[feverfive]

^^^ I get what you guys are saying, Re: cans vs. IEM.

I just received my ATH-WP900; now on my 5th song with them, hahaha. This is the first time in almost 6 years I've had headphones on my head. I swore off cans back then, sold everything as I went all-in on IEM (well....kinda; actually more or less left the hobby). These aren't even top tier cans, but man, I missed how full-size cans present sound. Glad I took the plunge with these.

I'll still likely pay a ton of attention to the ~$750 IEM market because I can see myself buying something within the next 9-12 months.

 

[H T T]

I am in the same exact boat as you actually. I think I used that analogy before. Lol. But for me I like my cans as much as my earphones. Case in point. You guys know about Beyers new T1 gen3 here?



No earphone gonna have the same stage as a well tuned open can. While I am looking forward to see how the Philips Fidelio X3 turns out. I have to admit I love Beyerdynamic headphones. These are talking to me. This hobby. Geeze!!!!!!!!!!

Beyer DT880 and 770 fan here. I NEED a DT1880!

Maybe there is a pattern/trend of Chi/J-fi IEM fans and Beyer can fans? (Now say that seven times rapidly ).

 

[JEHL]

Hey guys do you think it'd be possible to fit:
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000336560088.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808892657.html
And https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33031313972.html

Into a single housing?

Edit: wrong tweeter.

Edit 2: How did a portion of one of the links become an emoji? Guess it must recognize to characters together as one.

Edit 3: I always knew the links had junk by default, but never knew exactly where the junk part started. Thanks Slater.

 

[Slater]

Edit 2: How did a portion of one of the links become an emoji? Guess it must recognize to characters together as one.

It’s all that junk after the .html.

When you post a link, highlight everything after the html and delete it.

Like this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000336560088.html

 

[chinmie]

I've never heard over the ear sets that sound remotely as good to me as IEMs, open or closed. I think it's physiological for me... Something about my ear canals.

I get my first few pair of buds soon and will see how those fair but for me IEMs>full size by a long way. Every time I've dropped any good amount of cash on something like the mrspeakers ether cx I've almost immediately regretted it....

i also prefer IEMs characteristics compared to headphones and earbuds..and i have my fair share of listening to headphones. Sure people might say headphones have bigger soundstage than IEMs, but for me, "expansive" and "soundstage" itself are subjective.

On the other hand, no headphones can compete with IEMs for "intimate" and "immersive" type of soundstage.. so like i said, subjective to preference.

Earbuds are much more similar to openback headphones, and most IEMs can't get that "airy-ness".. but earbuds can, and i still prefer earbuds than headphones

other thing to consider for me is because of my listening habit (laying on the couch /bed) using headphones is more of a nuisance for me. so i don't have a scenario where headphones or trump over IEMs and earbuds.

the only headphones that i still keep is the ATH R70X (one of the flattest and neutral sounding headphones/earphones I've ever heard), the ATH M50 (purely sentimental values), and the Sony XM3 (well.. ANC)

 

[baskingshark]

Different strokes for different folks, but I find that for CHIFI IEMs, they have superb price to performance ratio compared to CHIFI headphones. I still find that that most western headphones are king in the headphone industry, whereas the CHIFI IEMs have really caught up to the midfi western brands for IEMs at least. The CHIFI headphones are catching up though, tried a few of their stuff and they ain't bad, but just that the CHIFI IEMs have more choices and better selection. It is my hope that CHIFI headphones can one day do the same thing and catch up to their western counterparts in the midfi segment, so as to save all of us $$$ in this hobby.

 

[JEHL]

Different strokes for different folks, but I find that for CHIFI IEMs, they have superb price to performance ratio compared to CHIFI headphones. I still find that that most western headphones are king in the headphone industry, whereas the CHIFI IEMs have really caught up to the midfi western brands for IEMs at least. The CHIFI headphones are catching up though, tried a few of their stuff and they ain't bad, but just that the CHIFI IEMs have more choices and better selection. It is my hope that CHIFI headphones can one day do the same thing and catch up to their western counterparts in the midfi segment, so as to save all of us $$$ in this hobby.

I tend to prefer over ears myself if mostly because I HAVE to limit the usage of IEMs due to the increased chance to impact my earwax every time I put them on compared to a can. So I have to relegate IEMs to portable use. To be completely honest, I'm not sure if this is due to me trying to force the tips too deep and/or I'm choosing an eartip too small that's unable to grab my ear with a shallow insertion. Or the way I insert the tips is just plain incorrect (Tipically I pull the ears from above before inserting).

Edit: Makes me wonder how it's even possible to fully insert an Etymotic ERXXX without pushing the earwax.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

TBT, He is overly critical and I honestly wonder if he gets any enjoyment out of the hobby... His opinions are worth just about zero to me. He is my example of a reviewer I give Zero credence to from a personal subjective taste standpoint. The only pair I really agree with him on is the blon. Pairs he likes are generally pretty drab to me.... Pairs he trashes I either like, or can be fixed with very minor EQ.

That being said, he does seem to be one of the more trustworthy reviewers in the sense of not being a total shill.

He's like the opposite of a hobbyist like me though. I like a vast majority of gear I get (one of the few things in life where I'm an optimist) and he seems to hate most of it. His general attitude bums me out. Get another hobby that brings you joy buddy....

Reminds me of joker. remember the king reviewer joker? now that was a hit and miss reviewer. some things were spot on, and some were absolutely not anywhere near what he described. The biggest ones that come to mind were the JVC HA-FXT90 , VSonic GR-7 bass, Thinksound Rain, and the Fischer Audio Silver Bullet. I thought all of them either sounded weaksauce or not up to the reviews. So hit and miss. gotta find folks you can trust.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

what happened with @HungryPanda? When i was last here in April, he was still posting.

 

[Dsnuts]

Hungry was a health care worker. Got Covid and passed away it was shocking news and still is. I have to admit this year was and still is one of the worst in the history of man kind. I am also a health care worker and I am sick of wearing a mask but it is something I have to have on all day long.

Unfortunately we are not out of the woods on this one. While life goes on people like our good buddy Hungrypanda passed away. I also had some coworkers who caught the virus and managed to survive. It has affected so many people and killed a lot more.

I think the best part of having my earphones at work I can forget all that is still happening even if just for an hour and listen to some music. I feel bad for folks that don't enjoy music for some reason. I am at risk every day I am at work but life goes on.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Hungry was a health care worker. Got Covid and passed away it was shocking news and still is.

oh wow. that's horrible news. my deepest condolences to his family and friends. COVID is awful.

 

[JEHL]

I think this is why I like warm/dark sounding gear. It's not because I'm treble sensitive, it's because it's MUCH easier for me to achieve zen moments with neutral/dark gear than bright gear.

 

[SciOC]

I'm with you, after I got the HD800S a couple of years ago everything else is just nice to have while they're need to have for me. That being said, 95% of the time I listen to music huge open headphones are out of the question so IEM's still get a lot more usage. Then there's always the curiosity og trying new things......

It's weird but I hear almost zilch for staging from over the ear sets, closed or open, whatever.... I'd say the range of sounds is about if I had Mickey mouse ears for really good sets. Also, everything sounds behind me by a few inches which doesn't occur with IEMs.

With IEMs it is a little bit larger of a stage, but the illusion works better and the separation between instruments is MUCH superior, as well as the bass punch, weight and slam. For me it's really no contest.

The moment I tried the TFZ S5, my over the ear days were done.... To bad my old ety er4ps had no stage, otherwise I'd have been into IEMs much sooner.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I think this is why I like warm/dark sounding gear. It's not because I'm treble sensitive, it's because it's MUCH easier for me to achieve zen moments with neutral/dark gear than bright gear.

that is oddly opposite my ears, but that's what makes this hobby most unpredictable!

 

[DynamicEars]

Per Crinacle:
“11/08 edit: I was informed that the first Monarch unit I received was built incorrectly. I just received the second (correct) unit, and so the impressions/measurements sections have been amended accordingly.“

He updated this article: https://crinacle.com/2020/07/29/thieaudio-monarch-unboxing/

The black line (first sample) is looked better to me. I wonder if this a unite variation? or they just retune it?