tomatosauce
New Head-Fier
Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Just a quick intro before I explain the title. I am a new Head-Fier who is enormously appreciative for all the advice and information posted here (my wallet, on the other hand, has different feelings). As someone with a limited budget, I spend most of my time lurking around the Chi-Fi threads. When I first started this hobby, I looked far and wide for the "perfect" under $50 IEM. I quickly learned that the answer to my question depended on my preferred sound signature. Problem was, I really didn't know my preferred signature. By slowly building my collection (OK fine, rapidly), I learned to appreciate the differences among various sound profiles and after a fair amount of trial and error, I felt confident enough to upgrade to my first $100 IEM, the iBasso IT01 (which I absolutely love). Through this process, an idea came to me: The Chi-Five IEM Starter Pack Project.
The concept is simple: what if we could create a list of five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs that together would encompass as much sound variation as possible? The goal would not be to find the "perfect" earphone; rather, it would be a starter pack that could help future tomatosauces of the world efficiently identify their preferred sound signature and provide a launching point for more expensive upgrades. A Venn diagram with the least amount of overlap, in other words. I thought about including a poll, but without requiring a discrete set of five earphones, the top 2 or 3 with the highest votes could simply reflect the most popular IEMs (which may have very similar sound signatures). Therefore, I am hoping that those of you interested in contributing would post here with your recommended "starter packs" along with a brief explanation next to each earphone. I'll start:
1) Tin Audio T2: airy, cold, neutral tuning, not the strongest sub-bass
2) ZhiYin Z5000: dark, warm tuning, bass heavy
3) LKER i8: more V-shaped typical of Chi-Fi IEMs
4) KZ ZS6: treble focused, large soundstage, centered midrange, detailed
5) ?
Anyone who has listened to the T2 know they sound completely different from the Z5000. That's why I put them on my list. Each component of the pack is subject to replacement. For example, people may claim the KZ ZSR is a better representation of a bass heavy IEM than the Z5000. Or maybe the UiiSii CM5 sounds similar to the LKER i8 but does each thing slightly better and deserves its spot. Or perhaps there is an IEM that encompasses the signatures of two IEMs in the pack and should therefore replace both of them. The possibilities are endless! Another way to organize a set of five could be based on the IEM's focus, e.g. the one IEM that best emphasizes: 1) lows, 2) mids, 3) highs, 4) neutral/balanced, 5) V-shaped. Totally up to you! The point of this exercise is to have fun and have an answer if someone brand new to the hobby asks you: "What are the five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs you would recommend to get me started and why?" Or, more accurately, "What are the five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs that will get me totally addicted and cause me to spend way too much money on the way to my endgame?"
The concept is simple: what if we could create a list of five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs that together would encompass as much sound variation as possible? The goal would not be to find the "perfect" earphone; rather, it would be a starter pack that could help future tomatosauces of the world efficiently identify their preferred sound signature and provide a launching point for more expensive upgrades. A Venn diagram with the least amount of overlap, in other words. I thought about including a poll, but without requiring a discrete set of five earphones, the top 2 or 3 with the highest votes could simply reflect the most popular IEMs (which may have very similar sound signatures). Therefore, I am hoping that those of you interested in contributing would post here with your recommended "starter packs" along with a brief explanation next to each earphone. I'll start:
1) Tin Audio T2: airy, cold, neutral tuning, not the strongest sub-bass
2) ZhiYin Z5000: dark, warm tuning, bass heavy
3) LKER i8: more V-shaped typical of Chi-Fi IEMs
4) KZ ZS6: treble focused, large soundstage, centered midrange, detailed
5) ?
Anyone who has listened to the T2 know they sound completely different from the Z5000. That's why I put them on my list. Each component of the pack is subject to replacement. For example, people may claim the KZ ZSR is a better representation of a bass heavy IEM than the Z5000. Or maybe the UiiSii CM5 sounds similar to the LKER i8 but does each thing slightly better and deserves its spot. Or perhaps there is an IEM that encompasses the signatures of two IEMs in the pack and should therefore replace both of them. The possibilities are endless! Another way to organize a set of five could be based on the IEM's focus, e.g. the one IEM that best emphasizes: 1) lows, 2) mids, 3) highs, 4) neutral/balanced, 5) V-shaped. Totally up to you! The point of this exercise is to have fun and have an answer if someone brand new to the hobby asks you: "What are the five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs you would recommend to get me started and why?" Or, more accurately, "What are the five sub-$50 Chi-Fi IEMs that will get me totally addicted and cause me to spend way too much money on the way to my endgame?"
