Had Arias, Had hexas, now got dunu S (1gen) and they blow previous two out of water and hit way above their pricepoint imo. I have no idea how most top mentioned of nowdays iems sound, but i could advise dunu S to anyone.
The zero red is huge price jump than the rest, and other fall in budget segment, why did you consider one 1 iem in that price range and not anything else like dunu Titan x, kefine klean(og, sv), kiwi ear cadenza 7hz G1 etc etc. also as for bias the whole audio space will have bias, as everyone like different sound signature-so if I say I like this iem other person might hate it, that's how this goes mostly.
I understand but fair warning zero red are Very big and chonky iems, they have huge nozzel and shell so comfort is not something you might find with these, and as for gaming right now it's either dunu Titan x (a bit bassy iem) and kefine klean sv(balanced iem so not a lot of bass and treble) in the price range.
Below this is tanchim bunny dsp, but you have to use eq to make them feel good in movies as they have thin bass,
Hey! What do you think about the fit? I have the first gen of the Titan S and also got the Dunu S&S, but it wasn’t a good combo for me. Both still fall off my ears.
Dunu Titan S.
It was worth every penny ($52 back in 2024). I'm a basshead, but I love that thing.
It was my first big purchase and, it made me realize how shouty my other sets were.
Letshouer Cadenza 4
Enjoyability: A to A+
Critical Editing: B to A
Mixing: A. While a bit U-shaped it's not egregious. It's enough to make decisions.
Sennheiser IE200
Enjoyability: B to A
Critical Editing: D to F (rounds out a lot of sibilance imo, which is actually a good thing for enjoyers).
Mixing: B. Kind of shocking but while people call this v-shaped this is actually not as v-shaped imo. If you monitor yourself using these iems it'll sound exactly like you down to the microphone. Most other v-shaped iems don't do that.
Crinacle Daybreak
Enjoyability: B to A-
Critical Editing: A (rofl. It's funny because it genuinely is good at picking out bad audio. If it sounds harsh it's because the original track is harsh)
Mixing: B (This is more of a "Meta" tuned iem. But imo just enough where it sounds true)
Crinacle Dusk
Enjoyability: B to A+ (depending on who you ask)
Critical Editing: C on Analogue. F on DSP. It rolls out sibilance by quite a large margin.
Mixing: A on analogue mode. Honestly pretty neutral. almost HD600ish. But about a C on DSP mode.
Tanchjim Origin
Enjoyability: C to A (depending on who you ask)
Critical editing: A (it'll definitely let you know spicy regions
Mixing: A. A bit bright-slanted but definitely capable for mixing.
Theioaudio Legacy 2:
Enjoyability: C
Critical editing: A+
Mixing: A+
Xuan NV (honorable mention)
Enjoyability: A
Critical editing: B
Mixing: D (too bassy imo)
I mention these because imo these are the Audio Technica M50x of iems but the size of 2 quarters. They basically give you accurate vocals down to the tee but thumpy bass. The vocals are very accurate on these. Not good for mixing though.
Dunu Titan S (original)
Enjoyability: C
Critical editing: D (the treble is rounded out quite a bit)
mixing: A (these are my imo pretty close to neutral)
Lately these are my favorites. I don’t know their exact sound signatures, but here’s how I’d describe them:
Celest Pandamon 2.0 (with Kiwi Ears Flex eartips) – Super small, comfy, and chill—similar vibe to the Aful Explorer. I actually prefer these over the Salnotes Zero, 7Hz Sonus, Crinacle Zero Red, Artii T10, Tangzu Waner 1/2, Kefine Klean, IE200, Truthear Hexa, Moondrop Lan Reference, Chu 2, FDX1, Blessing 2, Kiwi Ears Cadenza, Inawaken Dawn, Dunu Titan S, and Truthear Gate. It’s about $20, a total “grower.” Boring at first, but comfort and tuning make it great. Likely warm or neutral-warm.
Softears Studio 4 – Kicks ass. Especially on female vocals. I prefer it over all Meta-tuned and Harman IEMs.
Campfire Andromeda 2020 – Neutral-warm with massive soundstage.
Letshouer Cadenza 4 – On par with the Studio 4; I can’t pick a favorite between them. I can't describe how it sounds correctly and it's an IEM that shocked me because it (looks) like it'd be a Blessing 3 on graphs. Sounds nothing like anything out there. It's just an amazing IEM. I think it's U-shaped.
Etymotic ER2XR – Love these for sentimental reasons. My EDC setup—always in my work bag. I use the Final Audio E multipack with the red adapter and my own tips.
Dunu Kima 2 – The definition of neutral-warm to my ears. Filled the one gap in my collection (Lush, Dunu SA6 Mk2, Truthear Pure, S08, Explorer, etc.). The Kima 2 nails what I was missing.
For budget stuff which surprised me. Xuan NV and Defiant. Both are spectacular with female and male vocals. Great punchy bass. Xuan NV is a bit more...liberal with bass. Defiant sounds more...correct with bass. But both are giant killers. Though the Defiant feels like more of a dragon slayer.
Unfortunately the Hexa is too divisive. For everyone who likes it there will be one who hates it. The bass is fine for me but many complain about it or rather the lack of it. The treble i found to be unnatural before taming it with tips but as equally some find it smooth others find it bright and peaky.
I love the relax listening other hate it because it's boring.
The Dunu Titan S is a safer bet and can be tip rolled from warm neutral to neutral which I'm getting to like.
Obvious omissions are the explorer and defiant.
What sounds do you like? They sound different. The Dunu Titan S could be a better alternative to these and the warm neutral sound for me is tip dependent so you could adjust it.
And u/dr_wtf comment too.
Im waiting for the white kbear tourbillon pro to be back in stock and hopefully priced around 35$ at most to contrast the CCZ CZ10. The treble on the CZ10 ruins that iem. Initially it sounds like the Titan S but it's inferior. Can't believe headfi reviewer were saying that rivals the Kiwi ears Astral. Kima 2 or Fission on my list but can't decide which. Then the 2 purple iems from Tangzu when they are low enough in price. The Hexa with muse hifi m4 is my preferred pairing with its warm sound. Ibasso dx180 is more neutral bass is lighter and brighter treble.
Personally going on from the Defiant you are better off saving up and get something like the Fission or Kima 2 which would be by next move from there. Especially on sale you can get towards Defiant money.
The titan s I find is very much tip dependent on whether it's warm neutral or neutral as the bass is rather light but it's much vocal orientated with treble that's not too bright. Tip rolling makes a difference. Using Dunu s&s the bass is light but opens up the soundstage improving the clarity of the treble which I find is grainy with the stock tips and is more neutral.
The explorer as someone mentioned will give you a warmer bassier sound but I find vocals more recessed than the defiant and the treble relaxed. I didn't tip roll these as I was using my friend's who got it recently so the sound may not be optimal for me.
Others in the sub would suggest the Letshuoer s08 another warmer iem that's also a planar but I haven't heard these.
The explorer isn't neutral. It's more warm. The Titan S is more neutral but very much tip dependant on whether it's warm neutral as alot of reviewers describe it as.
Top IEMs on Reddit
1
7Hz
7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2
76% positive of 493 users
Budget gaming pick, but poor cables and polarizing bass.
AffectionateGrowth25
