Crinacle's list is a great place to start. https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/ If you're in the US Amazon has the Moondrop Blessing 2 on sale for $279. That would probably be what I'd try in the $300 range.
this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Thanks for the suggestion! Crinacle completely slipped my mind haha, yeah the Moondrops look mighty inviting that's for sure!
I've had the blessing 2 dusk for about 2 years now and nothing has really seemed like a worthwhile upgrade to me. I'm sure you'll find a lot of praise for them on the internet so I'll give you what I dislike about them.
- My pair have spinfit cp155 tips, they stay on snug for about a month or two before they start to feel loose or slip off on their own. I just wipe off the iem and the tip on my shirt every now and then and they go back to being snug.
- I listen to a lot of EDM, Orchestral, Pop, and a little bit of Rock. For my tastes they still lack some Bass and have a tad bit too much treble. For reference I increased bass at 125hz by 2.0db and and lowered the 6-8k range by 1.5db
- They're pretty big, I don't have issues with the nozzle size but the body of them butt up against the top of my ear creating a hotspot after a while.
S12
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.
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
Shocking good is exactly how I describe them. And for the money, like $40-90, you can't beat them!
IEMs are actually advancing at a rapid pace and those KZs are pretty outdated by now.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.