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what makes high end IEMs better than the more affordable ones? is there really that much of a difference?? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by zviz2y@alien.top to c/headphones@hi-fi.community

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so i got my first pair of iems back in may for my birthday and theyre ikko OH10's (the old version not the OH10S) which were like $200 so still a lot for me but way cheaper than a lot of other iems

but these are still the best things ive ever heard in my life by far and i dont understand how any pair of headphones can sound even better than this, like it actually feels like the music is inside my soul, i was listening to justin timberlake yesterday and was literally crying and getting goosebumps cause of how beautiful it sounded, and i dont even like justin timberlake 😭😭

anyways the reason im wondering is cause i kinda wanna save up for some even better ones that are a bit smaller cause these ones are kinda big for me and they start to hurt my ears after a little bit, but im kinda scared of spending a ton of money on headphones just for me to barely notice a difference, like do $1,000+ iems sound way better than $200 ones or do they just sound only slightly better?? and what actually makes one pair better than another?? like compared to my basic earbuds these ones are way louder, clearer, and a lot fuller and richer, so would more expensive iems just be even louder and clearer than these ones?

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[–] Silentdisko@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Yes, kilobuck iems sound a lot better than $200 iems, surprise surprise. Differences include quality of drivers, crossover, electrical components, acoustic engineering, R&D costs. Equally as important are build materials and Quality Control! For instance Symphonium Audio (and other true hifi brands) iems are made in metal, hand-assembled and individually measured and matched before shipping. That is another universe compared to the moondrops and truthears of the world, and is part of what you pay for with good reason.

The returns do grow smaller as you go higher, but you can always get better for more money, but more money does not always equal better. That is without taking preferences, subjective qualities and user hearing capabilities into consideration.

The biggest jump I've experienced so far was going from $200 iems to sub-kilo buck Andromedas.