Advice for a first time IEM owner?
Disclaimer: I have no idea what the proper way of describing anything is, so my review is mostly based off vibes and a bunch of guesses and buzzwords that I'm throwing at the wall to see if they make sense to anyone. This is a bunch of yap.
After buying a cheap pair of IEMs (Samsung IA500), and deciding they sounded pretty good, I wanted to try out some real IEMs, so I bought the Truthear Gate and the Wan er SG 2, since they seemed pretty popular.
Now that it's been a bit after trying them out, while I definitely though that they sounded cleaner and more detailed than my wireless earbuds like my Airpods Pro 3, honestly I thought they just sounded worse than my cheaper pair that I had earlier.
For my setup, I use an apple 3.5mm to usb c DAC, and plug it into my laptop or iPad, with apple music.
I'm also pretty sure I have them in correctly. The seal seems pretty good to me, and I tried all the different sizes that came with the IEMs till I got a seal that made bass sound pretty bassy and I couldn't hear that much outside noise.
A couple complaints I had for the Wan er 2 is that sometimes in bass heavy songs the bass is very loud and almost a bit too thumping and overwhelming. I had the opposite thoughts for the Gate, which I thought sounded a bit boring and lacking in bass. I did think the bass sounded pretty clean though, just not enough though.
Also, for the Wan Er 2, for songs with some treble or high-y sounds, the "s" sounds or high drums like the cymbals? are painful to listen to, as in it hurts to listen to and doesn't just sound bad.
Additionally, the largest reason that I thought they sounded worse is than my old pair is that they sounded less full or sharp. When listening to the genres of music that I like, like classical, jpop and pop, rap, etc. , and swapping between iems/earbuds to compare, I thought that the IEMs just sounded less rich than my old pair, and kind of sounded like they were missing some frequencies or something like that. They also sounded kind of undetailed or muddy for certain sounds, like some vocals for the wan er 2s, though I thought that the Gates were a bit better than the Wan Er 2's here. Maybe because of this, but I thought that songs without that much bass sounded kind of boring on the Wan Er, and songs overall just sounded boring on the Gates.
IDK if I'm describing it correctly, since the consensus on the Wan er 2's and Gates are pretty positive, but I found the sound of the IEMs to be kind of closed and undetailed, and the vocals for some songs to sound less detailed and maybe instruments lacking separation. By closed together it sounds like the sound isn't very wide, and is just concentrated in the middle of my head. While I thought that my old pair had a pretty mediocre soundstage compared to my airpods, I thought that the IEMs were a bit worse than my old pair in terms of wideness.
Questions: What makes something sound "rich", or detailed? Is it just about finding a tuning / eqing the buds to find something I like, or is it a limitation of buying super cheap IEMs? Something about the IA500s was that they were eq'd, while the other 2 IEMs weren't, since I kind of wanted to experience them without eqing. Without EQ, I think the IA500 sounded pretty boomy and vague sounding, but sounded clearer and cleaner with eqing.
Also, any tips for being able to describe the sound signature I like, or testing / comparing IEMs? So far I've just been listening to a song with each IEM, but I feel like this is very vibes based, and might change a lot because of variations in volume between each listen. I want to be able to describe the sounds I like, like "lots of mid bass" or like bright or dark sounding IEMs.
Also, I find it very hard to describe or just EQ to what I like. For example, when trying the PeqDB random EQ circle target personal EQ, I honestly can't describe the difference between different EQs, or understand why or which one I like more. They mostly sound the same-ish to me, so I just go off vibes, and after EQing, I can honestly barely tell if I actually like the new sound more. Any tips for eqing, like a guide or something?
Also another something: what's the difference between more and less expensive IEM's if you can EQ to sound them to what you like? I feel like sound is very subjective, so as long as they are tuned to whatever you like, what actually differentiates them?
Also, any suggestions for other IEMs based on my very vague thoughts on the Wan Er 2s and gates? I could have a budget of up to like $150-200, but I don't really want to spend money without knowing what I like, and just being disappointed if I get something that sounds boring / bad to me personally.
TLDR: I find new IEMs that I got, Wan Er 2 and gates to sound less full / detailed / good than my old pair, IA500, but a lot better than my wireless pairs like airpods. How to find out what I like, and how do i describe it? Should I buy more expensive stuff? How do I EQ?