[Acuno]

Edit 9/15/21:
The answer to this question is the Penon Legend. End of story.


Introduction:

Hey y’all, first time poster, long-time lurker. I’ve enjoyed reading the discussions on this site for years now and I’d like to ask for some help. I’ve been looking for an upgrade to my ER3XR’s for a little while now and have been unsuccessful. I don’t have a way to demo IEMs, and it’s getting tiresome and expensive to order and resell new IEMs to try out.

By listening to a variety of different IEMs over the past few months, I’ve narrowed down what sort of sound signature I’m looking for. I know my standards aren't too high, as I've heard qualities of what I'm looking for in multiple IEMs. If anyone is willing to take the time to help with some recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate it. I’ve tried my best to explain my preferences and observations below.

Target IEM: Neutral with a touch of warmth in mid-bass/lower mids. DD bass, but can be a hybrid. Budget is slightly flexible, preferably under ~750$.

My sound preferences:

• I value musicality over technicality
• Warm, rich, full > Bright, airy, thin, analytical
• Midrange >>>>>> mid-bass == treble > sub-bass
• I prefer mid-bass to be textured and just slightly boosted, as I believe it adds body and richness to the music I listen to
• Smoother, airy treble (not too forward/agressive)

Genres: Primarily prog metal and OSTs, with some rock / alternative / edm / jpop.

IEM deal-breakers:

• BA bass
• Thin or too recessed mids/vocals
• Shouty upper mids
• Any sibilance or peakiness

Gear I’ve owned and tried:

HD650: I’d like to preface my observations with the fact that I selected and fell in love with my music library while using these. They have been my primary headphones for over 5 years now. Therefore, I consider myself biased towards this type of sound. I love the midrange, the well-textured mid-bass, and the non-fatiguing sound signature. I can listen to any genre of music for 12+ hours a day and these make it sound great. I’ve been looking for an IEM that loosely replicates these, but I understand IEMs have their own limitations.

I run my IEMs off of an E1DA 9038D, I find it competent at driving all of them.

ER3XR: Daily driver IEM for a few years now. Overall pretty solid (GREAT mids!), it’s just that the boring BA bass and nonexistent soundstage make some music dull. Would be perfect for me if it had DD bass, a wider soundstage, and a just a touch more warmth.

Pros

• Excellent midrange
• Minimal listening fatigue
• No treble peakiness or sibilance
• Reasonable level of detail without being analytical

Cons

• Textureless, bland BA bass
• Soundstage rather narrow
• Could use a touch more mid-bass for my tastes

Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk: This taught me the important lesson of how subjective some people’s sound preferences are. I bought it due to the positive reviews, and found it to be nearly unlistenable. THIN midrange and mid-bass, fatiguing upper mids, peaky low treble. Sold it quickly.

Pros

• Tastefully boosted sub-bass worked well for some genres
• Coherent soundstage, imaging, and technicality

Cons

• Thin, dry mids and midbass (the most important ranges for me)
• Peaky treble (6k? 8k? Not sure.)
• Fatiguing after <1 hour

ER2SE: Bought these on-sale mostly to see what the Etymotic DD driver sounded like. Mids had a slightly better timbre than the ER3XR, but upper mids were shouty and fatiguing. This also ruled out the ER2XR for me, as it shares the same upper-midrange characteristics. Ended up selling it.

Final E2000: Read it shared some characteristics with HD650s and I jumped on it. Pretty fun IEM for the price. Enjoyable boosted DD mid-bass, a relaxed sound signature, and surprisingly wide soundstage. Too dark, recessed upper mids, and lacking detail (but again, 40$). Final Type-E Clears improved it quite a bit.

Pros

• Boosted, textured DD mid-bass
• Relaxed, smooth, and non-fatiguing
• Decent soundstage for an IEM at this price
• No treble peakiness (quite rolled off, though)

Cons

• Below-average technicality, chokes on complex passages
• Upper mids slightly too recessed (But female vocals still sound great). Sounds dark overall.
• Loose sub-bass
• Poor imaging. Can be weird at times.

Sony IER-M7: Sound signature looked promising, and people said the BA bass was decent. The bass texture was definitely better than my ER3XRs, but still a bit lacking. Would be very solid if it had DD characteristics. Definitely near my preferred sound signature. Relaxed warm-neutral. Something just isn't quite right about female vocals though.

Pros

• Solid soundstage and technicality
• Excellent imaging
• Non-fatiguing for the most part
• Pleasantly warm

Cons

• Upper mids just tad too recessed (female vocals sound unnatural)
• BA bass was alright, but still lacks DD texture. Kinda makes them boring.
• Mild sibilance with the “S” sound in female vocals (tried tip rolling to fix, no dice)

Oriolus Isabellae: Saw good feedback from the community, decided to try it out since it was a single DD IEM. Having never owned a brighter IEM before, I thought it would be interesting to try one. Unfortunately, it’s not my preferred sound signature. I feel like the treble presence competes against the mids too much. Will be selling it.

Pros

• Excellent bass response. Boosted, textured mid-bass, and present, but not overpowering sub-bass. This is exactly what I’m looking for in an IEM.
• Energetic, intimate female vocals
• Reasonable soundstage and imaging.

Cons

• Treble presence + slightly recessed mids cause midrange to sound too airy. I would not go as far as saying it’s thin, but it needs more “body” for my tastes
• Mild sibilance on “S” sounds (tip rolling couldn’t fix, but I'm sensitive)
• Detail retrieval could be better, considering its price bracket
• Struggles a bit with more complex passages

Update 8/9/2021:
Sony WF-1000XM3: Always wanted to try a TWS IEM, got these on sale for pretty cheap. Remind me of a less refined IER-M7 with a bit more sparkle up top, and DD characteristics. Worse technicalities, but able to EQ it to be close to my target (new Poweramp systemwide android EQ ftw). If you can get these for 60-80$ they're a steal. Prefer them to the IER-M7 in some regards. Work very well with Final E Clear/Red tips.

Pros

• Respond well to EQ, so easy to adjust to preferences.
• Imaging is above average.
• Not fatiguing. Treble has some sparkle but no peakiness.
• Single DD tonality (nice!). Midrange sounds great. Can get a bit weird with some EQ setups.
• All-rounder

Cons

• Bass is quantity with not a ton of quality. Pretty loose. More mid-bass than sub-bass (pro or con depending who you ask). Could use better mid-bass texture. That said, it doesn't encroach too much on the midrange.
• Default tuning lacks upper-mid energy and can be a bit muddy (fixed with EQ)
• Struggles on complex passages. Not very technical.

Update 8/13/2021:
Geek Wold GK10: Purchased this to see what everyone was talking about. Haven't purchased much in the low-fi range so I can't provide too much a value comparison. Mid-bass does not sound bloated like the graph could imply. I'd say the imaging and detail compare to IEMs ~2-3x in price. Tonally icky. Treble and midrange sound fizzy and not particularly natural.

Pros

• Pleasant, boosted DD mid-bass
• Better imaging and detail than the price would imply
• Decently wide soundstage

Cons

• Unnatural midrange tonality. On the airy side. (I'm exceptionally picky about my midranges.)
• Fizzy, sparkly, somewhat metallic treble
• Cheap build
• QC issues?

Penon Globe: See my writeup in the Penon Impressions Thread. Not there yet.

Update 8/24/2021:
Yanyin Aladdin: Cleaner, balanced signature. It's alright if that's what you're looking for. Sounds like how much it costs.
Pros

• Excellent upper mids
• Clean, balanced tonality
• Tasteful sub-bass

Cons

• Lacks enough warmth
• Strong BA timbre (metallic)
• Lower mid-fi IEM and it performs at that level

Overall IEM enjoyment: ER3XR >> WF-1000XM3 = IER-M7 >= Globe > E2000 > Isabellae >> B2 Dusk > GK10

I've been on this crusade through mid-fi for a while now. I always find it funny how I always come back to my Etymotics after all this time. They're not great performers when it comes to soundstage and raw technicality. But the midrange is so ****ing good. I don't understand all these IEM makers that are willing to completely brutalize their IEM midranges in some chase for "Harman" or "V-shaped" targets.


Ideal FR Target:

 

[silent-circuit]

Tanchjim makes good stuff, but I don't think you're going to get the sound you're looking for from them without a lot of tip swapping. The Oxygen is my favorite single DD IEM and it's very good, but it's 100% Harmon target and I don't think that's what you're looking for. Haven't heard the Hana.

My personal favorite over all is definitely the AAW x TCA Project 4+2. Very versatile with 3 tuning options (basically - bass light, balanced, or heavy). Great DD bass using AAW's isobaric tech from their high end stuff, BA mids using The Custom Art's FIBAE tech (same sound from different impedance sources), and AAW's NOVA nozzle-less BA for the highs. No sibilance, at least for me - to be fair we all hear differently.

I know it's on the upper end of your budget, but this thing is an amazing all-rounder, to the point that I regularly consider selling all my other IEMs because they get so little head time.

 

[Acuno]

Tanchjim makes good stuff, but I don't think you're going to get the sound you're looking for from them without a lot of tip swapping. The Oxygen is my favorite single DD IEM and it's very good, but it's 100% Harmon target and I don't think that's what you're looking for. Haven't heard the Hana.

Yeah my experience with the Dusk is that Harman IEMs tend to be a bit thinner in the midrange.

My personal favorite over all is definitely the AAW x TCA Project 4+2. Very versatile with 3 tuning options (basically - bass light, balanced, or heavy). Great DD bass using AAW's isobaric tech from their high end stuff, BA mids using The Custom Art's FIBAE tech (same sound from different impedance sources), and AAW's NOVA nozzle-less BA for the highs. No sibilance, at least for me - to be fair we all hear differently.

I know it's on the upper end of your budget, but this thing is an amazing all-rounder, to the point that I regularly consider selling all my other IEMs because they get so little head time.

Just from frequency responses, the bass on the AAW x TCA Project 4+2 looks solid. That said, I'm pretty sensitive to treble and it appears to be a tad peaky around 6K/8K. There's not a ton of information out there about the IEM so it would be difficult for me to drop that much on it with a blind purchase.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[silent-circuit]

I'm super treble sensitive and have zero issues with it, but I understand the hesitation.

 

[funnyjoke]

I have the JVC HA-FDX1 and I'd like to say that if you hate sibilance in IEMs then don't buy them. Also, they're not the most comfortable IEMs to wear but they're okay. I still enjoy them though!

 

[Acuno]

I have the JVC HA-FDX1 and I'd like to say that if you hate sibilance in IEMs then don't buy them. Also, they're not the most comfortable IEMs to wear but they're okay. I still enjoy them though!

Yeah that's what I was thinking, thanks for confirming it

 

[funnyjoke]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, thanks for confirming it

The vocals also feel recessed (to me at least) with the most damp filter (which most people use) just to let you know. The bass is great however and they vibrate in your ears with the music at times which feels kinda nice

 

[Jmop]

The ER2SE has a really nice midrange and near perfect bass if you're ok with flat, just missing that last bit of extension. Treble past 10k is a problem though.. The FDX1 measurements look really nice but since the mid curve peaks at 4k instead of 3k it's gonna sound off.

 

[Acuno]

The ER2SE has a really nice midrange and near perfect bass if you're ok with flat, just missing that last bit of extension. Treble past 10k is a problem though.. The FDX1 measurements look really nice but since the mid curve peaks at 4k instead of 3k it's gonna sound off.

Yeah I thought the ER2SE upper midrange was a tad shouty for my tastes, but the timbre was better than my ER3XRs. If I had liked it, I would have gone for the ER2XRs for sure.

 

[Jmop]

Yeah I thought the ER2SE upper midrange was a tad shouty for my tastes, but the timbre was better than my ER3XRs. If I had liked it, I would have gone for the ER2XRs for sure.

The only Etys I've heard were both the ER2s and the XR's bass was not to my liking, and judging by the measurements it wouldn't be. Bass creeps a bit into the mids and kinda sounds artificially boosted, which I think is why some people disliked the ER4XR.

 

[Acuno]

The only Etys I've heard were both the ER2s and the XR's bass was not to my liking, and judging by the measurements it wouldn't be. Bass creeps a bit into the mids and kinda sounds artificially boosted, which I think is why some people disliked the ER4XR.

I was able to EQ the ER2SE bass up a touch on my PC setup to be in-between the two models and it sounded pretty good, but I found it impossible to get parametric EQ for mobile devices

 

[Jmop]

I was able to EQ the ER2SE bass up a touch on my PC setup to be in-between the two models and it sounded pretty good, but I found it impossible to get parametric EQ for mobile devices

Yeah just a slight boost below 50hz should do it, I wouldn't aim to boost the bass above flat though. Not really a fan of EQ as it is.

I've recommended a few times the qdc Neptune which I only didn't keep due to fit issues. Really musical for a single BA with good texture and a bit of punch. Might be a bit brighter than what you're looking for but I find it pretty smooth and I'm sensitive to treble and sibilance. Soundstage is also notably spacious and with good depth.