oh now I see the mistakes of my ways...
facts:
- under blind tests, under most circumstances, listening to music at comfortable levels, people fail to consistently identify high bitrate lossy files against lossless files. you decide that you know better because you trust your own guts under poorly controlled conditions, or because some crappy software or settings once created a weird and audible accident(I've had those), good for your ego! but it doesn't change the overwhelming statistical evidence.
- the only way to even be able to decide what is an "upgrade" for ourselves, is to try various things. you're counting an unavoidable process as evidence for your point of view that people waste money and time trying stuff. no cooky for that logical fallacy.
- about money and sound preferences in IEMs.
http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2017/02/twirt-337-predicting-headphone-sound_17.html
- silver isn't a magical metal. it has a little better conductivity than copper, so when all the rest is the same(which is rarely the case between cables), you can get a few changes including a tiny bit lower impedance compared to a copper cable that should already have inconsequentially low impedance. even then, the measurable changes, assuming they sometimes end up audible, will depend on the rest of the circuit(amp and IEM), there is no definitive sonic action induced by silver.
- you can go check almost any thread about a given IEM on the forum and you'll find several people saying that this particular IEM is sooooo great. that's the price of subjectivity.
and if you want a funny anecdote, my first purchase after joining Head-fi, was a pair of expensive IEM, a silver cable and a balanced amp(balanced DAPs weren't much of a thing at the time). how ironic is that. I had money, those were the FOTM(although I didn't know FOTM was a thing back then). I saw no issue with getting "the best"(I'm worth it!), as advised by noname dudes who seemed so confident they had to be expert at something(or so it seemed to me at the time). the all package landed me around 2000$. to this day I can't think of a worst audio purchase, and I've purchased a lot of portable crap over the years, still own too many for my needs. as I said, just an anecdote but now maybe you can understand why I do not think that jumping on expensive stuff suggested by an average Joe on the web is the logical and effective way to get good enjoyable gears.
about the original topic, I would instead advise to get a cheap practical IEM right now(there is honestly about as much chances to get lucky and enjoy the sound as with expensive IEMs). and if it's not enough for his needs/desires, I'd suggest to find ways to test various other IEMs so he can learn about his very own preferences and priorities. maybe look for audiophiles in his area and offer to trade experience for a beer on a summer afternoon, or try to go to some store or audio show that may demo IEMs. if he listens to some expensive stuff down the road and loves it, I see no issue with getting a pair and enjoying the hell out of it. but paying a lot for something he knows close to nothing about, that's bad advice and a gamble, no matter how you think you can justify it.
