[Barndoor]

You haven't met my wife! Understanding and encouraging are not words I would use to describe her when discussing HiFi!
After being together 24 years I agree with you on the miracle part that she still puts up with me!

 

[calcatreppola]

The timbre is the standout achievement on this - woodwind and strings are better than on my Blurs.

This is a strong admission by a Blur lover, after all the Blur you list under your name. We definitely hope Christmas arrives early this year so that we can read asap your review!
congrats for the gift. I think it is beatiful, too. After all it is not you who see them when listening, no matter if they are a bit too much for your tastes

 

[ian91]

Lol, my LBBS arrived a couple of days ago, so far I've resisted the urge to open prior to 25th.
Guess I might have caved in had I not already opened the heart mirror that arrived previously!

The way I reasoned the short listening session before Christmas was just to make sure they're not faulty!

Keep up the self-discipline though!

That guy builds extremely beautiful shells! His prices are reasonable as well if I recall correctly. When I spoke with him, I was nervous about his tuning/SQ because he didn’t really want to talk about it. Now my fears are laid to rest.

Indeed, prices are very reasonable. I was a bit worried that the sound wouldn't hold up but I'm glad it does. This is without a great deal of burn in and only brief impressions but I find my ears pick out the most in those first few hours.

This is a strong admission by a Blur lover, after all the Blur you list under your name. We definitely hope Christmas arrives early this year so that we can read asap your review!
congrats for the gift. I think it is beatiful, too. After all it is not you who see them when listening, no matter if they are a bit too much for your tastes

It is a strong admission and it might turn out to be a premature statement. I'll be burning them in, spending some weeks with them and then sharing more detailed impressions as able. They're not going to take pole position easy, lets put it that way. Timbre is one part of the whole package and admittedly there are plenty of earbuds that do this well anyway!

 

[gylyf]

The sound of the MoonDrop Chaconne is excellent, if a little lacking in bass. However, the shell is very heavy and tends to shift when your head moves, so I wouldn't recommend using it outdoors or at work.

I have the Yincrow rw-2000, but the Yincrow rw-3000 is even more advanced according to @ClieOS' review, so I'd recommend buying it when it's a bit cheaper, like during a sale.

I don't know about the Ourart QJ21 or the Smabat Pro One.

If you want to buy one now, I would recommend the Ksearphone bell lbs (LBBS) for better sound quality and lower price (about $50).

Thank you for your response. Rather than jumping straight into the deep-end of the TOTL pool, I ended up ordering some Newbsound 32pros. They’ll be a significant upgrade from my current buds and I can wait for some sales before deciding if I want to go any higher than the Newsbounds.

 

[povidlo]

Here's a little shout out on random earbuds that just came in. Listened with THX Onyx; for just about an hour with each so huge YMMV on sound impressions.

NiceHCK EBX21 – Lucky Box price was right- example for argument that while earbuds are generally affordable, more expensive ones are probably overpriced. Cable is overhyped: heavy and prone to microphonics. Thankfully I went with cheaper 3.5mm option and will be replacing it. Case and cable clip are pretty nice though. Build quality is great. Strangely, I don’t see any vents on EBX21. EBX21 sound close to TOTL with great resolution, spacious soundstage, accurate timbre and imaging in mids/treble; ordinary, acceptable bud bass. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the “it”/ “wow” factor with them, like Maria’s treble or CM2Kti’s mids. Which is why I wouldn’t call them TOTL just yet.

JCally EP09 – junk stock cable was discarded right away, QC is bad with housing scratched OOTB. They’re light and built well though. What’s most impressive about these is hard-hitting mid-bass which is a scarce attribute in an earbud. There’s weight, impact and it moves quick. No prominent sub-bass and rumble, like with Smabat house sound. Mid-bass bleeds into lower mids though, congesting the sound and impacting timbre. Transients are good, maintaining a good beat and rhythm in combination with mid-bass. Vocals are well defined but sound a bit thick. Above average, smooth treble that doesn’t extend too high but is fairly tastefully done. Soundstage on EP09 feels squished after listening to EBX21 but there’s enough separation in place and it has a bit of 3D depth, front/back, as well.

JVC HA-F12 – JVC has produced run-of-the-mill earbuds for ages. This is their latest mass-market earbud type model from what I gather. Built like a cheap baby toy. First earbuds I’ve purchased that don’t include foamies! They are shockingly hard-to-drive: going to 70-80% on THX Onyx, while EBX21 and EP09 were at 40-50%. Impedance/sensitivity are not listed on the box. Bass is horrible- it gets distorted with barely any audibility. Positively, mids sound flat. Treble has decent extension and there’s raw quantity that can be appreciated on treble-heavy tracks. Otherwise, the vocals are very good: they’re clean, and holographically well-separated from instrumentals. Character of a singer’s voice is communicated clearly. Vocal-focused tracks are a pleasure to listen to with HA-F12.

Treble: EBX21 > EP09 > HA-F12
Mids: EBX21 > HA-F12 > EP09
Bass: EP09 > EBX21 > HA-F12
Vocal: HA-F12 > EBX21 > EP09
Stage: EBX21 > EP09 > HA-F12
Tech: EBX21 > EP09 > HA-F12
Build: EBX21 > EP09 > HA-F12

 

[calcatreppola]

Here's a little shout out on random earbuds that just came in. Listened with THX Onyx; for just about an hour with each so huge YMMV on sound impressions.

NiceHCK EBX21 – Lucky Box price was right- example for argument that while earbuds are generally affordable, more expensive ones are probably overpriced. Cable is overhyped: heavy and prone to microphonics. Thankfully I went with cheaper 3.5mm option and will be replacing it.

great review, thank you...
Only I want to remind that there are still some good earbuds there for affordable prices. To get the same on iem's we have to spend much more, especially in order to "adjust" them. Not to speak about headphones.
I am afraid that differences in price are a sort of necessity in today's market, otherways most people would never try so many buds, bud they would stuck on a few. After all we can all wait for black friday or Santa in order to get a discount that suits us.
The question though is tougher than this... Still I enjoy my ebx21

 

[Barndoor]

Last Christmas present to myself arrived today from VE (monk plus, lite, Abigail and Avani). They threw in a couple of pairs of free buds. Look to have Motorola logo on them.

Sound out of the box was horrible, but seem to have improved a bit with half an hour burn in. I suspect the shell design could be negatively contributing and causing the overwhelming muddy bass.
Might try to deconstruct them over the holidays.

 

[Ronion]

I cut The cable of those Moto to use on another build. Oddly, the microphone goes against your shirt if you follow their Left and right scheme. Seems like such an odd choice… so when you talk to people, they hear shwish, whish, thud, pop as you walk.

 

[WoodyLuvr]

A substantial update to my earbuds God-Tier List


Added Q'Labs back to the list again... although he is no longer selling ready-made line models he is still offering custom-made earbuds by request which have been favored by some respected earbud lovers that I trust.

Added the latest Yinman 600 variant back to the list. The Yinman 音曼 2.0 600 LE (600Ω; aka 'New 600 Limited Edition') is reportedly very true to the original 2016 issued model. Hoping to hear this one here sometime shortly.

After a few recent posts and a number of PM requests I have finally added the Newbsound 32pro to the God-Tier List as a number of respected fellow earbud fanatics think & speak rather highly of them. I was initially hesitant to put on the list as I have not heard them yet but as I am familiar with most of the drivers that @irv003 is using I thought it was time to add to the list as accordingly.

I use my 32pro with m3x sometimes too. Its a wonder how its not listed as a TOTL earbud when it definitely is.

32pro and Shanling M3X on dual dac mode and high gain.
What an outsanding and small combo.
Listening to Cinemix and so nice and sweet sounding at same time a detailed and powefull midbass.

Since now, my new portable solution.

So the only models on the list that I have not yet had the opportunity to hear (although I more than likely owned or auditioned an earlier version or similarly tuned model) are as follows:

• Ksearphone 钛铃 Bell-Ti PLUS (30Ω)... have heard or previously owned the rest of the models in the Bell-Ti line
• Newbsound 32pro (32Ω)... have not heard these or any model from this brand yet but I am familiar with the driver(s) being used
• PISLO PXVV (32/122Ω)... have heard the Pislo PX HIFI (31Ω)
• Yincrow RW-3000 (16Ω)... previously owned the Yincrow RW-2000 (16Ω)
• Yinman 音曼 2.0 600 LE (600Ω)... have heard the 2016 and 2018 versions of the Yinman 600

 

[ian91]

Yinman 音曼 2.0 600 LE (600Ω)... have heard the 2016 and 2018 versions of the Yinman 600

Sorry if you've already touched on this...what was you experience of the '16 and ' 18 models?

 

[WoodyLuvr]

Sorry if you've already touched on this...what was you experience of the '16 and ' 18 models?

I unfortunately was late to the game in regards to both the Yinman 500Ω and 600Ω models. I kept procrastinating and/or forgetting to buy the 500/600Ω for no rhyme or reason and I didn't listen to any of them until late 2020 and then again early 2021. I really liked both the 500Ω and 600Ω models but of course at that point in time they were no longer readily available and/or rotten knock offs were too prolific for me to risk buying a pair. Now that they have been re-issued I am seriously considering buying a pair of the 600Ω impedance here in the coming days.

The original Yinman 600 from 2016 has a very relaxing and smooth sound that is quite similar to the VE Zen 2 in many ways but just a tad less smooth and darker than the Zen 2.0... perhaps even less muddy with certain genres and recordings. The original 600 offers a headphone-like signature similar to my SENN HD650 just not as dark or as open sounding though. The Yinman 600 are a tad narrow sounding and do not have the wide open soundstage for example like the Rose Maria I & II but it is not a huge shortcoming as they do offer excellent and exciting bass and they sound very good. However, I did note that they did not handle overly dynamic music pieces well such as Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "The Surprise Symphony". Their signature is perfect for jazz, easy listening, new age, and ambient electronic type music. The re-issued 2018 version of the 600 appears to use either a different driver (or perhaps it was simply due to different, heavy tuning) and offers a smoother, less detailed, and somewhat veiled sound compared to the original... so very similar to the VE Zen 2.0 or Zen LL. Still a nice relaxing warm earbud for those who detest bright leaning signatures but I preferred the darker 2016 original. The 2016 Yinman 音曼 500Ω was a bit more lively (less dark and smooth) and really geared for vocals in pop or fast jazz music.

To receive a better description of the signature and tuning maybe our resident Yinman 600 expert @Alex.Grimm will chime in with his thoughts and experience with these earbuds as I believe they are his most favorite.

 

[waynes world]

After a few recent posts and a number of PM requests I have finally added the Newbsound 32pro to the God-Tier List as a number of respected fellow earbud fanatics think & speak rather highly of them. I was initially hesitant to put on the list as I have not heard them yet but as I am familiar with most of the drivers that @irv003 is using I thought it was time to add to the list as accordingly.

My "parcel tracking refresh button" has been somewhat abused since I ordered the 32pro's. Your post isn't helping lol

 

[XmarX]

Hey! Sup guys!

Can you guys recommend an earbud (Bluetooth or wired) in like 100 quid? It's for PC gaming and music listening during my commute. It would be great if it have a mic for making calls or team comms in games.

I'm in the UK btw.

Thank you!

 

[Star Ace]

Ended up using the Chaconne with HIeGI foams and *no* rubber for a great fit. After learning their fit, I find them usable with both stock and HIeGI foams only, but the latter is a more snug fit, without much changing the sound signature.

I found that with the rubber circles, only the stock foams did not "negatively" impact the sound, and that is why I did not prefer the HIeGIs before. Now they do sound wonderful, without affecting the upper mids and highs much if at all.

The Moondrop Chaconne are a great, natural sounding earbud pair. Though I do not have the "best IEMs" that money can buy due to relative poverty, it has a more natural, pure sound that none of my better IEMs match. And my best headphones do not sound like it. Of course, my IEMs kill it in terms of ultimate ear stability and isolation. But to my taste, "perfect" sound-just a matter of one being OK with them being "shower heads" earbuds and not bass heavy (beautiful bass presentation, but not emphasized-it won't sound too thin barring a bad fit.)

Thanks so much to everyone that helped me with my Chaconne fit issues!

 

[Charlyro222]

Ended up using the Chaconne with HIeGI foams and *no* rubber for a great fit. After learning their fit, I find them usable with both stock and HIeGI foams only, but the latter is a more snug fit, without much changing the sound signature.

I found that with the rubber circles, only the stock foams did not "negatively" impact the sound, and that is why I did not prefer the HIeGIs before. Now they do sound wonderful, without affecting the upper mids and highs much if at all.

The Moondrop Chaconne are a great, natural sounding earbud pair. Though I do not have the "best IEMs" that money can buy due to relative poverty, it has a more natural, pure sound that none of my better IEMs match. And my best headphones do not sound like it. Of course, my IEMs kill it in terms of ultimate ear stability and isolation. But to my taste, "perfect" sound-just a matter of one being OK with them being "shower heads" earbuds and not bass heavy (beautiful bass presentation, but not emphasized-it won't sound too thin barring a bad fit.)

Thanks so much to everyone that helped me with my Chaconne fit issues!

I don´t have Chaconne, perhaps one day..... but I totally agree with you about earbuds.
I owned a lot of TIER iems and the timbre on earbuds is better by far for my tastes, no matter the issolation for me.