Mostly I wear AKG K72s. Decent enough for casual listen and cheap enough for when my son steals them. 
2 Likes
I was donated a set of Yamaha HPH MT5 . not knowing to much about headphones they work fine for me.
1 Like
But you can train to see that, (I did in photo school way back when) and likely you can for coloration of sound too.
1 Like
Tried those but was underwhelmed with the bass response during gigs.
Sent them back and got a cheaper pair of Basn Bmaster. Really good for the money. Paired them with Comply foam tips.
Someone on here recommended them for gigging.
2 Likes
A conscious white balance is different, as you’ll likely focus on something white for reference?
I would not see a way to do that for audio…
Last thing first.
Well for gigs give Tipsy M1 a try. It’s quite excellent and as a bonus it’s great for music as well. I have both M1 and M3, both are great but $99 M1 really pushes the envelope.
Me too, you know the DK3001BD version comes with white S&S, really cool. I mostly prefer the Sancai Noble simply because of the pressure release feature, but most of the time I tend to put on my tips based on the look to match the IEM. Unless it’s something specific I’m after. I don’t do foam.
Sure, the SE215 Pro is more of a musician-style IEM. As a bassist, we are probably the most picky when it comes to choosing headphones or IEMs.
I’m constantly struggling with the balance between musician’s ears and audiophile ears. The world of ChiFi IEMs, especially the sub-$500 set, is mostly “Meta” tuned. The sub-bass shelf is usually 10db then sharp tuck-under mid-bass around 100-150 hz, lazy rise to mid and upper mid, and depending on the signature tone, can be smooth out or honor the usually 8k spike. The trend of some would throw in the 11-12k and 15k peaks for nice air.
Anything more than $1000 usually has either a V-shape, U-shape, W-shape, or is just neutral. I’m not going to blow $3000 on a Meta set.
It’s a complicated issue when it comes to reviews and reviewers. Most reviewers are not musicians, and some of the popular ones also do collabs with their signature model. Bass is the most important part of tuning, and if you don’t understand the instrument, it’s easy to just avoid dealing with the “Mid Bass” region by tucking under it. This creates clean separation and no bloat or bass bleed into the mid. It’s easy to tune from this point, but it’s just not a natural way to listen to music. It’s just lazy tuning. There are several great tuning sets, but it’s more difficult to do and takes more time.
ChiFi companies don’t have that kind of market discipline or respect for others. Some are downright shameless, like Zigaat; they offer a little more than one model per month, and almost half are collabs. This disrupts the natural law/flow of the hobby.
It takes as low as 10k to make an IEM production, then it’s just a matter of approaching popular reviewers and offering a decent cut of profit for consulting or tuning, then they just undercut on the price to make the strong entry to the market. A year later, they are now a player. Nothing wrong with that if you are releasing a couple of models a year. That’s how TruthEar got on the scene.
2 Likes
I get bombarded with ads of these:
Likely, it’s just rebranded ChiFi, but the company is German. Germany is known for engineers and poets…
1 Like
TWS, or Bluetooth buds. I’d recommend the Moondrop space travel, I think the model, it’s $20 and it’s decent audiophile tuning. For a decent hybrid TWSis the FiiO FW5, it’s about $100 or you can just get the Bluetooth unit for your IEM.
1 Like
Thanks for the mention of these.
I’m a long way from gigging. Right now I’m just figuring out sounds and getting into the music.
The Soundbrenners are NOT bluetooth. I was also confused cause of the stupid “0 latency” remark they make 
So those would be an IEM option.
For bluetooth I’m in the process of testing - I had:
- Technics EAH-AZ100
- Sony WF-1000XM5
- JBL Tour Pro 3
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra
They all s#ck, one way or another.
Today the B&W Pi8 arrive. I hope they are better.
And yes, I need ANC for those. Obviously they are not for playing (cause: latency), but for being able to go outside without having to listen to traffic and stupid people’s discussions…
1 Like
If you “need” ANC I highly recommend sticking with Apple, Googles or Samsung whatever brand that match your phone. If you want a set for music then go with wired or the Bluetooth that can convert your wired headphone to wireless. That’s what I would do.
For ANC, the Bose were the best, by far!
They sound great, but are not very analytical. Details get swallowed up in a warm fog of lazy pleasure. They are like a comfortable sofa for your ears…
I heard the PI8 last week, just for a few minutes in a store. They were promising, so I’m lingering at the door now - like a dog waiting for his master - until the DHL dude arrives with my new PI8…
Also: the Sony WF-1000XM6 should be released shortly…
Solid advice. Latest Apple Airpods ANC is the best I ever had. The technology is getting better too.
1 Like
Except … AAC! No LDAC, no APTX…
1 Like
Fair enough, they’re not the top choice for absolute audiophiles seeking lossless resolution. They work great for my needs though
1 Like
Yeah … to be honest, my old non-APTX Bose (before the APTX Ultras) sounded better than quite a few APTX earbuds. And my LDAC-enabled JBL Tour Pro 3 sound very good … but not perfect.
Amazon has still 5 stops until my B&W PI8 arrive, so soon I’ll know what’s the best. Or not….
PS Also, if you have an iPhone, Airpods seem to be the best choice, as somehow other headphones cannot use the full potential of Apple’s AAC implementation.
1 Like
I actually had a decent workaround to get better Apple Music quality using my FIIO BTR5. This is the newer generation FIIO BTR15
3 Likes
I had a similar HiBy device for some time, but I really hated it to have multiple devices on the road.
So now I have a LDAC/APTX capable Android phone with an 1TB SDcard that holds my music … more than 115.000 files that I converted from FLAC to great quality M4U (which is AAC … better than MP3 or OGG).
Since than I’m a happy camper, especially with the Focal Bathys. But for getting to the supermarket and back the Bathys is a little too much
Aaaaaaaaannddddd … the PI8 just arrived.
ANC is a little better than the JBL … but still not as great as the Bose. While writing this I can still hear the TV. With the Bose everything is dead quiet.
Sound quality seems also a little better (= more neutral) than the JBL, maybe, hmmmm, still undecided.
That would make it the best in ear I have heard up to now, but by a very very small margin, compared to the JBL.
But: bass is not as present, highs are a little sharp, possibly too much. Maybe the JBL is better, huh? Need to listen to it more.
The JBL are much more comfortable, but the PI8 are not as bad as the Technics in that respect.
I’ll give it some time … and wait for the new Sonys, that hopefully come within the next 3-4 weeks.
Well, that’s Tone Wood territory. It’s leaning forward and close your eyes listening, not my kind of listening.
I have the FiiO Airlink, I can do all of the high bit stuffs but at the end of the day it’s not what I listen to I have all of the FiiO bluetooth dongles from BTR11 to BTR17, it’s more of the preference than signal decoding to me. I have a 100 song playlist with WAV format, it’s plenty for me I don’t miss anything compare to the super jumbo size DSD files.
Oh yeah I forgot that you are more into headphone. Yeah Bose ANC is probably the benchmark. I have a pair I use on the plane, not anymore though.
1 Like
That’ actually an interesting device, thank you!
Reason: my smartphone is only capable of APTX. I just tested streaming via the B&W case, which allows for APTX adaptive, and that sounds already much better than with my smartphone.
The Fiio Airlink allows for APTX lossless streaming and is quite small too. Lossless is the way to go!
If I keep the PI8, the Airlink will be the next gadget to buy.
I still hope for a better Sony earbud, though … soon, hopefully!