percussion effect that some earbuds have (often to the detriment of bass quantity)

You may have just convinced me to give these a try. Doesn't sound like anything that I've got already.

 

[robar]

Honestly, the Earbuds Anonymous bud almost ended my search. I told my wife that I was done buying after I heard it. There is a lot of REALLY warm bass. Even though it somewhat dominates the sound signature it doesn't touch the mids at all. They are extremely clear and sit perfectly notched into the bass. It's seriously like the bass wraps around the mids. The treble just floats above. It does somewhat roll off but it's a very good match with the other ranges. I don't own any super high end buds so I don't know how it sits against TOTL buds but I own the Blons, all the Tin Hifi stuff, Sennheiser HD650's, Grados and AKG 701s and these are right up with all my favorites.

Sounds great, I'll consider getting one.

You sound like a client for the TO400s but I'm not sure why you're afraid of amping. A zishan z3 drives it perfectly fine at 35€, so does a nx1s for about the same price, and any decent dac will do, too.

My fear is that these amps you mentioned have high output impedance, so they'll be useless for the sensitive 32ohm stuff. I'd rather buy a good low impedance bud for the price of zishan, than buy something I don't really need or only useful for one single bud. My puny little SMSL X4 and even my smartphone is getting too loud for some of my builds even at 10-20% volume. I'm actually planning to buy Fiio BTR3 or BTRK1 instead, for a laptop dac/occasional bluetooth recevier.

 

[citral23]

Honestly, the Earbuds Anonymous bud almost ended my search. I told my wife that I was done buying after I heard it. There is a lot of REALLY warm bass. Even though it somewhat dominates the sound signature it doesn't touch the mids at all. They are extremely clear and sit perfectly notched into the bass. It's seriously like the bass wraps around the mids. The treble just floats above. It does somewhat roll off but it's a very good match with the other ranges. I don't own any super high end buds so I don't know how it sits against TOTL buds but I own the Blons, all the Tin Hifi stuff, Sennheiser HD650's, Grados and AKG 701s and these are right up with all my favorites.

Maybe you just need a 9038d in fact, got news on the E1DA discord that it's finally coming (with dsd 256 and 32/384), you'd be able to power absolutely everything you have without amps. I know I'll get one.