[concordelover]

Hi everyone, I've been purchasing headphones for many years and more recently have become interested in IEM's. Ive purchased many, some I've been personally underwhelmed with (Final E5000) and some cheaper ones Ive taken a punt on out of interest and have been blown away by the quality (Audiosense A0). Of course this is all subjective and very personal. However, some IEM's Ive researched thoroughly and in some ways have been sucked into the hype-train. Ive paid my money and then seriously wondered why people generally rate the IEM so highly. The main offender for me has been the Audiosense T800. First off its so damn picky on source - unlistenable on some, tolerable with hiss on others. Secondly, on the sources that seem to work it has great technicalities (imaging, separation etc), but its tuning is just off (IMHO). The treble is sibilant and the bass domineering. I listen a lot to classical and 30-40% of my albums are simply unpleasant with this IEM. I would take my Moondrop May over this IEM any day. Thats my rant over with. I was wondering what other IEMS people have purchased with great faith only to be hit with great disappointment!

 

[dunring]

The 7hz Timeless AE which has a dynamic driver for bass instead of the original with planar slam and fun tuning. They sound ordinary, like anything else on the market.
Simgot EA500LM which isn't as good as the original with recessed vocals and they just went backwards on tuning with either nozzle compared to the original.
Moondrop Variations, for the price it's an epic failure. The Blessing 3 costs much less and basically the Sennheiser HD600 of the IEM world. The Moondrop Kato is more fun and even less expensive (everyone should have a Kato). Had a few of the Variations to use and it's in no way worth that price. Value for money is the disappointment with most of them, it's all over the map.

 

[n00kie]

Symphonium Meteor

For me it has bloated bass and awful timbre for cymbals due to the exaggerated treble extension.

 

[concordelover]

Interesting responses thanks. I've often wondered about the Kato actually more so since I impulse purchased the Moondrop May last week on Amazon and have been seriously impressed.

 

[Octavius]

Sennheiser IE80s and IE800, the first one very muddy, the second one with odd timbre. At that time when I tried them their cost was still considerable.

 

[InvisibleInk]

My Westone UM 50 Pro has been my poster child for disappointment. It wasn’t cheap, and I have wasted too much time trying to EQ this thing. It is somewhat okay with the right source and PEQ, but I’ve got much less expensive ChiFi IEMs that sound better with no EQ or special sources needed.

 

[baskingshark]

The campfire gang will likely take out their pitchforks, but the Trifecta is seriously lowFI sounding.

Bass bleeds everywhere. Veiled sound with poor resolution. Even some sets at 10% the price beat it in technicalities (it costs $3375 USD BTW).

 

[o0genesis0o]

The campfire gang will likely take out their pitchforks, but the Trifecta is seriously lowFI sounding.

Bass bleeds everywhere. Veiled sound with poor resolution. Even some sets at 10% the price beat it in technicalities (it costs $3375 USD BTW).

That reminds me of something funny I saw the other day: some one said STORM is too expensive, when you can get good sound with Trifecta at a lower price

 

[IgeNeLL]

The campfire gang will likely take out their pitchforks, but the Trifecta is seriously lowFI sounding.

Bass bleeds everywhere. Veiled sound with poor resolution. Even some sets at 10% the price beat it in technicalities (it costs $3375 USD BTW).

I agree with you. The sound quality is lowfi and the sound stage is strange.

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

The campfire gang will likely take out their pitchforks, but the Trifecta is seriously lowFI sounding.

Bass bleeds everywhere. Veiled sound with poor resolution. Even some sets at 10% the price beat it in technicalities (it costs $3375 USD BTW).

Bonneville is so, so much better

 

[MudEnjoyer]

Moondrop Variations and 7Hz Timeless. The former made me grow up and stop caring so much about graphs and use my ears. The latter is simply broken and one of the most embarrassing hype trains this hobby has seen.

 

[archdawg]

The campfire gang will likely take out their pitchforks, but the Trifecta is seriously lowFI sounding.

Bass bleeds everywhere. Veiled sound with poor resolution. Even some sets at 10% the price beat it in technicalities (it costs $3375 USD BTW).

Good catch, lol. Those suckers made #3 on the Watercooler 2023 IEM of the year poll but then we all hear differently ... especially when it comes to expensive schtuff
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...n-first-page-all-welcome.957426/post-17895674

Reminds me a bit of wine tasting before they introduced blind tests.
Interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_wine_tasting

 

[BS5711]

I believe a company could sell more good looking or interesting looking IEM to a certain group of people by actually charging more for them.

I swear there is a group of folks who equate ridiculously expensive with exceptionally good and therefore talk themselves into liking them.

I have never heard the Trifecta but I wonder what the opinions would be of an IEM that sounded identical to the Trifecta but was out of China, had a basic metal shell, looked like nothing special and sold for $100, would it ge the bargain of the decade ?

 

[baskingshark]

I believe a company could sell more good looking or interesting looking IEM to a certain group of people by actually charging more for them.

I swear there is a group of folks who equate ridiculously expensive with exceptionally good and therefore talk themselves into liking them.

I have never heard the Trifecta but I wonder what the opinions would be of an IEM that sounded identical to the Trifecta but was out of China, had a basic metal shell, looked like nothing special and sold for $100, would it ge the bargain of the decade ?

There is actually a knock off CHIFI version of the Trifecta on Aliexpress - we can affectionately call it the "CHIFECTA" LOL:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006077773104.html

Both look like scrotums, but this CHIFI one is $220 USD, compared to the exquisite $3375 original!


They even tried to imitate the graphs LOLOL:

 

[Octavius]

Maybe that's the real price ?