So you daily drive the May? Nice. This proofs how crazy a cheapo can sound sometimes even though it's not a "cheapo" by a normal user standards... I can talk about that myself, and I'll do it right now! I had the 7hz Timeless AE, Moondrop Variations, Tachjim Zero, Moondrop Chu, 7hz Zero, Truthear Zero and Red, the bad revision of the KZ PR2, Moondrop Sparks DSP and Moondrop Aria. My first mistake in the audio world was buying a set of Meze 99 Classics. I'm not a headphone person to be honest and that was the worst set ever. This is what I found out about all those: - Moondrop Variations has inverted polarity out of the box (I can hear the difference), the EST driver for the mids sucks SO MUCH and they are really hard to make for any IEMs/headphones in general. They felt too thin in the mids (and it's because of the driver, not the harman target) and the highs were kinda masked by the boomy bass. So the experience wasn't great for the price tag haha - 7hz Timeless AE: I've discovered the TRI Clarion eartips with these. Great seal and helps with spatial audio compared to normal eartips, and now they're my daily driver eartips. The IEM was ok, very detailed and nice sounding, the "soundstage" was big in comparison to what other people were saying about them. But the tuning is too brigth and a little muddy, oops! - Tachjim Zero, Moondrop CHU and Sparks DSP, and the KZ PR2: They weren't my thing at all, all regret. - Truthear ZERO and RED: Blues are weirdly artificial sounding, Reds are the better ones in general. They are one of my most favorites among them all, great sound quality, spatial capabilities, really good tuning with and without the impedance adapter... they sound pretty natural to me, absurdly correct in terms of price to performance, just the absurdly huge nozzle for some people as the main complain. Also the black filters behind the metal ones caused chanel imbalance on my iem set, they are really hard to replace because they are there to reduce harshness and you can't find any official or aftermarket replacements anywhere. That's my biggest drawback of this set, that black filter there is key and impossible to replace. You don't want to have a great set turn into a not-so-good paperweight... - 7hz Zero OG: I'm daily driving these bad boys. The filter issue is not present here, you have a harshness reduction piece that is easy to replace and you won't have to do that ever, just the filter over it so the issue I had with the ZERO:RED is gone. They are comfortable, sound great, nice technical performance for the price and the spatial sound is wild with the TRI Clarion tips... I kind of have it in the same level of the Truthear Red but the bass is lacking and that's why I would say the REDs are better in theory... But these are better for me, the filter mesh issue is bigger than the bass on these. If it weren't because of the bass, they are neck a neck for me. - Moondrop Aria: They sound relaxed and great, nothing special to me but I keep them because I have the MIKU version and they are in my collection for that specific reason. This is exactly the way you can tell how a consumer level IEM set can do more than enough for most people. A good tuning, fine spacial sound, and detail perception can make you enjoy any cheap IEM more than those 500$ or kilobuck sets. I sold most of the sets but the aria, zero red and blue, and the 7hz zero. I'll try the Truthear Nova (similar tuning to RED, no EST driver and optional filters), 7hz Zero 2 (to check if the bass boost fixes my issue with the OG ones), and your actual daily driver in case those don't cut it for me, just to make sure because I trust your taste in IEMs. Moral of the story: don't overspend if you tried a set and you're happy with it. Experiment with a max of 200$ and only if you don't find the daily driver goal, maybe try a higher end one in a expo or a store if possible. More money doesn't equal to better performance in most cases! Sometimes it's not even a big of a step up if you pay a lot for a good high end set (I've tried many in a convention and the 10% increase in terms of performance ain't worth the 500$ to 2000$ extra amount to most of us mortals)
Thanks for sharing your experience! I tried the Chu2 and the Aria2 and I have to say bang for bucks - you really get what you pay for. Aria is really great for almost anyone new to the audio world!
@@prinzatago indeed! To me my peak recommendation is the Truthear Nova. Those are BEAST and perform way better than Variations IMO Killer iem and still budget for a hybrid
@@prinzatago hmmm... the novas are way better tuned that's for sure, but the bass on the blessing 3 has a lot of presence thanks to the 2 driver config on the bass But to be honest, it's a matter of preference here and I prefer the nova, they're also cheaper
@@EneRec Greetings! I bought the Blessing 3 and listened to it for a week. I believe I have found the love of my life XD XD I've always loved Moondrop's signature tuning (VDSF) on the Chu, the Aria and the Kato, so B3 is obviously in my comfort zone. Just as you said, the bass on B3 has a strong presence yet lives in total harmony with other frequencies. It is clean, precise, well defined, pleasantly thumpy, awesomely rumbly and overall is a complete blast to listen to! The B3 is also a technicality monster, insanely detailed with wide soundstage. I could hear stuffs previously invisible in my favorite tracks. Shed some manly tears right there... On very crowded orchestral tracks the B3 seems to lose some of the details and soundstage depth (still very wide). Or it's just me not having golden ears LOL. I heard the Monarch Mk2 is absolute god tier in terms of macro and complex layering but to be honest, I'm not willing to pay four times the price for marginal gains in quality that my ears might not even be able to pick up. In short I'm super duper ultra uber happy with the Blessing 3. Truly my end-game audio gear for the next decade LOL!
Thanks for the spreadsheet! Keep cooking chef! Edit: Any reasons you daily-drive with May instead of Blessing? All reviews I read online say the Blessing is superior in anyway. Edit: Golden Ages! Me no buyer's remorse me happi!
Usually a set with good BA driver has an upper hand, e.g. sa6 mk2, og dusk, em6l etc. Dynamic driver wise, i'd say something from Kato or beyond, but im okay with tech in May/ chu2 already, with chu2 on the more metallic side, and may on the soft & warm side.
What would you say is the best IEM for a natural sounding technicality for under $500? I've heard a lot of reviews say the softears studio 4's, but I would love to hear your opinion!
I have never owned a pair of studio 4's so I can't comment much on that, currently I'm using blessing 3 with spring tips as my iem cross reference point for monitoring, but to someone ears it may sound lean...? PS You may wait a little bit and look up for reviews on Dunu x Gizaudio DaVinci, my pair is coming as well, and the FR looks pretty interesting.
@Ikeiya Good to know! One day I may get a pair from used market... But the worst thing about blessing 3 is, it didn't come with a pair of spring tips, which is needed for it, now they come with it in the dusk package, SMH.
Both great replies, and I appreciate the inputs you each provided! Im not in a hurry to buy another pair of IEMs anyway, so I'll definitely wait to see how those new IEMs are reviewed!
Hi I have a problem in my headphones, for some reason at high frequencies or transitions from low sharply to high on the sound is heard for a fraction of a second crackle. And this is on every headphone (I have 4 of them and they are all completely different) + with different types of connection. Only in the phone does not have this sound How can this be fixed? because I couldn't find the problem because I tried all methods
If the problem doesn't exist while using phone as your source, then maybe there's some problem on your desktop side? like amp, power problem of usb etc?
@@catadegen emmm idk really, i thing just idk . Got 1 pc 2 laptops and 2 phones tested. 4 headphones and 2 dac, ALL THE same. But at the phones the crackle smooother i thing, cuz phones got smooother volume slider. The crackle start appearing when mowing slider faster as usual and when sharply high volume start playing
Now come to think of it, maybe it's just about the processing power/delay causing such problem, try to use foobar2000+wasapi asio for pc music playback? In my e30 dac software, there's a thing called buffer, which maybe related as well...? No idea still, never experienced such problem.
This is such a cool video and timely topic. Love many of the images you selected like the mist in the trees! I may need to rewatch this a couple of times, which is a good thing! You really deserve more followers Cata! I was on a flight recently, and plugged the Hexa’s with linsoul cable into the sound jack for media. The Hexa sounded unusually good, bigger, more definition, - sometimes movie soundtracks are quite well produced. I listened to a bit of orchestral jazz, and it also sounded better than I usually experience the hexa! Like this video a lot, thanks 🙏
So you daily drive the May? Nice. This proofs how crazy a cheapo can sound sometimes even though it's not a "cheapo" by a normal user standards...
I can talk about that myself, and I'll do it right now!
I had the 7hz Timeless AE, Moondrop Variations, Tachjim Zero, Moondrop Chu, 7hz Zero, Truthear Zero and Red, the bad revision of the KZ PR2, Moondrop Sparks DSP and Moondrop Aria.
My first mistake in the audio world was buying a set of Meze 99 Classics. I'm not a headphone person to be honest and that was the worst set ever.
This is what I found out about all those:
- Moondrop Variations has inverted polarity out of the box (I can hear the difference), the EST driver for the mids sucks SO MUCH and they are really hard to make for any IEMs/headphones in general. They felt too thin in the mids (and it's because of the driver, not the harman target) and the highs were kinda masked by the boomy bass. So the experience wasn't great for the price tag haha
- 7hz Timeless AE: I've discovered the TRI Clarion eartips with these. Great seal and helps with spatial audio compared to normal eartips, and now they're my daily driver eartips. The IEM was ok, very detailed and nice sounding, the "soundstage" was big in comparison to what other people were saying about them. But the tuning is too brigth and a little muddy, oops!
- Tachjim Zero, Moondrop CHU and Sparks DSP, and the KZ PR2: They weren't my thing at all, all regret.
- Truthear ZERO and RED: Blues are weirdly artificial sounding, Reds are the better ones in general. They are one of my most favorites among them all, great sound quality, spatial capabilities, really good tuning with and without the impedance adapter... they sound pretty natural to me, absurdly correct in terms of price to performance, just the absurdly huge nozzle for some people as the main complain. Also the black filters behind the metal ones caused chanel imbalance on my iem set, they are really hard to replace because they are there to reduce harshness and you can't find any official or aftermarket replacements anywhere. That's my biggest drawback of this set, that black filter there is key and impossible to replace. You don't want to have a great set turn into a not-so-good paperweight...
- 7hz Zero OG: I'm daily driving these bad boys. The filter issue is not present here, you have a harshness reduction piece that is easy to replace and you won't have to do that ever, just the filter over it so the issue I had with the ZERO:RED is gone. They are comfortable, sound great, nice technical performance for the price and the spatial sound is wild with the TRI Clarion tips... I kind of have it in the same level of the Truthear Red but the bass is lacking and that's why I would say the REDs are better in theory... But these are better for me, the filter mesh issue is bigger than the bass on these. If it weren't because of the bass, they are neck a neck for me.
- Moondrop Aria: They sound relaxed and great, nothing special to me but I keep them because I have the MIKU version and they are in my collection for that specific reason.
This is exactly the way you can tell how a consumer level IEM set can do more than enough for most people. A good tuning, fine spacial sound, and detail perception can make you enjoy any cheap IEM more than those 500$ or kilobuck sets.
I sold most of the sets but the aria, zero red and blue, and the 7hz zero.
I'll try the Truthear Nova (similar tuning to RED, no EST driver and optional filters), 7hz Zero 2 (to check if the bass boost fixes my issue with the OG ones), and your actual daily driver in case those don't cut it for me, just to make sure because I trust your taste in IEMs.
Moral of the story: don't overspend if you tried a set and you're happy with it. Experiment with a max of 200$ and only if you don't find the daily driver goal, maybe try a higher end one in a expo or a store if possible.
More money doesn't equal to better performance in most cases! Sometimes it's not even a big of a step up if you pay a lot for a good high end set (I've tried many in a convention and the 10% increase in terms of performance ain't worth the 500$ to 2000$ extra amount to most of us mortals)
Thanks for sharing your experience! I tried the Chu2 and the Aria2 and I have to say bang for bucks - you really get what you pay for. Aria is really great for almost anyone new to the audio world!
@@prinzatago indeed! To me my peak recommendation is the Truthear Nova. Those are BEAST and perform way better than Variations IMO
Killer iem and still budget for a hybrid
@@EneRec Nice, thanks for the recommendation! How would you compare the Moondrop Blessing with Truthhear Nova?
@@prinzatago hmmm... the novas are way better tuned that's for sure, but the bass on the blessing 3 has a lot of presence thanks to the 2 driver config on the bass
But to be honest, it's a matter of preference here and I prefer the nova, they're also cheaper
@@EneRec Greetings! I bought the Blessing 3 and listened to it for a week. I believe I have found the love of my life XD XD
I've always loved Moondrop's signature tuning (VDSF) on the Chu, the Aria and the Kato, so B3 is obviously in my comfort zone.
Just as you said, the bass on B3 has a strong presence yet lives in total harmony with other frequencies. It is clean, precise, well defined, pleasantly thumpy, awesomely rumbly and overall is a complete blast to listen to!
The B3 is also a technicality monster, insanely detailed with wide soundstage. I could hear stuffs previously invisible in my favorite tracks. Shed some manly tears right there...
On very crowded orchestral tracks the B3 seems to lose some of the details and soundstage depth (still very wide). Or it's just me not having golden ears LOL.
I heard the Monarch Mk2 is absolute god tier in terms of macro and complex layering but to be honest, I'm not willing to pay four times the price for marginal gains in quality that my ears might not even be able to pick up.
In short I'm super duper ultra uber happy with the Blessing 3. Truly my end-game audio gear for the next decade LOL!
Tuning + Drivers + Your HRTF
Also insertion depth (so tips) makes the tuning work better or worse for your own ear
Thanks for the spreadsheet! Keep cooking chef!
Edit: Any reasons you daily-drive with May instead of Blessing? All reviews I read online say the Blessing is superior in anyway.
Edit: Golden Ages! Me no buyer's remorse me happi!
Thanks for sharing your vision on the hobby
2:16 which earphone would it be?
Usually a set with good BA driver has an upper hand, e.g. sa6 mk2, og dusk, em6l etc.
Dynamic driver wise, i'd say something from Kato or beyond, but im okay with tech in May/ chu2 already, with chu2 on the more metallic side, and may on the soft & warm side.
What would you say is the best IEM for a natural sounding technicality for under $500? I've heard a lot of reviews say the softears studio 4's, but I would love to hear your opinion!
I have never owned a pair of studio 4's so I can't comment much on that, currently I'm using blessing 3 with spring tips as my iem cross reference point for monitoring, but to someone ears it may sound lean...?
PS You may wait a little bit and look up for reviews on Dunu x Gizaudio DaVinci, my pair is coming as well, and the FR looks pretty interesting.
@Ikeiya Good to know! One day I may get a pair from used market... But the worst thing about blessing 3 is, it didn't come with a pair of spring tips, which is needed for it, now they come with it in the dusk package, SMH.
Both great replies, and I appreciate the inputs you each provided! Im not in a hurry to buy another pair of IEMs anyway, so I'll definitely wait to see how those new IEMs are reviewed!
@Ikeiya Also, out of curiosity, what eartips do you use with your studio 4's?
Hi I have a problem in my headphones, for some reason at high frequencies or transitions from low sharply to high on the sound is heard for a fraction of a second crackle. And this is on every headphone (I have 4 of them and they are all completely different) + with different types of connection. Only in the phone does not have this sound
How can this be fixed? because I couldn't find the problem because I tried all methods
If the problem doesn't exist while using phone as your source, then maybe there's some problem on your desktop side? like amp, power problem of usb etc?
@@catadegen emmm idk really, i thing just idk . Got 1 pc 2 laptops and 2 phones tested. 4 headphones and 2 dac, ALL THE same. But at the phones the crackle smooother i thing, cuz phones got smooother volume slider. The crackle start appearing when mowing slider faster as usual and when sharply high volume start playing
Now come to think of it, maybe it's just about the processing power/delay causing such problem, try to use foobar2000+wasapi asio for pc music playback? In my e30 dac software, there's a thing called buffer, which maybe related as well...? No idea still, never experienced such problem.
This is such a cool video and timely topic.
Love many of the images you selected like the mist in the trees!
I may need to rewatch this a couple of times, which is a good thing!
You really deserve more followers Cata!
I was on a flight recently, and plugged the Hexa’s with linsoul cable into the sound jack for media.
The Hexa sounded unusually good, bigger, more definition, - sometimes movie soundtracks are quite well produced. I listened to a bit of orchestral jazz, and it also sounded better than I usually experience the hexa!
Like this video a lot, thanks 🙏
driver quality does not matter, get good at eq
Lol
Guess I can tune my $1 SPRISE HIFI Dual Drive 6D earphone to sound exactly like Final A8000
@@NovaRay sure, go on