curious what your idea of "budget audiophile" would be? $20? 10?
in the uk this whole setup cost me about 1/13 of the average national salary....they just love nitpicking π
i forget the exact name but it was a modular cable form amazon. Comes with 3.5mm SE, 2.5mm bal and 4.4mm bal connectors
facts the next step up would be something like the variations but you would be getting into heavy diminishing returns
that Qudelix looks interesting π€
Moondrop Blessing2 + Spinfit W1 tips + balanced modular cable + Fiio BTR3K
This setup is comfortable and secure in my ears all day long & sounds great on the 2.5mm balanced port of the btr3k. I usually keep in it LDAC or APTX-Hd and its basically indistinguishable from lossless. Plenty of power and an overall pleasing sound signature thanks for the AKM dac.
right on man, that's about what I paid for mine πΌπ