Here are the IEMs I’ve owned and/or tried over the last couple years of doing IEM stuff. I rank primarily on sound, but as I live in a noisy apartment building, isolation is quite important as well. Hopefully, I get to try more stuff in the new decade. I have my eyes set on many high-end and totl pairs for demoing.
- Etymotic ER2XR - Fantastic imaging, and detail retrieval that punches above it’s price tag. Driver speed is very fast, and comes close to the speed of a BA. Great bass that never bleeds into the mids. Mids are very pleasant on these. A near-perfect IEM for me, other than the terrible soundstage (It’s an ety, what do you expect?), and not enough treble extension. It has incredible isolation, and even with triple flanges, easily manages 35 dB noise reduction or higher across the board.
- Sony MDR-EX800ST - A great IEM from Sony. It’s tuned similar to diffuse field, but much warmer. Some sibilance is present, bass is slightly rolled off in the lowest of registers. The soundstage and imaging capabilities of this IEM are mindboggling. Unfortunately, these don’t work for me, as I live in a noisy apartment. The EX800ST has almost no isolation, and is similar to an open-back headphone when it comes to that. If it was quieter, these could be very close to my endgame. These really do deserve the praise they get for the tuning and technicalities alone.
- Samsung Galaxy Buds - Harman-neutral tuning. One of the best-tuned IEMs I’ve laid my hands on so far. Has good technicalities, but is held back by SBC and AAC only support on non-Samsung phones. Mids are slightly recessed, and just a bit of thinness, but never ends up being sibilant. Signature sounds bright to me, and the treble is good. Latency bugs me when playing games or watching movies. Other than that, they’re a very good TWS, and a good IEM in general. Isolation is beaten by ER2XR and DM6, but still manages to isolate me from outside noise well.
- Sony MH755/MH750 - Another well tuned IEM from Sony. Absurd bass response, but doesn’t bleed into the already-recessed mids. Treble is a bit bright, almost edging on shoutiness. Requires a cable mod for more flexibility. Mids are very recessed and thin. Soundstage is hovering around average. Isolation isn’t as good as Galaxy Buds. Fit has a lot of suction on the ear drum. Causes them to be fatiguing.
- KZ ZS10 Pro - A decent IEM from KZ. One of the few models of sub-$100 chi-fi I can recommend to people wanting to save money. Soundstage is alright, imaging is there. Detail is surface-level. Bass quantity is great, and it rumbles. Sibilance is present, but it appears to be a lot more controlled than other KZ models. Midrange is slightly recessed, but is paper-thin. Most songs sound correct on these if vocals aren’t important.
- TIN T2 Pro - With a tape mod, it’s a V-shape IEM. Without it, it’s unbearable to listen to. Extremely bright, piercing, and sibilant stock. Still is piercing and sibilant with most tracks after taping the front vent with 3M micropore. Soundstage and detail is pretty damn good for sub-$100 IEMs.
- BGVP DM6 - Another unbearably bright IEM. This one follows a slight v-shape with elevated midbass. For some reason, these have a huge peak in the mid treble, that is at least 8dB above the second-smallest peak. Crinacle has a graph of them, if you would like to see.
- Senfer DT6 - Do ya like jazz? Piezo drivers that turn off on low-power dongles? This IEM is for you. Just kidding. Please don’t buy this IEM. Brass makes me cry on these.
- NiceHCK EP10 - Warm, very warm. Almost too warm for my taste. Surprising amount of detail for such a cheap, and warmly tuned IEM. Bass is okay. Just your standard chi-fi.
- Campfire Audio IO - Oh god. Everything sounds nasal. It’s so lo-fi, and the technicalities are trash. Who at Campfire thought this tuning was a good idea? It almost sounds similar to the Geek Wold GK3 when it comes to it’s lo-fi, and tonally screwed signature. Unfortunately, I have nothing nice to say about these. Big 1.7 kilohertz HONK for pinna comp. Avoid.
- Geek Wold GK3 - Chi-fi blunder. Just, sounds like pure crap. Tonal balance is screwed, one side sounds like it could be out of phase, it’s just overall wrong with any genre I throw at it. Help.
- KZ ZS6 - Extremely bright, sibilant, piercing. Soundstage isn’t good. Treble very grainy. Bass is severely rolled off. Shell has sharp corners, and requires sanding and/or polishing to prevent it from irritating the ears.
Oh, I almost forgot. I think I’d rank these between the IO and TIN T2 Pro, before they ended up dying on me. I had a pair of EarWorkz (Now known as Empire Ears) Supra-II. The bass driver died in the left IEM on my meet in Halifax, NS. During that time, they had pretty good isolation, and with foams was getting closer to my ER2XR. I loved and hated the sound signature. Something didn’t sound right with the upper midrange, it had a very edgy and shouty quality to them.