Given all that, YouTube may have been the best available method.
ANYBODY ELSE with more knowledge of this want to help or add something?
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I just posted my Nicehck DB3 review to my blog. Itâs a solid entry-level hybrid that represents a much-needed course correction for Nicehckâs in-house product development. It has issues with timbre and tonality, and the treble is potentially harsh, but I havenât heard an IEM at this price ($17) that doesnât have those issues. On the plus side, it offers good detail retrieval and clarity, and the transition from bass to midrange is particularly well done for an IEM this cheap.
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Had an interesting coffee with an IEM manufacturer in Vietnam the other day. Got access to their workshop and such.
And this is what they gave me and ask me for an honest review
This is Notes Audio AT10, an IEM that is specifically caters to the Vietnamese audience so no international release.
Price used to be about 180$ but now it is 64$ so I think I can post it here.
Due to their request I have to hold off releasing my review but initial impression:
- The service they provide is pretty interesting
- Unboxing is surprisingly pleasant
- Sounds are average to me, but showing potential and kinda helps me understand what does the Vietnamese want in their earphone. Not bad actually, had some fun with it.
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My Yinyoo Ash review is up on my blog. Itâs an extremely comfortable, highly isolating IEM with more realistic timbre than many other IEMs around its price point. However, it needs EQ to correct its sibilant upper midrange and is too bassy for analytical listening. My full review includes with measurements, comparisons to the Blon BL-03 and Nicehck DB3, and additional images.
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Hello everybody. I am new to this forum. I read the whole thread and enjoyed it! I am looking to make a purchase of my first IEMâs (after my Brainwavz Deltaâs left earpiece failed). My budget is $30 and I am most likely to make a purchase over Aliexpress.
From reading I have made the following observations:
ZSN is a great budget IEM, however it is bright and compared to some other options. Also I noticed that most of the KZ products have a brighter signature.
The most recommended options which I concluded would be-
-CCA C10 (at the moment this is the pair that I have my eyes on, based on the reviews)
-TRN (I am not sure whether itâs the V80 or V90)
-KZ Z7/ED16 (from my research by far the best overall, everybody enjoys these⌠exept they seem to be discontinued and the ones which are available on Aliexpress are in the higher price range)
And not as often recommended but I did pick up that they are underrated and actually sound pretty good-
-Focal Spark
-KBEARKB06
-KZ ZSX
-CCA C16
I need to make a purchase by friday so I am trying to get a quick support from this community 
@Nimweth did an amazing review of the KZ ZSX. And I am trying to find something which is 30 bucks and shares some of the qualities mentioned for the ZSX (preferably 25, but if there is a good option, I am open to stretching it to 30 dollars).
My music taste: Modern rap/trap, pop, r&b. I have a very non genre based music taste, I enjoy the crazy vocals from The Weeknd, Freddie Mercury, find myself enjoying Michael Jackson and other singers from the past. At the same time I more often than not like to listen to what todayâs artist have to offer ASAP Rocky, Labrinth (a very interesting take on music, I find myself very much enjoying his modern mix of âclassicalâ music with a very modern feel to it), Travis Scott⌠I am not expecting anybody to recognize the mentioned artists, however I am pointing out that I can very much enjoy Aerosmith, and from that switch to Tame Impala or Lana Del Rey.
I donât consider myself a bass head. However the bass element is one of the most important elements in music to me, itâs the one which I âfeelâ the most and I guess the one which I most often get goosebumps to (when bass is a good match, the emotions are transferred well to me). Sub bass is something I am very much looking forward to, being able to hear the sub frequency which the average earphones donât deliver would be something Iâd appreciate a lot (I love the mention that @generic gave about The Dark Nightâs Why So Serious ). More often than not the focus on back equals to the compromise of the the mids and clarity. I am trying to avoid harsh and bright sounding IEMâs, however that doensât mean I want the high end to be cut off where it hurts the sound of female vocals and violin (whose sound I also have a close relationship just like with bass, however I donât listen to violin often). Basically the description of the ZSX is what I am looking for, except for 25-30 dollars. Quality sub-bass (which doesnât make other elements muddy or makes the bass leak), I also love how the sound-stage is âthe most impressive spread I have heard in an IEMâ.
Things I should mention:
-I have a very tight budget so I need the IEMâs to be reliable and last me more than a year. I donât wanât an unstable model which is known to have hardware failures.
-I am planning to use them occasionally on my Samsung S8 and my Macbook Pro Early 2015. I currently donât own a DAC or an amplifier which I would use with the IEMâs (I own an A/V Yamaha receiver which is for my speakers, it does feature a jack for headphones, but that is not how I would use them generally).
-And this is one of the most important factors: they must not be fatiguing and must be comfortable. I will be using them for well over 3 hours straight, and I should also mention that I never owned or tried an IEM before so the cable going over my ear is a new thing to me.
-I tend to listen to music at very high volumes (which I am aware isnât good and a valid approach to truly hear the best out of music).
I apologize if this is a too long post, this is my general style of writing and I tend to go into too much detail. I am aware that I am making a purchase of 30 dollar IEM chi-fi, and chi-fi is a market I only discovered today. The options are endless so I am lost, the main brands from my understanding are the KZ and CCA, which is a sister company to KZ. I am of course open to critics, and am very much expecting them to be harsh since I am basically asking for something very precise, which probably isnât acquirable at my wanted price. I hope I can get some recommendations and opinions
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The Shozy Form 1.1 are probably my favorite of the inexpensive IEM. Didnât care for the cable and feel like they donât hold tips on as well as others, but very good sound for the money⌠Very good.
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Hello and welcome. Great first post and very detailed. Definitely not too long. Chi-fi definitely have some great value for money options. Though as per your requirements many(but not all) can tend to be a little treble hot in order to give a sense of detail. Regarding your reliability factor/reliability requirements this may be your biggest hurdle to overcome in this price bracket. Especially if you get from China with regards the warranty being difficult to navigate. That is unless your a native speaker. The best bet would be to purchase from Amazon or a bricks and mortar store if you can find one that sell them. Good luck with you search.
Also you could check out the website of @antdroid. He does great work within this market. There are also many others on this forum too that do great reviews too.
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Hello
Based on your description and budget I would recommend the following (I have posted reviews of all earlier on this thread)
- Senfer DT6
- CCA CA4
- KBEAR KB06
All of these should suit you, and the DT6 can be worn cable down.
I hope this helps!
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They definitely seem like an excellent option, and the design is attractive. However they seem to be inthe 70-80 USD range, which is out of my budget⌠at least for now.
Thank you! I would order from Amazon if it was in my option, however it is not and thus I either have to order from Aliexpress or I could try to make my friends get it for me, however that would be a much more complicated route etc.
I am aware of the unreliability with going through a purchase with Aliexpress (especially when I am not buying from the official store- sometimes better prices can be found that from the official store on Aliexpress) For example buying from the official CCA store, shipping would cost me 11 USD which isnât exactly convenient.
What I noticed is that the sellers are very sensitive to bad reviews and that in most cases either money gets refunded or a replacement is sent.
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Thank you very much for the list. As for my usual need to understand the choice that I will make, I will ask some additional questions, which I hope you donât mind answering.
First of all, I would greatly appreciate if you could tell me the reasoning behind your selection.
Senfer DT6 isnât an IEM like others which also feature the cable going over the ear (from my understanding IEMâs go deeper into the ear canal, correct me if I am wrong). I read your review and from it I understand that the DT6 is better than the C10 (Iâm assuming CA4 is better than the C10, CA4 is more sub-bass focused if I am not mistaken), you also mentioned that the it is close sounding to C16. However I am wondering about the CCA C12 which you also mentioned is much similar to the C16 and to ZSX, so how would the C12 compare to the options in your list.
For reference these are the prices of mentioned products in USD:
Senfer DT6 - 16.50 (1.15 shipping) *just wow for the price point.
CCA C12 - 31.62 or 30.85 without mic (plus 1.06 shipping)
CCA C10 - 23.61 (free shipping)
CCA CA4 - 13.86 (plus 0.88 shipping)
KBEAR KB06 - 20.54 (free shipping)
*Iâll throw in the TRN products just for reference
TRN V80 - 21.74 with silver plated cable and mic (1.35 shipping)
TRN V90 - 31.36 or 32.02 with mic (plus 1.05 shipping) *over budget
Would your list of recommendation change now when I mentioned the new models (CCA C12 and TRN V80) and their prices above? Would the DT6 still be your choice?
If the list remains the same, which would mean that the CA4 is better than C12 or V80 and that the B06 is better than C12/V80, or in the case that either the C12 or the V80 is the best options, I would truly be appreciative if you could give me your reasoning and explanation as to why it is that way.
If it remains the same I would like to know why the DT6 is your choice over the KB06, and why the KB06 is better than the CA4.
Again I am writing in quite a lot of detail and am asking for a lot of information. It is completely fine to tell me if you mind this, because I very often like going in great detail and acquiring the knowledge and understanding, which in this case would be me seeking to understand why I would buy A over B, or B over B.
*Thank you for your time!
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Hello again!
My list was not in order of preference, it was a list of three possible models which may suit you. I would not include the TRN V80 amongst them. I thought that you were uncertain about wearing cables around the ear which was why I mentioned that about the DT6, which can also be worn that way. The C12 is less suited to you as it is less bass-oriented than the ZSX and of course, more expensive. The C10 has a gentler, less âup frontâ presentation so may not be right, either. There is also the new DT6 Pro which I have on the way, that may be another option but I have not heard that yet. I will be reviewing it, though!
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To add to my reply. I do remember that you said that the DT6 is the closest to KZ ZSX, so I am not absolutely sure if it is better than the two options that you recommended me.
Again, I apologize for so many questions. I just want to make sure I am buying the best products⌠and I tend to go too far with thatâŚ
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Okay, I thought it was in order. No wearing the cable over the ear doesnât worry me. I am not the best at making. If the wearing style of cable isnât taken in as a choosing factor, which ones would you recommend. I must say that both the KB06 and CA4 look good, however I am wondering what the sound difference between them is and why one is better than the other. And how does the DT6 compare to them?
How do they differ in sub bass region, mids, highs, clarity etc.
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OK, here goes:
DT6 has the best sub bass of the three. The bass blends into the mids with no mid bass hump (see fr chart on Audio Budget). This continues into the mids which are not recessed. The treble is clean and very extended thanks to the piezo driver. Some feel that its timbre is not natural (though I do not agree). The DT6 does work better with wide bore tips which you may have to purchase separately.
The KB06 is the most balanced of the three, mildly V shaped. It performs well across the spectrum and due to its small size is very comfortable. There is occasional harshness up top from the 30095 BA but nothing to be concerned about.
The CA 4 is the most V shaped of the three and does have a recessed midrange. Treble is similar to the KB06 but the harsh or piercing highs are slightly more frequent. Sub bass is strong with less resolution than the DT6 and there is a little bit of bass bleed.
I hope this helps.
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Definitely helped. I will have to make up the decision between the DT6 and KB06. I am attracted to the design of the KB06, however from your description the DT6 does seem to be the better option of the two. The KB06 is more balanced, itâs comfortable (Iâm assuming the DT6 is comfortable) but aside from that the cheap DT6 seems to be head-on with its competitors from the higher price range such as the KZ ZSX and the CCA C16.
Thank you for this answer, definitely gave me somewhat of an insight how the three compare and differentiate from each other.
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I would love to hear from other members, and what their choices would be. I would especially like to hear from @antdroid (from my understanding with most experience).
So far I am leaning more towards the less talked about KB06, since I did come across people saying that there are issues with the D6 such as with the connection of the cable, and that its free spinning may be an issue, and some QC issues as well. I hope that the difference in sub-bass region and that there is no bleed through.
edit: I also want to say that from what I heard the D6 are a bit power hungry and thus may not be the best option to be used on a raw source (e.g. my S8 phone and Mac).
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I havenât had a chance to try the DT6s but I do love the KB06. I had a two friends try between the KB06, CCA C10, KZ A10s, TRN v80 and V90, KZ ZSX, and Tin T2s. Friend A listens to a lot of rap and hip hop while Friend B listens to indie/folk-y type music. Friend A chose the TRN V90 and Friend B chose the KB06.
Friend B said they liked the KB06 because they were very small and light, sounded very pleasant with the various instruments, the fit was perfect with the stock tips, and the bass quantity was less overwhelming compared to the TRNs for example. He was stoked when I said they were only $20.
My favorite of them is the ZSX so it was a curious experiment.
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That sounds like a fun experiment. I myself definitely donât listen to folk and indie, but I doubt that the difference between the KB06 and V90 is tremendous. V90 is currently out of my budget, however I love the design of it, might be an option in the future. How would you rate the KB06âs low end and sub-bass?
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KB06 has a good sub bass. There is a mid bass emphasis which gives some warmth to the lower end. V90 is cleaner there with no mid bass lift and a deeper sub bass. I have now got my DT6 Pro and it is superb. Amazing extension at both ends and a vast soundstage. Even the supplied tips work well. I would definitely recommend this over the regular DT6, KB06 and V90 (with your budget, especially).
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