Anyone who wants AMAZING sounding in-ears/headphones for $16... read this!

Well, at least Moondrop did a great job on their plugs. They are sooo closing out everything, I can hear every friggin' movement of my tongue.
 
Still rocking the OG Chu's with tips from my old MEE buds. Great seal, great sound. Of course they're electrical taped to paper clips to form an over-the-ear route for the cord, and a small rubber band to sinch the cable together behind my neck.
 
After reading this thread, I ordered a pair of the Chu II and they arrived today, they sound really good, nearly as good as my Sennheiser JD569 over ear headphones, and way better than my old SE215s or my $400 (in 2012) 1964-V3s. AND more comfortable to boot! I cannot get over that I paid $18.95 for them!

Caveat is even the large tips are a little small for me, so I ordered the large Spinfit CP145s. I can't wait to try these babies out at rehearsal. I think they should be plenty loud enough, same sensitivity as my 1964-V3s, which are plenty loud.

FWIW, I could NOT get the danged tips on, so I asked my wife to do it for me and she had them on in 30 seconds flat for each. I knew there was a reason I married her...:love
 
Kiwi Ears Cadenza (35$).

Compared to the 7Hz they have slightly more bass and slightly less pierce/shout (ear gain), overall even better tuned than the 7Hz in my opinion.
These also are not bass heavy but tuned to the Harman curve to sound like calibrated monitors in a good room which is the current trend/race in the audiophile IEM/Headphones community.
If you are looking for balanced sounding IEMs under 50$, these are the ones to buy (as of end of 2022) in my opinion.

Very nice packaging and hard box.
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Comes with plenty of tips.
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Also got a nice case and quality 2pin 0.78mm cable to complete the ChiFi IEM experience, both from OpenHeart on Aliexpress which I can personally vouch for their quality.
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Some Youtube hype.



Yeah I was wondering what to use for a case....
 
Just some more observations: For my ear canals, given the delivered ear plugs, I'm finding the Chu II easier to fit in so I'm getting more balanced low end response (haven't tried any foam plugs, will likely order some, I think they might be an easier deal overall...). But once they fit in properly, I seem to slightly prefer the Wan'er.
And well, in case your IEM headphone amp is on the weak side, the Chus might have issues getting loud enough on some stages (for instance when you have to fight bleed from drums next to you), the Wan'ers are quite substantially louder.

Soundwise, I'm actually still not sure what to think, I thought one of the last gigs was an IEM one, but it's all been wedge stuff (which I was actually happy about, so I didn't try to arrange an IEM setup on my own), so all my tests are still based just on home noodling and running (which I won't be using any of the two for, but it's a nice litmus test to see if the plugs stay tight).
I actually think I prefer the cheap Sennheisers (around €80) but couldn't compare as I broke the cable on my last pair.
 
Just some more observations: For my ear canals, given the delivered ear plugs, I'm finding the Chu II easier to fit in so I'm getting more balanced low end response (haven't tried any foam plugs, will likely order some, I think they might be an easier deal overall...). But once they fit in properly, I seem to slightly prefer the Wan'er.
And well, in case your IEM headphone amp is on the weak side, the Chus might have issues getting loud enough on some stages (for instance when you have to fight bleed from drums next to you), the Wan'ers are quite substantially louder.

Soundwise, I'm actually still not sure what to think, I thought one of the last gigs was an IEM one, but it's all been wedge stuff (which I was actually happy about, so I didn't try to arrange an IEM setup on my own), so all my tests are still based just on home noodling and running (which I won't be using any of the two for, but it's a nice litmus test to see if the plugs stay tight).
I actually think I prefer the cheap Sennheisers (around €80) but couldn't compare as I broke the cable on my last pair.
My old 1964-V3 set is rated at a sensitivity of 119 dB, which is supposedly also the Chu 2 sensitivity rating, and the V3s were loud enough with my IEM amp (an old PSM 200 system). I've joined a band that uses IEMs for rehearsal and performance and I've been using Sennheiser HD569 headphones as I did not like the tone of the V3s or the SE215s, so hoping the Chu 2s will work out.

Also, I was wondering if anybody with Chu 2s has any issues with the cap, as Tex reported about the 1s?
 
My old 1964-V3 set is rated at a sensitivity of 119 dB, which is supposedly also the Chu 2 sensitivity rating, and the V3s were loud enough with my IEM amp (an old PSM 200 system). I've joined a band that uses IEMs for rehearsal and performance and I've been using Sennheiser HD569 headphones as I did not like the tone of the V3s or the SE215s, so hoping the Chu 2s will work out.

Also, I was wondering if anybody with Chu 2s has any issues with the cap, as Tex reported about the 1s?
A properly fitted custom mold should always provide better isolation than a universal fit, though...
 
Just played two (very long) rehearsals and two shows with the Wan'ers. Tried the Chus as well on one sound check, the Wan'ers won.
Used some of those foam tips I had around, need to get some more of those, they're a lot better than the rubber ones.
Very little reason to spend more money, but I think there's 2-way phones from Wan'er as well, I might give them a try one day, simply because bass response could be a tad better.
 
It has been a while since I used comply but I was using InAirs but recently tried these https://www.sonicfoam.com/

Seem to be a better fit for me to the point that with the InAirs I would still boost the low end by a DB or so when using an EQ correction curve but I find I don't have to with the Sonicfoam
 
My Chu sounded great for sitting at home listening to music, but they were completely unusable to me as IEMs and my first pair crapped out after about 9 months.

Thinking of trying out some of the other options
 
Received a set of Kiwi Ears Cadenza today thanks to @James Freeman’s recommendation.

Absolutely floored how good they sound for the price. However, I feel like I could use slightly more “air” or top end. The rest of the frequency spectrum does the job for me.

Anyone know which set would add slightly more in the upper frequency range while retaining an identical response with everything below?
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I HIGHLY recommend EQing your IEMs with an AutoEQ corrective curve, if folks here aren't already doing so. All headphones need EQ in order to sound natural to our ears. Literally all of them. That's because everyone has a different head and ears and the physical charactistics that defines them also defines what frequency response sounds neutral and lifelike to us. If a reference track sound too bright, throw an EQ on the signal chain and lower the highs until it sounds more realistic to your ears.

AutoEQ gives you a good starting place for further EQ personalization because it will bring your headphones into the ballpark of what a large segment of the population thinks is neutral. It's easier to make adjustments after AutoEQ has removed weird dips and spikes in the headphone/IEM's natural frequency response. You can then make more broad adjustments to tame trouble spots like treble spikes.

Received a set of Kiwi Ears Cadenza today thanks to @James Freeman’s recommendation.

Absolutely floored how good they sound for the price. However, I feel like I could use slightly more “air” or top end. The rest of the frequency spectrum does the job for me.

Anyone know which set would add slightly more in the upper frequency range while retaining an identical response with everything below?
Put a high-shelf EQ filter at between 2 and 5hz with a slope of around 12dB/octave (0.71 Q, I think) and bump the gain on it by between +2 and +6 dB. "Air" is a bit vague and can be even higher, like above 7 and 8khz, so it'll depend on what exactly you think of as air. Treble starts around 2kz though, so that's where I suggest starting. Then move it up until you don't like the results and then back it down in frequency a little. That's my recommendation.
 
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