Earbuds Round-Up

[JAnonymous5150]

€ 40,90 50%OFF | TRN EMX 14.2mmDynamic Driver Flat Head Plug Earburd Bass Metal In Ear Earphone Super Bass Music Replaceable Cable For EMA TN BAX
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0wuAyC


EMX is out. Doesnt look bad for $40. Also comes with a removable modular cable which is dope.

I'm gonna give it a shot. For $8 the TRN EMA is actually a pretty decent budget earbud so I'm interested to see what TRN can go with a bigger budget. Thanks for the link!

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Thanks for linking this. I for one believe that a warm midrange *is* the correct midrange in earbuds and IEM, due to a combination of phase and fatigue factor. The Etymotic or Moondrop midrange simply sounds odd and annoying to me. I may have to revisit Bell-Ti. My buddy at the local Awedyo Audio actually carries Ksearphone. I'll see if he can lend me a open-box of some sorts...

Does your buddy need anymore friends? None of the headphone stores around here carry earbuds period. The best I can get around here is whatever Sony/Panasonic/Philips budget earbud model Walmart happens to be selling

 

[chavez]

I'm gonna give it a shot. For $8 the TRN EMA is actually a pretty decent budget earbud so I'm interested to see what TRN can go with a bigger budget. Thanks for the link!

They messaged me directly even before it was released lol, they wanted my input once i got EMA, and I suggested a better driver. Looks like they upgraded everything. Since you are biting the bullet, we shall wait for your review. Have fun mate.

 

[Oscarilbo]

Hi guys. What earbud would you recommend for orchestral music (film music OST) mainly, in the 100-150 $ range? Intended to be used for CDs listening with a Schiit DAC+AMP stack (Modi 3+ and Heresy). Looking for a natural-warmish signature (I'm interested in good bass and note weight), and of course wide and deep soundstage. What model could be close to that?

I'm currently using some VE Monk Plus and I'm really impressed, forgot completely how clear and open a pair of earbuds can sound.
Thank so much in advance

 

[Ronion]

I spent the last 3 hours trying to salvage the Smabat ST20 Pro before forever consigning it to the condemned drawer.
It is a very technical earbud (with a proof of concept added BA driver that is very different from 99% of earbuds). In stock form it is a neutral bright IEM with a massive pinna gain that @Ronion rightly describes as an "icepick" to the ears.

The fit is also a bit iffy due to the large size, but the upper mids area is the main deal-breaker for me. Pity, cause the ST20 Pro really has quite good imaging, soundstage and resolution.

So I've tried double foaming it with heigi foams, even triple foaming, warm sources, playing it at lower volumes (fletcher munson curve) and even EQ. Well only EQ seems to help tame the area consistently, I still get a massive headache with the other methods after using the ST20 Pro for more than 5 minutes.

Bro @Ronion do you have any good pro tips on how to salvage that upper mids pinna gain (pinna pain actually)? It's been one of the more disappointing purchases earbuds-wise for this year.

Let me port some time this evening. Right now I’m at work and it’s proving to be a wild one. Basically the best thing I found to do is EQ the pinna gain down by somewhere around 20dB! I used a bunch of narrow filters, but I’m sure it could be done more wisely with a few filters. I also found that using the ear hooks @samandhi recommended to work really well as far as stabilizing the bud in my ear. After everything, I never use them. Not because they aren’t great, but I have to use my Qudelix to drive them. With the bass driver that far away, they need some POWER to bring them up to a listenable level. It turns out that their technicalities aren’t better than the Tingo TG38 anyway. Really a bummer. That bud was not ready for prime time.

 

[koniotaur]

Emx seems cheaper than I thought it will especially with the 50% off, ordering!
Edit: ordered, big hopes on that one!

 

[mt877]

Hi guys. What earbud would you recommend for orchestral music (film music OST) mainly, in the 100-150 $ range? Intended to be used for CDs listening with a Schiit DAC+AMP stack (Modi 3+ and Heresy). Looking for a natural-warmish signature (I'm interested in good bass and note weight), and of course wide and deep soundstage. What model could be close to that?

I'm currently using some VE Monk Plus and I'm really impressed, forgot completely how clear and open a pair of earbuds can sound.
Thank so much in advance

The easiest recommendation is the FiiO FF3. Fits well within your budget and is well behaved with either neutral or warm sources and many different genres of music. Excellent bass and soundstage. FiiO provides 3 different sets of foams; bass, balanced and crisp so you can select the set of foams you require for your sound preference. Many have found the bass foams to be their ultimate choice. The cable is fixed, but you get 2 plug ends, 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm Balanced that you can swap out depending on your source. Not sure where you're located, but you can get them from Amazon for the fasted delivery and easy return or visit FiiO's aliexpress store (longer shipping time).

 

[Edric Li]

Does your buddy need anymore friends? None of the headphone stores around here carry earbuds period. The best I can get around here is whatever Sony/Panasonic/Philips budget earbud model Walmart happens to be selling

Will you be at canjam socal? His name is Richard and he will have a booth at canjam. Not sure if he will bring any earbuds tho. His store is in Whittier, CA.

Check out the brands he carries https://awedyo.com/

Edit: I just checked with him. He doesn't have stock of the new Bell-Ti, but he has stock of everything else. Unfortunately he doesn't have any open box or a demo unit of Ksearphone.

 

[mt877]

Hi would anyone care to offer me some recommendation? I'm new and looking to try various shells to see how each feels. Up to ~$20 per earbud for now. I'm happy to try any sound signature! PC + dongle source. I've already tried yincrow x6, shoonth 01bl, and qian39. X6 really hurts. 01bl hurts. qian39 is pretty good. Thank you for reading

Here's a link to the various shell styles thanks to @baskingshark; @furyossa; and @WoodyLuvr. If you have smaller ears, then the main recommendation would be a PK style shell. The PK shell uses a smaller driver (14.8mm) vs a MX500 shell like the Yincrow X6 (15.4mm), so a PK shell will be naturally smaller and fit your ears better.

 

[mt877]

Again made a 3d printed shell for mx500
Now like a Predator, or...pineapple

Spoiler

.stl https://cloud.mail.ru/public/7y1D/reWWzCiqA "_s" version is with thin walls

Very nice, thank you for sharing. It looks like the shell is meant for 2 pin connection. What are the drivers and driver covers that snap on the shell that you would recommend to use? Are you using tuning cottons for the driver and using foam to cover the 3 back ports for tuning? I'm not asking for you build secrets, but since you are willing to share the 3D build file, then maybe you can also provide a recommendation for an easy and fun build using your shell?

 

[Ronion]

I think a warm midrange is right for any type of headphone. When you look at how the head shadow works from a stereo source, it can’t be any other way unless you can deny physics/acoustics or you are headless.

 

[Oscarilbo]

The easiest recommendation is the FiiO FF3. Fits well within your budget and is well behaved with either neutral or warm sources and many different genres of music. Excellent bass and soundstage. FiiO provides 3 different sets of foams; bass, balanced and crisp so you can select the set of foams you require for your sound preference. Many have found the bass foams to be their ultimate choice. The cable is fixed, but you get 2 plug ends, 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm Balanced that you can swap out depending on your source. Not sure where you're located, but you can get them from Amazon for the fasted delivery and easy return or visit FiiO's aliexpress store (longer shipping time).

Thank you so much. Looks perfect. Just out pf curiosity, would you think the Fiio FF3 is a better option than Venture Electronics Zen 2.0 ?

 

[ttorbic]

Hi guys. What earbud would you recommend for orchestral music (film music OST) mainly, in the 100-150 $ range? Intended to be used for CDs listening with a Schiit DAC+AMP stack (Modi 3+ and Heresy). Looking for a natural-warmish signature (I'm interested in good bass and note weight), and of course wide and deep soundstage. What model could be close to that?

I'm currently using some VE Monk Plus and I'm really impressed, forgot completely how clear and open a pair of earbuds can sound.
Thank so much in advance

I would recommend a Grand series from @RikudouGoku or the Serratus from @tgx78. I listen to a lot of OSTs (film mainly, not a lot of games), and absolutely love it for classical and acoustic music. When I want more bass, I use my Alter Rider 1 (Rikubuds), but I recommend you upgrade to a Grand series to benefit from extra technicalities and stage. Just give both of them a message and they'll sort you out

 

[mt877]

Thank you so much. Looks perfect. Just out pf curiosity, would you think the Fiio FF3 is a better option than Venture Electronics Zen 2.0 ?

I don't have the VE Zen 2.0 for comparison. Maybe someone that has both can chime in(?).

 

[mt877]

I would recommend a Grand series from @RikudouGoku or the Serratus from @tgx78. I listen to a lot of OSTs (film mainly, not a lot of games), and absolutely love it for classical and acoustic music. When I want more bass, I use my Alter Rider 1 (Rikubuds), but I recommend you upgrade to a Grand series to benefit from extra technicalities and stage. Just give both of them a message and they'll sort you out

Great recommendations, and always good to support our fellow head-fiers. I guess they'll have to decide how far out of their budget they want to spend.