KEFINE - Klanar

s12 pro or any of its clones, nicehck f1 pro, kefine klanar, artti t10 is quite similar. These will give you the general planar experience, highly detailed, very bright. There are other more warm bassy planars that go abit against the grain, kiwi ears melody, s08, mp145 + mp143 Depends what flavor you want. I'd probably skip the dioko. I've seen people preferring s12 over their sundara and another thread I was in where the s12 was better than he400se

I just bought the Kefine Klanar, which are also planar, and they kinda of have a similar signature to s12, with the difference of not so harsh a treble, which is really pleasant and significantly more bass. I'm pretty satisfied. Almost purchased the s12 pro, but I reviewer I follow for years called the Klanar "The King of Rock", and since I don't listen to mostly anything else, albeit classical in the headphones, I was instantly convinced. And of course I'm pretty satisfied. They were cheap and are pretty much exactly what I needed from an IEM.

I LOVE Planars! I would probably go with the Klanar beacuse of the build quality

i personally would go for the Klanar, given that it performs pretty well as how a planar should be, also, has more bass amount.

As a person that owns a planar and DD iems. it really depends on what Is your friend looking for, i personally dont find planars timbre bas or metallic but for some people it can be distracting, that said, BA deivers are said to be prone to that aswell so a hybrid with BAs could be counter-productive. Now, the 2 main problems i find with planars is first, they need quite good amplfication, some more, some less, but you will need a dongle dac always basically. On the other hand, DDs usually suffer a bit less even if they are underpowered. the other problem with planars is that for some the bass might not had enough punch. planar bass is good, but not that good vs a good DD Bass. For cheap, Sgor Luna is a pretty good starting planar pick tho, you can even bundle it up with a dongle dac, so its a good option, but it doesnt seem to compete with better planars for its lower price, it does perform well for its price tho. If your friend like the zero2, it could be a decent new step, but for more performing planars, you dont want F1 Pro or T10 since the focus is more on the sub-bass Rumble over mid-bass kick, the least you could do is the Klanar, and specially the Letshouer S08 if he wants a bassy sound. As for non-planars, ill rather recomend the normal delci as long as he is not planing on gaming too much, since doesnt work all that well, and the AE tunings arent exactly the best use of the driver and is more expensive. EW300 is a pretty decent pick, but some people find them heavy on the ears, so do take in mind. As for other options, similar to Zero2, there arent exactly much closer to, but you could also check the Tangzu Fudu. But honestly, if your friend can go for planars, i think it would be a better pick in this budget, and if you know he likes bass, specially the S08 from planars. If not, Delci would be the safer options between delci and EW300. If your friend plans on doing gaming the Delci AE could be more versatile, but i think you would be sacrificing a good bassy tuning vs 2 just decent tuning. Talk it with your friend and narrow down options. If you are interested in more options for $50 or below, i have a whole pick list of you are interested.

For around that price, for balanced i guess Check the truthear nova. as for neutral, i mean, if you really want a neutral sound, the Dunu Kima 2 is pretty neutral, but check them well, as a neutral sound usually comes with some adjustments in the sound that people often dont enjoy for music. Now, if you dont want an specially neutral sound, the S12 works fine but remember that it is planar and that it also has a bit foward treble area, so you should not be too sensitive to treble and have a decent dac to power them. if you want something less treble foward, check the Kefine klanar. those arent strictly neutral, but wont be too colored in the sound eirher.

The T10 shell doesn't fit comfortably in my ears so a more common universal shape like the Klanar would be best for people like me. Otherwise, soundwise they are very similar to me. I can't hear the "planar timbre" from the T10s and the bass is enough for me as a Harman adherent. @$55 USD the T10 is priced low enough to be an impulse buy for some people and the extra cost @90 for the Planar is mostly the metal shell.