Hi everyone, I am quite new here. While searching through articles about affordable IEMs, I stumbled upon this thread which led me to create an account and ask you guys more. I am looking to purchase a chi-fi. The factors I am looking for are: warm soundstage, deep sub bass and mid bass. Overall I want to be blown away by the bass. It should be easily powered by a smartphone (Galaxy Note 9 to be precise). Any suggestions? Please help.
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Welcome. Of the active members, @antdroid is well qualified to answer. Many Chi-Fi IEMs tend to have a V shaped profile. Theyāll have plenty of bass but plenty of brightness too (e.g., KZ). Of mainstream international brands, Beats is big on bass.
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Hi @Deepak_Sabu
Take into account I am not a huge bass-fan, and most of my preferred headphones and IEMs are more balanced and neutral sounding. For budget-tier with good punch bass and subbass, thereās a lot out there thatāll give you heavy bass but few thatāll sound more than mud. I have not personally listened to them, but the Moondrop Starfield is probably an easy recommendation ā Iāve listened to both the Kanas Pro and KXXS, and the Starfield seems to be right inbetween both of them - warm, more punch bass of the KXXS and the laid back treble of the Kanas Pro.
The bass isnāt going to be overwhelming, and should be well-balanced.
Another recommendation is the TFZ No 3 for a more defined v-shaped IEM.
If you want ultra-budget, under $50 ā Iād say the Blon BL03 is an easy recommendation. Actually, now that I think about it, thatās probably the best recommendation for your preference.
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I second this, the starfields are my go to IEMās right now.
Bass is just right and is not overwhelming and this is coming from a person that really likes bass 
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Thank you @antdroid for your valuable reply. Being a student, my resources are limited and therefore Blon-BL03 is manageable with my budget. How about TRN ST1? Itās just 9euros on Aliexpress. How reliable is buying products on Aliexpress? Blon-BL03 is listed for 29euros on Aliexpress and 39euros on Amazon.de. Living in Lithuania, itās quite hard to get products on time so I am ready to wait. What about Blon-BL05? Sorry if my questions sound dumb.
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Buying on AliExpress shouldnāt be an issue, just make sure that you pick a trusted seller with decent feedback.
However, be prepared to wait, due to current issues with shipping, things may take a while to make it.
Also, if the ones on Amazon are sold by Amazon, then you can return them if you donāt like them or if you have an issue. AliExpress is a different story, while some vendors can be good if you have an issue, others arenāt so great about it.
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Also, return shipping back to China can be expensive and stuff can get lost (ask me how I know 
)
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I have not heard the Blon BL05 but I am supposed to receive one to review soon, though shipping has been really really slow out of China depending on where it coming from and what delivery courier.
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Hi everyone, just to update you guys, I have purchased TRN ST1 and BLON BL03 today as there was some good discounts. I got both the products for a price of 27Euros. But I have to wait for 20days approx. I am really excited to enter into the IEM journey. Thank you all for the suggestions. I will post the pics of my Chi-Fiās when I receive it.
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I have another doubt. As these are Chi-Fiās, when I listen to some FLAC(24bit/384Hz) file, would I be able to hear the differences when compared to 320kbps mp3 file of the same track?
I tried using the bundled AKG branded earphones which comes with my Note 9 and tried playing both the flac version and the mp3 version of the same track and couldnāt realize any difference at all. Except notice the size difference of 85mb vs 3mb.
Do not underestimate those AKG IEMs that have been coming bundled with the Samsung Galaxy line. Although I may admit its sound signature was tuned to my liking.
Before the lockdown I was driving one that came with my S8 with a Modi 3 / Magni 3+ combo, and the outcome was actually really good.
Youāll have to train your ears for this. And it also depends on the track. The trick is dynamic range. Try to isolate a very low volume instrument, or note left hanging in the FLAC file, then try to locate it in the mp3 as well. Hereās a test you can try it online.
Anyway, I donāt have that trained ears either. Just try to enjoy the music you have. There are some types of quests that are not worth the effort. This video shed me a lot of light, a few months ago. This is where I took the test from.
In a few weeks, report it back how far did you get the sound improve over your AKG.
Cheers.
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I most definitely agree with @frkasper. You need to train your ears to be able to hear the very subtle differences. Even then itās very small margins. Plus age and physiology are to be taken into consideration too. I wouldnāt worry too much. As long as they sound great to you thatās the most important part. Itās a road to nowhere once you start listening to your gear rather than the music, I know and it gets expensive. I am an impulsive buyer and when chasing details and that extra something it can get crazy.
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Congrats on your purchases. I hope they get to you quicker than my shipments from China.
I agree with the posts above. Itās not easy to hear the differences on some songs but easy on others. It does depending on the recording quality too. A lot of the main differences will be in the harmonics and upper treble area, where compressed mp3s just remove data from, because people dont typically hear it anyway and isnāt necessarily things that stand out. Other areas are just removing data/adding more noise to the lower bass region.
This article does a pretty good job of explaining some of the effects:
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/what-data-compression-does-your-music
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I just got to try the BL-03 for a while this afternoon (it looks like I am finally over my ear infection, I hope!).
I must say they are pretty darn impressive on first listen. I havenāt listened to them for more than an hour or so and havenāt had chance to compare them to the UF yet but they sound promising.
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Glad to hear youāve gotten over your ear infection. Itās very strange but I was just going over in my mind just how much my hearing changes daily. I suffer with bad sinuses a lot of the time. Not always. But some days the sound isnāt as good as others. 2 days ago I had really clear ears and sinuses and my music listening experience was sublime. Yesterday was mediocre at best. Such is life.
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I havenāt really drawn any final conclusions yet but I am starting to think that I donāt like too much detail in an IEM, as crazy as that sounds.
I have had a lot of video conferences over the past few days (for which I love the PortaPros) so I havenāt spent to much time comparing the Blon BL03 and the Urbanfun Y-somethingsomething.
However, my first impressions are that the Blon has a bit more of a laid back signature, with a bit more bass, and the UF has more detail but feels cold in comparison.
The reason I say I donāt like the extra detail is because I can wear the Blon for hours with no discomfort but the UF starts to fatigue me and give me a headache after about an hour. I have the same issue with the ZS10 pro, after about an hour I start feeling the fatigue.
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I really like the T2, I just had bad much with both pairs I own.
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I was listening to this this afternoon (based on your comment the other day I thought you were going to be more harsh on the MH755 
). I really enjoyed it.
The only thing I will comment is that you guys really need to sort your volume levels out 
I was listening on the ceiling speaker set up in my office while I disenfected the office (something we need to do by law every day at the moment) and I would be struggling to hear the guys and then suddenly @antdroid would scare the **** out of me
Great work though and I look forwards to more!
Yea sorry, this episode and the next couple was very unbalanced. The previous ones were balanced better.
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