The discovery thread!

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Very few IEM's of mine are on the no sell list : Soundmagic E80, Monster Miles Davis Trumpets, Moondrop Crescent, and Shangri-la's are the only ones that list on that list ATM. Everything else could go up for sale at any time or I've modded to where I can't sell them anymore (M200/FW08/IE800)

 

[s2kphile]

Turii Ti is one expensive boi, I could never justify spending $2,500 on a single IEM.

Grand Duke? Is that the Venture Electronics flagship?

Yeah, it's hard to justify spending copious amounts of money when cheaper ones do a great job of reproducing music. That said, I'll never pay more than $2,500 for an IEM due to the law of diminishing returns. I believe at that price point TOTL can be had anymore and you're just paying the businesses overhead and profit margins.

Venture Electronics Grand Duke, correct. Flagship single DD. Got my custom one coming to me I about 10 days. Cannot wait =). I had the opportunity to demo one for a few weeks and decided to get one for myself.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Only VE I still own is the VE Bonus. It's a decent bassy set. Good extension on both ends and stage. HBB recc'd. My VE Monks got lost at Walmart years ago.

 

[WAON303]

I remember VE made a really cheap earbud which was hyped back in 2016.

 

[s2kphile]

I remember VE made a really cheap earbud which was hyped back in 2016.

And it still stands to today. Of all the earbud makers out there, VE is one of the top players on the market. They have TOTL earbuds that are only available to their sVIP clients. People that have purchased their totl stuff on their website ie Grand Duke, Defiant Amp, etc.

Still their lower tier offerings are great.

 

[W0lrince]

SR5 is definitely 100/100 recommendation, as you climb up top tiers from 80/100 and up, each small fraction of performance comes with diminishing of $$$ return.

From my experience for recent IEM market, I’d roughly put $50/1score for 80+/100 in very grand scheme. upto 80/100 you can get varieties of IEMs with sub$100 budget.

0-80/100 : Investment needed $~100USD

Average Cost to Performance for Med-Fi A Tier with examples
80~89/100 : $100+ $50/1score

80 = $100 : Moondrop Droplet
81 = $150 : Moondrop KATO / Modded Aria OG / Truthear ZERO / DUNU Titan S
82 = $200 : 7Hz Timeless / AKG N5005
83 = $250 : AFUL P5
84 = $300 : Blessing 2 OG / Mangird Tea
85 = $350 : Blessing 2 Dusk / Truthear HEXA
86 = $400 : Tangzu Wu Zetian
87 = $450 : See Audio Bravery (PWA legend II & TRI Clarion) -Endgame For Female Vocal
88 = $500 : Westone W80 (Recabled & Ear tip adapter applied)
89 = $550 : Sound Rhyme SR5


Average Cost to Performance for S-Tier
90~95/100 : $600+ $500/1score

90 = $600 : Variations
91 = $1,100 : DUNU SA6 / Softears RSV -Endgame for Natural Sound Reproduction
92 = $1,600 : Monarch OG
93 = $2,100 : MEST MKII
94 = $2,600 : Aur Audio Neon Pro
95 = $3,100 : qdc Anole VX -Endgame For Resolution and Technicalities

For this HEXA hit 85 with $79, which is 4x higher than that $350 mark. Droplet hit A- with $50, which is 2x higher than $100 mark.

SR5 is 89 or even 90, for me that‘s Variations $530 class, but SR5 achieved with $139, again 4x ~ 5x of cost performance to $550-600.

While Neon Pro hits 94 or 95 per my rough analysis when A-B tested with Anole VX 96/100. With $730 cost, to hit $2,600~3,100 mark is again another 4~5x cost performance beasts.

It depends how high they perform, my recommendation is SR5. Because all you need is $139 and you get extremely high performing IEM right away.

Is SR5 really good? I'm thinking of sell some iem including Hexa...

 

[DynamicEars]

Is SR5 really good? I'm thinking of sell some iem including Hexa...

If @AmericanSpirit recommended it so badly, i believe so. Since he got lot of experiences and very detailed person.
Most important thing that he don't have any intention to shill at all, his IEM mostly bought with his own money, not a review unit.

To be honest I also wanna thank you @AmericanSpirit for thr H570 recommendation.
They sit among my best eartips rotation together with spinfit W1, azla sedna crystal.
Half level below that (but still great) there are moondrop spring and JVC spiral dot OG



And finally after 2 years on the fence while saving up money,
I got chance to acquire my last edge of my trident..



The Monarch MkII is joining the Z1R and UM Mest

Been really in the fence but always back because uncertainty but curiosity always push me back on the fence.
And finally friend of mine offer his Monarch MkII since he prefer open back full sized headphones. "$600 take em if you want" was the hardest word to reject.

 

[W0lrince]

If @AmericanSpirit recommended it so badly, i believe so. Since he got lot of experiences and very detailed person.
Most important thing that he don't have any intention to shill at all, his IEM mostly bought with his own money, not a review unit.

To be honest I also wanna thank you @AmericanSpirit for thr H570 recommendation.
They sit among my best eartips rotation together with spinfit W1, azla sedna crystal.
Half level below that (but still great) there are moondrop spring and JVC spiral dot OG



And finally after 2 years on the fence while saving up money,
I got chance to acquire my last edge of my trident..



The Monarch MkII is joining the Z1R and UM Mest

Been really in the fence but always back because uncertainty but curiosity always push me back on the fence.
And finally friend of mine offer his Monarch MkII since he prefer open back full sized headphones. "$600 take em if you want" was the hardest word to reject.

Even if i don't have any money left, i'm still going to take that offer haha.
Yes i really trust @AmericanSpirit when it come to tonality ranking, very accurate compare to what i heard

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Is SR5 really good? I'm thinking of sell some iem including Hexa...

I'm sure you'll find a buyer for your Hexa if I found a buyer for my Sands.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

If @AmericanSpirit recommended it so badly, i believe so. Since he got lot of experiences and very detailed person.
Most important thing that he don't have any intention to shill at all, his IEM mostly bought with his own money, not a review unit.

To be honest I also wanna thank you @AmericanSpirit for thr H570 recommendation.
They sit among my best eartips rotation together with spinfit W1, azla sedna crystal.
Half level below that (but still great) there are moondrop spring and JVC spiral dot OG



And finally after 2 years on the fence while saving up money,
I got chance to acquire my last edge of my trident..



The Monarch MkII is joining the Z1R and UM Mest

Been really in the fence but always back because uncertainty but curiosity always push me back on the fence.
And finally friend of mine offer his Monarch MkII since he prefer open back full sized headphones. "$600 take em if you want" was the hardest word to reject.

I just ordered some yesterday on @AmericanSpirit 's recc. I just hope the L are actually L. They advertise as "olives", so I'm hopeful they will be large enough? I also got some Spring tips that should be landing in the next few days. I've been on a tip and cable kick lately.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

If @AmericanSpirit recommended it so badly, i believe so. Since he got lot of experiences and very detailed person.
Most important thing that he don't have any intention to shill at all, his IEM mostly bought with his own money, not a review unit.

To be honest I also wanna thank you @AmericanSpirit for thr H570 recommendation.
They sit among my best eartips rotation together with spinfit W1, azla sedna crystal.
Half level below that (but still great) there are moondrop spring and JVC spiral dot OG



And finally after 2 years on the fence while saving up money,
I got chance to acquire my last edge of my trident..

Look at that trio of IEM's! Superb!!!

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

The next few days will be time for the Sennheiser IE200 to get some ear time proper. As I'm thinking of picking up the IE600, I'm giving these a spin to see if they are worthy of keeping? FORBIDDEN!!!

 

[DynamicEars]

I just ordered some yesterday on @AmericanSpirit 's recc. I just hope the L are actually L. They advertise as "olives", so I'm hopeful they will be large enough? I also got some Spring tips that should be landing in the next few days. I've been on a tip and cable kick lately.

The L size of H570 actually sit between M and ML of Azla Crystal (or any azla other variants)

Yes they are small for an L

 

[Hustler]

First listening session with Tri Star River was amazing. I often fall asleep listening to boy soprano music in the highest available quality (Qobuz or Amazon Music) and this may soon become my favorite iem for that. I had to reduce the volume on the Fiio M11 Plus Ltd considerably, but then the details and timbre were revealing even compared to my previous favorite Tri i3. (I may be developing a Tri addiction.)

Do you mean I3 or I3 Pro?

 

[Vonbuddy]

Is SR5 really good? I'm thinking of sell some iem including Hexa...

I am having trouble trusting the SR5 "sell wagon" right now. There are too many variations (colors, etc.) on Aliexpress right now. I don't know what to get and don't know if I am buying the right set? It is simply confusing, given the various prices from the original sale price. What is the most reliable link for the item you guys are referring to as a great iem.? I have no doubt it is great, but I just want to buy the right item.