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Poor man’s earbuds
Sep 22, 2020 at 10:26 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 26
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hyewiz

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Hello all,

Need recommendation on Poor man’s best earbuds, I know that’s almost impossible to have nice earbuds when we say “poor man” but maybe there will be a descent enjoyable ones that a poor man can effort. It’s mostly to listen Jazz, and pop. source would be vivo Xplay6 and Huawei P30Pro. Please need your input if there are any earbuds I can find max $60/Canadian and preferably from Amazon.
 
Sep 22, 2020 at 12:23 PM Post #2 of 26
Are you asking for earbuds or IEMs?

Earbuds = sit outside your ear canel (no seal, usually with foam tips)
EMs (in ear monitors) = with nozzles + silicone tips that are inserted deeply into your ear canal
 
Sep 22, 2020 at 12:26 PM Post #3 of 26
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Sep 22, 2020 at 12:35 PM Post #5 of 26
I'd be putting up a WTB thread if I were you, see what you can get used for that price. Might be surprised.
 
Sep 22, 2020 at 1:00 PM Post #7 of 26
The best "budget" IEMs I've tried recently were the Moondrop Starfields, but they seem relatively more expensive in CAD. I did also try the Blon BL-03 - they were pretty good too, but I sent those back in favour of keeping the Starfields.
 
Sep 22, 2020 at 5:09 PM Post #10 of 26
hyewiz said:
which one you pick from this 3

Soundmagic E80
Final Audio E2000
BLON BL05
Click to expand...

Personally, I've not heard any of those so couldn't pick from them. Sorry, I know that doesn't help!
 
Sep 22, 2020 at 9:54 PM Post #12 of 26
Do you have a preferred sound signature? Any problems with fatigue from either treble or bass?


If you don't know and want to try a cheap IEM with Harman type signature, get a Sony mh750. There should be some resellers on ebay that sell legit ones, can probably be found with some searching.
 
Sep 27, 2020 at 8:50 PM Post #13 of 26
hyewiz said:
which one you pick from this 3

Soundmagic E80
Final Audio E2000
BLON BL05
Click to expand...

The E80 have a great all-round sound for multi genres, detailed, mature. Build wise the cable isn't great.

The e2000 is similar but smoother. Very musical and easy listening. Better built. I was going to suggest the e2000 before I saw your list.

The blo5 isn't getting the best feedback.

KZ ZS10 PRO is very bright sounding and it's pretty aggressively tuned when compared to the ones on your list and I personally would say the CCA C12 is an improvement for not much more.

The blo3 but it's not the first IEM I'd go for jazz.

I'd also suggest looking at these beauties which for sound trust me are two of the best budget earphones you can get and quite rare to find. At these prices, they're a steal.

TIMKKOO EST

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085QG2FVB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These have a more smoother listen, great detail levels, very musical, huge soundstage. Lovely bass. Originally $70

or from the same brand

TIMKKOO C361

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088K4B3W3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also very detailed sound, great for jazz, orchestra and any other genre to be honest. Crystal clear but not fatiguing. Solid built and beautiful in hands. These are on par with the sound of the E80 imo but are better built and much cheaper.

At the crazy price, I bought two of each as they're not focusing on earphones anymore and once gone... gone. In fact, anyone reading should look at them.

Of the sets mentioned here's my personal rating - especially for your tastes and all available on Amazon CA or International.

EST
C361
E2000
E3000 - someone else mentioned I think. Like the e2000, little dryer but bit more detailed. Harder to drive to get best performance. Also good tho.
SOUNDMAGIC E80
BLON BL03
CCA C12
ZS10 PRO
 
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Sep 28, 2020 at 1:12 AM Post #14 of 26
My understanding is the BL05s improves on the BL05 all abound for roughly the same price.

That said, while I recently bought a few IEMs in this price range as a bundle (and that would be my recommendation if you're seriously considering any of these; save up a bit and get a bundle -- I got 3 "$50" IEMs for ~$75 shipped, and that's not at all unusual) everything else I own is in the $200+ retail range, and most of my headphones are $500+ retail, with a couple $1000+ new. I buy used almost exclusively. It's no real surprise then that $50 retail IEMs didn't compare with what I already owned. Most were shouty, either very bass heavy (trying to appeal to the mass consumer market) or stupidly hot/treble foward ('audiophile' for those who don't know better). I literally listened to each 20-30 minutes and said 'never again'. All this on balanced cables (not included, had them on hand) off a Schiit Jotunheim 3 DAC/AMP. Low gain. Noise was never the problem. Power was (obviously) never the problem.

So far as IEMS, I have a couple pairs that were ~$500 new, and that's my current top end as IEMs go. The ~$500 IEMs keep up with $1000+ over ear surprisingly well in some things, fall behind in others. I much prefer the over-all experience of over-ears vs. IEMS, but suspect that may come down to 'weird ears' or something. I may take the plunge on full custom IEMs at some point and see where that goes, but for the time being the Denon AH-D7200 and Hyland Audio Jupiter 1 are my favorites, both over ears. The Focal Elegia also does some things very well, as des the Audio Technica ATH-R70X. All my other headphones are currently at risk.
 
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Sep 28, 2020 at 1:50 AM Post #15 of 26
silent-circuit said:
My understanding is the BL05s improves on the BL05 all abound for roughly the same price.

That said, while I recently bought a few IEMs in this price range as a bundle (and that would be my recommendation if you're seriously considering any of these; save up a bit and get a bundle -- I got 3 "$50" IEMs for ~$75 shipped, and that's not at all unusual) everything else I own is in the $200+ retail range, and most of my headphones are $500+ retail, with a couple $1000+ new. I buy used almost exclusively. It's no real surprise then that $50 retail IEMs didn't compare with what I already owned. Most were shouty, either very bass heavy (trying to appeal to the mass consumer market) or stupidly hot/treble foward ('audiophile' for those who don't know better). I literally listened to each 20-30 minutes and said 'never again'. All this on balanced cables (not included, had them on hand) off a Schiit Jotunheim 3 DAC/AMP. Low gain. Noise was never the problem. Power was (obviously) never the problem.

So far as IEMS, I have a couple pairs that were ~$500 new, and that's my current top end as IEMs go. The ~$500 IEMs keep up with $1000+ over ear surprisingly well in some things, fall behind in others. I much prefer the over-all experience of over-ears vs. IEMS, but suspect that may come down to 'weird ears' or something. I may take the plunge on full custom IEMs at some point and see where that goes, but for the time being the Denon AH-D7200 and Hyland Audio Jupiter 1 are my favorites, both over ears. The Focal Elegia also does some things very well, as des the Audio Technica ATH-R70X. All my other headphones are currently at risk.
Click to expand...

I made a small comparison of the BLON BL-03 vs BLON BL-05 (non S) vs BLON BL-05S

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/blo...ressions-thread.916702/page-265#post-15872493

Yes the BL-05S is much better in timbre, tonality and technicalities for just a bit more. BL-05 (non S) was too shouty in the upper mids, so my 2 cents is that the BL-05S is the way to go between the 2.
 
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