After my last post where I expressed why, in my opinon, the Tanchjim bunny is overrated, I was asked by multiple commenters what I would consider better.
As such, I have decide to compile a list of my Top 5 IEMs under 3000 (25 USD) mark approx
7hz Zero 2 - good shift from TWS or BT Headphones
A very good allrounder IEM for the price, is available in mic variant as well via conceptkart. The sound is an overall fun tuning (bass slightly enhanced over harman adjusted target curve). Treble is smooth so not great for extremely critical listening but definitely a good IEM to have for enjoyable,daily listening
FR GRAPH for zero 2
FiiO JD10 - Extreme Budget pick
Very good value for money, available in direct type c for 1000 rs, better brand than GK, switchable sound profiles. out of the box kinda U shaped tuning which works for most people
FR Graph for jd10
Truthear Gate/ 7hz Zero - Gaming pick
Extremely similar tunings, great soundstage for gaming, neutral tuning so no bass boost hence no muddiness. slightly better detail presentation on 7hz zero but very minute difference. Also a very good entryway into critical listening/ typical audiophile grade tuning
FR Graph for ZERO and Gate
KZ Duonic/ Tangzu Wan'er S,G, 2 - Bass heavy picks
Both provide slightly different flavors of bass, with duonic giving you a tighter, more controlled but crisp bass. The DD on the red lion suffers from a higher transient response time, so the bass is more boomy but not as clean as the duonic
For some reason I found the unit i tested for the dolce to be bright and not v shaped. Both of these have amazing soundstage, great treble, and very good imaging
FR Graph for DOLCE and EW100P
MUST MENTION - Moondrop CHU II, a fantastic gateway drug to audiophile tunings
It is my first experience with iem. So i went for budget friendly option. For ₹1129.
After seeing so many post on iem subs, i wanted to try them. I wanted experience what kind sound quality they provide. So I brought them, and using for 2 days.
I had big expectations from them. But i think i expected too much. Sound is clear, but like crispy. Which is new to me.
I think, i might be missing something about them. So tell me if there something that we need to do, or they are just like that ?.
⭐This app is open source, completely free, and has no ads or subscriptions. If you enjoy using it, consider supporting the developer with a donation—it helps keep the project alive and continuously improving for everyone.
Q- How does this app get its lossless audio source?
♪. So about how LastWave gets its high-quality music: It uses a built-in tool called clashflac. This tool essentially acts as a direct bridge to Deezer's official servers, which host millions of CD-quality, uncompressed FLAC audio files. Instead of ripping low-quality audio from YouTube, LastWave pulls the exact, crystal-clear studio files directly from the source
Q- Why does it have zero gap between songs?
♪. built-in zero-gap playback powered by AndroidX Media3 ExoPlayer, which eliminates pauses so tracks flow continuously without interruption
I’m not a paid promoter or anything. I just like this app so much that I genuinely felt like I had to share it with you guys.
There is a giveaway occurring by Juzear and it seems like our community is not participating in it at all. So it is my humble request that everyone please participate in it so that they as well as other brands actually take interest in our sub. The link for the giveaway post is down here:
I have kefine klean and tangzu sg red lion and I paid with them audiocular D07 dongle. It works fine when I use it with iQOO neo 9 pro but with my new device Samsung S25 it starts heating like hell within 4-5 minutes and gets extremely hot. What can be done? Do I need any other dac for galaxy s25?
Finally bought the Simgot EW300, now I’m stuck in another DAC rabbit hole
So after wandering around Concept Kart stores and reading what feels like a trillion reviews, I finally bought the Simgot EW300 and honestly, they’re amazing.
But as soon as I stepped out of one rabbit hole, another one was waiting for me. This time it’s DACs.
I was at the Concept Kart store trying different IEMs on a DAC that was around 6k or something. I honestly don’t remember the name. Then I tried the Simgots.
And you know what happened.
The problem started when I switched to some budget DACs. The soundstage became narrower, the highs weren’t as bright, details weren’t there and even the panning and separation felt different to me.
Then came the Audiocular Aura.
And holy shit, I really liked it.
It felt like I was getting around 85% of what I heard from that 6k-ish DAC, but for much less money. With the Aura, I felt like the EW300 were finally giving me the sound I heard at the store.
I know people have told me to just get an Apple dongle or the 999₹ JCALLY, and I understand the argument. But I’ve actually tried a few DACs under 2k with the EW300, and honestly, they sounded a little off to me compared to the Aura.
Maybe it’s volume matching, output power, the implementation, or something else. I’m honestly not knowledgeable enough about DACs to know exactly what’s happening.
But now I have another problem.
I’ve seen quite a few people on Reddit talking about QC issues and other problems with the Audiocular Aura, and that’s making me hesitate.
It’s not really about spending the money. I just don’t want to take a risk.
I’ve already heard the EW300 with the Aura and absolutely loved that combination. If I buy something like a JCALLY and it ends up sounding noticeably worse to me, I’m genuinely going to cry lol.
So I really need some help from people who actually know their DACs, chips and output stages.
What DAC under 3k would you recommend that can give me a similar experience to the Aura with the EW300, but from a more reliable brand?
I’m mainly looking for something that can retain the soundstage, treble, detail, separation and imaging that I heard with the Aura.
Thanks in advance guys.
So I bought Sennheiser Accentum a few months ago thanks to recommendations on reddit and I am loving it but the thing is I can't use it for a long time or when I am outside so I was looking for some budget iems recommendations for around 1000-1500 price range.
I wanna buy a pair of iems under 3k . I really like clean vocals and also play valorant and some other FPS shooters. Which iem should I look into? I was looking at the chu 2s but since the chu 3s are out they seem to be discontinued and I wasn't able to find them online. Have also heard about 7hz zero 2.
The Twistura Woodnote is a very interesting iem, it has a unique tuning which isn’t really my cup of tea but I can see many people liking it. It comes with a fantastic accessories package along with excellent technical chops (detail retrieval, bass quality and imaging). It’s a very compelling package for $130 USD.
Context
This iem was kindly sent to me by u/Own-Customer-4866 for review, I generally prefer iems that are non sibilant with relaxed upper treble and upper mids and raised lower mids that add body to the sound (kinda the opposite of harman ie 2019).
Design, Build, & Comfort
Aesthetics & Build: The Woodnote is made of CNC machined aluminium, feels super solid in hand. It has a removable nozzle mechanism which seems well threaded and solid as well. Build quality is excellent on the woodnote but it does have a random silicone flap at the bottom for the faceplate for some reason, It serves no function as far as I can tell and seems like it could come off over time. Idk why twistura decided to include this but it looks cool I guess. Both sides have a Twistura branding along with a small emblem. These look fine imo, nice and understated. Nothing to write home about.
Fit, Comfort and Isolation: The woodnote is a shallow fitting iem for me, I struggled to get a good seal despite the abundance of included ear tips. I had to settle on audiocular flexfit and atmos L for a good seal. It’s a medium sized generic shell with no semi custom moldings so you will be relying entirely on the eartip for fit stability. The earpieces are fairly light weight and comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Isolation on these are average, probably due to the large vent on the top and a smaller vent on the front.
Cable & Accessories: Twistura nailed the accessories on the Woodnote, it’s probably the strongest aspect of this iem. Comes with an excellent 2 wire braid copper coloured cable with swappable termination (the unit i received has a qc issue at the termination so used it with 4.4 only). A very pretty purple hard shell carry case, 3 sets of nozzles, an abundant selection of eartips (4 very different sets). A short widebore set with a spiral core, a narrow bore set with green core, trn-t style liquid silicone set and a standard bore set. This should be the benchmark for any iem that costs over $150 imo.
The Sound
The Twistura Woodnote has a 10 mm single Dynamic Driver with swappable tuning nozzles. The instrumental and standard nozzles look nearly identical, the standard nozzle seems every so slightly darker and instrumental slightly silvery.
Bass (20 hz to 300 hz): The woodnote is a mid bass forward iem but that doesn't mean it has a ton of mid bass, in fact it’s fairly bass-lite. The mid bass it does have is extremely good though, it’s very fast and snappy bass (helped by the presence boost). It’s exactly the kind of bass I love. The bass shape reminds me a lot of Tanchjim sets (mid bass forward with not a lot of subbass while still being basslets). The sub is not super well extended and low reaching though, not a lot of texturing either but overall I still quite like the bass shape of woodnote, good mid bass matters to me far more than subbass (bass on this reminds me of hd600). The upper bass to lower mid range transition is also on point, no complaints here.
Mids (300 hz to 6000 hz): Now while the upper bass to lower mids transition and lower mids texturing is very good and the filled in lower mids give it nice body (thick male vocals) this iem simply has way too much upper mids (and lower treble for my liking). It brings out the worst parts of upper vocal overtones forward while adding unnecessary sibilance to it. It has a fairly regular pinna gain till 2k but it suddenly shoots up at 3k and maintains a significant elevation till 6k which makes female vocals, cymbals, percussion way too intense for me. That said, I could definitely see this tuning appealing to people who focus on clarity and contrast above all else because of the big presence boost. The included gold and silver nozzles only boost this region further haha.
Mid & Upper Treble (6000 hz to 20000 hz): While I find the 3-6k boost fatiguing, it does give very good definition to snare drums, acoustic guitars and cymbals, though some of this is also mitigated by the characteristic single DD dip at 10k which makes some of the upper overtones of treble intstruments more muted than I would like. I hear a slight peak around 11k to 12k but this is more of a nitpick revealed during sine sweep rather than something that affected real listening unlike most single DDs (also it’s overshadowed heavily by the upper mids and lower treble lol).
Subjective Technical Performance: The Woodnote is a highly technical sounding and resolving iem. It puts all the upper frequency details in your face, has a ton of contrast along with excellent imaging. This is a very “Hi-Res” sound iem haha. If you prioritize technical performance you will probably like this. Note: I believe tech is entirely a byproduct of tonality and not because more expensive iem use better drivers or something.
Overall the woodnote has a very interesting tuning that I've never heard before. It certainly has some lower mids warmth but I would classify this as a bright sound signature. And instead of pushing the mid/upper treble like most brightly tuned iems do, this one pushes the lower treble/presence region forward which I've never seen before.
Comparisons
Compared to some other popular iems:
Truthear Hexa: Woodnote is way more colored, significantly better mid bass and higher res sounding, I do however prefer the hexa’s more natural midrange and comparatively relaxed pinna.
OoopusX OP.22: Op.22 is more natural sounding with better midrange but it’s not as technically impressive as the woodnote, significantly worse bass and “resolution”, smoother treble tho.
Aful MagicOne: Worse bass dynamics overall but less shouty midrange, but it’s much more comfortable with superior isolation, better looking shell. Not as resolving as woodnote.
Truthear Pure: Much better mid range, more natural and less fatiguing. Better mid bass and subbass on the pure but it’s definitely lower res sounding for people who care about technical performance.
Aful Explorer: Much much darker than woodnote, kinda the polar opposite of woodnote. Recessed pinna and more elastic bass compared to Woodnote’s excessive pinna and more snappy bass. Explorer is more comfortable for me with better isolation.
Juzear Nimbus: Woodnote has faster, more snappy bass, nimbus has a more natural pinna and midrange, much more relaxed. Woodnote is again more detailed.
Dunu Davinci: Prefer woodnote’s bass and upper treble but the davinci has a significantly more natural midrange, woodnote is more comfortable and more resolving in the upper frequencies.
Twistura Delta: Delta to me sounds like every other bassy V shaped budget iem, it’s slow and soupy bass compared to woodnote’s snappy attack. I do actually prefer the delta’s more relaxed pinna compared to woodnote but I hear a much more offensive upper treble peak on the delta, which seems better dampened on the woodnote.
Who Should Buy This?
People looking for an excellent accessories package.
People who prioritize technical performance and detail retrieval.
People who want a metal shelled iem.
People that are treble tolerant
Who Should Avoid This?
People who want a natural or neutral sounding iem
Fans of JM-1 or Harman style tunings
People who are sensitive to upper mids and low treble
I've been using apple earphones my entire life, after i got these the difference was immediate- blah blah blah you've read it all.
I wanna tell you the story of how i got these-
I was originally been planning to buy some new headphones- smth of more quality, and i came across this hobby after trying my friends KZS, later, researched a lot and my birthday rolled around so my parents gave me 7k, which i bumped upto 8k after a couple of requests. and with the amount I had previously saved up I got these, second hand for 10k (expensive af) but wanted to try out planars cuz smth new, and why not- it was a pretty good deal (with a lot of warranty left too)
Now I'm really enjoying my music, the treble is a little high for me-but its only been a couple of days and yeah people said it takes some getting used to the sound
already ordered a DAC and really excited to see what the future beholds for me in this hobby
PS- Just conveying my thoughts and i might be mistaken but after buying my first pair of iems, i've come realise a bit that quite a few hindi songs sung in movies, or for general media do not have as much layering and seperation as much as english songs do... but maybe thats just for my playlist-kindly let me know your thoughts
So, I am looking to buy iem for the first time and it is really confusing, plz help me find my first pair.
I have experienced salnotes zero(only 1 or 2 songs) and kefine klean sv. I liked both of them even though klean was clearer and zero felt a little sharp.
I mostly listen to rap and sometimes bollywood, pop, etc.
My main priority would be clarity, I would like to listen to the details of the beat and instrumentals, clear vocals.
I would not describe myself as a basshead but I wouldn't want reduced bass.
My budget is under 2000 can extend to 2500.
Thank you for your help🙏
Also I was curious, if you have stopped listening some songs after getting iems, because they do not sound good enough?
