[Sylvia]

Hello Everyone, long time not being here,
but still alive and reading a lot ... now I've come to the point, I need some advice.
I have some experience with full headphones (see my profile), and now I would like to give a pair of iem's a chance.

I decided to buy a new High-Res DAP with good and smooth UI (coming from the Colorfly C4 I think any UI or ergonomics are better - but I cannot imagine to get a better sound quality, that's why I still have the C4) and streaming/Wifi/Bluetooth and enough power to run my Audeze LCD-2; I think I am going to buy the Shanling M6 Pro, as soon as it is available in Germany or Europe.

My first pair of IEMs I am not so sure about. It should be a good match with the Shanling M6 Pro.
And they should offer good isolation ... in both directions. I do not want to disturb others and I do not want to hear the endlessly barking dogs of my neighbours when I am on our terrace.

Favourite music mainly e.g. rock/pop, singer, songwriter, electronic, world music - not so often jazz and classical
Favourite streaming station: Radio Paradise ... main stream ... I love it!!!!!!!

I like a well-balanced, natural, rich, analog sound, bass not too thin, clear and bright treble, not harsh.
I want to dive into the music, the iem should transport the emotion directly into my heart.
Yes, I am aware, I am looking for kind of Swiss knife which is almost possible to find.

As I am not sure, whether I will like the feeling of IEMs, I do not want to spend more than appr. 300 EURO for the start.
I have small ears and always found ear tips for the night quite uncomfortable. I expect the eartips for iem's being better. Andthere are so many kinds of ear tips on the market right now, that I have a chance to find some, I am "compatible with".

After having spent some hours in reading here, as well as headfonia, headfonics and others, I have a little list with my preselected models:
Etymotic ER3XR or ER4XR
DUNU DK 2001
Moondrop Blessing2
Audiosense DT200

Looking forward to get some advice.
Thanks a lot and apologies for my imperfect English.

 

[IEMusic]

As I am not sure, whether I will like the feeling of IEMs, I do not want to spend more than appr. 300 EURO for the start.
I have small ears and always found ear tips for the night quite uncomfortable. I expect the eartips for iem's being better. Andthere are so many kinds of ear tips on the market right now, that I have a chance to find some, I am "compatible with".

After having spent some hours in reading here, as well as headfonia, headfonics and others, I have a little list with my preselected models:
Etymotic ER3XR or ER4XR
DUNU DK 2001
Moondrop Blessing2
Audiosense DT200

Looking forward to get some advice.
Thanks a lot and apologies for my imperfect English.

Welcome back! The world of IEMs is very vast and exciting now, with so many to choose from. Regarding the items you mentioned, they are all good, but there are a few things to consider. The Etymotic IEMs have a great, balanced, accurate, neutral-ish sound. They are versatile. I agree with you that you should look at the XR variants. I would also consider the ER2XR, as it uses a dynamic driver, and has a more analog sound than the BA models. The ER3XR has the warmest tuning of the three. For isolation, the Etymotics are king, but for best isolation, you have to be okay with using the triple flange tips with a deep insertion technique. There are other options for ear tips though, if you don’t like the deep insertion.

For some information on other ear tip options for the Etymotics: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/etymotic-ear-tip-options.930440/

For a comparison between Etymotic XR models: https://www.audiodiscourse.com/2020/04/etymotic-xr-shoot-out.html

I don’t have direct experience with the other 3 IEMs you listed, and others will probably provide additional information. The notable issues regarding the Blessing 2 are that it is a large IEM, with a very large nozzle, so fit may be an issue, and it also reportedly doesn’t provide great isolation.

Some other IEMs that I recommend that you consider, and perhaps research:
- Penon Audio Orb - reportedly provides great isolation, and has great bass and vocals.
- ThieAudio Legacy 3 - I can vouch that it can provides great isolation. It has a very good, balanced sound overall.
- AudioSense T800 - reportedly provides great isolation, and has really good bass for BAs, but can have bright treble for some people.

 

[Sylvia]

Welcome back! The world of IEMs is very vast and exciting now, with so many to choose from. Regarding the items you mentioned, they are all good, but there are a few things to consider. The Etymotic IEMs have a great, balanced, accurate, neutral-ish sound. They are versatile. I agree with you that you should look at the XR variants. I would also consider the ER2XR, as it uses a dynamic driver, and has a more analog sound than the BA models. The ER3XR has the warmest tuning of the three. For isolation, the Etymotics are king, but for best isolation, you have to be okay with using the triple flange tips with a deep insertion technique. There are other options for ear tips though, if you don’t like the deep insertion.

For some information on other ear tip options for the Etymotics: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/etymotic-ear-tip-options.930440/

For a comparison between Etymotic XR models: https://www.audiodiscourse.com/2020/04/etymotic-xr-shoot-out.html

I don’t have direct experience with the other 3 IEMs you listed, and others will probably provide additional information. The notable issues regarding the Blessing 2 are that it is a large IEM, with a very large nozzle, so fit may be an issue, and it also reportedly doesn’t provide great isolation.

Some other IEMs that I recommend that you consider, and perhaps research:
- Penon Audio Orb - reportedly provides great isolation, and has great bass and vocals.
- ThieAudio Legacy 3 - I can vouch that it can provides great isolation. It has a very good, balanced sound overall.
- AudioSense T800 - reportedly provides great isolation, and has really good bass for BAs, but can have bright treble for some people.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply, which is very helpful.

I'll have a deeper look now at the Etymotics and the ThieAudio Legacy 3.
I did not expect IEM being such an exciting topic, meanwhile - actually overwhelming.
Point is not to burn too much money with blind buys - the trial and error method.

 

[surfgeorge]

I like a well-balanced, natural, rich, analog sound, bass not too thin, clear and bright treble, not harsh.
I want to dive into the music, the iem should transport the emotion directly into my heart.
Yes, I am aware, I am looking for kind of Swiss knife which is almost possible to find.

As I am not sure, whether I will like the feeling of IEMs, I do not want to spend more than appr. 300 EURO for the start.
I have small ears and always found ear tips for the night quite uncomfortable. I expect the eartips for iem's being better. Andthere are so many kinds of ear tips on the market right now, that I have a chance to find some, I am "compatible with".

After having spent some hours in reading here, as well as headfonia, headfonics and others, I have a little list with my preselected models:
Etymotic ER3XR or ER4XR
DUNU DK 2001
Moondrop Blessing2
Audiosense DT200

It seems like you really know very well what you want! That's a perfect start.

With 300 Euros you can get great IEMs, but I have to say the kind of warm/mature sound signature you are looking for is not that easy to get.

A couple of things.
Decision between BA and DD: BA is often more technical, detailed, and better isolating but with less dynamics and unnaturally fast attack and decay, leading to timbre issues.
DD IEMs are generally more dynamic, coherent, and have more natural timbre, slower attack and decay, depending a lot on the driver and IEM design. They are typically vented, meaning a little less isolation and a little more bleed, but let me tell you, as an avid DD user, they block out enough noise to hear absolutely nothing in an office environment. On a plane a BA might have advantages, on the bike I had equal wind noise with sealed BA and vented DD.
I personally feel that in the lower price ranges good DDs offer a more coherent experience and better value, for my preferences of course.
Bu generally, blocking out the barking of dogs is going to be a challenge if they are close by.

Second: Fit is everything. Be prepared to experiment with tips until you find the right one. This can take months, but is essential. They change the sound and influence the comfort.

Third: any chance for you to try out IEMs? If not maybe consider buying some used IEM(s) to get a feel and limit your losses if you don't like it.

Your choices:
Etymotic: ER2XR might be even better value, but consider the very deep fit they require! Personally, with my ear canals I can't wear them and generally I was always concerned about shoving something that deep into my ears because of health concerns.

Blessing 2 is getting very good feedback, but they have neutral bass and boosted upper mids. And they are big, with very big nozzles, so fit could be an issue.

Did you check Crinacle's list?
https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/

I personally like the modded JVC FD01/02/X1 a lot, but it's not warm and full, it's more neutral, lean with a healthy upper mid and sub bass boost and liquid treble.
Might be worth considering.

Sony XBA-N3 could be an option, Periodic Audio BE, Final Audio 3000 or 4000
If you can get a Sony IER-M7 used somewhere close to your 300 Euro it could also be an option.

Cheers!

 

[Sylvia]

It seems like you really know very well what you want! That's a perfect start.

With 300 Euros you can get great IEMs, but I have to say the kind of warm/mature sound signature you are looking for is not that easy to get.

A couple of things.
Decision between BA and DD: BA is often more technical, detailed, and better isolating but with less dynamics and unnaturally fast attack and decay, leading to timbre issues.
DD IEMs are generally more dynamic, coherent, and have more natural timbre, slower attack and decay, depending a lot on the driver and IEM design. They are typically vented, meaning a little less isolation and a little more bleed, but let me tell you, as an avid DD user, they block out enough noise to hear absolutely nothing in an office environment. On a plane a BA might have advantages, on the bike I had equal wind noise with sealed BA and vented DD.
I personally feel that in the lower price ranges good DDs offer a more coherent experience and better value, for my preferences of course.
Bu generally, blocking out the barking of dogs is going to be a challenge if they are close by.

Second: Fit is everything. Be prepared to experiment with tips until you find the right one. This can take months, but is essential. They change the sound and influence the comfort.

Third: any chance for you to try out IEMs? If not maybe consider buying some used IEM(s) to get a feel and limit your losses if you don't like it.

Your choices:
Etymotic: ER2XR might be even better value, but consider the very deep fit they require! Personally, with my ear canals I can't wear them and generally I was always concerned about shoving something that deep into my ears because of health concerns.

Blessing 2 is getting very good feedback, but they have neutral bass and boosted upper mids. And they are big, with very big nozzles, so fit could be an issue.

Did you check Crinacle's list?
https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/

I personally like the modded JVC FD01/02/X1 a lot, but it's not warm and full, it's more neutral, lean with a healthy upper mid and sub bass boost and liquid treble.
Might be worth considering.

Sony XBA-N3 could be an option, Periodic Audio BE, Final Audio 3000 or 4000
If you can get a Sony IER-M7 used somewhere close to your 300 Euro it could also be an option.

Cheers!

Another good advice, very much appreciated, thanks.
I agree with you, the fit is actually my major concern as well. Could be another long way to find the right tips.

Crinacle's list needs some more time to read - and to understand. There's so much information there.

The Etymotic ER2XR I think is worth to give it a try, I read such a lot of good feedback ... until now I hesitated just because of the very deep fit.

If I like the feel of IEM I would like to upgrade later to more audiophile ones, like e.g. the Campfire Andromeda. Let's see ...
I know me for quite a while now and I have to be careful because of my gas syndrome.

Starting with a pair of used iem's is also an option. But I realized sometimes the difference in price is not so much compared to new ones - in that case I prefer new one, also from a hygienic point of view.
All of my full-sized headphones (except the AKG K701) were bought used, in a perfect condition. After some time I just changed the earpads of the Audeze LCD-2 from leather to the non-leather version which is much more comfortable, as it does not stick to my face. And I bought a different cable, a Toxic Cables Silver Widow, IMO a perfect fit for the LCD-2.

Cheers for now