u/EpikGameDev

I want to use them for almost everything, upto 12hrs each day.

This includes casual listening to music, occasional gaming and blu ray remux movies.

From what I have understood till now is that I should try to get a hybrid one with DD (for bass and depth) + BA (for crisp details and gaming).

There are some IEMs advertising V shaped profile but I am not sure whether if this type of tuning will also hold strong in movies and games...

Best price to performance seems to be KZ thunder but if anything beats its price to performance then I would like to have that. I get it hybrid isn't something mandatory for a good pair of IEMs as I did have an AKG type C earphones which had 2 DD and sounded great.

Please help

First I got Noise 4 as my first over ear headphones after my MDR650BT on ears one broke after 5-6 years. I really liked these as they were so comfortable and the new 2 point connection thing was really useful for me, but within 6 months or so these broke in the middle.... making clamping force practically none.

Then I thought maybe because these were on the cheap side they are like this, so I extended my budget a bit and got Soundcore Q35 for 6.5k in April 2025, at first it was great. I had never had such a great quality audio device, I really liked its sound profile and the custom eq feature provided in the app by soundcore. Then by the end of the year these were like in the photos, I thought that this is nothing as earcups are replaceable so I will just change the cups soon, but now within 9 months of purchase the ANC mode wasn't functioning at all, like it was just making the sound quality worse with 0 actual noise cancelling compared to when it was new this was dogshit.

I searched for a way to claim warranty, after 19 emails long convo with the soundcore support team, I negotiated my way to get a refurb space one as they didn't have stock for my model and at first pushing on Q30s...

I found the space ones as a fine replacement as in some ways it was even better than Q35s.

But since my warranty's original period was already nearing its end and it was going to take 15 days something to the whole exchange thing to happen, I asked if they could extend the warranty. They then said I will get a 3 month warranty for the refurbished one.

I got the space ones on 15th Feb, now its nearing its warranty end and I noticed that the wear detection feature stopped working and wouldn't let me calibrate it again no matter how many times I had hard reset it.

So I mailed the support again regarding this, at first they said they have no replacement available right now so they will refund me 40%. While I was in this convo over the emails I noticed how the left area above the hinge has cracked... so I added this to my email and asked for higher percentage refund, they agreed and are willing to give 50% refund.

I am being greedy and pushing my luck but I have sent my last mail to let them reconsider, I will lock on 50% as soon as I sense there is no way I am not getting more out of them, as these space ones are a ticking bomb and idk when these will break, but once they break I will be left with nothing.

I am a heavy user, I use my headphones almost 12hrs+ everyday.

I want multipoint connect bt as my phone doesn't have a aux jack and I also don't prefer cables dangling over my food while I eat.

From my experience I am forced to believe now that not even one over ear headphones (within my budget range right now) will survive my use case for long enough.

So what should I get exactly with this upcoming refund money + whatever extra it requires.

I can't go back to boat/noise quality headphones as I can easy feel the bad quality now.....

Or should I go ultimate compromise and just get a studio quality wired headphones?

or get some tws which might last long? I know tws might be worst for my use case as wearing them for a long time might hurt my ears... but still I am open for suggestions.

Pls help :(

Hey I am new to IEMs, I am planning to buy my first IEM after my every wireless headphone breaks within 1 year with my usage (4 till now). Please recommend some for my use case:)(Under 5k, around 3k preferably)