[Audiosolace]

Here are a few recommendations based on my personal experiences:
Dunu Luna: a bit softer presentation on the vocals, highly detailed and you will hear every inflection. Excellent all rounder as well. The Luna does need a higher volume to sound its best (to get the bass) but still well within what your phone can produce, and a good match with the Dragonfly Red ( I have one as well). For this IEM I also recommend the Azla SednaEarFitShort ear tips ( on amazon). You can get this from MusicTeck.com (Andrew) at a discount which makes it a great deal and way under your limit.

Campfire Andromeda: a great IEM. It is known for its top end and I use this all the time when I used to go to the gym for both music and podcasts. Audio64 carries this and they will provide a 10% discount. An excellent baseline IEM.

Vision Ears VE-8. This will go over $2k. You would purchase this from VE directly (They are made in Germany and have top notch customer service). That will save you the Vat Tax and make the total cost around $2300 or less. This is one of the best IEM’s available though, and is custom only. It does vocals really well and everything else including the bass.
The VE-8 will not be as forgiving as the Luna on bad recordings. I do feel it is better overall, and it also sounds great at any volume level.

That is a very short list and hopefully will be of value to you. Tks.

Great list, anything beryllium-related does work wonders on bass.

 

[Frankie D]

Great list, anything beryllium-related does work wonders on bass.

I always like to compare IEM’s to top home systems. It is interesting that the top speaker builders use Beryllium only for the tweeter. They have moved to carbon fiber infused stuff ( technical term) and other materials for the mids and woofer. Yet in IEM’s beryllium is being used for bass. Seems interesting to me.

 

[IEMusic]

I always like to compare IEM’s to top home systems. It is interesting that the top speaker builders use Beryllium only for the tweeter. They have moved to carbon fiber infused stuff ( technical term) and other materials for the mids and woofer. Yet in IEM’s beryllium is being used for bass. Seems interesting to me.

You’re right. It is interesting. Focal has been famously using beryllium for their inverted dome dynamic tweeters for a long time. Tweeters that many high-end 3rd party manufactures also use (e.g. Wilson Audio). If I’m not mistaken. the rigidity is to help provide a smooth sound w/o as much distortion, and to provide a more linear and very extended high frequency response. Carbon fiber, graphene, and other materials are used for the high-end lower frequency drivers. In the world of IEMs, it does seem like the bass is what is most talked about, with a very highly resolving, fast, and textured sound. I don’t have an explanation, but would appreciate one also, if someone knows a lot more about this. Would they use beryllium for other speaker drives if it weren’t so cost prohibitive?

 

[riverground]

I can highly recommend Luna, its beryllium driver is super accurate and fast, and it shines with vocal and acoustic songs, and well under the budget.

I second this!

 

[MoreBassIsGood]

I second this!

Everyone is talking about Luna, these days. I should better check.

 

[riverground]

Everyone is talking about Luna, these days. I should better check.

Definitely do, it's one of those IEMs that anyone should listen to at least once in their life.
If it wasn't for the pandemic, I would've bought one already.

 

[arijitroy2]

Everyone is talking about Luna, these days. I should better check.

You should

 

[audio123]

I can highly recommend Luna, its beryllium driver is super accurate and fast, and it shines with vocal and acoustic songs, and well under the budget.

The Luna is an excellent recommendation. +1

 

[gnahra]

Add another to the list of casualties caused by the Z1R's ergonomics.
Retailers in the US finally started to get it back in stock, and I was lucky enough to grab one from a retailer with a good return policy (which was key for me because of my concerns with fit).
Received it today, and within 2 hours had it packed back up to return....it wasn't painful for me, as others have described, I just couldn't get them to sit in my ears properly and thus get a good, comfortable seal. I tried 6 of the tips that came in the package (3 of each type), as well as a few tips I have that I like and trust.
None worked.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to try them and "scratch the itch"; if Sony is able to figure out a way improve the ergonomics for an upcoming IEM (i.e., as Campfire did with the Solaris 2020), I'm all in given how much folks love the sound sig...but the Z1R just didn't work for me, unfortunately.

 

[Tristy]

Add another to the list of casualties caused by the Z1R's ergonomics.
Retailers in the US finally started to get it back in stock, and I was lucky enough to grab one from a retailer with a good return policy (which was key for me because of my concerns with fit).
Received it today, and within 2 hours had it packed back up to return....it wasn't painful for me, as others have described, I just couldn't get them to sit in my ears properly and thus get a good, comfortable seal. I tried 6 of the tips that came in the package (3 of each type), as well as a few tips I have that I like and trust.
None worked.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to try them and "scratch the itch"; if Sony is able to figure out a way improve the ergonomics for an upcoming IEM (i.e., as Campfire did with the Solaris 2020), I'm all in given how much folks love the sound sig...but the Z1R just didn't work for me, unfortunately.

Any comments on the sound even with the questionable fit?

 

[buonassi]

party line home phones

My dad has tried to explain this concept of party lines and switchboard operators to me multiple times when I was younger. I finally understood his plight when I tried to explain 'live broadcast television' to my kids.

I'm 40 and remember land-lines of course, but you just took it back another generation!

 

[gnahra]

Any comments on the sound even with the questionable fit?

I hesitate to say anything definitive, just given I couldn't get a good fit, but...from what I was able to glean, I was very impressed - there were two things immediately apparent (again, sorry to be redundant, take with a massive grain of salt given circumstances):
-bass was very prominent, but clean...sits somewhere between the Solaris 2020 and LX; very nice rumble while being very controlled; the sub-bass made a bigger impression on me than the bass (not to say bass was bad...just that the sub-bass left a stronger impression)
-treble was very interesting to me, if I'm not mistaken the first time I've heard treble executed via a DD; I would put it between a BA and estat in terms of sparkle and energy - no sibilance, but very clean edges with a nice airiness
-soundstage was solid - not as wide/holographic as the Solaris, but very nice.
Those are the aspects that I took away from my very short listening experience, and why I will absolutely will look at Sony again if they come out with a Z1R "successor" with a better fit.

 

[Tristy]

I hesitate to say anything definitive, just given I couldn't get a good fit, but...from what I was able to glean, I was very impressed - there were two things immediately apparent (again, sorry to be redundant, take with a massive grain of salt given circumstances):
-bass was very prominent, but clean...sits somewhere between the Solaris 2020 and LX; very nice rumble while being very controlled; the sub-bass made a bigger impression on me than the bass (not to say bass was bad...just that the sub-bass left a stronger impression)
-treble was very interesting to me, if I'm not mistaken the first time I've heard treble executed via a DD; I would put it between a BA and estat in terms of sparkle and energy - no sibilance, but very clean edges with a nice airiness
-soundstage was solid - not as wide/holographic as the Solaris, but very nice.
Those are the aspects that I took away from my very short listening experience, and why I will absolutely will look at Sony again if they come out with a Z1R "successor" with a better fit.

Interesting, thanks for that! I do need to try them at some point. Hopefully they come back on sale on Amazon.co.uk at some point as their return policy is pretty good... just in case.

 

[gnahra]

Interesting, thanks for that! I do need to try them at some point. Hopefully they come back on sale on Amazon.co.uk at some point as their return policy is pretty good... just in case.

Yeah, I bought them through a retailer based here in Virginia via their Amazon page...I would definitely recommend trying them, but from a place with a good return policy as a hedge.
I was able to get a few glimpses into what the (good) fuss is all about!

 

[mashuto]

Yeah, I bought them through a retailer based here in Virginia via their Amazon page...I would definitely recommend trying them, but from a place with a good return policy as a hedge.
I was able to get a few glimpses into what the (good) fuss is all about!

Hello fellow Virginia headfier!

Glad you got to try the z1r out. The sound is obviously not for everyone (what iem is), but I do think it's pretty special. But yea, the fit can be atrocious depending on the person. I have been fighting with it, and finally ended up with custom eartips which seem to have helped. But still kind of crazy that it was necessary.

Hard part is with the nio, it almost feels redundant, but with so much time and effort (and money) put into them I think they will be sticking around for at least a whole, probably alongside the nio.