[ceeloChamp]

Hey All,

I know the earbud market is growing, but I know nothing about it. It is also really hard to find good information on this website about them. Does anyone have the skinny on TOTL earbuds? I’d love to put a toe into the earbud community, if that is even a thing, but I don’t want cheap, horrible sounding earbuds.

Venture electronics seemed like a promising company.

 

[ksolis01]

The most talked about earbuds that it seems that everybody likes is Campfire's Andromeda and Noble's Kaiser Encore (which is an updated revision of Kaiser 10, also good). Each is the flagship of that specific company, and consistently receive high marks from any review you can find on them. I would recommend you start there if you just want to dive into TOTL earbuds with the least likely chance to disappoint. I would also recommend you post your preferences for sound, as each earbud caters to different taste.

 

[ceeloChamp]

Those are IEMs not earbuds . I am well and deep into IEMs.

 

[m17xr2b]

Tried to find this out myself, but nothing came up sadly. I think they are too limiting without a good seal so no one build TOTL ones.

 

[Danneq]

Late reply but in the last few years the earbud market has expanded and now there are some great TOTL earbuds sold.

Some examples are

Analytical sound signature:
Rose Mojito (quite bright an detailed with a wide and deep soundstage) - around $260
Moondrop Liebesleid (analytical sound with great clarity but less bright treble than Mojito) - around $280-300

Leaning toward a neutral sound signature
Simphonio Dragon 2+ (neutral sound with extended treble and a deep and wide soundstage) - around $320
Blox TM9 (neutralish sound with open back headphone type soundstage) - $279 including shipping from maker
Cypherus ZoomFred (neutral and almost analogue type sound with great sub bass for earbuds and a deep and wide soundstage) - $249 excluding shipping from maker

All of these are low impedance earbuds. There are high impedance TOTL earbuds as well but I am not familiar with them. I have heard all of the ones I list except for Blox TM9 and Simphonio Dragon 2+ but both of those are on the way to me.

Cypherus is a small Indonesian maker who is among my favorites and there is a TOTL earbud called Cypherus Red Dragon which is custom made and tuned according to the buyer's wishes. Herry of Cypherus told me that one customer wanted his Red Dragon tuned like Audeze LCD 3 and another wanted his pair tuned like Focal Elear. Red Dragon starts from $600. I actually own the first pair made. The original owner bought them for over $700 and I got them second hand for a little over $600. They are exquisite and sublime and can compete with high end headphones. The cable is quite thick though so they are not very good for portable use.

Audio Technica is returning to the TOTL earbud game with CM2000TI which will cost around $480 (¥53 000) and feature MMCX cables.

Different Chinese makers are coming out with newer TOTL earbuds all the time. Check out the Earbud round-up thread for discussions on earbuds.