Hello everyone

I need you guys help in choosing which of these iem that suit my music taste (Pop-rock, Pop-ballads and Melodic rap & hip - hop)

The iem that I have been looking at are:

1. Aful Explorer

2. Juzear Defiant (I know about the QC issue)

3. Sivga Qué

At this moment, I'm using Headphone Philips Shp 9500 which according to chatgpt the sound signature is bright and airy. The reason why I'm buying this headphone because of it is highly rated for gaming and quite good for songs according to reviews.

My biggest issue with it is the lack of bass and there is no fun factor. Every time I'm using it, it just sound ok and there is nothing to be excited about it. For the price I get it around $50, I think maybe this is the best I can get for a headphone

Another issue that I have with it is I can't really increase the volume since the sound will be unbearable for me for a long listening like 30 minutes and above. I generally using it with my laptop without any dac and the volume that I'm comfortable to listen to is around 30% to 40%.

This will be my first iem and I don't really want to consider something cheap (less than $50) since you can't really expect too much from it just what I have experienced with my current headphone. I hope you guys with more experienced can help me in choosing iem that suit my music taste.

Thanks :)

Hello! I was told to make this guide available on Reddit by a friend so I decided to post this here. Seeing that there's an increase in international visitors to Indonesia, especially to our capital in Jakarta; I've created a simple guide to visitors who are interested in making their way to STC Senayan. That place is a treasure trove for different types of hobbies, especially for audio gear. There are several stores there to keep a note of, and I'm going to provide a general division of what each store would carry for purchase. These stores allow for you to try the products they have in stock before you buy so hopefully this might be a good point of reference!

CSI ZONE - They primarily focus on popular chifi brands like Moondrop, Tanchjim, Tangzu and Truthear, etc. They carry things from their subsidiaries like Harmonic Empire as well. They carry products from Sennheiser and Audio Technica for headphones, as well as the IE series of IEMS from Sennheiser.

Kuping Sensi (Kupsen) - They carry a variety of brands, from the most affordable ones to mid to high end IEMs. They primarily focus on IEMs, dongles and cables and not so much on headphones. They have stuff from KZ, CCA, Dunu, Ziigaat, Xenns, EPZ, Kinera, Tinhifi, Artpical, Simgot, etc. They really have a lot, so you can really explore your options there when it comes to IEMs. I think for the most part you will spend most of your time here.

BTM (Beyond the Music) - They have a lot of things going on in the store, from IEMs and headphones to desktop sized DACs and Amps. They focus more on mid to high end brands though they still have some affordable options. In terms of IEM brands they have stuff from 64 Audio, Symphonium, Twistura, Dita, Elysian, Letshouer, 7th Acoustics, Flipears, Fibears, Sivga, Unique Melody, Final Audio, Soranik, Moondrop, Canpur, 7Hz, Ibasso, Nightjar, Melody Wings etc. In terms of Headphones they have Hifiman, Audeze, ZMF, Moondrop, Sennheiser, Aune, Hedd, etc. If you are looking for headphones this is the place for it.

Hobby Verse - This is a small store so space wise they are very limited. That said, their collection of IEMs are definitely the most esoteric and unique. They have IEMs from brands that you don't often hear about, such as Sound Rhyme, MyerAudio (Sliivo, etc), ISN Audio, Softears, 634ears, Letshouer, Gaudiolabs, Penon Audio, Night Audio, Kotori Audio, QOA and Earacoustics stuff.They also have mouses, keyboards and other peripherals there.

Tunesaudio and Fuyudie Avic - These are audio stores focused on second hand products so their stock does change occassionally based on what they have in store but this might be a good way to get to try older product. Tunesaudio has more IEMs and portable audio gear in general whereas Fuyudie Avic has some IEMs, headphones as well as a phletora of amps and dacs in store, both for portable and desktop use. They also have speakers and vinyl discs if that's your thing.

The Records Company - There's another store that specializes on vinyl and CDs that you can go to. They also have speakers and Stax earspeakers on for demo.

SenAcoustic Audio and Verus Audio - Local cable builders to those who are interested in either picking up a cable they have in store or want to have a custom one built (should you have enough time to do so).

There's also a store that specializes on speakers downstairs as well as audio peripherals like mics and mixers to those who are more interested in such things instead.

I hope that this guide will be helpful to those who are visiting STC Senayan for their audio journey! If there's anything I missed or that there are some information that needs some updating then please do tell me about it!

Furthermore, I do have small write ups for each of the stores for directions to the stores as well as their google map links, though I am not sure if that's allowed on reddit so do tell if I can provide that in the comments instead!

Guys… I might be doing this all wrong…

What you see in this photo is my very first IEM setup. I learned about IEM’s a few weeks ago and immediately started taking the deep dive—reading about them and watching countless videos.

After days of researching, I decided this would be the ideal kit for me. So I purchased these items:

YU9 Que IEM’s
Effect Audio DIONYSUS cable
CrinEar Protocol Max DAC-Amp
AZLA Mithryl ear tips

Am I ruining the journey by going straight to these? The IEM’s are only 400 USD. The price points go much higher, I feel like I’m buying a decent first IEM.

The cable could be overkill, but everyone says the stock cable for Que is not great. So I thought I’d buy a great cable.

I learned about how amps affect the listening experience and someone recommended this one, it was only 40 USD on Amazon.

I also saw someone on YouTube say the AZLA Mithryl were their favorite ear tips so I bought them for 15 USD on Amazon.

I’m a musician and I love music, so I thought why the heck not?

But someone told me I’d be disappointed in any other IEM after listening to this set up. 😂

P.S. the whole “making a mistake and ruining the journey” bit is just for engagement. I just want to showcase my setup😊 Yes it’s my first kit, maybe it’s overkill. Oh well 🤷‍♂️

So these are my second pair of IEMs and I loved them. My brother complained that he can’t find in ears that fit him and instead has been using over ears. So I order a pair for him and a spare for me.
Hope he likes them!

I've totally loved my Castors and all, but I have a few small nitpicks, maybe a little less bass, and some more detail in the sound across the board, otherwise they've served me great, and I have no major problems with them!

I listen to a lot of Extreme Metal, Nu Metal and Groove metal, but also dip into Jazz, Rock, Chill stuff, and just about any other genre you can think of.

If it helps, I liked the Mids and Highs on the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro and DT770 Pro, but really wish they had more bass! (Stock velour pads I'm talking here.) Just a little less bass than my current IEMs would be perfect!

Not a huge fan of "Open" sounding headphones, I like "closed" sound, tight bass, clairty all around, instrument separation and detailed highs, but not ear piercingly so.

I'd prefer to spend less here, around 60 CAD. but I'd be willing to go over that if something really stuck out to you guys.

Thanks for help in advance!

Edit: omitted a price ceiling.

My first iem and I am so excited

I just noticed that my trn conch nozzles (pic 1) all look the same and different from what I found online... Anyone knows about this?

I have a few test songs myself, not necessarily songs I like, to help me figure out a few things about the IEM/headphones I am using. The songs that I use consistently are

dark cat - BUBBLE TEA https://youtu.be/7PYe57MwxPI

Andora - Shining Star https://youtu.be/o46RXAmxjQI

Queen and David Bowie - Under Pressure https://youtu.be/a01QQZyl-_I

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody https://youtu.be/fJ9rUzIMcZQ

I often do my first 4 songs testing with these songs at least to hear for a few things. I'll often start off with a few Queen albums before going else where. I used to mostly just start off with Queen and go for there but lately I've just been trying to standardize part of my testing so there is some level of control. Once I get to the Queen albums I start to use local files over stuff like Youtube. I normally have these 4 on Youtube so if I am not at home or my tablet is not with me I can at least have some form of consistency.

Edit : I'll also listen to songs as soft volume and louder volumes just to get a sense for the bass since I can only have a tolerance for so much bass. It's not about the bass ratio to everything else but just now much bass there is. Like If an IEM has less bass I can turn it up louder then a IEM with lots and tons of bass.

KBEAR KB02 & KZ Vibe X

I am very excited. These just arrived!

My IEM journey is beginning. This is my first legit IEM. I didn’t know about IEM’s until Soundbrenner Wave. But I understand that it’s not a respected brand or product. So I did a lot of research for many days and decided this should be my first IEM.

YU9 Que!

What is the first song I should listen to?

I recently bought IE300 and never had any good wired earphones. While the sound quality is good, i have faced few concerns regarding the ear tips. Out of the box ear tips are of two types, I.e. foam and rubbery one. While foam ones are not that comfortable and not isolating outside sound completely, rubbery ones are comfortable but create too much bass that it deteriorates the song overall.

Would suggest forum’s advice on this issue. Should I get some third party ear tips or how to optimally use out of the box ear tips available.

Tangzu Wan'er Studio Edition

Excellent bright leaning dry but slightly warm, shimmery and emotional vocals. Impactful non-bloated bass, tonality expert with a hint artificial highs for rock and metal.

Build and Comfort

The cabe is bad to average, and the ear hooks are stiffened, but they can be custom-molded if you take the time and effort. The packaging is quite good for the price and it comes with 5 different types of eartips.

Tonality and Vocal Performance

It has a light note weight and leans ever slightly bright but never feels thin. Amazing vocals at the price. Vocals are slightly dry, but there's enough warmth that it never feels thin. It's still soft, smooth and shimmery. They are front and center, very intimate and emotional. It's the best vocals I've heard in an IEM.

It's not silky, but there's enough warmth that it feels full and very accurate. It handles pop, R&B, and even hip-hop amazingly.

Technical Performance

Instruments are separated very well. You can hear them coming out of different places in its audio space, and you can feel the instruments.

Imaging on it is very average. You can't track instruments very clearly, and they do jump in and out abruptly. It's not good for gaming, point blank.

The sound stage is also very good for the price, there's enough width and height it never feels the widest but it's never claustrophobic. Instruments are very well spaced and layered.

Bass Performance

Perfect bass quantity. It doesn't rumble or grumble (it does have a good amount of bass), but it's present and you can feel it, especially at higher volume. Even at lower volume, it still has impact.

It's not the fastest, but it is fast enough that it has enough punch while not being slow enough to sound bloated. It's my benchmark for how I like my bass, although sub-bass is clearly lacking for genres that need a strong sub-bass slam like hip-hop but I will always choose this over something that's more fatiguing.

Treble / High-end Performance

Treble is very well extended, it isn't sharp or harsh by any means. You won't get a very sharp attack on cymbals & hi-hats but there's enough energy for it to sound sound smooth and satisfying. The air is very well extended giving it a very airy presence. Like i said the treble can veer artificial for some on genres like metal and rock, but at this price there's little room for complaint, they still handle even those genres fairly well. And you're likely to not have that issue if you use wide bore eartips. In fact, to me it does much better than the brighter, and sharper 7hz G1. The highs on pop and R&B tracks sound very smooth. It has just the right amount of sparkle, shimmer, and air. I perceive it to be excellent for said genres. It also resolves details very well without ever being sharp for sibilant.

Eartips and Synergy

I used the eartips that came with these by default. When I used other eartips, both the ones that came with it and others that I have, it sounded way worse. The artificialness of the highs became concentrated.

The default wide-bore eartip balances it out, and with it, these become my favorite IEM so far and my golden tuning of choice. I've had countless eargasms with these. Huge shoutout to Dracomies for shilling these, he's the goat.

Long-Term Listening

I can listen to these 24/7, 365 days a year and still not be tired or fatigued, yet still enjoy them like the first day. (Although I need to get moisture out of them with silica gel every now and then.)

VS Sivga Que

Better bass to my preference. More shimmery and airy even at lower volume. More intimate and emotional mids even at lower volumes, same with the highs and bass.

The Que is way more technical and is better if you prefer a more lush vocal presentation. I prefer how the vocals on the Studio Edition are colored (more neutral with only slight warmth) than the more viscous-sounding Que.

VS DUNU Titan S

The Wan'er washes the Titan S in tonality for pop, R&B, and hip-hop, at least at lower volumes, but at higher volume it's a very close call. The Titan is a little thinner sounding.

The Wan'er has better vocals, more intimate and forward mids, and better shimmer and air. However, the Titan beats the Wan'er in technicalities, treble extension (though I think the Wan'er still has more air to it), and execution for rock, metal, and similar genres.

It also has a more tactile, cleaner bass, although the Wan'er has better impact.

VS Truthear x Crinacle Zero:RED

The Wan'er beats the Red in the same departments as the Titan, and vice versa. The Red has better bass and sub-bass too, both in tightness, impact, and quantity.

While the Titan is a little thin, the Red is more smoothed-over in its mids than the Wan'er. I clearly prefer the more natural mids of the Wan'er.

Final Thoughts

Discontinued, and it deserves a successor with better accessories and better drivers. It's exceptionally well tuned and is in a league of its own in its price range. From the research I've done, in order to one up these you would have to shill out 300-400$, for either the studio 4 or the orchestra lite which is crazy.

The Red Lion uses the same driver as these , and they are Tangzu's best-selling IEMs ever, which means these could've been just as successful as the Red Lion without all the bass bloat.

It's a huge misstep on Tangzu's part how they decided to package the Studio Edition but I feel like it wasn't as successful because people in this price range want maximum impact that can immediately be perceived and it requires acquired taste to appreciate this style of tuning.

If you have suggestions for me as a direct upgrade to these, please let me know. Budget is $150. I'm broke.

P.S

These are obviously discontinued but a store in Vietnam still has it in stock (yea i looked everywhere) , if anyone is willing to drop ship it off them, please let me know. It's also available on alibaba but the seller that has it says that mcq is 20 pieces and no less.

Links:

https://taingheviet.com/tangzu-waner-sg-studio-edition-pr11749.html

https://www.alibaba.com/x/18BGyA?ck=pdpo

Edit:
Just found out that its still available on taobao, just search "tangzu" and it should be there.

I just bought these aria 2 reds off ebay. I noticed that the right ear has loose internals. Inside I can wiggle the insides a bit. The left ear is totally fine and the whole thing sounds fine. Any advice is appreciated.