Great review. Been wanting to pick these up for a while now as my first pair of IEMs and you brought up some great points. The bass part is pretty important to me since I mostly listen to rap and hyperpop, but it sounds like there might be better IEMs for those genres at this price point that you alluded to. What would you recommend?
Hey, thanks for the comment! Glad you found it useful. There’s two ways to go about this: If you just want something with solid bass, another commenter here recommended the CCA CRA’s which look to have a pretty decent bass response. I’d just picked up the KBEAR Rosenfinch myself to try them out. Both of those have a higher bass shelf and sub bass extension, and both are single dynamic driver IEMs at around $20-$25. These might be a good place to start. If you want to just pump the bass on these up a bit, pick up an 80ohm impedance adapter. I just picked this one up for about $11 for both an 80ohm and 220ohm amzn.to/4a5QvaE (I wanted something to help drop the volume some on earbuds for when I listen quietly. The bass boost is nice, too.) Side note: I’m very spoiled by the bass on my Skullcandy Crushers ANC 2’s (review upcoming), so take that into consideration, please!
ive bought these and they are on their way. i wanna know if i should buy the ifi go link dac with these to get better quality of sound or just these are fine. great explanation, thanks!!
Thanks for the kind words. I felt these were fine without the Go Link: they’re super easy to drive, so you’d only want it if you want them to be louder, or if you need a 3.5mm to USB-C connector and don’t already have something on that front. If you want more bass, though, and the 10 ohm impedance adaptor isn’t enough, I’d recommend picking up a 20 or 30 ohm adaptor, but that will also make it quieter.
I think it would be pretty cool if in future wired iem reviews you compared them to wireless earbuds. I mostly just want to know how much cheaper of a wired earbud sound better than a far more expensive wireless option
Thanks for this! I’ll keep that in mind! I will say, the IEM market feels like a race to the bottom right now, and there’s pretty incredible stuff on the cheap. The earbud marked hasn’t quite gotten there yet. (When I see sub-$100 TWS’s with 3BA + 1DD configurations, then I know we’ll have started the journey there. Starting to see more dual dynamic driver setups, though, so crossing my fingers.) For example, I’ve been loving my MOONDROP Chu 2, which was just $19. I’m hard pressed to think of something that sounds this good for this price, largely due to current limitations with Bluetooth. For example, the MOONDROP Space Travel is $25 and has similar tuning and even driver, but not the same depth of sound due to wires vs necessarily compressed audio.
@@NorbReviews I'm the most impressed that a driver can handle such boost. They're are a very good set without any adapter, but sometimes you just want some BASS!!!
it sounds clear because its not being A/B'ed next to an actually clear setup like the SImgot EM6L/Truthear Nova... I have these here and its not clear.. its actually really muffled and lacks resolution and detail. also theres no benefit from using the wide tip center, theres a way to measure this and when you graph it... the smaller holes are usually better... Van morrison Shakin' All Over ... the zeros just sound muddy and weird... For its price and lack of resolution I dont see how the CCA CRA's dont beat this out, there so much more value for money in "Budget".
Simgot EM6L and Truthear Nova are twice the price and both have more dedicated drivers. It isn’t apples to apples. I did take out a comparison between this and the Hexa where I called this out, too, that the Zero Red wasn’t AS clear, but that’s not to say they’re not clear. It’s just warmer. And It just didn’t make sense to compare them because one is $55 and the other is $80, which is why I cut it. Also, I wanted to focus on the Red. That said, I haven’t tried the CCA CRA’s so I can’t speak to them. For the price, I may pick them up later. I’ve been using the Moondrop Chu2, which I’ve really liked (far more than the Hola, which cost bout the same). Interested in comparing them plus the KBEAR Rosenfinch. Thanks for your thoughts!
Yeah, not a problem without a DAC. I use it without a DAC all the time; just plug it into my laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad). You’ll need a DAC if you want to plug it to a phone without a 3.5mm jack, though.
Would a dongle work? I use mine with the Apple USB-C dongle and that works just fine, with the appropriate level of detail. Right now, these are $48 + USB-C dongle at $9, we’re looking at ~$60 total including tax. One you may want to consider, if you don’t mind losing some bass, is the Moondroo Jiu, which are IEMs with an integrated DSP. That ones single driver and just $22, I think.
I dunno. I have a degree in music, worked as a sound engineer, and all I got here are Focal Clears, Bathys, HiFiMan Ananda, and Sennheiser Momentum 3 and 4. I think maybe the M50X might be overkill, you know?
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I pay for this stuff myself, so every little bit helps. Thank you for watching! 🙏
Great review. Been wanting to pick these up for a while now as my first pair of IEMs and you brought up some great points. The bass part is pretty important to me since I mostly listen to rap and hyperpop, but it sounds like there might be better IEMs for those genres at this price point that you alluded to. What would you recommend?
Hey, thanks for the comment! Glad you found it useful.
There’s two ways to go about this:
If you just want something with solid bass, another commenter here recommended the CCA CRA’s which look to have a pretty decent bass response. I’d just picked up the KBEAR Rosenfinch myself to try them out. Both of those have a higher bass shelf and sub bass extension, and both are single dynamic driver IEMs at around $20-$25. These might be a good place to start.
If you want to just pump the bass on these up a bit, pick up an 80ohm impedance adapter. I just picked this one up for about $11 for both an 80ohm and 220ohm amzn.to/4a5QvaE (I wanted something to help drop the volume some on earbuds for when I listen quietly. The bass boost is nice, too.)
Side note: I’m very spoiled by the bass on my Skullcandy Crushers ANC 2’s (review upcoming), so take that into consideration, please!
ive bought these and they are on their way. i wanna know if i should buy the ifi go link dac with these to get better quality of sound or just these are fine. great explanation, thanks!!
Thanks for the kind words.
I felt these were fine without the Go Link: they’re super easy to drive, so you’d only want it if you want them to be louder, or if you need a 3.5mm to USB-C connector and don’t already have something on that front.
If you want more bass, though, and the 10 ohm impedance adaptor isn’t enough, I’d recommend picking up a 20 or 30 ohm adaptor, but that will also make it quieter.
I think it would be pretty cool if in future wired iem reviews you compared them to wireless earbuds. I mostly just want to know how much cheaper of a wired earbud sound better than a far more expensive wireless option
Thanks for this! I’ll keep that in mind!
I will say, the IEM market feels like a race to the bottom right now, and there’s pretty incredible stuff on the cheap. The earbud marked hasn’t quite gotten there yet. (When I see sub-$100 TWS’s with 3BA + 1DD configurations, then I know we’ll have started the journey there. Starting to see more dual dynamic driver setups, though, so crossing my fingers.)
For example, I’ve been loving my MOONDROP Chu 2, which was just $19. I’m hard pressed to think of something that sounds this good for this price, largely due to current limitations with Bluetooth. For example, the MOONDROP Space Travel is $25 and has similar tuning and even driver, but not the same depth of sound due to wires vs necessarily compressed audio.
nice review
Thank you!
Try them with the 75 ohm adapter, you'll get all the bass xD
I literally just bought an 80ohm adapter yesterday. I’ll let you know when I test it.
Edit: Tested and, yeah, that’s preeeety nice.
@@NorbReviews I'm the most impressed that a driver can handle such boost. They're are a very good set without any adapter, but sometimes you just want some BASS!!!
it sounds clear because its not being A/B'ed next to an actually clear setup like the SImgot EM6L/Truthear Nova... I have these here and its not clear.. its actually really muffled and lacks resolution and detail. also theres no benefit from using the wide tip center, theres a way to measure this and when you graph it... the smaller holes are usually better... Van morrison Shakin' All Over ... the zeros just sound muddy and weird... For its price and lack of resolution I dont see how the CCA CRA's dont beat this out, there so much more value for money in "Budget".
Simgot EM6L and Truthear Nova are twice the price and both have more dedicated drivers. It isn’t apples to apples. I did take out a comparison between this and the Hexa where I called this out, too, that the Zero Red wasn’t AS clear, but that’s not to say they’re not clear. It’s just warmer. And It just didn’t make sense to compare them because one is $55 and the other is $80, which is why I cut it. Also, I wanted to focus on the Red.
That said, I haven’t tried the CCA CRA’s so I can’t speak to them. For the price, I may pick them up later. I’ve been using the Moondrop Chu2, which I’ve really liked (far more than the Hola, which cost bout the same). Interested in comparing them plus the KBEAR Rosenfinch.
Thanks for your thoughts!
can we use this without any DAC? is it worth using it without a DAC or purchase a cheaper IEM?
Yeah, not a problem without a DAC. I use it without a DAC all the time; just plug it into my laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad). You’ll need a DAC if you want to plug it to a phone without a 3.5mm jack, though.
@@NorbReviews got it. Thanks
Unfortunately they wouldn't work with my phone, only a USB-C jack. My phone is how I listen most. Otherwise, if I was at my desk I'm using cans. 😁
Would a dongle work? I use mine with the Apple USB-C dongle and that works just fine, with the appropriate level of detail.
Right now, these are $48 + USB-C dongle at $9, we’re looking at ~$60 total including tax.
One you may want to consider, if you don’t mind losing some bass, is the Moondroo Jiu, which are IEMs with an integrated DSP. That ones single driver and just $22, I think.
@@NorbReviews there are also cables that end in usb c instead of 3.5mm
true2 highly advised to start from smth like m50x or mdr1a, so that youll listen to 'good sound' first
I dunno. I have a degree in music, worked as a sound engineer, and all I got here are Focal Clears, Bathys, HiFiMan Ananda, and Sennheiser Momentum 3 and 4. I think maybe the M50X might be overkill, you know?
lol@@NorbReviews