[Kyonnie]

You are absolutely right!

Budget buds (and dongles and IEMs too) are really great for testing out various sound signatures to see what you like or dislike for cheap. But once you know what you want, it is best to skip the sidegrade purgatory, and upgrade to midFI/TOTL and call it a day (for a few months at least).

You save money in the long term and future proof the hobby. I also learnt this the hard way, that buying multiple sidegrades don't give value add. We have only one pair of ears and the sidegrade spam all goes into a drawer. Where I am from, it is very hard to sell away budget gear, whereas midFI/TOTL gear still holds some resale value.

This! but sometimes I still couldn't resist ahaha

 

[Carpet]

You are absolutely right!

Budget buds (and dongles and IEMs too) are really great for testing out various sound signatures to see what you like or dislike for cheap. But once you know what you want, it is best to skip the sidegrade purgatory, and upgrade to midFI/TOTL and call it a day (for a few months at least).

You save money in the long term and future proof the hobby. I also learnt this the hard way, that buying multiple sidegrades don't give value add. We have only one pair of ears and the sidegrade spam all goes into a drawer. Where I am from, it is very hard to sell away budget gear, whereas midFI/TOTL gear still holds some resale value.

Yep then you look back and realize that drawer of unused gear actually adds up to a TOTL set or two!

I find that budget gear I don't listen to anymore makes great gifts for friends. I love seeing someone's eyes light up when they've only listened before through the cheap buds that came with their phone.

Can't recall a single complaint about overly recessed or shouty mids...

Is it wrong for me to lure them to the dark side?

 

[Kyonnie]

I find that budget gear I don't listen to anymore makes great gifts for friends. I love seeing someone's eyes light up when they've only listened before through the cheap buds that came with their phone.

Can't recall a single complaint about overly recessed or shouty mids...

Is it wrong for me to lure them to the dark side?

I also giveaway mine too or just mod/experiment the heck out of them

Well the more you bring in the more incentive for Chifi to Innovate and produce more earbuds lol kinda like what happened to IEMs which matured over the years which brought us great price to performance ratio with good tuning

 

[baskingshark]

I find that budget gear I don't listen to anymore makes great gifts for friends. I love seeing someone's eyes light up when they've only listened before through the cheap buds that came with their phone.

Can't recall a single complaint about overly recessed or shouty mids...

Is it wrong for me to lure them to the dark side?

I realized though that earbuds are extremely niche. The wired audio hobby is already quite niche, but earbuds are an extremely small subset in this audio hobby. Most audiophiles are into headphones or IEMs or speakers, with earbuds sadly being kind of a neglected transducer.

I tried giving away wired IEMs before to relatives and friends, but most of them only want wireless stuff. I walk into subways and shopping malls and 90% of folks are using wireless stuff, so I think they prioritize convenience over outright sonic fidelity. One cousin even asked me how does he plug an IEM cable into his Apple phone (dang those Apple proprietary crap!)

Anyway, I tried passing folks earbuds and they give me a look like it is from outer space. But in a way, it is good to keep our earbud hobby small and not too commercialized. Keep it as our little secret.

 

[Kyonnie]

I realized though that earbuds are extremely niche. The wired audio hobby is already quite niche, but earbuds are an extremely small subset in this audio hobby. Most audiophiles are into headphones or IEMs or speakers, with earbuds sadly being kind of a neglected transducer.

I tried giving away wired IEMs before to relatives and friends, but most of them only want wireless stuff. I walk into subways and shopping malls and 90% of folks are using wireless stuff, so I think they prioritize convenience over outright sonic fidelity. One cousin even asked me how does he plug an IEM cable into his Apple phone (dang those Apple proprietary crap!)

Anyway, I tried passing folks earbuds and they give me a look like it is from outer space. But in a way, it is good to keep our earbud hobby small and not too commercialized. Keep it as our little secret.

Idk how to react to this I find it both funny and saddening they're reacting to it like it's a rotary phonetho wired headphones is still going strong to the average people thanks to ytubers/streamers using them I can't really use wireless because it gives me headaches idk why I tried researching about it and the consensus is that it's safe but I still get headaches it only stops after a while when I turn it off

 

[piphil]

I realized though that earbuds are extremely niche. The wired audio hobby is already quite niche, but earbuds are an extremely small subset in this audio hobby. Most audiophiles are into headphones or IEMs or speakers, with earbuds sadly being kind of a neglected transducer.
Anyway, I tried passing folks earbuds and they give me a look like it is from outer space. But in a way, it is good to keep our earbud hobby small and not too commercialized. Keep it as our little secret.

the earbuds field has nothing to do financially with that of IEMs, headphones or loudspeakers, and seems to me to be just as full of good things to discover, according to one's possibilities.
If there's a much bigger investment to be made, it's in sources and DAPs, which can, with the best quality we can afford, considerably change the listening pleasure of our wired earbuds, without worrying about cables.

 

[numon]

The comparison is that the M5 Pro Golden and RW-3000 are like night and day.

M5 Pro Golden (M5PG) has a smaller soundstage (in your head) and less instrument / vocals separation than the RW-3000. M5PG sounds a bit fast, where the RW-3000 can be laid back and intimate. Maybe it's because the RW-3000's bass is more present than the M5PG, which enriches the sound from the RW-3000. Since you already have the RW-3000, I think you know what I'm talking about. The main reason I got the M5PG was because I wanted to make use of the Smabat drivers I bought with the M4 (Smabat's dismal attempt). So far the M4-ST10S and M4-Super One drivers sound great on the M5Pro body. I have other drivers that were released with the M4 that I haven't tried yet, so I hope they will sound good as well.

I'm not saying the M5PG is a bad set of buds, they are just different. If I had to pick one over the other, I would definitely choose the RW-3000.

can yoıu say m4 black driver and st10s drivers better than m5 pro default gold driver? and maybe then rw3000? and subbass impact came again with m5 pro body?

 

[candycane]

I'm a newbie to the hifi world... These days, can earbuds be just as good or better than the chi-fi budget IEMs?? I was considering getting buds for my next purchase but only if it's worth it. I'm in love with the technical abilities of Chi-fi IEMs and I'm on the hunt for a holographic soundstage with my preferred sound signature at a good price.

 

[samandhi]

I realized though that earbuds are extremely niche. The wired audio hobby is already quite niche, but earbuds are an extremely small subset in this audio hobby. Most audiophiles are into headphones or IEMs or speakers, with earbuds sadly being kind of a neglected transducer.

I tried giving away wired IEMs before to relatives and friends, but most of them only want wireless stuff. I walk into subways and shopping malls and 90% of folks are using wireless stuff, so I think they prioritize convenience over outright sonic fidelity. One cousin even asked me how does he plug an IEM cable into his Apple phone (dang those Apple proprietary crap!)

Anyway, I tried passing folks earbuds and they give me a look like it is from outer space. But in a way, it is good to keep our earbud hobby small and not too commercialized. Keep it as our little secret.

True story:

One day I am sitting in a mechanical room in a hospital doing programming for the HVAC controls systems. One of my coworkers (who normally doesn't go out into the field) is set up next to me, also connected to the same controller, but doing the graphics. At some point he turned to me and asked what sort of head gear I was listening to. I answered that they were earbuds (Yincrow RW2000). I asked him if he had never seen them before or something because of the way that he asked and the look when I showed them to him, and he answered that he had, but the last time he heard any he was very young and that they sounded like crap. I found a good song that covered all the frequencies very nicely (especially the bass because I know that would be the biggest surprise to him), then let him listen to them.

I had an almost hidden smile on my face at that point because his mouth was open (most likely unbeknownst to him) as well as his eyes being wide. He took them out and gave them a good once over and asked me "What the hell??? Where did you get these???"

Then I DID laugh.........

________________________________________________________________________________THE END_____________________________________________________________

 

[InvisibleInk]

I'm a newbie to the hifi world... These days, can earbuds be just as good or better than the chi-fi budget IEMs?? I was considering getting buds for my next purchase but only if it's worth it. I'm in love with the technical abilities of Chi-fi IEMs and I'm on the hunt for a holographic soundstage with my preferred sound signature at a good price.

Have you ever heard a good over-ears open-back headphone? The better earbuds sound much more like them than budget IEMs. IEMs provide isolation, more like closed-back headphones, but with their own flavor and technicalities.

 

[samandhi]

Have you ever heard a good over-ears open-back headphone? The better earbuds sound much more like them than budget IEMs. IEMs provide isolation, more like closed-back headphones, but with their own flavor and technicalities.

Well said!

Edit: I might also add that TOTL buds start at around $80 or so, and these can sound as good (or better) as much more expensive gear in other categories.

 

[mt877]

can yoıu say m4 black driver and st10s drivers better than m5 pro default gold driver? and maybe then rw3000? and subbass impact came again with m5 pro body?

I think your question is either the ranking of sub-bass or which general overall sound is better?

Sub-bass with M5 Pro body: M4-ST10S > M4-SO > M5 Pro-Golden - M5 Pro Golden also has deep bass, but is also more mid forward, so the bass can be shaded.
Each Smabat driver has its own sound signature and all 3 drivers sound good in their own way. You would have to listen to them to choose the one you like the best. I liked the M5 Pro body + SO (Super One) driver, but ST10S and Golden are also good, it depends on what sound signature you are in the mood for and the music you listen to.

Sub-bass Smabat M5 Pro vs Yincrow RW-3000: M4-ST10S > RW-3000 - I still choose the RW-3000 over any of the M5 Pro body + Golden / ST10S / SO driver combinations.

 

[mt877]

You guys know I enjoy DIY earbud building, so here's my latest creation.

Earbuds with Dual Dynamic drivers. You can't see the drivers, but trust me they're in there and sound great.

 

[mt877]

Thanks! You appeased my rabbit hole hunger! The wife thanks you...

Just wait for @samandhi to give his impressions of the M5 Pro Golden.... Then you can make a better decision.

 

[EddyRnB]

You guys know I enjoy DIY earbud building, so here's my latest creation.

Earbuds with Dual Dynamic drivers. You can't see the drivers, but trust me they're in there and sound great.

They look so cool! What's the sound signature?