[therock003]

Guys i remember 15 years ago back when i was a kid i came here and asked about the best earphones. It used to be a battle between the shure se530 and a pair of ultimate ears. I ended up giving all my money and ordering the Shures from eBay. I dusted them off this week and i was wondering how do they fair in todays date and age

 

[kleinheld]

While I sadly don't own the SE530, I've just recently relistened to both the Shure SE535 and the SE215 and neither of those really hold up anymore. Especially with the rise of ChiFi, better IEMs can be had for way cheaper prices and IEMs at comparable prices tend to be noticeably better sounding.

 

[ri_toast]

respectfully disagree with klienheld...I still have and use my 535s and the 530 are not so far removed. True that more modern iem's can be better values I have and use 30 year old Stax sets. I occasionally buy the flavor of the month and old favs are what they get compared to. More often than not "new" ones quickly get stuffed in a drawer.
In particular all Shure iem's have superior isolation they make great commuter headsets. They are easy to power and sound good.

 

[therock003]

Thanx guys, and which may be todays good options for the 300+ wired earphones that people tend to use as higher end products?

 

[Spie1904]

High end expensive brands that come to mind are:
Audio64 (u12t, etc)
Sony (m9, IER-Z1R)
ThieAudio (Monarch, etc)
Unique Melody
Vision Ears
Empire Ears

And many more

Maybe check out crinacle IEM tier list.
It’s definitely subjective but will get you some ideas?

 

[kleinheld]

If you‘re looking for something right around $300 there are also quite a few good choices like the Moondrop Blessing 2 (Dusk), the Mangird Tea, Unique Melody 3DT, Tanchjim Oxygen.

Furthermore, Moondrop Variations, ThieAudio Oracle, ThieAudio Monarch (MKII), Xenns Up, Dunu SA6 are all quite great IEMs at different higher price points as well.

Which of these (or other) models are the right for you will heavily depend on your preferences and what music you‘re listening to. These mentionend above tend to fit my needs and taste the best.