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

[mbenigni]

OK, I'll play. :) Just ordered the 7Hz Zeros. I tend to prefer things on the warmer side, and I have trouble keeping buds in place without a good over-ear assembly. I'm hoping they'll have inserts that accommodate my weird, asymmetrical ear canals...

And now I'm getting all the Amazon "related" prompts. Has anyone tried these CCA CRA IEMs?

 

[James Freeman]

Has anyone tried these CCA CRA IEMs?

I did not, but it's supposedly bass heavy and lacks at 3kHz compared to other "better" tuned IEMs.
If you have a 7Hz Zero you can understand how other IEMs sound in reference form the interactive graph tool everyone uses.

Squiglink - IEM frequency response database by Super* Review

Compare hundreds of frequency response graphs between IEMs and earphones from manufacturers like Moondrop, Sony, 64 Audio, Fiio, and more.

squig.link

For the 7Hz Zero I found that I need to cut around -3dB, q=2 at 5.2kHz and boost 2dB at 2.6kHz to bring it closer to my other headphones for my ear, so I'm looking for that in the graphs.
I have the Kiwi Cadenza (35$) incoming, supposedly similar to the 7Hz Zero but with 3db more bass and a touch less 5kHz which is what I'm looking for.

 

[vino_buono]

Received my CHU yesterday. I am impressed. My use case is with a Fender Mustang Micro -- it feels weird to use such a small device with full-sized headphones and I had been looking for earbuds. I normally use AKG K371 and also have the Beyer D770 Pro.

The sound of the CHU is impressive. The medium eartips were a good fit. The low end is slightly lower in volume than my regular headphones, but it is significantly tighter and more detailed. The sound is very well balanced throughout the spectrum, with present but non pearcing highs. They're so good that I am considering buying an extension cable to try them with my Helix; if I am sitting and the Helix is on the floor, the cable will not be long enough. The extension cable might cost me almost as much as the earbuds though... Anyway, a very good purchase and thanks @SwirlyMaple

As others have already mentioned, the fit is rather stupid because of the angle at which the cable is coming out of the earbud. It still works for me, but I'll try to tape the cable to the (otherwise useless) rubber earhooks that come in the package. Oh, and the anime package is terrible... When my wife saw it, she teased me about having bought a sex toy... needless to say, the actual content of the package did not score any points for me

 

[Lopp]

Just got a 2nd pair of the Chu to have the mic. The mic on the Apple earbuds seems slightly better, but the Chu blows away the mic on the EarPods Pro. Not to mention the speakers blow away anything produced by Apple (I otherwise don’t have much against Apple).

 

[holoholo]

Just got the 7hz zero. Using it with my milk maker. I don’t know…it sure doesn’t have much bass and I tried all the included tips. Going to keep trying.

 

[mbenigni]

Just got the 7hz zero. Using it with my milk maker. I don’t know…it sure doesn’t have much bass and I tried all the included tips. Going to keep trying.

This sounds like a "back to reality" moment, but I'll withhold judgement until mine arrive.

 

[James Freeman]

These little USB-C to 3.5mm cable DACs are great if you want to listen in the highest quality possible on a Tablet/Phone/Laptop without the shortcomings of Bluetooth (compression, interference, artifacts and distortion) or noisy Laptop 3.5mm outputs, these have clean LDO regulators and the CX31993 DAC inside the plug and supposedly much better than the official Apple or Samsung adapters which I don't have to compare.
No drivers required, plug it in your Phone/Tablet/Laptop/PC and you have high res audio, cable microphone works too.
Both have enough of power to drive my low sensitivity planar magnetic HiFiMAN Sundara without distortion and certainly more sensitive IEMs to uncomfortable volume without zero background hiss/noise.
If you buy on Aliexpress I suggest the BGVP or OpenHeart brands which I've tested, the latter comes in a very nice hard box.

 

[Orvillain]

MOONDROP CHUUUUU!!!

 

[SwirlyMaple]

This sounds like a "back to reality" moment, but I'll withhold judgement until mine arrive.

@holoholo Tagging you here too in case it helps:

These IEMs really are great, especially for the money. But the most critical factor with IEMs is getting a good eartip fit, which can vary from person to person. Without that seal, bass will be crap. This is their biggest drawback compared to over-ear headphones, which will perform pretty much the same for all people.

If people aren't getting the results others are from an IEM, I really recommend buying some third-party eartips that fit and trying them. I mentioned in an earlier post that my big ear canals often need a slightly bigger eartip (that's true of the Chus and the Zeros). I am getting good results with Spinfit CP145 Large eartips. They sell a number of styles and sizes. Once you find one that fits well, you can often use the same kind with different brands of IEMs.

 

[holoholo]

@holoholo Tagging you here too in case it helps:

These IEMs really are great, especially for the money. But the most critical factor with IEMs is getting a good eartip fit, which can vary from person to person. Without that seal, bass will be crap. This is their biggest drawback compared to over-ear headphones, which will perform pretty much the same for all people.

If people aren't getting the results others are from an IEM, I really recommend buying some third-party eartips that fit and trying them. I mentioned in an earlier post that my big ear canals often need a slightly bigger eartip (that's true of the Chus and the Zeros). I am getting good results with Spinfit CP145 Large eartips. They sell a number of styles and sizes. Once you find one that fits well, you can often use the same kind with different brands of IEMs.

Weirdly enough I have a KZ ZS10 that I know how it sounds. I use the same tips from that just to try it out since I know those tips fit good. And still not much bass. Going to try some comply tips as a last attempt.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Weirdly enough I have a KZ ZS10 that I know how it sounds. I use the same tips from that just to try it out since I know those tips fit good. And still not much bass. Going to try some comply tips as a last attempt.

if you're comparing to the ZS10 buds, i found that those have a very hyped bass response fwiw

 

[holoholo]

if you're comparing to the ZS10 buds, i found that those have a very hyped bass response fwiw

You're definitely right the ZS10's bass are hyped but even when I listen to some reference material sounds like there's very subdued bass coming out of the Zeros.

 

[James Freeman]

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.

Comes with plenty of tips.

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.

Some Youtube hype.

 

[Hush]

Just ordered these Tin HiFi C3. Drop was selling them for $40 so thought I'd give them a shot. But then they didn't get a big enough buy in and canceled the order. I was committed and looking forward to trying so bought them from Amazon. Should be here next week.

 

[James Freeman]

The C3 is the other closely tuned Harman set that appeared two weeks ago along with the Cadenza, before that the 7Hz Zero and Wan'er were the closest albeit slightly bass shy.

Here is a video that compares the Cadenza and C3 from yesterday.



After listening to the Cadenza which is amazing, I think I want a few dB more at 15kHz that the C3 has, so I already know what my next chifi iem will be, unless they come up with another even better Harman set yesterday which is not unlikely.

 

[mbenigni]

I was just about ready to chuck my Salnotes Zero's in the bin when I found myself trying to bend the over-ear wires to improve fit/ directionality. And that's when I finally realized that they aren't symmetrical; there's a distinct L/R. Swapped the monitors and lo, they sound fantastic now.

(Just in time to listen to all of the "Do Something" submissions. )

 

[James Freeman]

Yep, IEMs are non-symmetrical and require a good ear canal seal to sound as designed, ear tips size is very important.
For me, M size narrow bore are just right for a good seal and sound.

 

[NightWalker]

i just ordered the Moondrop Chu hope they are good because im tired spending cash on Headphones and In-Ears

 

[JT]

Where'd ol' Swirly go?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Where'd ol' Swirly go?

Still quite active over there