[jwilliamhurst]

May i ask what genres you listen to?

I listen to a lot of Trio jazz and atmospheric jazz, classical, acoustic, singer songwriter, and I do like some metal and some rock music. I love experimental electronic as well. A mixed bag for sure.

 

[ljnew]

I listen to a lot of Trio jazz and atmospheric jazz, classical, acoustic, singer songwriter, and I do like some metal and some rock music. I love experimental electronic as well. A mixed bag for sure.

Sounds like you might like 64 U18s. You heard that one?

 

[Tristy]

Here’s my first kilobuck IEM, bought in 2017.

Same here! Fond memories of those silver little beauties. Had the SE846 before that though but was not as expensive.

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Sounds like you might like 64 U18s. You heard that one?

I have not heard it but read plenty of reviews for it.

 

[Andricop]

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

Earsonics EM-3 Pro CIEM back in 2010 ... and still being produced! https://www.earsonics.com/in-ear-monitors/en/em3-pro/

 

[SilverLodestar]

Now there’s a thought.

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

For me it was the OG Solaris.

Andromeda/S and qdc Anole VX for me. I used to buy every flavor-of-the-month budget IEM until I realized how much money I was wasting on IEMs I didn’t even like much.

 

[dmphile]

I'm loving the dorado 2020, just a great set

Agree! Still has a special place in my heart.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

It was the FitEar 334 for me.

The new model or older?
I’m tempted by this one

 

[morserotonin]

Now there’s a thought.

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

For me it was the OG Solaris.

Shure SE846 in 2014. I used to spend hours with that played back with my Pono Player and the Woo Audio WA7. I took a break from purchasing for a long time with the addition of the Audeze LCD-X, Focal Elear, Mr Speakers Ether C, and the RME ADI-2. I came back to purchasing stuff when the tech took a leap forward with the re;lease of the Raal Requisite SR1a and the new breed of Tribrid and EST based IEM's. I will probably build out a couple of great playback chains and disappear again lol

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

I got into the hobby in 2015, which means the Andromeda loomed large as the IEMs to hear while I was first reading the forums. What's impressive is that when I finally got to hear them for the first time, at CanJam NY in 2019, they didn't disappoint in the least. The same couldn't be said for the Solaris but only because I didn't find a decent tip pairing when demoing them.

The Odin was the first pair to show me how technically accomplished IEMs can be, although the tuning wasn't quite for me. The Traillii and, to a lesser extent, the Phönix, showed me this year how well technical excellence can be combined with lovely tuning. (For what little it's worth, I found the U12t to be a nicely engaging, musical pair of IEMs, arguably no less so than the Solaris OG, although not as much as something like the Isa. Using the organic, warm sounding Sony ZX2 probably explains this, in part).

---

Back to the discussion of the popularity and appeal of IEMs, especially those that seem to have a wider appeal: something I've thought about is the question of longevity. I'm coming more from the headphone side of things, and there the pace of innovation is slower than with IEMs (I guess it's harder for headphone manufacturers to bring new products to market given that there aren't off-the-shelf drivers like the Knowles or Sonion BAs). Perhaps a corollary to the slower pace of new releases in the headphone space explains why some headphones have such long-lasting appeal, in comparison with IEMs. Take the latest rankings @Rockwell75 compiled from his best-12 survey:

IEMs

1) Oriolus Traillii x18
2) 64 audio a/u12t x16
3) VE EXT x14
4) VE Phönix x14
5) EE Evo x13
6) FiR XE6 x13
7) Aroma Jewel x12
8) Sony IER-Z1R x12
9) EE Odin x9
10) Sennheiser IE900 x9

Of these, only the a/u12t, the Sony, and the Odin have been on the market for more than, what, two or three years? Or, viewed from another angle, the EXT, Phönix, Evo, XE6 Jewel, and IE 900 are all pretty recent.

Compare this with headphones:

Full Size

1. Hifiman Susvara x7
2. Abyss 1266 Phi TC x6
3. Focal Utopia x5
4. DCA Stealth x3
5. Sennheiser HD800 x4
6. Stax SR-X9000 x3
7. T+A Solitaire x3
8. ZMF Atrium x3
9. Audeze LCD-4 x2
10. HEDDphone x2
11. Verite C x2

Of these, the Stealth, SR-X9000, T+A Solitaire, Atrium and HEDDphone are pretty new, i.e. last 2-3 years. I guess the Vérité Closed is just over 3 years old.

The Susvara is 5 years old; the Utopia 6 years old; the LCD-4, 7; the Abyss, in various iterations is ca. 9 years old (I suppose driver revisions could arguably make subsequent revisions "new headphones"), and the HD 800 is more than a dozen years old.

I'm not sure what lessons we can draw from this. I suspect part of it is that, as others have noted, we're in a golden age of IEMs. Imagine how the Timeless 7Hz and the Zen Pro would have been greeted back in, say, 2015 or 2017!

It's also interesting to ponder which older IEMs can still be considered competitive today in their respective price points. I'd say the Solaris is, the Andro possibly. The Shure 846? Not sure. It's also interesting to wonder which of today's IEMs will be remembered in 5-10 years' time. I'm counting on the Traillii being forgotten in a few years' time, at which point I'll snag a pair for a nice price! (I say that as someone who finally got a Solaris last fall).

 

[Doug2507]

Now there’s a thought.

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

For me it was the OG Solaris.

SE846 then funnily enough it was your pair of Anole VX that bumped me into the kilobucks! IIRC, VX came to me and you got the newer Solaris with the fancy shells...?

 

[Whazzzup]

My first iem, shure 846. Then got my first 8 braid ribbon cable from moon audio, it looked like a fat fruit loop band. sounded much better than the crap stock cable. but 846 was cool but veiled, i stuck with blue filters but there was white and black filters, folks would go bear back, no filter. well i had enough of that. the fat fruit loop cable of course was destined to fail at the connectors, so went noble encore when it launched. been my iem since, gave my wife my shures. discovered DHC cables that hurt the wallet but sq is fantastic

 

[mico1964]

Now there’s a thought.

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

For me it was the OG Solaris.

First the Shure SE 846 and the AKG K3003 in November 2015, then the Solaris OG for me too, in February 2019.

 

[MatW]

Now there’s a thought.

Survey: What deflowered you into the TOTL realm?

For me it was the OG Solaris.

My very first IEM was the Fiio FH7. Loved it. Then came the U12T, which I sold to get the Nio. Completely enamored with its DD bass. Now I have U12T again. Tempted to give the FH7 another shot too, for old times sake.

 

[Lumithium]

Shure SE846 here as well.

Pretty funny seeing how TOTL back then was $1k. And now it's the cheapest IEM I have in my collection by quite a long shot.