I went through a few flagship IEM’s in 2020 so I thought it might be cool to reflect back on my 'year of gear' and share some very brief thoughts on each one, and why I chose to either keep it or sell it.
2020 has been a year like no other for probably most people on the planet. And for me personally, I had a year of ups and downs but the silver lining was that I had a lot more free time, and this little hobby ended up being a major part of it lol. This is my second year in this and I still consider myself to be a complete noob, so my intention at the start of the year was to go all out trying as many flagships as I could, to find my "endgame". I have officially murdered my wallet in the process and I highly doubt I'll be able to ever back up this level of buying in future years, so this is a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime experience and hopefully this little summary might be mildly interesting to some of you
QDC Anole VX
January - August
I started 2020 wanting to hear the top IEM on Crinacle’s famous ranking list. The Anole VX ended up sticking around for quite a while. I got addicted pretty quickly to it's insane amount of resolving power and technical ability. I listen to a lot of EDM, so it was awesome listening to my music library and hearing all the micro details that I'd never heard before. However as time passed and I heard more IEM’s on the market, I began to feel less impressed by it's relatively narrow soundstage width and slightly harsh treble. Overall, I enjoyed my time with Anole VX and I think it's definitely worthy of it's high praise, but ultimately it wasn't what I was looking for.
Campfire Audio Solaris SE
February - May
The Solaris SE was my second Campfire Audio IEM (first being the Andromeda S) and to be completely honest, it took me a good few weeks to start enjoying them. Initially I was wowed by its huge soundstage but at the same time I felt quite underwhelmed by it’s bass quantity. Perhaps I had high expectations coming from the Sony IER-Z1R as my reference of dynamic driver bass. However as time passed, my ears and brain adjusted to the Solaris' presentation and found myself enjoying the feeling of musical engagement that the Solaris delivers. Once the 2020 Solaris was released, I decided to let go of the SE as I preferred the sleek look and smaller shell size of the new model.
Campfire Audio Solaris 2020
May - August
Many have said that there are sound differences between the 2020 and SE Solaris, but honestly I didn’t hear much difference when I had them both together. I sold my Solaris 2020 when I bought my Erlkonig as I felt that the Erlky did everything the Solaris did, but better. In hindsight though, I think they are quite different and they could potentially live side by side in one's collection. I’ll be keeping an eye on future Solaris releases for sure.
Empire Ears Legend X
May - July
I’ll never forget the day I heard the LX for the first time. The bass was like nothing else I’d heard before. Pure insanity lol. But it didn't take long for that epic bass to sound a bit overwhelming to my ears. It was just too L-shaped for me. I sold my LX after buying the LX SE however I would like to give the OG LX another shot in the future as I feel like I possibly didn’t hear the OG with an appropriate source (needs something brighter/analytical than the Sony WM1Z).
Empire Ears Legend X SE
May -
My bae. I freakin’ love the LX SE. This IEM ain’t going nowhere. The LX SE is tuned with just enough extra treble and slightly less bass compared to the OG LX to balance out the signature without losing the LX DNA. Paired with my iBasso DX220 Max, this IEM is one of the few I’ve heard that I could happily live with as my sole IEM.
64 Audio U12t
May - September
One of the most impressive IEM’s I’ve heard to date, although it did get a little boring after a while. Perhaps my ears were poisoned by the other gear I heard at the time. I decided to sell shortly after getting the A18s, but I’d like to revisit the U12t again in the future.
64 Audio Tia Fourte Noir
June - November
I lusted over the Fourte Noir for many months before finally pulling the trigger. It was an IEM I was super interested in (mostly due to @Vitaly2017 and his constant praise!), but I also read a few negative reviews and the high price tag had me hesitant on hitting the payment button every time I had one in my shopping cart. My initial impression of the Noir wasn’t super positive. The treble felt too hot and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the sub bass quantity. But after some fairly extensive tip rolling I managed to get a better fit and heard more of its true potential. The Noir is a fantastic IEM but ultimately I felt that it fell short compared to some of the other top tier stuff I heard this year.
64 Audio Nio
July - September
December -
I fell for the K9 hype and blind bought the Nio on release. I thought it was an okay IEM but I didn’t like the bloated bass and rolled off treble. They sat unused in my drawer for a few weeks until I finally decided to list them for sale. But just as I sold them I tried a bit more tip rolling and realised that wide bore tips helped open up the treble. Then in an unplanned turn of events I ended up with another Nio through a trade. This time around I decided to switch to the mX modules (stupidly I didn't even try them on my first set, even though I complained about bloated bass
) and I feel like I'm now hearing what the Nio is capable of. It still doesn't quite beat any of the other IEM's in my collection but at least I can now appreciate them properly for what they are.
Vision Ears Erlkonig Black Edition
July -
My current favourite. The best midrange I’ve ever heard on an IEM. Amazing BA bass. Super detailed. Plus the switches make it feel like I've got 4 different IEM's all at once. This was the biggest blind IEM buy I’ve made, and hopefully it will remain that way. Lucky it worked out big thanks to @toaster and @aaf evo for singing it's praises.
64 Audio A18s (universal demo unit)
July - November
Luckily managed to pick up a demo A18s unit through a friend. Although I suspect that the unit I got was possibly tuned differently because my impressions didn't line up with other friends that have heard/owned an A18s. Hoping 64 Audio release an official universal version in the future.
Empire Ears Odin
August -
Odin is an awesome IEM but it certainly wasn't what I expected when I first heard them. Coming from the LX & LX SE, I was expecting a more bombastic and coloured sound, but the Odin is pretty far from that. However now that I've gotten to know it's signature, I can appreciate it for what it is. I think it has the best quality of bass I've heard so far. The midrange has incredible detail and clarity. It's treble is great overall but I wouldn't mind a little more upper treble presence. Eventually I'll probably move the Odin on but right now I'm happy to keep it, even though it gets the least usage out of my current lineup.
MMR Thummim
August - December
Thummim seems to get pretty mixed impressions but I definitely think its a great IEM. It has one of the largest soundstages I've heard. It also has a great balanced sound. But it's very expensive and ultimately I found it hard to justify owning such a pricey IEM that didn't really hit my preferences as much as others I already owned.
Noble Sultan
September - December
A great IEM but just didn't quite do it for me overall. I thought it sounds pretty similar to Thummim, with a balanced W-shape sound but with a slightly safer tuning. The soundstage isn't as wide as Thummim imo, but it has incredible depth and it's ability to layer music is probably one of, if not the best I've heard. Once again though, it is a very expensive IEM so it was hard to justify keeping.
Rhapsodio Infinity Mk2
November - November
This one lasted only 24 hours, giving it the record for the shortest ownership of any IEM I've had
. Didn't like this one at all unfortunately. Not enough bass, distant mids but forward lower treble that hit a sensitivity in my hearing. I don't think its a bad IEM per se, just not for me. Maybe I should've given it a bit more time but as I'm sure most of you know, flagship IEM values drop super quick so I didn't want to risk losing anymore money on this one.
64 Audio Tia Trio
November - December
An opportunity came up for a decently priced used Tia Trio and after reading lots of positive stuff about it, I was eager to finally try it out for myself so I went for it. Very glad I did, as it now stands as my favourite 64 IEM I've heard, but the problem is that it's simply too similar to the Sony IER-Z1R to justify owning both, and I have an emotional attachment to my Z1R so unfortunately the Trio had to go. But I reckon this is the go-to EDM IEM or if you like the IER-Z1R but can't deal with the crazy huge shells.
Campfire Audio Andromeda MW10
December -
Not really flagship level but I thought I should mention it because I really love this IEM. It's certainly not the best I've heard from a technical perspective, but there's something about the way it's tuned that really works for me. Definitely one I'll be holding onto as a complement to the flagship's.
2020 has been a year like no other for probably most people on the planet. And for me personally, I had a year of ups and downs but the silver lining was that I had a lot more free time, and this little hobby ended up being a major part of it lol. This is my second year in this and I still consider myself to be a complete noob, so my intention at the start of the year was to go all out trying as many flagships as I could, to find my "endgame". I have officially murdered my wallet in the process and I highly doubt I'll be able to ever back up this level of buying in future years, so this is a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime experience and hopefully this little summary might be mildly interesting to some of you
QDC Anole VX
January - August
I started 2020 wanting to hear the top IEM on Crinacle’s famous ranking list. The Anole VX ended up sticking around for quite a while. I got addicted pretty quickly to it's insane amount of resolving power and technical ability. I listen to a lot of EDM, so it was awesome listening to my music library and hearing all the micro details that I'd never heard before. However as time passed and I heard more IEM’s on the market, I began to feel less impressed by it's relatively narrow soundstage width and slightly harsh treble. Overall, I enjoyed my time with Anole VX and I think it's definitely worthy of it's high praise, but ultimately it wasn't what I was looking for.
Campfire Audio Solaris SE
February - May
The Solaris SE was my second Campfire Audio IEM (first being the Andromeda S) and to be completely honest, it took me a good few weeks to start enjoying them. Initially I was wowed by its huge soundstage but at the same time I felt quite underwhelmed by it’s bass quantity. Perhaps I had high expectations coming from the Sony IER-Z1R as my reference of dynamic driver bass. However as time passed, my ears and brain adjusted to the Solaris' presentation and found myself enjoying the feeling of musical engagement that the Solaris delivers. Once the 2020 Solaris was released, I decided to let go of the SE as I preferred the sleek look and smaller shell size of the new model.
Campfire Audio Solaris 2020
May - August
Many have said that there are sound differences between the 2020 and SE Solaris, but honestly I didn’t hear much difference when I had them both together. I sold my Solaris 2020 when I bought my Erlkonig as I felt that the Erlky did everything the Solaris did, but better. In hindsight though, I think they are quite different and they could potentially live side by side in one's collection. I’ll be keeping an eye on future Solaris releases for sure.
Empire Ears Legend X
May - July
I’ll never forget the day I heard the LX for the first time. The bass was like nothing else I’d heard before. Pure insanity lol. But it didn't take long for that epic bass to sound a bit overwhelming to my ears. It was just too L-shaped for me. I sold my LX after buying the LX SE however I would like to give the OG LX another shot in the future as I feel like I possibly didn’t hear the OG with an appropriate source (needs something brighter/analytical than the Sony WM1Z).
Empire Ears Legend X SE
May -
My bae. I freakin’ love the LX SE. This IEM ain’t going nowhere. The LX SE is tuned with just enough extra treble and slightly less bass compared to the OG LX to balance out the signature without losing the LX DNA. Paired with my iBasso DX220 Max, this IEM is one of the few I’ve heard that I could happily live with as my sole IEM.
64 Audio U12t
May - September
One of the most impressive IEM’s I’ve heard to date, although it did get a little boring after a while. Perhaps my ears were poisoned by the other gear I heard at the time. I decided to sell shortly after getting the A18s, but I’d like to revisit the U12t again in the future.
64 Audio Tia Fourte Noir
June - November
I lusted over the Fourte Noir for many months before finally pulling the trigger. It was an IEM I was super interested in (mostly due to @Vitaly2017 and his constant praise!), but I also read a few negative reviews and the high price tag had me hesitant on hitting the payment button every time I had one in my shopping cart. My initial impression of the Noir wasn’t super positive. The treble felt too hot and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the sub bass quantity. But after some fairly extensive tip rolling I managed to get a better fit and heard more of its true potential. The Noir is a fantastic IEM but ultimately I felt that it fell short compared to some of the other top tier stuff I heard this year.
64 Audio Nio
July - September
December -
I fell for the K9 hype and blind bought the Nio on release. I thought it was an okay IEM but I didn’t like the bloated bass and rolled off treble. They sat unused in my drawer for a few weeks until I finally decided to list them for sale. But just as I sold them I tried a bit more tip rolling and realised that wide bore tips helped open up the treble. Then in an unplanned turn of events I ended up with another Nio through a trade. This time around I decided to switch to the mX modules (stupidly I didn't even try them on my first set, even though I complained about bloated bass
) and I feel like I'm now hearing what the Nio is capable of. It still doesn't quite beat any of the other IEM's in my collection but at least I can now appreciate them properly for what they are.Vision Ears Erlkonig Black Edition
July -
My current favourite. The best midrange I’ve ever heard on an IEM. Amazing BA bass. Super detailed. Plus the switches make it feel like I've got 4 different IEM's all at once. This was the biggest blind IEM buy I’ve made, and hopefully it will remain that way. Lucky it worked out
big thanks to @toaster and @aaf evo for singing it's praises.64 Audio A18s (universal demo unit)
July - November
Luckily managed to pick up a demo A18s unit through a friend. Although I suspect that the unit I got was possibly tuned differently because my impressions didn't line up with other friends that have heard/owned an A18s. Hoping 64 Audio release an official universal version in the future.
Empire Ears Odin
August -
Odin is an awesome IEM but it certainly wasn't what I expected when I first heard them. Coming from the LX & LX SE, I was expecting a more bombastic and coloured sound, but the Odin is pretty far from that. However now that I've gotten to know it's signature, I can appreciate it for what it is. I think it has the best quality of bass I've heard so far. The midrange has incredible detail and clarity. It's treble is great overall but I wouldn't mind a little more upper treble presence. Eventually I'll probably move the Odin on but right now I'm happy to keep it, even though it gets the least usage out of my current lineup.
MMR Thummim
August - December
Thummim seems to get pretty mixed impressions but I definitely think its a great IEM. It has one of the largest soundstages I've heard. It also has a great balanced sound. But it's very expensive and ultimately I found it hard to justify owning such a pricey IEM that didn't really hit my preferences as much as others I already owned.
Noble Sultan
September - December
A great IEM but just didn't quite do it for me overall. I thought it sounds pretty similar to Thummim, with a balanced W-shape sound but with a slightly safer tuning. The soundstage isn't as wide as Thummim imo, but it has incredible depth and it's ability to layer music is probably one of, if not the best I've heard. Once again though, it is a very expensive IEM so it was hard to justify keeping.
Rhapsodio Infinity Mk2
November - November
This one lasted only 24 hours, giving it the record for the shortest ownership of any IEM I've had
. Didn't like this one at all unfortunately. Not enough bass, distant mids but forward lower treble that hit a sensitivity in my hearing. I don't think its a bad IEM per se, just not for me. Maybe I should've given it a bit more time but as I'm sure most of you know, flagship IEM values drop super quick so I didn't want to risk losing anymore money on this one.64 Audio Tia Trio
November - December
An opportunity came up for a decently priced used Tia Trio and after reading lots of positive stuff about it, I was eager to finally try it out for myself so I went for it. Very glad I did, as it now stands as my favourite 64 IEM I've heard, but the problem is that it's simply too similar to the Sony IER-Z1R to justify owning both, and I have an emotional attachment to my Z1R so unfortunately the Trio had to go. But I reckon this is the go-to EDM IEM or if you like the IER-Z1R but can't deal with the crazy huge shells.
Campfire Audio Andromeda MW10
December -
Not really flagship level but I thought I should mention it because I really love this IEM. It's certainly not the best I've heard from a technical perspective, but there's something about the way it's tuned that really works for me. Definitely one I'll be holding onto as a complement to the flagship's.
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) and I trust your impressions. It’s now back on my radar but I’d only be willing to blind buy a used unit, so hopefully one comes up for a decent price 
