[Nimweth]

Smabat ST-10 arrived today. Took a while to get an acceptable fit. The supplied cable was too springy so used the cable from the M1 Pro and wore the buds cable down with foams plus extra donut foams over the top. Early impressions in this configuration very positive, the sound is fuller and richer than the M1 Pro without losing the detail and transient attack. I will burn them in before posting further comments and eventually, a review.

 

[waynes world]

I know this is a newb question but here goes.
I can see the difference between an "Earbud" and an "IEM"
But what are the advantages / Disadvantages of an Earbud?
They don't look like they would provide as good a quality of sound as an IEM to my eyes.
Is it convenience? Or something else that i'm missing?

Thanks

I used to look down on earbuds for years as I'm an IEM guy, I always thought they would have less details and bass than IEMs. Until I tried some buds at the last 11/11 sale and was quite impressed with their technicalities. Now I'm exploring the earbuds rabbithole too.
Compared to IEMs, earbuds generally have poorer isolation (and generally have subbass rolloff) but they have better soundstage than IEMs. So it's like miniheadphones/speakers in your ears when using buds. I like headphones but I can't use them much in my hometown due to the hot humid weather, so buds are an option. Or if you have a ear infection or ear pain with IEMs, buds are a good alternative.

Buds also tend to sound more natural in timbre/tonality than many budget CHIFI multi BA/hybrid IEMs too. But I would stick to homeuse for buds due to the isolation/subbass loss in noisy environments, and some of them have quite high impedance and cannot be easily driven on the go.

+1. And this is the reason I initially got into earbuds (and have never looked back):

if you have a ear infection or ear pain with IEMs, buds are a good alternative

 

[Vrač]

Just got a set of K.Bear Knights for 12 US$. This will be my return into earbud world after a year of IEMs. Here's to hoping they deliver. I must admit it was either these or the NiceHCK Me80s, because of their 15.4mm drivers.

 

[citral23]

I used to look down on earbuds for years as I'm an IEM guy, I always thought they would have less details and bass than IEMs. Until I tried some buds at the last 11/11 sale and was quite impressed with their technicalities. Now I'm exploring the earbuds rabbithole too.
Compared to IEMs, earbuds generally have poorer isolation (and generally have subbass rolloff) but they have better soundstage than IEMs. So it's like miniheadphones/speakers in your ears when using buds. I like headphones but I can't use them much in my hometown due to the hot humid weather, so buds are an option. Or if you have a ear infection or ear pain with IEMs, buds are a good alternative.

Buds also tend to sound more natural in timbre/tonality than many budget CHIFI multi BA/hybrid IEMs too. But I would stick to homeuse for buds due to the isolation/subbass loss in noisy environments, and some of them have quite high impedance and cannot be easily driven on the go.

Even the 8$ earbuds have a much better tonality than 30$ iems indeed, and at 50$ you're already into great, great sound.

Love the soundstage too, and a more physical impact to the sound than iems, can kind of hear the membrane vibrate and produce sound, like speakers. Some people describe it as "tactile", which is another way to describe it.

However going back to my shp9500 lately, I realized how tiny the imaging is on earbuds, while open and airy, it's like listening to a miniature of the stage and instruments. Sounds so much bigger and fuller on headphones.

 

[acroyear]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32417311324.html

Choose either the ex pack or expack lite...one of the options that says no earphone included...unless you want one.

I got the Hiegi foams today and put them on.. the difference was obvious and a huge step in the right direction. The bass is fuller and background noise is reduced as well. I'm thrilled really. I got some silicon tape to try as well, but I may not do that until I've had some time with my Turandots and these new foams. It's surprising the slightly thicker foams would make this large an improvement. I'm happy

 

[digititus]

Pros of earbuds over IEMs:
• More bass!!
- this is a big 'pro' for outdoor use - when outdoors, the first thing you lose is bass perception, so very bassy earbuds compete well with moderate outdoor noise

Have to disagree with this one. IEM's provide substantially more quantitative bass than earbuds IME.

 

[seanc6441]

Have to disagree with this one. IEM's provide substantially more quantitative bass than earbuds IME.

Maybe there was a mix up in wording and he meant it the other way around.

Earbuds are not great in any noisy environments and you could damage your hearing easily if you try to compensate for lack of seal by boosting the volume to drown out ambient noise.

Not an IEM guy but maybe earbuds have more bass around 100-200hz and that's about it, with most earbuds being larger drivers usually compared to IEMs and the lack of seal not effecting those frequencies so much.

 

[GREQ]

Have to disagree with this one. IEM's provide substantially more quantitative bass than earbuds IME.

Maybe there was a mix up in wording and he meant it the other way around.

Earbuds are not great in any noisy environments and you could damage your hearing easily if you try to compensate for lack of seal by boosting the volume to drown out ambient noise.

Not an IEM guy but maybe earbuds have more bass around 100-200hz and that's about it, with most earbuds being larger drivers usually compared to IEMs and the lack of seal not effecting those frequencies so much.

There is no misunderstanding.
To my ears, earbuds provide substantially more bass than IEMs and closed-back headphones that are even known to be 'bass-heavy'.
There is no reason to speculate - we all have different ear anatomy so our experiences will naturally differ.
(IEM's I've owned or auditioned: Sennheiser Momentum, KZ ATE/ZS10/ZS10 Pro, Shuoer Tape, Tin P1, RHA T20, Shure SE-846 and a few other lesser known IEMs)

I have directly compared my JVC HA-DX1000 with Sabia V6, and the earbud was bassier.
Of course, if I take the foam off the Sabia V6, the JVC will be bassier.

If you push your earbuds closer into your ear canals, or simple change the angle of the earbud driver (manually with your hands) you will also be able to hear HUGE amounts of bass too.
It's only fortunate for me that my ear anatomy naturally allows the bud to rest close to this 'very' bass-heavy position.
For outdoor use, I don't need to turn the volume up higher than usual (compared to the volume I would use with closed-back headphones) because I don't miss any of the bass performance.

 

[genck]

If you push your earbuds closer into your ear canals, or simple change the angle of the earbud driver (manually with your hands) you will also be able to hear HUGE amounts of bass too..

What are these HUGE bass earbuds, i'd like to try them

 

[ClieOS]

Rose Maria was just sent out from the factory. Will Any luck, I'll get it before end of next week.

 

[seanc6441]

Rose Maria was just sent out from the factory. Will Any luck, I'll get it before end of next week.

This one will have a lot of expectation... Hopefully it will live up to it!

 

[digititus]

There is no misunderstanding.
To my ears, earbuds provide substantially more bass than IEMs and closed-back headphones that are even known to be 'bass-heavy'.
There is no reason to speculate - we all have different ear anatomy so our experiences will naturally differ.
(IEM's I've owned or auditioned: Sennheiser Momentum, KZ ATE/ZS10/ZS10 Pro, Shuoer Tape, Tin P1, RHA T20, Shure SE-846 and a few other lesser known IEMs)

I have directly compared my JVC HA-DX1000 with Sabia V6, and the earbud was bassier.
Of course, if I take the foam off the Sabia V6, the JVC will be bassier.

If you push your earbuds closer into your ear canals, or simple change the angle of the earbud driver (manually with your hands) you will also be able to hear HUGE amounts of bass too.
It's only fortunate for me that my ear anatomy naturally allows the bud to rest close to this 'very' bass-heavy position.
For outdoor use, I don't need to turn the volume up higher than usual (compared to the volume I would use with closed-back headphones) because I don't miss any of the bass performance.

I guess I'm lucky, as my ears don't really have a problem with IEM fit or earbuds. To my average ears, there is a night and day difference between the bass output of IEM's compared to buds. It's not even close.

 

[genck]

I guess I'm lucky, as my ears don't really have a problem with IEM fit or earbuds. To my average ears, there is a night and day difference between the bass output of IEM's compared to buds. It's not even close.

As in IEM's provide MUCH more, right

 

[baskingshark]

There is no misunderstanding.
To my ears, earbuds provide substantially more bass than IEMs and closed-back headphones that are even known to be 'bass-heavy'.
There is no reason to speculate - we all have different ear anatomy so our experiences will naturally differ.
(IEM's I've owned or auditioned: Sennheiser Momentum, KZ ATE/ZS10/ZS10 Pro, Shuoer Tape, Tin P1, RHA T20, Shure SE-846 and a few other lesser known IEMs)

I have directly compared my JVC HA-DX1000 with Sabia V6, and the earbud was bassier.
Of course, if I take the foam off the Sabia V6, the JVC will be bassier.

If you push your earbuds closer into your ear canals, or simple change the angle of the earbud driver (manually with your hands) you will also be able to hear HUGE amounts of bass too.
It's only fortunate for me that my ear anatomy naturally allows the bud to rest close to this 'very' bass-heavy position.
For outdoor use, I don't need to turn the volume up higher than usual (compared to the volume I would use with closed-back headphones) because I don't miss any of the bass performance.

Actually when you refer to "bass" do you refer to midbass or subbass? Perhaps we are all referring to different points of reference?

I'm a basshead, and I personally find most earbuds lacking in subbass extension and quantity (probably related to poorer isolation of buds, maybe also due to tuning of buds to be more midcentric/bright in general?). The subbass frequencies (which I consider as 60 Hz and below) are usually "felt" rather than "heard" as a visceral rumble. The midbass frequencies (which I consider as around 60 - 200 Hz) provides the slam AKA punch AKA thickness in the bass frequencies and are the basslines that one can hear in music when a double bass or bass is playing. Buds can provide quite good midbass quantity and "slam" for sure, though I would agree with most of the others that buds in general won't trump most basshead IEMs cause IEMs have a better isolating seal in general (bass frequencies are usually the first to be lost in poorer isolation). Same issue with open back headphones, they generally lack in subbass extension to me.

I've not heard much subbass subjectively on my buds in music and objectively with tone generators, they seem to roll off around 60ish Hz, and I'm on the lookout for a earbud with good subbass extension/quantity, anyone can give some recommendations??

Though of course we all hear differently, and have different bass tolerances, different ear anatomies, different music genres (thus requiring different amounts of sub and midbass), different sources, different listening volumes (Fletcher Munson curve affects different frequency loudness with different volumes), so as usual, YMMV.

 

[digititus]

As in IEM's provide MUCH more, right

Right