Kinera - Celest Pandamon 2.0

Grab thr Kinera Celest Pandamon 2.0, they are currently on Amazon for $10. Considering they launched at almost $80, that's a lot of bang for the buck. Very neutral, and flat tonality. While maintaining a lot of dynamism. Hexa is also a solid option.

Xuan NV Celest Pandamon 2.0 is actually my new EDC—despite owning far pricier IEMs. It’s not the best-sounding set, but it’s effortlessly comfy and I can wear it all day. Comfort is S-tier. Retails for $50 (was $20 for a while), and I pair it with Kiwi Ears Flex tips. I use the Pandamon 2.0 about 90% of the time. It sounds better than IE200 and everything in its comfort tier—easily beats LAN, Chu 2, Gate, etc. I even prefer it over Hexa, Kefine Klean, Tangzu Waner 2 (non-Studio), Dunu Titan S, Tanchjim Bunny, LAN 2 Reference, Kiwi Cadenza, and Salnotes Zero. I also find it more enjoyable than Blessing 2. The sound won’t wow you at first, but it grows on you—super chill, my daily go-to. Sometimes, comfort just wins. Ironically I prefer them over everything people are mentioning here. Xuan NV is a safer bet though. Then again, no. I'd say the Pandamon 2.0 is a safer bet since it's dirt cheap.

Pandamon 2 is really good

Currently using these with the KZ AZ09s, pretty insane quality for $10

I got the blue pair for 10, now they’re 15 and the black which were 20 are 10 so I really dont know 

I can offer some suggestions, but I am really curious as to what you’re even looking for because I don’t really understand the question you’re asking. You’re looking for a 4.4 Balanced cable, OK that’s not a problem, but why are you looking for that size specifically? You also say about trying other IEM’s but you’re giving absolutely nothing in regards to the tuning and that is at least 90% of the entire purpose of the IEM’s and what you hear. What type of sound are you looking for in this IEM? I recently bought the Pandamon 2.0 for $30 off Amazon and it came with a 4.4 cable. So “cheaper options” do exist but buying an IEM for its cable option is pointless without knowing a tuning profile you’re looking for. If it’s just a cable you want, I get 4.4 cables all the time off AliExpress for $10-$20usd in any connection like MMCX/2-pin/QDC/TFZ……..

I'm not sure about planars being better suited to headphones. I have the Edition XS which is very good, and I've tried a few Audezes as well. There's a lot of similarities in terms of the "planar sound" between those and the full-size planar IEMs (of which I have 5). It's hard to match a full-size planar IEM for resolution. The same is not true of the Shell. However, I can say that the Shell has some similarities with the Simgot EW300, which is another hybrid that includes a planar (different driver architecture though). They do have a fairly distinctive sound. I would describe it as exaggerated texturing throughout the midrange, without especially elevated treble (although the Shell is definitely quite v-shaped). Whereas a full planar is quite different, especially in how it presents bass. Planar bass gives you a lot more detail, instrument separation and quite linear extension, but it doesn't have the same mid-bass slam that you get from a DD. Planars can have a slightly metallic timbre generally (that I've tried, only the S08 doesn't, but I'd put it in a different category of planars, with afaik the only other one like it being the T10 Pro). This is something I notice on the full-size headphones like the Edition XS and Audeze LCD-X as well. It's important to realise that an SPD/micro-planar is more like a DD than a true planar and it sounds more like a DD. So if you want to hear a planar, you need to get a full-size planar. If you want to see them taken apart, there's a [teardown video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e75AUDGfGhE&t=2345s) you can watch (timestamped to the relevant bit). In fact I also have the Kinera Pandamon, which is one of the earlier SPD implementations that uses it as a full-range driver. It does sound like a DD, not like a planar. And in that case, not a particularly good DD either. Agree about the T10 being a bit ugly. It's unfortunate and I don't know why they didn't just make them in different colours like an Apple product, instead of beige. They'd be printing money if they did that. But aside from being one of the cheapest planars, it's also one of the best tuned ones and doesn't have fatiguing treble, but still has that planar resolving ability. I actually think they made it ugly on purpose to avoid cannibalising sales of the S12. BTW, my initial impressions of the Shell are that it's better than the EW300. Partly because the PZT on the EW300 adds a huge annoying treble spike. I got rid of that with tip-rolling, but ultimately returned it because of other tuning issues (that so far I haven't run into with the Shell and I did try some of the same test tracks to see if it handled them better). The Shell is definitely one of the best looking IEMs around as well.

Kinera Celest PhoenixCall Underrated and rarely mentioned.