this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
8 points (100.0% liked)

Headphones

531 readers
1 users here now

Tiny speakers for your head.

A community for audio enthusiasts, discussing news, reviews, and DIY projects involving headphones, amplifiers, and DACs.

Resources:

-crinacle's Ranked IEM List (250+ compared)

(more to come)

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I've been contemplating this for almost half a year now. I recently moved back to Android from Apple and first I thought I'll just get another wireless set of earbuds. The more I thought about it though my mind has gone more towards maybe doing a portable DAC + a pair of really nice sounding wired buds.

The absolute max I think I can spend on the buds themselves are around $300. I can be flexible but I am not looking in the Sennheiser 600 ballpark haha.

So if you have any recommendations, experiences or just have some tips to what to look out for please share them with me!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What you get is largely going to depend on your preferences for sound signature.

I would dive into the world of chi-fi IEMs.

KZ make some great IEMs; I love the ZS10 Pro and I'd love to own a PR1 Pro.

Kiwi Ears also make great products.

I'd recommend checking out the Linsoul website as they often have great deals on their headphones.

For DACs, I love the Qudelix 5k myself. I think it's better than the FiiO DACs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can confirm, I have a set of KZs (I forget the model) but they're shockingly good, even better when paired with a FiiO DAC

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Shocking good is exactly how I describe them. And for the money, like $40-90, you can't beat them!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

IEMs are actually advancing at a rapid pace and those KZs are pretty outdated by now. Salnotes Zero or Truthear Hola beat them for less and something like the Truthear Zero are a pretty decent step up.

The PR2 especially is nice though, just sad they seemingly had a silent revision that's worse.