Headphones

I have Moondrop Arias and Sony IER-Z1Rs. The Sonys cost about 20 times as much, and (in my highly-subjective analysis) sound about 4 times better. I use the Arias more because I can take them out, and I use the Z1Rs for listening at home. You can get amazing IEMs for less than $200, but there's always going to be better options for more money. If they make you happy, then you're happy, and you should enjoy that and not go looking for upgrades eternally

I've basically had exactly the same thing with my blessing 2 dusk's. Still love the sound but those chonky nozzles were definitely not for me.

I upgraded to 64audio U12t's, i was looking at other options at the time but its almost like everything has at least a 6mm nozzle now lol

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.

why people buy thieaudio monarch mk2 when there is trn kirin at 1/9th the price? Pleasse tell me who have both

Product stacks

Only my two cents, with another example.

There are this headphones that you get with in an mp3 player (about 100€). They sound not really bad, at least if you only used headphones like this. There are also a lot of people who are very happy with e.g. Smartphone + "cheap" Bluethoot IEMs. Expensive means +50€ in this case. I used different sony mp3 players between 100 and 200€ for many many years.

Give these users an IEM that cost more than 200€, I am sure many people would say "WTH?"... but not positive... missing bass, sound is "wrong", ... the 200€ thing does not hold in the ears... expensive crap. Reason? Either the device is not good or they do not use the IEM for e.g. a week. I can remember the same. I bought a Shure SE 535 for a Sony MP3 player, terrible sound. So I ordered a DAP Player from Pioneer. But even with the Pioneer, it takes some weeks to notice that the Shure is really much better.

I guess it's the same if I would replace my SE 535 (about 400€) with an 1000€ IEM, it's possible that it takes some time before I would hear the 600€ difference or I need another device too.

About "fit in the ear" my experience with the SE 535. I need weeks before I notice that none of the tips works. Either the sound was not good, too big for my ears or they do not hold. I use the trible flanke silicone now, but cut off one flanke and the root a little bit.

From my personal experience its soundstage and imaging. My Salnotes zero sounds identical to my IE600 in treble extension and details but sounds very 2D.

My IE600 is able to give space between the instruments and I am able to pinpoint where each instruments are in the mix. Good height and width to the soundstage, very headphones like.

All my cheaper gear are unable to pull it off. Only the blessing 2 comes close but that's still high end. Soundstage is a very important factor to my music enjoyment. Its why my HD660, IE600 and B2 are able to make me tap my foot to songs I would never do on cheaper iems I have.

It really is subjective, the correct iem for you will always be what you need and can comfortably afford first. There are days that i really crave my focal clear headphones and rarely when i really want for certain songs either hifiman shangrila jr or focal utopia. But most of the time i pick my clear or senn hd650 since I can be more comfortable or laidback with them. Most times, i even choose to power them with just my chord mojo. So effectively speaking, you can get away with just the most pleasing and comfortable headphone you can get your hands on without breaking the bank which for me is ie600 iem or even just starfields, or hd650/focal clear with chord mojo. Good to note that i really like vocal-centric songs like pop and alternative rock that’s why i gravitate to those iem/headphone. Also i would have still rocked my starfields if i didn’t try ie600. Preferences will always change so no rush in moving from headphone to headphone unless you have money to burn budgeted for hobbies.

Think of it like a mattress. (Sub 100 dollar iem) Cheap ones are usually pretty bad, but you get some okayish ones here and there,

Then you spend a bit more and get a ($100-250 iem) and there are definitely already good improvements but still could be better.

So you try a bunch ranging from cheapish to expensive ($300-800 iem), and you find there are improvements here and there, but find that the 300 dollar ones are about 90% of the 800 dollar ones.

So you go all out and try an uber expensive, highly praised one (1000+)

And then you realise how big the shortcomings of even the 800 dollar one were. And you are kind of baffled by how good the more expensive ones were.

Or you could try a $100 one and go eh its okay and try $1000 one and go, huh? An extra $900 for this?

Most $1000 IEMs will sound way better than most $200 IEMs, but there's a catch, and it's that you'll have to spend more money to make them sound way better. Most IEMs are easy to drive from almost anything, but the expensive ones with multiple drivers inside prefer a good DAC and amp to sound their best, and those can get expensive.

You don't need to spend that much though, I've had $1000+ IEMs but my favorites cost $400 (FiiO FH7). That jump from $1-200 to $400+ is where you'll see the most improvement because that's where you start seeing good hybrids (IEMs with different types of sound drivers inside).

The best way to describe higher end sound from IEMs is that you're kind of inside it. The music happens outside your head, like a single guitar will be playing by your right ear, drums will start up behind your left ear, bass will be strumming in your chest, and vocals have a sense of realness that can become creepy at times. It's pretty incredible.

It sounds like music is something you really enjoy. If I were you I'd save up $4-500 and buy a set secondhand from headfi or r/avexchange so you can get something better than if you paid full price. Then get yourself a DAC/amp like a Qudelix or BTR5 for starters. You'll be surprised how much better it sounds.

Honestly, I'd say if you have the opportunity to try higher-end gear - try it, and arrive at that conclusion yourself :) That's the fun of this hobby - discovery, no?

The difference between a 1K IEM and a $200 IEM is substantial. The difference between a 1K IEM and 2-4K IEM is insignificant.

Always visit an audio shop near you to try and see for yourself if the increase in price is justified. Also second hand market/fb groups is key

In my experience it really just depends on the brand. I have the 7hz timeless, tin t1, audio 64 A18ts and EE Legend X. I’ve heard the Sony z1r (didn’t like them though). The A18ts and Legend Xs can compete with TOTL over ear headphones and absolutely smokes the chi-fi/mid-fi IEMs I’ve heard.

IEMs are literally just about getting a tuning that works for you.

I've went from 7hztimeless to Mangird Tea 2 to thieaudio MMK3. To be really honest I can't quantify the improvement in sound quality, I don't look at measurements, graphs etc. I know that I'm gonna get improvement from an upgrade how much of it I can't explain in words, obviously if you spend more you'll get more that's just how it works but in this case what I'll say is that the experience of listening gets better every time I upgrade. A $150 iem gives me an enjoyable experience at $350 iem it becomes more enjoyable at $1000 I feel like it is giving me supreme experience that's how I look at this.

I went from Blessing 2 to Monarch MkII.

Overall there was a noticeable difference, but it wasn't huge. Mostly the tuning sounded better and the highs became a lot clearer due to the Tribrid design of the Monarchs since they have EST drivers for the air.

I think the biggest factor is good sounding IEMs is how many types of drivers there are and the crossovers used. If you have a double crossover to split up low/mid/highs and have 3 different drivers for the crossover zones then you will have 90% of the top end of sound.

Spending $200-$500 will most likely get you 95% of the $1000 mark and spending $1000 on IEMs will get you that little bit extra so if you're someone who wants to not miss out on anything you know you've gone beyond what's reasonable by enough that you feel confident in your audio.

The final 5% is probably how well the BAs are set up for the midrange since they don't cram 6 crossovers for each BA driver. Higher cost IEMs do this best.