[Tamizhan]

What would you guys say is your best value IEM of the year? My vote would go to Butastur(drama not withstanding). But I do have an OD200 on the way. It was easy to YOLO on looking like such a complete package and with 10% off.

I'm hoping someone who loves mids will bring up the Wind.

 

[PeacockObscura]

Just received a review set of Hidviz MS3(contacted me over Twitter/Xasking if I wanted to try them out) Once you get the tips dialed in got to say they are surprisingly good especially at the current sale price of £78
Reviewing these is going to be a pleasure

 

[theintention]

What would you guys say is your best value IEM of the year? My vote would go to Butastur(drama not withstanding). But I do have an OD200 on the way. It was easy to YOLO on looking like such a complete package and with 10% off.

Rose Technics QuietSea for sure. Never expected to find an every day carry for 50 bucks. Next year will be spent on higher budget/quality/FEWER IEMs but I am on the move a lot and QuietSea just sounds great no matter what I throw at it, plus I’m not overly worried about being too careful with them.

My other answer would be Neo 5. Amazing IEM for under 300 bucks. Can’t wait for Quattro.

 

[Vonbuddy]

What would you guys say is your best value IEM of the year? My vote would go to Butastur(drama not withstanding). But I do have an OD200 on the way. It was easy to YOLO on looking like such a complete package and with 10% off.

Getting the Juzear 41t for $100 was my personal best value.

 

[Vonbuddy]

I'm really enjoying OD200 also, and now have the EA1000 on the way - looking forward to hearing them.

The TIMSOK TS-316 landed on Wednesday and loving them, actually getting more of my time at the moment than the Kinera Loki which also arrived this week!

Very impressive set that definitely leans more towards musicality than technical prowess or analytical. Plenty of bass, sub digs nice and deep and a decent level of mid bass kick... mids have a smooth warmth to them, with excellent clarity and detail - ever so slightly pushed back or at least level, definitely not prominent. Treble extends reasonably well, but again not a focus area... stage isn't massive, but an excellent stereo field and easy to pinpoint instruments with great imaging and layering, albeit again less of a focus: this set for me is all about kicking back and enjoying the music... very addictive tuning - seductive, relaxing and yet highly engaging.

The cable is a bit of a pain in the behind though - stiff and unwieldly, so much that it kept pulling the IEM out of my right ear in particular! Needless to say I've switched to another from my collection.

Early days, but loving these so far and I've tested quite a few genres now.



Edit - and here is a shot of my new Loki along with the Vortex Alida cable.




Reviews upcoming for both over the coming weeks... looking forward to time with them over Christmas!

Needed this Timsok review, So few reviews. How would you rate value and what iem might be a replication of the Timsok?

 

[newworld666]

What would you guys say is your best value IEM of the year? My vote would go to Butastur(drama not withstanding). But I do have an OD200 on the way. It was easy to YOLO on looking like such a complete package and with 10% off.

I can Imagine probably one between the ultra tiny and ultra cheap DD QuiteSea 40€, a solid Kiwi Ears Melody (as a little 12mm planar) 80€ or the rather impressive Quintet as a tiny hybrid, but a bit more expansive at 250€.

 

[Scubadevils]

Needed this Timsok review, So few reviews. How would you rate value and what iem might be a replication of the Timsok?

The value bit is always tricky - especially with a single DD as diminishing returns very evident considering the quality available for a lot less. I prefer them to say the OD200, definitely a good step up, but whether they justify over twice the price is hard to call at this point.

I would immediately rate these above say the IE600 for example when taking a set at a similar price... while I found IE600 very good, they just didn't engage me the way these and many others do... I'm a big fan of the IE900, and was curious to hear the IE600 as a result, but sold them fairly quickly. This of course a very personal preference as I know the IE600 are loved by many, and I've read quite a few prefer vs IE900. They remind me a bit actually of the Xelento 2 with a step down in terms of imaging in particular, X2 is really excellent in that regard - but a similar very engaging signature.

A key indication for me with any new set is how often I choose to listen in the first week or so, especially when there has been other new arrivals. I keep reaching for TS-316, and Loki not getting much of my time! That being a $500 DD vs a $3,100 multi driver set... not saying it's better, but I keep getting drawn back to it - I'll have to hide it away and focus on Loki over the weekend

 

[theintention]

Packing for vacation and so far the only roadblock is, which 2 to bring… I thought it was an easy answer but I put in the S12 (with Corier Brass tips and DragonScale cable) this morning with Sufjan Steven’s new album and it’s just heavenly.

 

[XERO1]

The TIMSOK TS-316 landed on Wednesday and loving them, actually getting more of my time at the moment than the Kinera Loki which also arrived this week!

Very impressive set that definitely leans more towards musicality than technical prowess or analytical. Plenty of bass, sub digs nice and deep and a decent level of mid bass kick... mids have a smooth warmth to them, with excellent clarity and detail - ever so slightly pushed back or at least level, definitely not prominent. Treble extends reasonably well, but again not a focus area... stage isn't massive, but an excellent stereo field and easy to pinpoint instruments with great imaging and layering, albeit again less of a focus: this set for me is all about kicking back and enjoying the music... very addictive tuning - seductive, relaxing and yet highly engaging.

Early days, but loving these so far and I've tested quite a few genres now.

A key indication for me with any new set is how often I choose to listen in the first week or so, especially when there has been other new arrivals. I keep reaching for TS-316, and Loki not getting much of my time! That being a $500 DD vs a $3,100 multi driver set... not saying it's better, but I keep getting drawn back to it - I'll have to hide it away and focus on Loki over the weekend

I absolutely agree with you about the TS-316. I fell in love with its sound at CanJam SoCal, and it's currently the best sounding IEM I've heard that's $500 or less.

 

[Erkil]

Kinera Plutus Beast.

This is an exotic setup, featuring 1 x bone conduction driver, 1 x BA and 1 square planar driver.




8 kHz is a coupler peak. Listening impressions soon.

Is the bc driver for the highs, or is the set a little darker up there?

 

[nikbr]

Still $15.99.........................https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tanchjim-zero.26020/reviews#review-29157

Zero is great, and ONE too. Love it.

 

[SweetCans928]

Spent some time tonight digging through the graveyard wooden box, and I pulled out my KEF M100 and KEF M200.

Warm, lush mids, and bassy. These are opposite of my preference, but I still get enjoyment out of listening to these. I don't own any Penon IEM's, but I imagine these are near what they might sound like? Treble extension is there, and it's got some decent air, but it's not emphasized. It might even be called "tame". wide soundstage. Now interestingly enough, I got more details and picked up more instrument separation from the single dynamic M100 than I did the dual dynamic M200. What the DDD did provide was more bass slam, and a wider, more 3D picture than the M100, though tbh, the M100 is more in line with my preferential listen.

I pulled out the Tri Star River's afterwards. Silver, gold, and copper upgrade cable, with switches on full bass. Not as bad as what people have made them out to be, despite the missing mid bass (I find them to be very similar in tonality to the Salnotes Zero 1), but these are DDD like the M200, and the Zero is just a single DD. No excuse to me missing the mid bass punch. Totally opposite tuning experience to the M200, which is rich with mid bass, with no shoutiness in the highs, whereas the Star River can present some spikes in the treble, but it's not too bad as far as I'm concerned. Then I pulled out the Kiwi Ears Quartet. Hmmm. 1 hour of hip hop, and you know what? Not a bad listen. Bass bass bass, with little in terms of extension on the top end and detail retrieval. Swing them to classic rock tracks like Pink Floyd, Rush, April Wine, or Van Halen? Garbage. Metal? Didn't last 3 tracks in my ears before they had to go. #1 waste of money IEM for 2023. I'm switching over to the EW200. Now there's VALUE!

M200 was such a neat IEM. A lot of IEM makers at the time seemed like they were struggling to come up with ways for their IEMs to be comfortable and stay in place despite the increasingly complex driver configurations. Who coulda guessed just making your IEMs more ergonomic could be so much more effective than ear hook tusk things? lol. I didn't even need the ear thingymabobs for the M200, you could just wear them with the cable over-the-ear and they stayed in place fine. But then the ear hooks were on both sides of your cheeks like tusks! Or little boom mics. Some people just cut them off.

I hope KEF gets back into the IEM game at some point.

 

[nikbr]

I'm really enjoying OD200 also, and now have the EA1000 on the way - looking forward to hearing them.

The TIMSOK TS-316 landed on Wednesday and loving them, actually getting more of my time at the moment than the Kinera Loki which also arrived this week!

Very impressive set that definitely leans more towards musicality than technical prowess or analytical. Plenty of bass, sub digs nice and deep and a decent level of mid bass kick... mids have a smooth warmth to them, with excellent clarity and detail - ever so slightly pushed back or at least level, definitely not prominent. Treble extends reasonably well, but again not a focus area... stage isn't massive, but an excellent stereo field and easy to pinpoint instruments with great imaging and layering, albeit again less of a focus: this set for me is all about kicking back and enjoying the music... very addictive tuning - seductive, relaxing and yet highly engaging.

The cable is a bit of a pain in the behind though - stiff and unwieldly, so much that it kept pulling the IEM out of my right ear in particular! Needless to say I've switched to another from my collection.

Early days, but loving these so far and I've tested quite a few genres now.



Edit - and here is a shot of my new Loki along with the Vortex Alida cable.




Reviews upcoming for both over the coming weeks... looking forward to time with them over Christmas!

Two gorgeous sets. As weird as it sounds, it goes without saying that our eyes do at least some of the listening too and these two have that aspect covered.

 

[cobrabucket]

The Quattro continues to impress me.
Definitely on my list of top Discoveries of 2023...

Good synergy with the Tri Wolfram silver cable.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Getting the Juzear 41t for $100 was my personal best value.

Seconded. The 41t is a crazy value.