[552609]

I personally don’t think any of the FiR’s need much power at all. It’s a trait I love above them, they scale down very well and sound great even from something like an iPhone dongle. The Maestro SE on the other hand? That sucker needs some good juice, it’s annoying.

Well, compared to the Trifecta, it's quite a bit. I had to give mine some juice to sound their best on medium gain on the RS8.

 

[Bret Halford]

I personally don’t think any of the FiR’s need much power at all. It’s a trait I love above them, they scale down very well and sound great even from something like an iPhone dongle. The Maestro SE on the other hand? That sucker needs some good juice, it’s annoying.

I agree with this, although I'd say I far prefer a relatively insensitive IEM just like the Maestros.

Unfortunately, even DAPs these days seem to have too much power for most IEMs. Even on low gain, I hear a good amount of power hiss with Rn6's and similar.

I really wish there was a mobile player that could match the RME2's IEM output. That thing is inky black even on ultra sensitive double digit BA units.

 

[blotmouse]

FiR's are strange to me power wise. They are very sensitive and don't need much mW at all to get loud-ish.
But if you pump up the amp quality, you most definitely hear the benefits, and muscularity takes hold.

Kr5 is my most sensitive iem currently but I also give them the most juice on all my daps. They will be loud at 17-19 on the dial but if you crank it to 28, it isn't that much louder, but your image is entirely more fleshed out. What's that called, driving threshold?

 

[552609]

FiR tends to make their stuff fairly driveable in most modern day stuff. It might be more of a loudness as opposed to power in that case.

Most modern iems hit about 30-35 on high gain on the walkman series. I personally like low gain because it gives me more incremental adjustments in volume.


100% that with FiR.

I mean turning up the volume increases the power output (voltage).

 

[aaf evo]

I agree with this, although I'd say I far prefer a relatively insensitive IEM just like the Maestros.

Unfortunately, even DAPs these days seem to have too much power for most IEMs. Even on low gain, I hear a good amount of power hiss with Rn6's and similar.

I really wish there was a mobile player that could match the RME2's IEM output. That thing is only black even on ultra sensitive double digit BA units.

Indeed, I think the middle is somewhat where I am. I dislike IEMs like Phonix that are way too sensitive but I’d also appreciate something that’s more source friendly unlike the Maestro SE. I’ve put these things through several DAPs and even the Q7 from FiiO which is a powerful DAC/AMP and you can notice very easily when they’re feeling “hungry”, the bass comes off as a little limp and pillowy.

 

[stacey]

wow...XE6 dominance shows that product with unique offering has a market.
XE6 does everything that an experienced audiophile hates but has maintained its position at top.

Considering how much of the top list is dominated by warm, bass heavy IEMs, I'd imagine that most people want the bass. Most of the top ten, save for the Traillii have heightened bass regions.

I mean turning up the volume increases the power output (voltage).

How loud do you listen to your IEMs for power to be an issue?

 

[552609]

Considering how much of the top list is dominated by warm, bass heavy IEMs, I'd imagine that most people want the bass. Most of the top ten, save for the Traillii have heightened bass regions.


How loud do you listen to your IEMs for power to be an issue?

Or, most of the people in this thread lean towards Western preferences. That doesn't mean that "most people do" just this small sample size.

 

[maegnificant]

FiR's are strange to me power wise. They are very sensitive and don't need much mW at all to get loud-ish.
But if you pump up the amp quality, you most definitely hear the benefits, and muscularity takes hold.

Kr5 is my most sensitive iem currently but I also give them the most juice on all my daps. They will be loud at 17-19 on the dial but if you crank it to 28, it isn't that much louder, but your image is entirely more fleshed out. What's that called, driving threshold?

Could that be related to the tuning and the bass drivers maybe?

 

[552609]

Could that be related to the tuning and the bass drivers maybe?

All electronics operate at an optimal level of power, IEMs are no different. Dont give them enough power? They won't work, or will work weakly - like an R/C car that's low on battery. Give them too much power and They'll short or go boom!

 

[blotmouse]

Could that be related to the tuning and the bass drivers maybe?

Could be the tuning, very doubtful it's the drivers. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibilities that an IEM is both sensitive and designed to be run hard though.
There are a lot of audio products designed to be driven to an appreciatively loud minimum (or temp) before all their majesty is unlocked.
That being said, running them off an RU6 dongle did not show the same improvement with increased volume (same image, just louder). It's probably a combo of beefier amp sections + the design's ability to power soak and level up.

 

[Ike1985]

Seriously, what happened to the jewel? Pretty impressive that the top two FiRs are in the top 5, but the slightly less expensive models are much lower down.

1. It's very expensive
2. It doesn't have jaw rattling bass which seems to be the current trend, it's not BCD
3. Perhaps Jewel owners are content and off the forums as many think they've hit endgame, I'm certainly very content, just want Hugo3(hurry up Chord) and a cable upgrade.
4. Hassle of dealing with non-english speakers if you don't go through Andrew @ Musicteck, hassle of dealing with customs if you have to send it back etc.

You could add the recent CS issues but I think that's TOO recent to have affected this list.

 

[firesign]

I agree with this, although I'd say I far prefer a relatively insensitive IEM just like the Maestros.

Unfortunately, even DAPs these days seem to have too much power for most IEMs. Even on low gain, I hear a good amount of power hiss with Rn6's and similar.

I really wish there was a mobile player that could match the RME2's IEM output. That thing is inky black even on ultra sensitive double digit BA units.

I think the RME would be the only source I would be able to recognize most of the time in a blind test.
It's amazing what you get with most IEMs (and headphones), and no DAP or DAC I've tried comes close.

 

[Stu Paddasso]

This is all we have so far: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/shanling-m9-plus-flagship-android-player.967669/ I will have one set aside for me from Musicteck for a review upon release. So we'll have more as it gets closer.

Looking forward to that review!!!!!

 

[fiascogarcia]

I officially retract any thought I may have had or comments I may have made regarding owning too many iems. My name is Joaquin, and I am an audioholic.

 

[Garney]

1. It's very expensive
2. It doesn't have jaw rattling bass which seems to be the current trend, it's not BCD
3. Perhaps Jewel owners are content and off the forums as many think they've hit endgame, I'm certainly very content, just want Hugo3(hurry up Chord) and a cable upgrade.
4. Hassle of dealing with non-english speakers if you don't go through Andrew @ Musicteck, hassle of dealing with customs if you have to send it back etc.

You could add the recent CS issues but I think that's TOO recent to have affected this list.

It is interesting, and impressive, to see how Traillii has consistently been in the top 4 since @Rockwell75 started tracking these community polls. It's more expensive than the Jewel, doesn't have basshead tuning nor a BCD (not even a DD!) and is produced by a brand that's based in Japan. Coming up on 3 years old now, too, which is ancient in this hobby (I know, @gLer... IER-Z1R has been around longer )