64 Audio - Volür

Well you didn’t mention budget so the 64 Audio volur. If you can hear past 15k this might not be a good suggestion, but my hearing cuts off before then and they’re the best warm/dark iem I’ve heard.

It goes to show you how different people's ears are. I've owned or borrowed (for a week) most of these & I own a couple as the rest didn't do if for me. My opinions on a few that really stand out - The 64 Audio Volur were a huge disappointment for me. And the bass really isn't very special to my ears. It was lacking in both quality & quantity. I typically hate all BA bass, but I've chosen the U12T over them (which were a rare blind but & got sold extremely quickly). The Campfire Astrolith are one of the very few IEMs that I believe are actually worth spending that kind of money on... I don't find the treble an issue at all. I was given the option to borrow a demo pair for a week & within 10 minutes of using the demo pair I'd transfered the funds to purchase. It was the quickest IEM decision I've ever made alongside the Prestige Ltd. The Sony IER-Z1R are by a very, very long way biggest selling high end IEM of all time & for very good reason - they are incredible and can do blow for blow (and usually win - at worst, a draw) with any $4000 bass centric set. You need to gets to use the right tips (the Sony Triple Comfort tips that are one of two kinds they are boxed with & hook them to your ears properly with cables that will allow for it - reinforced in the few inches leading up to the MMCX cable or something a generally a bit stronger). The comfort issues are a common complaint, but they are mostly unwarranted. It's a little bit like learning to tiw your shoelaces, but with 90% less time & effort once you understand how. You certainly wouldn't be putting them above the Volur for bass & I think that's objective rather than subjective. Unless you can find someone who seems proven to have very similar tastes to you in things you have tried in terms of both likes & dislikes of several sets... I wouldn't take their opinion very seriously as it's unlikely you will have a similar experience.

you mention 2.8K max yet mention devices that are inexpensive, so I assume your currency isn't USD. Moondrop Chu 2? but if you are talking USD, campfire audio Clara/Andromeda 10, 64 audio Volur are bassy, campfire Astrolith is snappy/punchy in its attack, 64 audio u6t is very utilitarian(all genre)

64Audio Volur is probably the best all around IEM, not as detailed like Shure KSE1200/1500 but those are ES and not rly sure if you can consider that to be an IEM, it's whole system you need to use with an amp

Some IEMs do surpass full-size heaphones but the price of those are in the several hundred to thousands. I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a canjam this year and had 4 of my best IEMs that can deliver all aspects of music really well. The IEMs I had were the FirAudio's Xe6 and Rn6, 64Audio's Volür, and FatFreq's Grand Maestro Anniversary Edition. Only some of the top-of-the-line full-sized headphones from ZMF, Meze, Grado, T+A, Sennheiser, Hifi-man, Focal, and Audeze could compete with those IEMs in terms of detail retrival, layering, instrument positioning in 3D space, and musicality. Soundstage and bass were done better in full-sized headphones due to physics of driver size but otherwise those IEMs I own were competing quite close and easily surpassed other full-sized headphones. The company representatives at those headphone booths where I let them try the different IEMs (while I was trying out their respective full-sized headphones) to compare to their showcase full-sized headphones agreed as well that those IEMs easily competed with their top-of-the-line full-size headphones of similar price ranges as the top-of-the line IEMs I had brought.

**Introduction** I attended an audio show and had the chance to listen to over 30 IEMs. Rather than going too deep on every single one, I wanted to highlight the 3 IEMs that truly impressed me and share some rapid-fire thoughts on the rest. Do note that these are my subjective impressions, and the rapid-fire takes might not convey everything. **64 Audio U12t** 64 Audio was the brand I had looked forward to the most at the show. And U12t was easily the best IEM I heard there. The first thing that caught my attention was its imaging and soundstaging, it was one of the few IEMs that gave me a true sense of holographic staging. I really liked the treble tuning, it was extended, crisp, and avoided being sibilant. The midrange was on the warmer, lusher side, with upper mids slightly recessed for my taste. I hadn’t expected the bass to sound this good coming from BAs. It was detailed, hit hard, but decayed a tad faster than typical DDs. **Softears Enigma** At first, I thought it was just another ridiculously overpriced IEM that would sound mediocre. But I was wrong, the bass quality was pretty good, better than U12t. I didn’t feel anything special about the mids, they were neither shouty nor recessed. I sensed a dip around 5-6 kHz, as I am quite sensitive to peaks there. This made vocals much smoother to listen to, but there was a lack of excitement, so vocals weren’t the strong suit of this IEM. But it was the treble that hooked me and made me want to keep listening. The treble had an 'ethereal' quality. It felt lighter, extended, refined, and more importantly, exciting. Because of this, I just kept listening and ended up staying longer than I had planned, it was that good. **64 Audio U4s** This is basically a 'baby U12t', with a dynamic driver for the bass, giving it a proper bass thump. It had all the qualities I mentioned in U12t, but the overall technical prowess was slightly lower. I am still confused whether I preferred U12t’s faster bass response or U4s meatier bass response, nevertheless it was good. The midrange had similar qualities to what I described in U12t impressions. But the treble performance was a slight downgrade compared to U12t, it was on the splashier side with touch less refinement. **Top Performers in:** **Bass** * 64 Audio Volur * Sennheiser IE 900 **Mid-range** * 64 Audio U12t/U4s * Mega5EST **Treble** * Softears Enigma * 64 Audio U12t **Rapid-fire impressions** **64 Audio Fourte** * Emphasized bass * Recessed vocals * Non-offensive treble * No wow factor * Overpriced **64 Audio Trio** * Recessed mids, but not as much as Fourte * Non-offensive treble * Third best 64 Audio IEM for me **64 Audio U18t** * Treble presentation didn’t work for me * Not as good as U12t **64 Audio Volur** * Best bass I’ve ever heard in an IEM * Treble is quite peaky **64 Audio Nio** * Darkest among the 64 Audio lineup I’ve tried * Not my preferred sound signature **64 Audio Solo** * Best planar IEM I heard at the show * Bass quality wasn’t the best compared to others * Technical performance not up to the price **ThieAudio Monarch MK3** * Chonky shell, but still comfortable to wear * Emphasized yet controlled bass * Treble was slightly peaky * No wow factor **Sony IER Z1R** * Uncomfortable to wear, lacks proper seal * Because of that, bass suffered, I had to hold it with my hands to get the best seal * Bass quality is great (not the best I’ve heard, can’t say much due to poor fit) **Sennheiser IE 900** * Vocals sounded stuffy, weird, and recessed * One of the best bass I heard at the show after 64 Audio Volur * Lacking in detail and imaging for the price **Sennheiser IE 600** * Better tonality than IE 900, especially in the upper mids * Again, not the best in technical performance **Mega5EST** * Most normal-sounding IEM I heard at the show * Quite bassy for this type of mid-range * Not the best in subjective qualities **Dunu Da Vinci** * Similar impression to Mega5EST * This type of sound signature doesn’t work well with such a bass boost **Letshuoer Cadenza 12** * Fairly neutral with a bass boost * Lacks the wow factor * Treble was slightly on the harsher side **Elysian Pilgrim** * Non-offensive sound signature * Treble is a bit forward and spicy * Lacks excitement **Softears RSV** * Bass quality was good * Vocals sounded strained * Nothing special about the treble **Softears Volume S** * Non-offensive, but somewhat shouty on some songs * Slightly peaky treble (in some songs) **Softears Studio 4** * Sounded okay (but in a good way) * Nothing particularly special **FATfreq Maestro Mini** * Driver flex * Too much bass (works well with engaging songs) * Treble not refined **FATfreq Scarlet Mini** * Driver flex * Even more bass (too much on top of the already excessive bass of Maestro Mini) **FATfreq Grand Maestro** * Didn’t felt as bassy as compared to others * Faced similar fit issues like the IER Z1R **Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea** * Warm sounding with non-offensive treble * Didn’t felt anything special about the rest **Campfire Audio Trifecta** * Very weird sounding (that’s what I wrote in the notes:) * Overpriced for what it is * But looks stunning though **Campfire Audio Astrolith** * Too much treble * Again, overpriced **Campfire Audio Solaris Stellar Horizon** * Best sounding Campfire Audio IEM in my opinion * Bass quality was good * Mids sounded recessed * Energetic treble response

Moondrop Variations for me. Sounded lifeless, wierd, grainny and compressed. I had very high expectations before hearing them, both my friend and I found them to be absolutely horrible. Used multiple tips and that didn't change a thing. I also didn't like 64 Audio Volur when I heard em, sounded peaky and brittle. Thieaudio Monarch MK3, CA Trifecta, Hidizs MP145, Letshuoer S15 and Truthear Nova on the other hand were amazing. To each his own, It's all about the music library, tastes and ear anatomy.

Bone conductor IEMs have a unique ability to enhance positional audio which makes them the best tool for gaming. I have tested the IEM that is considered the best for gaming, the 64 audio Volür with fps games like COD and battlefield but it actually falls short of the isn ebc80 because of that extra dimension of soundstage and headspace. It adds a bit of sound layering which makes it easier to pick out individual sounds like footsteps within a busy battlefield with vehicles, explosions, gunfire, etc. The bone conductors are located on the side of the shell, behind the eartip so that the sound is sent around the ear canal and straight to the inner ear. This bypasses the eardrum, giving you better directional audio that isn't competing for the eardrum with other audio queues. This soundstage and imaging is on another level. Avoid piezo (PZT) bone conductors because they're located on the inside of the shell and tend to be geared towards low-end enhancement rather than the more useful mid-upper frequencies and technicalities that you get with sonion BCDs. Use tri clairion eartips which will boost sound separation and imaging capabilities of the isn ebc80. Another good option is the Penon liqueur black eartips that I personally use quite often. Both eartips are widebore. The divinus velvet wide bore tips are the comfiest and good all-rounder eartips. I can listen with these iems all day with either one of those equipped, not that I'm proud to admit that I have done it Since I first started using this IEM, I've been playing with a 2.45 K/D average on my fps games because I know where every single enemy player is within 50-100 (virtual) yards! When I'm clearing buildings, I can tell what floor an enemy is on thanks to those bone conductors. There does not appear to be a better/more expensive IEM that uses full-frequency bone conductors aside from the penon archangel but I hear it isn't good for long sessions due to fatiguing upper midrange and treble. If you're intent on spending within that budget of yours, the volür is the one recommended most.

I know this is gonna sound like glazing like most of my comments do but the Volür was my gaming set until I tried out the archangels. It's just weird how much of a difference the BCD makes with gaming. FPS in particular

If price isn't an issue: **Hi-fi/summit-fi** Fir Audio Rn6 (Xenon technically has more bass, but the Rn6 is a better set all around) FatFreq Grand Maestro Canpur CP622B Nightjar Singularity Penon Impact Empire Ears Raven 64 Audio Volur (not the most popular set on this list, but stellar soundstage on this set) Sony IER-Z1R (fit can be an issue for some, was for me, demo first if you can) **Midfi/lower Hi-fi** Thieaudio Origin Thieaudio MKIV (Rumble switch on) Punch Audio Martilo Penon x Effect Audio Archangel Penon 10th Anniversary Penon Rival Kiwi Ears x HBB Punch (Martilo is the better set between these two) FatFreq Scarlett Mini (requires EQ) FatFreq Maestro Mini Hisenior Mega5est Bass+ (find and use TimmyT916's/DucBloke's EQ) **Lower Midfi/budget** FatFreq x HBB Deuce Thieaudio Hype 4 (with EQ) Crinicle Dusk (with EQ) QKZ x HBB Khan (bass-forward out of the box, *requires* EQ to clean up some issues with the tuning) **Honorable mention** If you can find one of Michael Bruce's Glamdring mods, may not be the most forward bass, but some of the best tonality you can find for the price. Or, pick up a Lesthuoer S12 Ultra or S12 2024 edition and add a bass shelf -- the S12/S15 drivers can handle a massive amount of abuse in the lower frequencies, especially.