4 ms·

For me, wired multi-driver armature IEMs (in-ear monitors) are the best thing to happen in the audio field since the arrival of neodymium magnets. For a fracti

For me, wired multi-driver armature IEMs (in-ear monitors) are the best thing to happen in the audio field since the arrival of neodymium magnets. For a fraction of price of professional monitor speakers, you get the closest thing to direct hardware-to-brain audio transmission. It's precise and fast transient-wise. No reflections, no phase problems, nada. You can choose exactly the type of frequency response you need: flat, V-shaped, U-shaped, bassy, bright, whatever. There are even models with switchable curves. No need to invest much more money than your speakers cost in your listening room, installing wool/foam pads/draping/soft furniture/bass traps/carpets etc to reduce the amount of reflections and bring frequency responce to anything resembling flat. That said, there is a huge number of IEMs produced these days and they range from absolute trash to stellar. And to navigate this vast ocean, I find Crinnacle's resourses utterly useful: https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/ https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/ https://list.hangout.audio/iem https://list.hangout.audio/iem (disclosure: I'm not affiliated in any way, I just adore this guy's dedication!)

userbinator 8mo ago
Looking at the prices on that list, the ones near the top are several k$, but so are many in the middle and bottom, and amongst them are ones costing many times less, leading one to think that there really is no correlation between price and performance.
- wartywhoa23 8mo ago
  Yes, the main metric to use when choosing an IEM is performance/price, not performance alone, as in everything else generally. Sometimes a Matrix glitch occurs and someone produces a total outlier, like Philips SHE3580, a $10 little wonder I used for many years to write music, and the mixes produced with those translated literally everywhere without any surprises (in audio engineering, translation is the ability of an audio track to sound as close as possible to the sound engineer's intent on as wide range of audio equipment as possible). They had a single diaphragm drive, which is usually regarded as slow and less precise than other types of drivers, but they sounded very linear and only slightly less precise than many much more expensive models with multiple balanced armature drivers. I believe, their performance/price ratio was closer to infinity than anything out there on the market. But alas, built with biodergadation or planned obsolescence in mind, they finally deteriorated mechanically to the point of falling apart completely.

userbinator 8mo ago

Looking at the prices on that list, the ones near the top are several k$, but so are many in the middle and bottom, and amongst them are ones costing many times less, leading one to think that there really is no correlation between price and performance.

wartywhoa23 8mo ago
Yes, the main metric to use when choosing an IEM is performance/price, not performance alone, as in everything else generally. Sometimes a Matrix glitch occurs and someone produces a total outlier, like Philips SHE3580, a $10 little wonder I used for many years to write music, and the mixes produced with those translated literally everywhere without any surprises (in audio engineering, translation is the ability of an audio track to sound as close as possible to the sound engineer's intent on as wide range of audio equipment as possible). They had a single diaphragm drive, which is usually regarded as slow and less precise than other types of drivers, but they sounded very linear and only slightly less precise than many much more expensive models with multiple balanced armature drivers. I believe, their performance/price ratio was closer to infinity than anything out there on the market. But alas, built with biodergadation or planned obsolescence in mind, they finally deteriorated mechanically to the point of falling apart completely.