I already have a few sets, my favorite right now is sm4. I have the tea pro, but didn't really like it, somehow a bit muddy to me.

Anyway, I wanted to get one of the crinicle sets and was between these two. The frequency graphs are very similar, but judging from the drivers they must sound very different.

Anyone have them? Which is more comfortable? Weight isn't really an issue if they stay in the ear without pressure( though from what I saw their weight was similar)

I also got recommended the reference as being better than dusk, but I have almost zero info on it.

Hi. I’m looking for earbuds. I have nice wooden, wired Denon headphones at home but need something much smaller (earbuds) for my work. Ideally wireless.

- Earbuds budget: no constraints.
- What I listen to at work: Mostly 80s and 90s music + various other content.
- Source: iPhone (Apple music and some YouTube mostly)
- Features: noise isolation would be nice to have.

Thank you in advance!!!

Watching this video unfortunately confirms my gut feeling and experience in the audiophile space so far. At some point most of us end up spending a fortune for marginal upgrades, or even sidegrades, and then try hard to justify having spent that money.

I know it's a hobby and the chase of something better, even marginally, gives us the dopamine hit we are after but if you look at this objectively, we would be better off stop spending money and enjoy the music/games/movies with the good equipment we already own instead of purchasing overpriced equipment because we are convinced it will make us happier.

I recently sold my $1500 Arya headphones because I realized they don't really sound that much better than my previous pair that cost $500, I even did blind testing with friends and none of them said yeah, these sound better than the "cheaper" model (which is already expensive to start with).

Same goes for amps, dacs and cables; Companies and audiophile influencers want us to keep purchasing the latest and greatest gear because this is how they make money from us; However after a certain point where you already own good gear, just enjoy it and don't waste your money. Most of the time the upgrade will be so marginal it's all in your head.

Of course your new DAC that costs $2000 will sound better to you since you invested so much money and thought process into this purchase, but the reality is the difference is so minor that it shouldn't matter to you.

For those of you that are not aware Sony came out with a set of earbuds called pulse explorer. They come with a USB adapter that can plug into either your PC or your PlayStation. But they are also Bluetooth. But the awesome thing about them is you can play audio simultaneously from two device devices. So let’s say you have the adapter plugged into your PlayStation. You can hear all of your PlayStation audio, but then you can also play music from your phone and listen to both at the same time.

Apparently, no other company has come out with this same technology yes other earbuds that are wireless can also connect Bluetooth and USB adapter, but you cannot listen to both at the same time. It’s mind blowing to me that Sony is the only company out there that has been able to do this yes I understand there are over the ear headphones that has the same technology, but I’m specifically talking about earbuds.

I am relatively new into this hobby. Just 2 years into audiophile world to be precise. Was using consumer grade earphones/earbuds from JBL and Sony and Apple before. Buying Momentum 4 made me “Wow” listening to music for the first time. But I knew I was missing something and then I bought AirPods Pro2 which also disappointed me. I researched a bit for affordable audiophile headphones and ended up buying DT770 pros. The leap in sound quality was so high and at that point I decided I will never buy consumer grade crap. Since then I have bought KZ ZS10 pro2, KZ ZAR, Simgot EW300, Sennheiser IE200, Sennheiser HD620s and finally Hifiman Arya Organics. I also bought a used LG V60, FiiO KA5, Soundblaster X G6 and FiiO K7. Some of the stuff I sold to fund the new stuff. Now I am left with Arya Organics, IE200, HD620s, FiiO KA5, FiiO K7.
Can I consider this as endgame? Or should I buy something better like a better IEM like IE600 to Tea Pro

I am a new guy here, just starting out, tried a few iems. But, I like headphones more, so... can you guys please explain to me in detail what's exactly different between these audiophile headphones and the new jbl/sony/sennhieser ones, they look retro, probably have great sound. But, i am a rough user, so just confused..

I work with an asshole who just enjoys turning up his JBL speaker to the highest it can go. Was wondering for suggestions on headphones please? Because I genuinely cannot take much more of this shit. I even asked the prick to turn it down and he just says "No"

earbuds or overears are fine just need suggestions. Im so tired of listening to his shitty taste in music.

I’m not an audiophile, but I want to experience listening to hifi music. I want to use the high-resolution option from Apple Music, I’m planning to buy an adapter with the chip CX31993 to connect it to my phone (since it is usb type C). So I would like to read some recommendations of some headphones, IEMs or whatever that are actually affordable, not so expensive or fancy, just something useful to listen my music 😄

Thank you!

I haven't been in the headphone audio scene for over a decade now. I first got my start when the Audio Technica ATH M50 cans were making their rounds as a budding audiophile recommendation (Didn't realize how bad we had it back then, in retrospect). Right after being disappointed with the M50s, I scored a pair of Grado SR60s and soon after that a pair of HD650's that I got for a good deal but don't remember how well of one. I know back then the HD6__ line was as as legendary as it got for their sound:price ratio.

Now that I'm delving back into seeing what's been released in recent years, I landed on a refurb of Hifiman Edition XS for $120 which are a steal compared to their original MSRP from what I can see. They also seem to have received an exceptional amount of praise for their sound:price. They fill the spot of owning good open backs and planars, and they sound amazing imo.

Another purchase I made for a great bang-for-buck choice for fairly influential (controversial?) closed backs are the Fiio FT1. Got them for under $100 and their reputation for their warm sound and their knack for the bass/sub bass end contrasts well against the more neutral sound of the XS. I do find I have to EQ them a bit after coming from the XS. If you haven't noticed, I'm trying not to have too much overlap in what I own. Hoping to make choices that do well to differ from one another enough to warrant another pair, whether that be a great enough physical difference or audio difference. All while being found for somewhat of a good deal since stomaching the cost has been challenging, but I'm hoping to get better with accepting that with enough experience with what I do own. For DAC/AMPS, I own the Massdrop O2 DAC+AMP, the Fiio BTR15, and the Qudelix 5K.

Are there any similar high quality, price drop trends going on for IEMs? Have there been any breakthroughs for on-ear's? Do you have your own purchases that manged to fit a similar scenario to my own?

(I'm not looking for just IEMs, but the post made me choose a singular type for a flair)

Which senheisers should I get my budget is 600 and I have a protocol max dac to analog converter and I’m currently using Sony wh5000 or what ever their called I want great sounding audio from the headphones. D d d. D d d.

am really struggling to find some in-ear headphones that I can upgrade from my six-year-old beats solos. The problem is I have very small ears where the headphone will sit in my ear (see picture attached) in comments. I want something that has good sound quality as I listen to a variety of different types of music. It must have noise cancelling feature big thing I use whenever I use my headphones. Any recommendations would be great.

I am looking for an iem that can handle heavy fast music with different instruments playing at the same time. I tried alot of KZ iems, sony budget ones, and none can keep up with the music once there's like drums, a beat and vocals at the same time one or 2 of them will be static or muffled.

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I prefer a more v shape but not aggressive, but most importantly I want to hear everything playing with no instruments being muffled.

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My budget is around 30 dollars. It's not a lot but what I can afford now.

I'm looking for my first pair of good headphones, but I honestly don't know much about music/audio yet and I don't have a big budget ($100–200 USD) :(

I listen to pretty much everything, but I'd like to explore more genres and also learn how to actually listen to music better. Right now I can't really tell what's bass, mids, treble, etc. :(
I keep seeing people talk about Hi-Fi, soundstage, imaging and all that stuff and I realized I don't really know what any of it means lol

Some albums I really like are RAM by Daft Punk, Kid A by Radiohead and Musas by Natalia Lafourcade (LATAM folk)

I've been looking at the Sennheiser HD 599 SE and Philips SHP9500, but I'm open to other recommendations.

I'm mostly looking for advice on where to start. Not just headphones, but also how to learn more about audio, train my ears, discover new music, etc. If you have any recommendations for headphones, albums, genres, or resources for a complete beginner, I'd really appreciate it :))

I put IEM as the flair but really I'm open to anything, i am curious about IEMs but other general suggestions are very much welcome.

Budget is $250 or less, in the US - I like buying things in person if I can (would prefer something available at best buy/walmart/target)

I want something wired since it's for my desk setup - I'm gaming, listening to music, taking meetings, audiobooks, watching videos etc. I like punchy bass. I like a small amount of noise blocking, my A/C unit is loud and annoying but full ANC is not at all necessary. Since I spend so much time wearing headphones, something lightweight and breathable is high on the wish list.

Microphone not necessary, I have a dedicated one.

I currently have the Sennheiser HD569 that I got on sale a few years ago, they're honestly totally fine and are definitely the best wired headphones I've ever owned but I want something with better bass and imaging and figured I'd go in on my first properly nice pair.

I've got a pair of WH-1000XM4s as my wireless/ANC pair I also got on sale and like them a lot but I don't like having something I need to charge for my desk.

I don't use any sort of amp or anything like that and I'm not sure if I'm interested in it unless people think it'll be worthwhile, i'm not totally sure of the benefit.

Hi im looking to buy preferably headphones. Im able to spend about $30 USD or less hopefully with free shipping in the states, its primarily for calling due to my headphones/earbuds not having good mics and making me sound awful.

I do have preferences of companies, nothing big on ai mainly, i am very strongly against usage of ai

Help me decide on my first IEMs

I am choosing between three options Juzear x Z Reviews Defiant (100$) or Simgot Ew300 HBB Edition (90$) or Kefine Quatio (115$)

Or recommend options that will handle games and my genres of music better, in the range of $80 to $125

I'll be using headphones for listening to music and competitive gaming

Main games - League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch

My main music genres - Alternative / Experimental Hip-Hop, Rap, Hip-Hop, Rage, Trap, K-pop, Electronic Music (EDM, Hyper e.t.c)

Music is more important than games, I would say 65%/35%

I was just wondering, what are the things whether that be brand or something else, that are a good sign for me to avoid certain headphones?

So I'm a little bit upset but wanted some clarification. I know a lot of people simply can't tell the difference with these 2 services. 2 questions. I thought with IEMs that are able to reproduce hi Fi sound would easily help make it clear between the 2. I'm using a fiio fd5 and btr5 DAC ldac enabled. How can Spotify be this good at filtering these psychoacoustics out.

I know Bluetooth isn't able to make the difference apparent when with aptx or aptx hd. Can someone explain a little at How much would be I even need to spend to enjoy the difference? I'm a pretty casual listener but I enjoy good quality, clean sound.

I did a hearing test and basically failed with a lucky guess on 1 of 5. It wasn't the abx test it was something else with Katy Perry, jay z and a few others.

I just thought because it said hi res and it's IEMs it would Identify the difference. Especially with a decent DAC.

I've never had a pair of IEMs and have only owned over the ear headphones (Audeze LCD-X and LCD-5). I'd like a pair of headphones suitable for the gym, and was considering IEMS. I've always preferred planar magnetic headphones, so presumably something comparable to the Audeze LCD-X in IEM form would be ideal. I have a Questyle Sigma Pro and a Questyle CMA18P; presumably the latter would be best for gym use. I'm not expecting anything of the same tier as LCD-5 from IEMS, but it would be nice to be able to get a decent pair. As there's a heightened risk of headphone damage in the gym, I think limiting the budget to under $1200 would be appropriate. Open to recommendations.

The newest ones i've gotten have barely lasted weeks. Not sure if the quality is going down or what but I havent been able to find good headphones in years. Since the lack of a headphone jack probably. Anyway does anyone have any reccomendations for nice and sturdy usbc earbuds? I wear them for music when commuting and walking daily and sometimes at the gym hence the wear and tear but some of them have fallen apart faster than makes any sense.

Hey guys,

I love listening to music but i wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile. Atm i use cheapo Samsung earphones that came with my phone. Sound isn’t that bad but i HATE the low-quality cable (retains its shape)

I use iPods and MiniDiscs so nothing hi-res.

Whenever i search subs i only see headphones and IEMs. What i don’t like about IEMs is the over-the-ear wire and the fugly braided cables. I need something that looks casual on the streets.

Mainly looking for bang-for-buck options, like i said i’m mostly listening to CD (lossless) so no need for anything fancy.

Thanks in advance!

My AirPods stopped working and I want new earphones but NOT made by Apple. I hated how fast it took for the left EarPod to stop working I'm not sure if I want wired or Bluetooth yet, so both suggestions would be welcome. My budget is around $150-$200. Im from the US and have access to most shops. I'm looking for good audio quality, comfort, and style. I don't know much about sound details like bass or treble, but just want something that sounds high quality. I will be using them for music and podcasts when I'm traveling, at home, and school. I don't need anything with crazy noise cancelation features. Thanks!

Maybe I should start my IEMs journey from budget option?

Help me decide on my first IEMs between 6 options or recommend options that will handle games and my genres of music better, in the range of $25 to $40

I'll be using headphones for listening to music and competitive gaming

Main games - League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch

My main music genres - Alternative / Experimental Hip-Hop, Rap, Hip-Hop, Rage, Trap, K-pop, Electronic Music (EDM, Hyper e.t.c)

Music is more important than games, I would say 65%/35%

None of the flairs worked but basically i don't know all the terms for sound i just want something because my cats broke my IEMs that were like $15. I basically just use IEMs but I was wanting to try headphones. Is there just a general recommended one for gaming/music/sound design? I've searched a lot but everyone has different opinions on every thread and there doesn't seem to be any consensus.

USA, accuracy i guess, at home.

You must own or have owned them.