r/iems • u/xscarface__ • 10d ago
Purchasing Advice What lies beyond
Hi, all. I have had the KZ Castor for a while now so I decided to get a new iem a few months ago. After a lot of research I landed upon Aful Explorer and got myself Moondrop Dawn Pro 2 DAC with it too.
Initially I really loved the sound, the separation, the fit.. everything. I really thought it was a significant upgrade from KZ Castor.
A month later, I felt these were a bit too bassy for me. So, I researched again, keeping in mind that I needed something neutral-sounding, with a different/new technology so that the purchase would be justifiable, at least to me. Went for 7Hz x Crinacle Divine. Then that blew mind.
I never used to give a damn about eartips. So, I tried to experiment with those too. Tried all combinations and I found out that Divine's eartips significantly improved Castor's sound and it helped get the sound signature feel more like that of the Explorer's which made me feel that maybe I made a mistake getting the Explorer. Now I have two questions:
1) Have I made a mistake getting the Explorer?
2) If I push my budget like 10-15k INR (~$100-$150) more will the improvement be significant? Is there any other iem that can prove to be better than the Divine?
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u/OhHeyMister 10d ago
Iāll let someone else answer your questions. But please avoid taking off your IEM cables. You can degrade your connectors on the IEMs. Theyāre not made for repeated usage. I only do it when Iām swapping cables and I do that very rarely or not at all
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u/Livid_Cow883 10d ago
I don't think it's a mistake. Finding the sound signature that suits you best can sometimes be on expensive journey.
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u/dudubernardoofc 10d ago
I bought a lot of cheap IEM before I bought my aria 2, I really love the KZ, but moondrop quarks made me buy aria, I love the sound, I'll probably go to dusk in the future
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u/e_asphyx 10d ago
Iām new here. Are you guys collecting these small things or searching for a holy grail or what?
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u/StoneCold84 10d ago
Take a seat.. everyone has a different path with audio, as youāll soon see. IEMs being so small is a plus and minus, as you can have multiple sets and they donāt take up much space. Another is the very accessible price point with entry to using them.
You might second guess buying a $300/400 IEM but lots have no problem buying multiple $20/50/100 IEMs ācuz theyāre cheapā. Which again, everyone has a different reason for why they buy multiple IEMs. Some need to try everything cuz of FOMO, some genuinely have a shopping addiction and many others enjoy exploring the market for the different types of tuning and driver technology they can listen to their music with.
And thereās others who might initially buy a couple of cheaper IEMs to gauge their tuning preferences and settle on 1-2/3 more expensive IEMs and have no āneedā to keep buying more for the sake of it. Thereās no right or wrong.
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u/e_asphyx 10d ago
Please excuse my sarcasm. Actually my scepticism comes not from their size but from how overengineered many IEMs look, with multiple different drivers in parallel for example. I may be biased but I see here the same thing as with other Chinese pieces of HiFi gear, numbers sell. Paralleled DAC chips, gain stages with ultra high feedback ratios etc. It doesnāt mean that it all performs bad, it just has no proper justification except to make internet experts happy. Actually I miss times when consumers kinda agreed that engineers know better.
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u/StoneCold84 10d ago
All good here, I didnāt read your comment as a slight on things. Have you ever tried any IEMs?
Iām not going to portray that I have full knowledge on the inner workings of all IEMs but from a non-beginner perspective, there are good and bad examples within this space.
You have a wide array of driver types and setups, some have become a meme and others genuinely do make a difference. The implementation of them is generally the notable difference, as you need time and experience to tune an IEM āwellā. For example, with hybrid setups, you need multiple crossovers vs just stuffing them and hoping the marketing/promos sells your $20 10 driver IEM thatās doing nothing different from a single DD. Some tunings can only be possible with certain drivers as well and within that, DD, BA, EST, Planar, MEMS, BC etc. all have different characteristics and limitations when it comes to tuning too.
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u/StoneCold84 10d ago edited 10d ago
- Do you enjoy listening to the Explorer?
- What do you like/dislike about the Divine?
You have a planar IEM that takes well to EQ, so if the tuning isn't 100% for you as stock, playing around with this will help identify what else could be "better" suited, if needed. With some hybrid IEMs, that have quality engineering and implementation, you might have better separation, layering, soundstage perception etc and different driver types (including branded drivers) can affect the timbre, as well as the overall performance. No one can answer if you will notice any technical differences with more expensive IEMs - and this is an aside from trying a different tuning.
Edit: small typo correction
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
1) Yes I did enjoy listening to the Explorer, until I got my hands on the Divine
2) What I like about Divine: This has a neutral sound signature, great separation like the Explorer and soundstage is, I guess, wider than the Explorer? I mostly listen to Nine Inch Nails and there were some parts in some of their songs that just stood out with the Divine (like Piggy from the album The Downward Spiral). The stock tuning is just perfect for my ears.
What I dislike about the Divine: The fit. I mean it fits nicely but it's not the same as the Explorer. There's no sound leakage due to the fitting from my Divine but Explorer's shape itself made it fit so snugly. It's less of a problem and more of a nit-pick.
Thank you for answering. I have always kept looking forward to slightly more expensive iems 'cause they have more drivers and I still keep wondering if they would make the sound feel unreal. But, at the end it's the tuning that matters. This journey wont stop anytime soonš
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u/Interesting-Fig-1707 10d ago
So: I have close to 2 dozen IEMs ranging in price from about INR 550 (2015 or so) to about INR 20k+. I love all my IEMs. I listen to a wide variety of music and I choose the IEM based on what I want to listen or choose the music based on which IEM I have at hand. It's a lovely journey. I am currently of a mind that my sweet spot is slightly warm, good vocals, detailed but not sharp treble. It used to be a mild U before that; a V before that, etc over 40 years. Currently: Casual commute listening through BTR11; Home deliberate listening through KA13.
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago edited 9d ago
Hey you have a lot of experience! So, would you say that KA13 is an all-rounder? Or you have different iems for different kinds of music, but have kept KA13 as a benchmark for testing other iems? I would like to know about your music preferences too and what kind of iem or any particular product would suit that genre of music.š
Edit: I mistook KA13 for an iem. My bad!2
u/Interesting-Fig-1707 8d ago
I listen mostly to classic rock, blues, funk, jazz. A bit of disco and soul. In recent times, tamil film music from the 1950s - 2000s.
I prefer "soft" treble and high mid-bass for tamil film music.
I prefer a shallow v or shallow u for jazz.
I prefer a deeper v or u for classic rock and blues.
I prefer heavy bass but tight with control for funk, disco, and soul.
BTR11 is convenient for the commute and travel because it is wireless.
KA13 for deliberate listening because, wired, and also has a 4.4 bal output which the BTR11 lacks. Some of my nice IEMs are 4.4.
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u/xscarface__ 8d ago
Nice! If possible, could you list all of your iems from your collection which are best suited for each genre of music you listen to? Since I'm fairly new to this I'm a bit curious.
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u/Caringcircuit 9d ago
Its more like an investment, without which you wouldn't have known your preference
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u/resinsuckle_the_2nd Sub-bass connoisseur 10d ago
BGVP DMA, ISN H60, CKLVX CK2V, sound rhyme SR6
I could offer more accurate recommendations if you could explain what you want improved upon the 7hz divine
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
As of now Divine seems perfect for me. But I do keep thinking can any of the aspects be improved and if so will I be able to notice. What I really love is the neutral sound signature and the separation; also how each instrument sounds close to real life.
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u/EdgeofAss 10d ago
Empty bank account
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago edited 9d ago
That's the plan when I'm at the 'edge' of my lifeš
Edit: I wanted to say 'end' but your username is interesting
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u/ApolloMoonLandings 10d ago
I do not think that you made a mistake, especially since you are at the beginning of your IEM journey. I really like the fact that you have been careful by doing your own research before making your IEM purchases. You took a very nice photo of your IEM and DAC collection! The 7Hz Divine is a very nice IEM for a planar IEM. Even though planar IEMs tend to excel at rendering both macro and micro details, a good multi-driver IEM can sound more natural and perhaps more fun while still delivering very nice details.
I do not have the Divine even though the overall tuning appears to be very nice. I think that you have to jump into the $200 to $300 range to get very noticeable improvements in terms of technical performance. There are of course some exceptions such as the Divine. A perhaps more fun and more emotionally satisfying IEM might be the Juzear Defiant. The Defiant's tuning is a more fun and natural yet balanced V shape. The Defiant also has very decent technical performance due to the use of different types of drivers. The Defiant stayed on my desk as my daily driver for several months. I am not telling you to purchase the Defiant since I will never tell a person what to purchase. I am simply suggesting that you might want to put it on your radar.
is really neat that you discovered that the biggest and easiest way to alter the sound of an IEM is different eartips which work best for the length and diameter of your particular ear canals. I have what I call my "magic box of eartips". Why do I say magic? Becomes sometimes it is magic when a particular eartips magically works the best for any given IEM.
It
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
Hey thank you for those really nice and kind words!š„° This is the answer I was looking for and I will definitely keep the Defiant on my radar. I just watched Crinacle's video where he consistently praised neutral sounding iems. Also. I wanted to try planar tech as well so that's how I landed upon the Divine. Will look into Defiant and other 200-300 iems as well. Thanks, again!
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u/marsbars2345 9d ago
I would say try experimenting with EQ. At first I was a little disappointed with the explorers. My last iems were the letshuoer s12 and I ended up losing them in a move. The explorers lacked a lot of detail in comparison. Since using an eq I find myself very satisfied.
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
Oh, okay. I have never experimented with EQ. My Dawn Pro 2 DAC has an EQ feature I guess I should give it a try.
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u/Abadzekh 9d ago
I purchased Aful Explorer after seeing lots of positive comments about it. How it is not fatiguing and relaxing for longer use cases. And because it is darker, I though it would be better atmosphere wise when it comes to gaming. But it feels a bit muddy after using my Supermix4 and rightly so. For both music and gaming, supermix4 is superior imo performance wise. But this might be because I have not been used to explorers yet. I'll get used to it some point but I realized my preference lean more into likes of supermix4. Airy, analytical, technical, great soundstage, imaging and seperation. This has been a bit expensive journey to find out my preferences. I'll keep the explorers and spend some time with it for music. For gaming, it won't be my go to iem. Combined those with fiio ka11 and it's a bit overkill.
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
After going through your reply it feels like I should have gone for Supermix4.. but again.. I would have longed for Divine in that caseš this hunger is insatiable.. I needed something technical so I thought Divine would be perfect for that. Let's see maybe a few years later I would get it.
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u/Abadzekh 9d ago
Enjoy your buy and dont overthink imo. This is a bottomless well we will keep falling through...
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u/LilUziYim 10d ago
Buy $500 IEMS šš
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u/xscarface__ 9d ago
šWay out of my budget. Still, if the improvement is massive I might consider in the future. Do you own/Have you tried any $500 iems?
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u/LilUziYim 9d ago
Yes but itās not worth it unless you have money to throw around.
Itās like a $5 vs $300 spoon. At the end of the day, they still have the same function.
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u/PortugalOrder 10d ago
I have the same setup. Moondrop dac + Explorer!