I think many excellent points have been said, but here's my Top 5 based on my experience:
1. DO NOT RELY ON "TOP 10 BEST IEMS/HEADPHONES OF 2023" LISTS
Whether on Youtube or Google or anywhere else, a lot of these TOP 10 lists that pops up easily are usually not the best place to start looking into the gear that you want. Yes, they may appear informative, but most of these lists are done by "reviewers" that spend most his/her time listening to TWS. Try to do more research, dig deeper, hopefully you will stumble onto a forum like Head-fi and get a better understanding of what you should be looking into and where you should go. (Especially in the Watercooler thread
)2. DEMO THE GEARS, STOP READING FR GRAPHS !!!
This is something that i truly can't understand, since I started my IEM journey from Jaben where I was taught to TRUST MY EARS. Many IEMs these days show FR graphs as an important tool for us to 'understand' how an IEM might sound like. Yes it's an important thing to be mindful of, but I trust the old way of demoing gears as much as I can and come to a conclusion whether it's for me or not, learn by listening not reading. Audio is Aural, meant to be heard and eventually felt, not read. Oh gosh, how many times have I encountered fools who came to an audio store and refuses to listen to a gear because the "fR gRapH dOeSn'T lOoK gOoD" man, I stopped myself from throwing a punch..
3. BIG NAME BRANDS DOES NOT ALWAYS MAKE A GOOD PRODUCT
Just because a brand is popular, doesn't mean that you're guaranteed a good product. Oh boy, where do i start... The first time I fell into this rabbit hole was when stupid innocent younger me was enamoured by 'Beats by Dre' advertising and how it looked cool and every artist wore one.. THANK GOD I accidentally got lost in the Adelphi Building back in 2011, got into a small headphone store called Jaben Network in Singapore, went inside and stupidly, proudly asked "Hey man, do you guys sell 'Beats By Dre' Headphones?"
the staff was nice enough not to laugh and proceeded to tell me "No we don't have that here, if you want that headphone you can try the Funan Mall next door, but by any chance do you mind trying better headphones than it?" "Whaa... there are better headphones than Beats? 
" "Give this a try *handed me a Beyer Dynamic DT 880 Pro*" and the rest is history. I thank Jaben for saving my dear life and ears that day, and to that staff who kindly humbled me, thanks man....4. AUDIO IS A JOURNEY NOT A DRIVE-THRU
Take your time exploring audio gears whether they are transducers, sources, cables, tips, pads, and what have you. Keep an open mind approach despite of what people say and savour different flavours of sound. Find your taste, your needs, your desires in this endless journey, go for it if you have the means, if you don't, then don't push yourself. Appreciate your gear and find a great synergy for it. Everyone has their own pace, their own rhythm in this audio journey.
5. DON'T TAKE THINGS TOO SERIOUSLY
Audio is an exclusively subjective hobby. So please don't take things seriously. Everyone has their own taste, their own music, their own needs, their own unique ear shape, and also their own financial stability. People may call things trash, hey, even your gear might be trash for them. But remember, trust your ears they are your best judge and because it's YOU who listens to YOUR music and YOU who enjoy YOUR gears mate, not other people, so never take things to the heart, it's not that serious. If you ever encounter such comments, just try to understand why they think so, but thats all, keep loving what you love. Remember, NOTHING should ever stop you from enjoying your music the way you like it, the way you hear it.
Bonus: Please refrain from listening at a high volume for an extended period of time. If you wanna stay in this utopia for a long time, your aural well-being always comes first.
KEEP AN OPEN MIND. TRUST AND BELIEVE IN YOUR EARS. ALWAYS.
love what you did to the Sony dap 
