[szore]

What is the best iem for electronic and house music under $500? Same question for most alternative/rock/r&b/blues.

I liked the ISN EST50, very under rated.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Finally bought something again after a six months gap, Falcon Ultra and EA1000 on the way.

DD fan like me your also going to have to pick up the Wind!

 

[kaeswiss]

Is there a point of using a dap if I have dongles? Genuine question because I just use my phone listening to lossless music with a dongle

Edit: if anyone wants to chime feel free to do it I'm all for it lol

Put the sonic quality aside, to me, the most annoying aspect of dongle is just how tangly and inconvenient the set up is when you put the whole thing in your pocket. Losing connection due to slight wiggle at the connector, hard to adjust volume, no physical playback button, etc.

My setup today. Easy to slip in a pocket, easy to control, and sound decent. It’s no DX300, but when good music starts, I would stop nitpicking.

Same here. My biggest annoyance with dongles is the dongle-aspect itself. It just doesn't feel good having another piece of hardware dangling between your phone and IEMs when you're on the go. I like the feel of DAPs since you plug into it directly and they can offer better sound with a jump in cost, but they're also held back by the software. If it's running Android, it's typically an older version that'll be end of life in a couple years and it's running on even older/slower mobile CPU platform.

Since I already upgrade my phone every 1-2 years to the newest flagship, my happy medium is a bluetooth-connected dac/amp. This way, I don't have to deal with a dongle and my phone software will always be up to date running on newer hardware.

 

[thaslaya]

Same here. My biggest annoyance with dongles is the dongle-aspect itself. It just doesn't feel good having another piece of hardware dangling between your phone and IEMs when you're on the go. I like the feel of DAPs since you plug into it directly and they can offer better sound with a jump in cost, but they're also held back by the software. If it's running Android, it's typically an older version that'll be end of life in a couple years and it's running on even older/slower mobile CPU platform.

Since I already upgrade my phone every 1-2 years to the newest flagship, my happy medium is a bluetooth-connected dac/amp. This way, I don't have to deal with a dongle and my phone software will always be up to date running on newer hardware.

I agree that BT dac/amps are just way too convenient. Had the ifi go blu and it was excellent. Lately though I've been using an LG v30 as a dedicated mobile player and looking to pair it with a dongle amp.

 

[FlacFan]

Holy wowz. How has it taken someone this long to release a phone sized DAP. This might finally be the one

Hmm.
I have the Shanling M6 Ultra and the Hiby R6 III and both are smaller than my Samsung S10e

Cheers

 

[FlacFan]

...

One thing to keep in mind that all Android DAP would eventually be outdated and cannot run streaming apps anymore. In fact, some older A&K already fail to run Apple Music. I had to pass a sweet A&K deal because of this problem.

There is an option though.
Uninstall the offending app and install an older version via apk, then make sure that auto update is disabled for that app.
Should work well enough until the li-ion battery is toast.

Cheers

 

[metafour]

I was serious a/b comparison E20 wins tonality wise Chopin was plasticy E20 had cleaner mids and better bass

Very interesting! How does it compare to the Simgot EM6L? I realize that the tuning is different, but do you think the EM6L is worth ~twice the price? I still have a $60 Linsoul LEC to use and can't decide on what to go with.

 

[r31ya]

for people who are tempted by $30 planar, KZ PR3
KZ finally say a thing of two about the differences between PR2 and PR3

It seems essentially,
- they avoid the production issue with damper application and uses electronic filter instead
- they uses easier to drive Planar driver compared to the infamous PR2, either brand new or its revamped PR1 Pro driver i do not now.
- they also focuses on giving more resolution, which may be the cause of the retune. lower bass, more treble and air section.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Very interesting! How does it compare to the Simgot EM6L? I realize that the tuning is different, but do you think the EM6L is worth ~twice the price? I still have a $60 Linsoul LEC to use and can't decide on what to go with.

The EM6L is a much more rounded IEM that will play all genres well , the E20 bieng Harmanish to the core probably Rap, hip hop , regge but not great from classical or rock as much.

 

[Vonbuddy]

 

[Surf Monkey]

ARTTI R1 in hand. The build on these is very good. The cable is okay too. Not great but not “replace immediately” bad.

Sound wise these are DD sounding for sure. I don’t have much time on them yet but I’m listening to deadmau5 and they have a very satisfying thump to them and an overall smooth profile that’s nice. Excellent tone / timbre too.

I’ll need more time with them but my OOTB impression is a lot more favorable than expected.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Kiwi ears Melody first impressions
An example of music they do super well.


So still burning-in the Kiwi ears Melody arrives as a 12mm pure Planar Driver. Stage, separation and imaging are nice…..it has that special Planar bass where it offers texture and detail far exceeding the price-point. Bass it’s firm, somewhat deep, detailed and delineated from the mix. Also Kiwi ears, while not offering the world inside their included packaging, is spending the money to hire world class IEM tuners, which is more important in my book. And while there is a tinge of off timbre, it is not deal breaking, though let’s see how burn-in goes? If you’re strictly into electronic music, really you can’t go wrong with this style of purchase, except the bass is not all that plentiful, as these are in no way bass monsters. So? It’s more about fast transients and imaging into the mix?

What you have here is great bass detail as oppose to massive bass quantity, and I’m OK with that. Switching from my mid-centric Sony 1A to the bass laden and round darker toned Sony WM1Z is really what these ask for. Even switching back from cable rolling and sticking with the included 3.5mm is some nice quality, though they truly are on the harder level of drivability? You can almost max out the volume on high gain with the Sony DAPs, due to lower DAP power output.

Doom Eternal (game) OST
Phobos Space
Mick Gordon and Chad Mossholder
Phobos Space
48 kHz - 24 bit

Really responding well to the warmer V shape Sony WM1Z response. The bass it totally delineated and clean yet powerful. Probably the best part here is the separation, that and how everything falls into the mix. You know how Planar IEMs are only a single driver so there is that cohesiveness. Somehow………..really any thoughts of timbre (planar timbre) seem to be a thing of the past, especially with the music we have here? Just big fun washes of air effects, fast 03:17 (actual OST not YouTube) distorted big washes of synth overload…..perfectly separated and replayed here! Though there is also an intenseness about them, where in no way are they laid-back?

 

[DynamicEars]

for people who are tempted by $30 planar, KZ PR3
KZ finally say a thing of two about the differences between PR2 and PR3




It seems essentially,
- they avoid the production issue with damper application and uses electronic filter instead
- they uses easier to drive Planar driver compared to the infamous PR2, either brand new or its revamped PR1 Pro driver i do not now.
- the also focuses on giving more resolution, which may be the cause of the retune. lower bass, more treble and air section.

Well they said that with Krila last time, using electronic filter (or zobel circuit) instead of physical dampening, but in the end when I mod them, the nylon filter still there as damping and pretty much blocked the airflow.
And the shouty pinna gain over and over affected by Harman is tiring. we need Classy Hifi target with +8db pinna gain instead of 700+ (common people, not audiophile) that result in shouty harman target with that over 10db pinna gain.

 

[Kyonnie]

Kiwi ears Melody first impressions
An example of music they do super well.


So still burning-in the Kiwi ears Melody arrives as a 12mm pure Planar Driver. Stage, separation and imaging are nice…..it has that special Planar bass where it offers texture and detail far exceeding the price-point. Bass it firm, somewhat deep, detailed and delineated from the mix. Also Kiwi ears, while not offering the world inside their included packaging, is spending the money to hire world class IEM tuners, which is more important in my book. And while there is a tinge of off timbre, it is not deal breaking, though let’s see how burn-in goes? If you’re strictly into electronic music, really you can’t go wrong with this style of purchase, except the bass is not all that plentiful, as these are in no way bass monsters. So? It’s more about fast transients and imaging into the mix?

What you have here is great bass detail as oppose to massive bass quantity, and I’m OK with that. Switching from my mid-centric Sony 1A to the bass laden and round darker toned Sony WM1Z is really what these ask for. Even switching back from cable rolling and sticking with the included 3.5mm is some nice quality, though they truly are on the harder level of drivability? You can almost max out the volume on high gain with the Sony DAPs, due to lower DAP power output.

Doom Eternal (game) OST
Phobos Space
Mick Gordon and Chad Mossholder
Phobos Space
48 kHz - 24 bit

Really responding well to the warmer V shape Sony 1A response. The bass it totally delineated and clean yet powerful. Probably the beat part here is the separation, that and how everything falls into the mix. You know how Planar IEMs are only a single driver so there is that cohesiveness. Somehow………..really any thoughts of timbre (planar timbre) seem to be a thing of the past, especially with the music we have here? Just big fun washes of air effects, fast 03:17 (actual OST not YouTube) distorted big washes of synth overload…..perfectly separated and replayed here!

If you have the S12 or Timeless how do they compare?

 

[Redcarmoose]

If you have the S12 or Timeless how do they compare?

You know I do have he S12, and yes, be happy to do a quick side-by-side comparison. Let me pull them out, I know right where those are sleeping.

Be back with comparisons.

I started a thread about them too.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kiwi-ears-melody-12mm-planar-universal-iem-thread.970554/