Hi, all. Looking at getting back into IEMs. New job - new commute. 40 mins on the bus. Hoping the water cooler could offer some advice.
Firstly, fit. Apparently I have small ear canals and typically use size S tips; for reference, U12Ts fit me well enough (whereas the moondrop blessing 2 were simply too wide). I also felt bass would be good for a few minutes, then the bass would soften as - I’m guessing here - the tips loosened up and out of my ear canals while on public transit. Ugh - how do y’all do it. Over ears just go on and done. Bam.
Next, sound. Based on my experience, I’d love something with the technicality of a Utopia; bass, note weight, and feel/punchiness of a closed back dynamic headphone, and timbre of a Caldera.
Next. I’m looking for TOTL, high technicality and detail retrieval. Give me all of the details. I want to hear it all! But it needs cohesion. That’s where the timbre comes into play, right? Had to sound musical!!
… and application. With these IEMs I’ll almost exclusively be listening to modern recordings. Metal, hip-hop, and EDM. No female-centric vocal genres, jazz, classical, or yacht rock - not on my commute. lol.
Budget is $4,000, max. New or used. Will be running off of a DX320 Max. a d amped with a PB5…
if needed.
I’ve tried the Sennheiser IE600 and IE900s. Good. But not great. Just average to my ears. They simply don’t measure up to the overall sound and resultant feeling from Focal or ZMFs. Only other IEM I’ve owned were the U12Ts - loved the technicality, sounded good.. but eventually sold to invest in TOTL over ears; curious what the next grade up is from the U12T, honestly.
Thanks!