I am interested in some budget-ish (<$100) wired in ear headphones (either regular soft tip style or IEM) for making music while travelling e.g. with OP-* or M8. I usually use over-ear headphones but they are sometimes too bulky for travel, and don’t fit well with sunglasses for outdoor usage.
They don’t need to be amazingly accurate as I’ll just be doing this for fun and probably won’t use them that much, but ideally somewhat suitable for producing (techno/ambient).
I use NDH20 at home and I like the fit of AirPods Pro in ear but the latency is no good. I’m slightly apprehensive about IEMs because I used to have some SE215 and didn’t really enjoy the fit, but I could be open to trying others. The new AirPods Pro 3 have a more “ear filling” feel than the old ones and I’m getting used to it.
Any ideas? It’s a minefield to google with so many options! I’m in the UK and want to buy from Amazon as I go away soon
I can vouch for both the Fiio FD1 and Salnotes Dioko as being comfortable, non-hyped and practical IEMs. I’ve completed a few tracks using them and my mixes translated well to other playback systems. So long as you avoid anything claiming “super bass” you cant go too far wrong to be honest. If you use your IEMs for a wider range of listening you’ll get used to how things ought to sound and make less wrong turns when making music.
They were widely suggested on forums and I’m glad I tried them. They fit in the m8 hard shell case together with the M8 and a small usb cable to charge it. I have them there permanently
i have a weird but not necessarily unorthodox suggestion: i always keep a pair of basic apple wired ear buds around, on the hunch that virtually all listeners will hear you through something exactly like it. so it ought to sound good there.
you can get a few pairs of Truthear GATE for your budget. They test crazy flat, some of the best testing iems I’ve seen at a ridiculous price. I picked up a pair a while ago, they are reasonably comfortable and I have found them pretty useful.
I find wired in-ear headphones to be flawed in design: the cable causes the earbuds to fall out of your ears every time you move your head. I’ve never been able to use wired headphones without swearing every time. Wireless EarPods are much more practical, unfortunately they have this latency issue, typical of Bluetooth transmission. The only solution is still standard headphones.
I think the wire over ear design of IEMs should resolve that issue, right? In any case I do prefer regular headphones but I’ve tried making music outside on vacation with regular headphones and they’re too warm, plus if you have sunglasses on it breaks the seal and makes them feel weird, so I’m happy to trade off for that specific case
I’d totally missed the whole Chi-fi budget IEM revolution… picked up a pair of the Linsouls to see what all the fuss is about. Might have bagged the even more budget KZ EDX pro too!
Over ear but they fold flat for portability… I have a pair of Sony MDR-ZX310s that have lived in the bottom of a bag for a few years. They sound decent, flat enough and bass enough [but without the overhyped response], and they cost me well under £20. Moreover, I have never treated them with the same respect I’d afford to my studio Beyers, they are never looked after and owing to their cost I’ve always seen them as throwaway… and yet they still work and function perfectly.
So my linsoul zero 2 came this morning - first impressions of the sound are very good indeed. Cable will annoy me but sound wise they are at least as good as my soundmagics if not better… I’ll update.
Thanks for the recommendation whoever here said it!
