[ravipuri]

• I've been with these for over three years, plugged into mobile phone or laptop during 2 hour work commutes.
• £81 1MORE Triple Driver
• The real kicker: not really sure what I am missing out on, 1MORE Triple Driver continues to deliver extraordinary sound, merely plugged into Nokia phone. I like to invest and hold on to equipment for long periods until something extraordinary comes along.
• That's why I am looking for something that
  • offers significant superior sound. New DAC or IEMs or both.
  • avoids going beyond diminishing returns threshold (I imagine quite low for 100% commuting usage)
  • prioritises : mids, pace, soundstage.
• Music: 60s, 70s & 80s, rock, pop, jazz, vocals.
  
• I've drawn up a dreamers list below.
• Anyone see a good long-term performance/value investment?

Next leap?
£219 Campfire Audio Comet
£299 Chord Mojo
£399 Flare Audio Flare Pro 2HD
£439 Final B3
£740 Shure SE846
£999 Meze Rai Penta
£1049 Campfire Audio Andromeda (2019 version)
Diminishing returns threshold starts here?
£1229 Campfire Audio Atlas
£1449 Campfire Audio Solaris
£1517 Sony IER-Z1R
£1622 Shure KSE1200SYS
£2300 Clear Tune Monitors DVS-U10 Da Vinci X
£2954 Shure KSE1500
£1195 Chord Qutest
£1799 Chord Hugo 2

 

[serman005]

So, you are listening to the Triple Driver straight out of the Nokia? Which Nokia? Also, what sort of budget are you looking at? In my opinion, there is no doubt that some sort of diminishing returns law exists in headphone audio currently. I'm pretty sure most of us agree on this. Still, though, as a practical matter, you have to decide how much you are ultimately willing to spend to pursue this maybe upgrade. Is an Andromeda a better IEM than the Triple Driver? Most would agree that it is. Is it 'worth' the massive price differential? That is a very subjective, highly individualized proposition. There are people who, say, place a premium on value, who may be much happier overall, taking everything into account, with the 1More because they believe they spent wisely and ultimately received very high performance versus price value for the modest investment. They feel good about the purchase. Others would clearly prefer the Andro, despite the price differential, because, in part, the overall listening experience is meaningfully, clearly, better and they are more than happy to pay for that performance advantage--irrespective of the diminishing returns situation. Listener values are very important here. And everyone is different. So, I would submit that one of the things you need to do is to decide where on this continuum of values you think you find yourself. How much do you really want to spend on this thing? Once yo know all that, then, you can get an appropriate game plan.

 

[harry501501]

I must admit, I particularly like your music tastes and can easily recommend the Moondrop KXXS as a cheaper upgrade to others (which to be clear I haven't heard) on your list. Fits your sound perfectly. Great very detailed mids, nice, clean and fast. Lovely accurate sound stage. Bass has impact and never bleeds into mids. Coming from teh 1More you'll be amazed at how much new information you're hearing in the same songs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07RHZ9W45/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should add, I rarely use my phone to listen to music but my DAP ran out of battery and had no choice and the sound was still excellent.

Consider a good entry model DAP from FIIO, Shanling, HIDIZS or others maybe?

 

[harry501501]

So, you are listening to the Triple Driver straight out of the Nokia? Which Nokia? Also, what sort of budget are you looking at? In my opinion, there is no doubt that some sort of diminishing returns law exists in headphone audio currently. I'm pretty sure most of us agree on this. Still, though, as a practical matter, you have to decide how much you are ultimately willing to spend to pursue this maybe upgrade. Is an Andromeda a better IEM than the Triple Driver? Most would agree that it is. Is it 'worth' the massive price differential? That is a very subjective, highly individualized proposition. There are people who, say, place a premium on value, who may be much happier overall, taking everything into account, with the 1More because they believe they spent wisely and ultimately received very high performance versus price value for the modest investment. They feel good about the purchase. Others would clearly prefer the Andro, despite the price differential, because, in part, the overall listening experience is meaningfully, clearly, better and they are more than happy to pay for that performance advantage--irrespective of the diminishing returns situation. Listener values are very important here. And everyone is different. So, I would submit that one of the things you need to do is to decide where on this continuum of values you think you find yourself. How much do you really want to spend on this thing? Once yo know all that, then, you can get an appropriate game plan.

Excellent advice.

 

[praxis22]

I am in a similar situation. I have the Triple Driver plugged into the phone, because they sound horribly compressed plugged into a USB DAC, (AQ Black, AQ Cobalt) I was listening too a pair of AudioTechnica cans at the weekend, 150 Euro Retail. I have some custom IEM's I got off kickstarter with a beryllium diaphragm, they sound amazing with Classical/choral but not so great with rock. Let me know if you find anything. I'll do likewise.

 

[ravipuri]

So, you are listening to the Triple Driver straight out of the Nokia? Which Nokia? Also, what sort of budget are you looking at? In my opinion, there is no doubt that some sort of diminishing returns law exists in headphone audio currently. I'm pretty sure most of us agree on this. Still, though, as a practical matter, you have to decide how much you are ultimately willing to spend to pursue this maybe upgrade. Is an Andromeda a better IEM than the Triple Driver? Most would agree that it is. Is it 'worth' the massive price differential? That is a very subjective, highly individualized proposition. There are people who, say, place a premium on value, who may be much happier overall, taking everything into account, with the 1More because they believe they spent wisely and ultimately received very high performance versus price value for the modest investment. They feel good about the purchase. Others would clearly prefer the Andro, despite the price differential, because, in part, the overall listening experience is meaningfully, clearly, better and they are more than happy to pay for that performance advantage--irrespective of the diminishing returns situation. Listener values are very important here. And everyone is different. So, I would submit that one of the things you need to do is to decide where on this continuum of values you think you find yourself. How much do you really want to spend on this thing? Once yo know all that, then, you can get an appropriate game plan.

Fiio M11 / Q5c and Andromedas is a scary manoeuvre from my starting point but from what I've seen and been told, investment would need to double to deliver more value, and I've never been that extreme in any faculty of my life so figure this kind of setup would have firmly positioned among mid-market.aficionados, who perhaps realize future implementations at this price point would only bring subtle mutations of an established benchmark. More context to my sudden FOMO anxiety: I've been window shopping for a while, really need to make a dent in that continuum, enough to declare myself serious about stuff. Reading endless reviews gets boring after a while. I'd probably know I've done well if I've landed a future classic a la 600s, 650s, MDR-R10 in the IEM world.