Salnotes Zero

you can usually get decent 10$\~ cables from amazon or aliexpress. just look for 0.78mm 2-pin cables. tripowin, xinhs, nicehck, kbear are good brands zero's are abit brighter in the treble versus the reds which might exacerbate the pitchy highs issues you're hearing rn. reds are also generally just a step up from the cheapie 20$ sets like zero i'd opt for the cable

tanchjim bunny for something more neutral, 7hz zero neutral brighter

for something flatter in the bass then for sure bunny in this price bracket

no you want bunny over anything in this price range

just trust the bunny rec man lol. pretty much everything else is going to be more bass boosted including cadenza

The Luna is a good first IEM choice IMO. I've added another layer of metal filter over the wire mesh filter on mine to mod the sound a tiny bit, lessens the energy of sibilance it may have so I can now wear it for hours on end without experiencing any fatigue Got the Luna for a little less than 27usd a while ago, it definitely outperforms the likes of the Moondrop Chu (Harsh), Salnotes Zero (Okayish, less harsh) on a technical level by a long shot to my ears, and outcompetes the original Truthear Zero (Too much energy) and Zero:Red (Boring, but I like boring) on that front as well, and even the Juzear Defiant (Pleasant, easy listen, but very low res) IMO A slight upgrade over the KZ PR2 as well in terms of budget Planar IEMs, while costing almost half the price of what I paid for the PR2s a few years back It's a winner for the price in my books, punches well above its weight class, especially when discounted, by which it becomes a no-brainer recommendation from me for dipping ones toes into Planar IEMs It sits in my rotation alongside the PR2 (Foam + Filter modded), Zero:Red, Hexa (filters removed + Foam modded), Dioko (paper filter removed + foam modded, Filter replacement due) and the Defiant depending on my mood https://preview.redd.it/24s8hdn4173g1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e97df5c55b0c4a89e2bf1e78043564234052f954 Top row: TE Zero:Red (Divinus Velvet Wide), TE Zero (Divinus Velvet), JE Defiant (Divinus Velvet Wide then, Sedna Earfit Light long stem currently) Middle row: 7Hz Zero (Sedna Earfit Light short stem) Bottom row: Moondrop Chu 1 (Spinfit CP100, removable cable mod), SGOR Luna (KBear Coffee Tips), KZ PR2 (KBear Coffee Tips)

damn near every iem or headphone is able to be pushed I believe 14db higher or lower without issues in terms of eq without pushing a driver to far (we are talking about how they respond to frequencies, not total volume) any modern driver in an iem thats not snakeoil can be retuned to sound like damn near any other iem, the only difference being how clear they are, ill give an example, I had salnotes zeros to test out modern iems, and I had hifiman editions, in terms of tone, they were near identical when I eq'ed them, but the hifi man was just so much clearer it wasn't close. then based off a feeling I got blessing 2's the hifi man had issues where bass would bleed into treble causing a wobble, for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b-FEaGJG8Y is what I used to push bass into worst case scenarios, on blessing 2's, that wobble isn't there, this is an absolute worst case scenario but you can hear bass screwing with other frequencies in other songs/games/music, its just not as in your face with that song, megadrive flawless is a good example of song but its very hard to hear. personally, I would go with truthear pure, just because I know how much stuff costs even at volume prices, and that kz should be impossible to make if they aren't skimping.

Have: *Using a dac btw *Chu 2 and Kefine Klean are prone to sound damp/loss due to moisture getting trapped in the metal housing. If it happens let it air out or put silica gel next to it. -Kz edc pro(cheapest option; sounds better than my salnotes zero & chu 2 tho unreliable qc) -Salnotes zero(great budget option; clean layered sounds and a bit bassy, plastic housing not really bothersome quite reliable tbh, stock cable sucks tho, my running/jogging iem) -Moondrop chu 2(clean layered sound and neutral tuning, my preferred choice; metal housing, great stock cable, my travel iem) -Kefine Klean(a bit better sounding than every iem i have, best build quality, metal housing, great stock cable, my gaming iem) Currently eyeing: Kinera Celest Simgot ew300

I don't say this out loud but I enjoy more my Salnotes zero that the Moondrop May. I know the Mays are objectively superior but idk my weird shaped blue IEMs come with me everywhere I go...