apparently $799 rrp, eBay has it for $239 part of today's deals, majority sellers around $299
CamelCamelCamel.
What about N5005?
In this day and age, at $1000 MSRP? No way. Look into the Sony IER-M7 for $499 local, or ideally the Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk for around $450 from Shenzen Audio. If you want to push past that already extended level, take a look at the SoftEars RSV back up in the $900 range on AliE.
Couple more that I missed: ThieAudio Monarch & ThieAudio Clairvoyance, again, around the $900 range on Linsoul (less, if you wait for a sale).
The more you write on audio the more I come to respect your judgement and advice.
Wondering if you have thoughts on westone w60, or any other wxx models?
More for interest sake as I'm already a bit of a westone fanboi, with a lot of love left over for the Sony m7/m9 and up.
I find Shure good value at the low price points, but muddy bass frequencies, while Sennheiser 800 were the worst performing (and fitting) IEM over 1000aud in my tests.
@ozbjunkie: No direct experience unfortunately, haven't really delved too deep into the kilobuck range, particularly with IEMs. Should pick that up a little through the second half of the year as demonstration bookings are more regularly available.
What I've been told is mostly to avoid the entire brand because they have a very dark, warm sound? I think the custom series they have (ES) is better though, but compared to the value available from Chi-Fi? Allegedly nothing special.
The problem with a lot of older IEM recommendations is how far amps and DACs have come at all levels in the last 5 or so years. Suddenly what your equipment is doing after 10kHz matters a lot more, and a lot of older picks just start to be low resolution or out of touch.
A good example of that in the headphone space is the Sony MDR-7506: tight bass and flat mids, but the treble just sounds awful on modern gear.
@jasswolf: Interesting that's the info you have coming to you re the brand - but the reasoning makes some sense.
Comfort wise they're amazing, light enough to wear all day.
I'm definitely happy with the sound but I agree that the sony m7/9 are amazing in the treble, so I certainly can't argue that westone are the best treble ive heard.
Looking forward to more opportunities to demo myself. Cheers for the input.
Unpopular opinion… I'm really looking forward for a good neckband style, active noise cancelling, wireless earphone. It's easy to take off a bud, let it dangle on the cord, talk to someone/do something/etc, then pop them back on. I don't want the big headband over ears (too bulky) nor truely wireless ear buds (no where to easily hold a bud quickly)
Best form-factor imo, no question.
Not the form factor you suggest, but a decent Bluetooth receiver like es100 or qudelix5k will turn any IEM into wireless, and decent ear loops will let the buds hang nicely in my experience.
Just my 2c.
Depending on the sound sig you're going for I like the Shure 112 or 215 Bluetooth editions which regularly go on sale around 80/140 from memory.
I am certainly not up to date with the gear in this price range so accept this as a recommendation but not necessarily an authoritative one.
Additional TWS recommendation: the Lypertek Tevi (or its immediate successor, the Lypertek PurePlay Z3) for around $100-$110 on Amazon.
The *wolf pack are busy today =O
The reason why Sennheiser effectively sold off their consumer audio business is because they were making a lot of bad IEMs and closed-backs, which is a big part of today's sales due to smartphones. This IEM is a very clear-cut example of why that happened.
At this price, you're better off with the Moondrop Starfield ($120-$130 AliE sales), Moondrop Aria ($100 AliE sales), Etymotic ER2XR ($110-$130 when Amazon has good stock levels), and a bluetooth cable (which you can upgrade in quality as BT 5.2 and LC3Plus go mainstream). Alternatively, if you want to go down the TWS (cableless) route, you can look at the Moondrop Sparks ($120 AliE sales), Samsung Galaxy Buds ('Soft' EQ profile, $110) or the Buds+, or step up to the AKG N400 ($215 Amazon).
Yes, you can save money and get a better audio experience.. that's how bad this IEM is, and how much that market has transformed in the last 4 years.