Looking for an earbud similar to the kph30i
Jan 2, 2020 at 5:07 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 1

MonTay

New Head-Fier
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Hi all, new user but I've used head-fi as a resource for a long time.

I am looking for an earbud (not iem) which are unfortunately kind of niche and hard to find info on. I listen to a wide variety of stuff but staying more on the orchestral or vocally driven side of things such as piano jazz, anything from John Williams, Billie Eilish, Noah Cyrus, Queen and a menagerie of other songs. I prefer female vocals for anything acoustic or pop and like to find songs with very unique sounds/experiences or really impressive vocal performances (also love vocal harmonies).

[Body by Moonbounce]

[Paul by Big Thief]

These are some examples but its hard to sum it up. I don't really listen on the go so I like to have something in the song to focus on whether that's the brass in a star wars soundtrack, or the abrasiveness of a cello in a small quartet, some funky synth in a dreampop song or listening to the intonations/breaths/fretboard sounds of a live/not-autotuned recording.

Coming from the ATH-AD700x, I found the kph30i's to be a lot more fun to listen to since the audio technica's have practically no bass. The soundstage could be better and there are some songs where I felt clarity was lacking but overall I was able to wear them 8+hrs a day for over a year without physical or sonic fatigue. I also have shure se215's and while I enjoy the clarity and bass, iem's are too uncomfortable to wear unless I'm on a plane. I typically listen in quiet environments so isolation is a non-issue.

Budget is preferably <~$75. I could stretch to like $150 (was looking at the rose masya mk2) but I'd have to really be convinced they are worth it. A metal shell and removable cable is a big+ since these will be shoved in my pockets a lot as a "just in case"

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

Edit: Source is a galaxy s7 or fiio k1.
 
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