Cadenza

I have the cadenza's rn and have tried the chu 2. I can say that the Cadenza's are better overall and its a nice experience in playing story-driven games + listening to music while chilling. I can't say the same for FPS tho the imaging is not that good for me. I guess its better to have 2 options when buying IEMS. 1 for purely competitive gaming and 1 fun IEM for chill games + music listening.

I am very sorry to say this but GK kunten is probably your best choice. I've tested out different ones and I own 3. My first purchase was the Kiwi Cadenza's I've owned them for over a year, I love using them for vocals (examples: Wave to earth, laufey, and soft type of music) I recently bought the GK kunten, and its just a fun IEM to use. Its good without eq and I use it in the gym. I'm not afraid about it getting dirty or wearing out since its just cheap (6 USD in my country). I love using it in the gym because of its bass it slams my ears even at half volume. So my takeaway is it really depends on what you're gonna use it for, I switch around on what to use everyday but the only problem I have is the inclusions. GK kunten inclusions suck, the wires also suck, so I would suggest just buying it then get a good wire and eartips since they change how it sounds.

Agree cadenza 12 have lingering impression on me, even after trying $10k iems

And the OG Kiwi Ears Cadenza is a great all rounder. Probably the best set out of what you mentioned. Even the higher priced ones.

I have two sets on my desk: XENNS Tea Pro TRI I3 MK3 The Tea Pro is my main gaming set, because of the really good imaging and beautiful bass texture for the bass heavy genres I tend to listen to while gaming I love the tuning on the Tea Pros, though female vocals are a bit recessed if I want to listen to vocal heavy songs. I've made the big shells fit in my ears really well, but I do still get pressure points from the wings in my outer ear Thats what the TRI I3 MK3 is for. Its my going-out set because of the beautiful purple shells that I paired with a purple cable, but I have it similarly EQed to my Tea Pro, almost same bass amount, but more forward vocals. So if the Tea Pro ever give me pressure points or I want more vocals I switch to those and they are more comfortable since the wings are not as defined. Downside of the TRI I3 MK3 is that the wings are not as big, so if I wear them for too long (8+ hours) they start sliding out. Thats when I switch back to the Tea Pros. I also have 2 other sets in my rotation, both on bluetooth earhooks Aful Explorer on the TRN BT20 Pro Kiwiears Cadenza on the TRN BT30 Pro The Explorers are connected to my phone and I use them for sleeping or when I want to go out without cables. The Cadenza are connected to my Tablet for watching Youtube/movies/anime while making/eating food. I can also connect them to my PC in case I dont want to deal with cables at all I'm planning to switch out my bluetooth sets for iems with metal shells at some point since they dont get as oily as resin shells do and I prefer that

**Pretty but sound is decent** under $110 ======================================= Fosi Audio IM4. Black. I think silver looks good too but can't confirm; I have the black one. I was actually pretty surprised by the sound. Pretty good. Very pretty and elegant shell. Nicely designed. Sound is actually purty good. Defiant. In emerald green. Gorgeous shell!!!!! Solid iem. But note it does have Quality control issues. Dunu Kima 2. Get the Raven version for better artwork. Looks nice! One of the best iems at the $100 pricepoint. Celest Wyvern Abyss original. Not remaster. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous shells! More of a vocal set. Has no technicals, ie no soundstage or imaging. But great for vocals. I got it for 9 bucks. Celest Pandamon 2.0. Purty shells. Beautiful shells. Chill sound. Pair it with Kiwi Ears flex eartips. I love the way it sounds. Very comfortable. Xuan NV. Not gorgeous per se. But the box art is stunning. But the iems aren't ugly by any means. Great sound. Great vocals. Great bass. I dig it. Also comes with Tang Sancai eartips. Save those for another iem in the future. Those eartips brighten stuffy iems. **Pretty shells but I'm not sure** under $110 =================== Letshouer S08. GORGEOUS shell. I can't find myself to enjoy it. It's a weird sound. I think Artii T10 (WAY WAY uglier) sounds better. **Pretty shells but sound is eh** under $110 ========= Zero Blue 2 and Zero Blue 1. Very pretty shells. Don't recommend for sound. Gets very harsh and sibilant. Cadenza v1. In purple. I bought it. Pretty. The sound is eh though. It's thin with male vocals. Pretty though. That purple color is gorgeous. Chu 2. It's a pretty shell. Sound is eh. Thin-ish with vocals. Not full. Cadenza v2 in Blue. Pretty shell. Recently checked it out. Still have it. Has a typical sound. 7hz G1. Pretty shell. I think it looks sick in white. Bought it. Too bright. Simgot EW300. Shells look nice. I didn't care for the sound. Celest Phoenix Call. Currently $69. Gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!! But the sound is oh, so close but not there. :S I still kept it because I love its design. I like the clear one! https://preview.redd.it/lnubp4i6qkkg1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=007704c2d634b3df2c5c4b51b196efc50aa20cfa

Celest Wyvern Abyss Celest Pandamon 2.0 Most Kiwi stuff. Nearly all of them. With the exception of Quintet which seems to be built differently. But Kiwi Ears Belle was super tiny and comfy. Kiwi Ear Astral, no issues. Kiwi Ears Cadenza v1 and v2 pretty comfy. As far as larger iems go, Zigaat Lush fits really well on me for some reason.

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.

> kb02, the kiwiears cadenza Ah, shame you don't have those as I was going to ask about them specifically. Mainly because they all have Beryllium drivers (most likely the exact same driver). The graph looks very similar to the Cadenza (which the ~~KB02~~KB01 sounds identical to). The Moondrop Chu 2 is also very similar to the Cadenza is you have one of those. The treble on the Cadenza is slightly smoother, but it's barely noticeable. In fact, the Chu 2 graph is almost identical to the Unicrom except for about 1-2dB more eargain - everything else could be two channels of the same IEM: https://squig.link/?share=Harman_Adjusted_Target,Super_22_Target,IEF_Comp_Target,Pula_Unicrom,Moondrop_Chu_2_(S2) I think the Pula *looks* really good and I'm very tempted to get one at some point, but I'm definitely wondering if it justifies its price purely on sound quality as a 1DD. If you listen to a Simgot EA500 or EA500LM it's very clear that it's a much better driver than the Chu 2, Cadenza or EW200. Those (EA500s) can easily keep up with things like the Hexa in terms of resolution (albeit with a different tuning), whereas the others can't. Edit: I meant KB01 (which is the clone of the Cadenza) not the KB02 (which is the crappy sounding one with the bone conduction).

Kefine Klean if you can find them in budget (they're generally right around that price, depending on sales etc.). Otherwise KBear KB01 or the Kiwi Ears Cadenza. The KB01 is a 1:1 clone of the Cadenza, so choose based on price/looks. They sound identical. Failing that I'd go for the Chu 2 as IMO they sound the best in that price range and have the best build & accessories (only the Klean is ahead of them). But they do need a bit more looking after than most IEMs and can be prone to moisture issues if not kept dry between uses. I've also heard good things about the Bunny DSP, but haven't heard it myself. The fact it's plastic makes it lower maintenance than the Chu 2, but it won't look or feel as high quality. They do have them on Aliexpress, but it's possible they don't ship to your region and that's why it's not showing up. Sometimes Aliexpress search can be a bit weird so try googling it with "site:aliexpress" (you need to add .com to that but I don't want to get caught in the spam filter). That will sometimes help with finding listings that Aliexpress decides not to show for some reason. If you get a "not found" error that normally means it's not available in your country. Also another one that's not on your list but is excellent is the QKZ HBB. It's a very warm, laid back tuning. Quite bassy, but not energetic bass, just really warm. One of my favourite IEMs at any price, because there isn't really much else tuned like that. It's not as good and all-rounder as the others, but I think it might suit the genres you mentioned quite well. I like it for background listening because it pushes vocals back a bit (without making them sound muffled or unnatural) so it can make otherwise distracting music sound less distracting. It also volume scales really well if you decide to crank it up (just don't damage your hearing doing this!)

The Cadenza is pretty good. IMO quite a bit better than the Zero 2, both in terms of sound and also comfort (some people find the pointy edges on the Zero/Zero uncomfortable). I haven't heard the Vivian or seen any reviews from anyone reputable that I can think of. You could also have a look at the KBear KB01, which is a pretty much exact clone of the Cadenza, but it's usually around $20 instead of $40. It's a pretty safe all-rounder that most people will like for most music. The Zero 2 is more of a very-warm-neutral that can sound a bit dull and either too bassy or not bassy enough depending on whether you like bass or not. The only potential issue with the Cadenza/KB01 is that the nozzles are a bit above average, so I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with small ear canals. Another option is the Moondrop Chu 2, which sounds very similar to the Cadenza/KB01 as well, just with slightly sparklier but slightly less smooth treble - the differences in sound are pretty small tbh. It's small and the shells are metal. The overall package is quite nice & it's very pocketable. It can have some issues with condensation though, so needs a bit more looking after, especially if you live somewhere humid. And going up from that the Kefine Klean is very good. It's a bit bassier sounding than the Chu 2 but still quite clean-sounding. It's a bit of a step up in terms of the accessories, and I haven't seen as many reports of issues happening with clogged filters on these despite the metal shells - I think they use a different type of filter that's a bit less prone to that issue.

Kiwi Ears Cadenza or KBear KB01 if you have a chance to try them and make sure the nozzle isn't too big for your ear canal. The KB01 is a 1:1 clone of the Cadenza, so the fit and sound is identical, but the KBear is usually cheaper. My standard "blind buy" recommendation is the KZ EDC Pro because you can find them for around $7 normally, it's small, ergonomic and competently tuned, so it competes with the usual recommendations around the $20 mark. I don't normally recommend KZ as a company, so don't recommend spending more than about $10-15 on anything from them, but at this price point they're impossible to beat. Plus the EDC Pro has been out for a while, with no controversies about QC problems or other shenanigans. If you go with this one and decide to keep it long term you will want to upgrade the cable, but it works with standard 2-pin so any upgrade cable you buy should transfer to any more expensive IEM(s) you might buy in the future. Check the sub sticky for the common recommendations, in case neither of these is available or or the Cadenza nozzle is too big. The Tanchjim Bunny is another one that gets recommended a lot (specifically the DSP version because it has built-in EQ), which I haven't heard myself but it's worth considering as by all accounts it's very good (but only the DSP version, so not if you need the 3.5mm analogue jack).

Not sure. The only Kiwi Ears I have are the Orchestra Lite (fairly large) and the Cadenza. The Cadenza is fairly small, but has larger than average nozzles (and it's still slightly bigger than the EDC Pro). There's also the KBear KB01 which is a cheaper, 1:1 clone of the Cadenza. Either would be a slight upgrade from the EDC Pro, but not a huge one & probably not worth the cost. You also have the Chu 2 which is small, but it also has pretty bad ergonomics for anyone with small ears. And it's really a sidegrade from the EDC Pro. I prefer it personally, but there's not a huge difference, it's just tilted slightly brighter. For comfort I'd say the IE200 is the absolute best you're going to get, although personally I think the sound is a bit meh for what it costs. It's not bad, but it's probably not going to sound like much of an upgrade from the EDC Pro. Also the stock cable is pretty bad, so it's a good idea to budget another $20 for the OpenHeart one.

If you're going to give someone an IEM as a gift, the Chu 2 is the safest choice. It's got a balanced, mild-v sound that isn't going to offend anyone and most people will like, it feels high quality and comes as quite a nice little package with a decent cable and a carry pouch. People will have their own preferences for tuning and whatnot, but it's the most complete package. One thing to watch is that metal IEMs can need a bit more care than plastic ones, especially in a humid environment. The main risk is condensation, especially if they are worn for hours every day. IEMs need time to dry out. If in doubt, it's a good idea to get a better case and some silica gel to keep in it (the Chu 2 pouch isn't airtight or large enough to fit a pack of silica gel in with the IEMs). If the Cadenza is in budget, it's a slight upgrade from the Chu 2 (they sound almost identical, but the Cadenza is very slightly more refined). It has a plastic shell, so it's a bit lower maintenance, but also feels lower quality. It doesn't come with a case or pouch and the cable is also slightly worse. And since it has 4 colours, you better know which colour they will like. It might be outside your budget, but if it's on sale around the same price as the Cadenza, also consider the Kefine Klean. It's a much nicer package than any of these and comes with a proper semi-hard case & pretty good cable. It's a metal shell like the Chu 2 and if anything it feels even higher quality. It's not quite as small though. Again, the tuning is pretty similar, although the Klean also comes with 2 tuning nozzles to experiment with changing the sound slightly. Ones I would personally avoid as gifts: * Wan'er - feels very cheap & plasticky with a terrible cable & no accessories. Not great technical performance though most people won't notice if it's their first IEM. * KZ Castor / Castor Pro - quite an intense v-shaped signature that isn't all that balanced. Not everyone will like it, nor is it a good all-rounder * 7Hz Zero / Zero 2 - comes with a very poor quality cable and the angular shell shape get more complaints about comfort than the rest of the options around the same price. The case is plastic. Not as cheap looking/feeling as the Wan'er, but worse than the Cadenza. The Wan'er 2 is a more complete package that's potentially giftable (nicer cable than the OG but still not as nice as the Chu 2; the tips it comes with are the best part; no case included), but it still looks/feels very cheap and plasticky up close. It's much lower quality than it looks in photos.

Yes, like I said the Chu 2 is a better overall package, but the Cadenza is worth considering as well. Definitely wouldn't recommend the Wan'er.

I would argue it's overrated, despite not being rated much at all. I paid ~$30 for mine on sale and still feel like it was overpriced. I much prefer the Cadenza or KBear KB01.

I wouldn't say so, but how IEMs sound in each person's ear is different. At least on a 711, the main differences are the slight bass tuck on the Singolo caused by the Helmholtz resonator, and a huge dip in the treble around 10kHz: https://squig.link/?share=Harman_Adjusted_Target,IEF_Comp_Target,Super_22_Target,Kiwi_Ears_Singolo,Kiwi_Ears_Cadenza It's a bit harder to talk about specific differences on the 5128 and nothing there really reflects how I hear them better than the 711 graphs anyway. They probably are quite sensitive to ear canal effects. More than most IEMs. In fact that was the big complaint Resolve had about them in his review - he found they sounded much better if he permanently kept his fingers on them to hold them as deep as possible into his ear.

If you need isolation then nothing is going to beat the Etymotic ER2XR. But buy from Amazon or somewhere with a good returns policy in case your ear canals can't handle them. They go in *deep*. Otherwise around $100 I'd probably be looking at the Aful Explorer, as it's very comfortable and has very solid bass, with no Harman tuck or anything (you'll want to avoid all Harman IEMs because of the dip in the midbass, which is exactly where the bass guitar's fundamental frequencies tend to fall). Most 1DD IEMs are going to be pretty safe because, even if they follow a Harman-like tuning, like the Cadenza, it's not possible to fully achieve the Harman bass tuck with a 1DD. You need to be more careful about 2DDs and hybrids though. Cadenza is probably already one of the best budget options. You might be interested in the KBear KB01 which is a 1:1 clone of the Cadenza, using the same driver. The shell is very slightly different but it's basically the same size and the tuning is identical. Not sure what you mean about the faceplate smudge (never seen any other complaints about that), but the KB01 faceplate is different anyway. You might like the black/grey version. The Cadenza has a good reputation for isolation compared to most IEMs. I don't use mine that way, so I'm mostly going off previous conversations with musicians. With the exception of the Etymotics which have special tips, you probably want to look at tip choices if you want to maximise isolation. Foam will be best, but rolls off the treble - though that won't matter for bass and you'll still be able to hear the rest of the mix. Hybrids like Render tips will also work well, but those are discontinued. If you sweat a lot they might not be the best anyway because they're not grippy. There's a new version of these due in the future, but no date announced yet & no idea if they'll be as good as the old ones. > i think there should be this list specifically for live performers especially if gamers are going to get their own rank list. Have to say I kind of agree with this, except that the number of people discussing IEMs for stage monitoring in this sub is tiny. You'd be hard pushed to find 5 people let alone come up with a list of 5 IEMs. IEMs for gaming are a bit of a meme, as they make virtually no difference, and yet the sub has been increasingly flooded with gamers over the past few months looking for "wall hacks". It's mostly influencers spreading nonsense.

If they're still available on sale around that price, try to get a Dunu Titan S. It doesn't have a lot of bass, but it's actually my favourite IEM for hip hop because of how well it does the bass and vocals, so they're clearly separated from each other but without an odd dip somewhere that messed up bass guitars or whatever. I think they might be discontinued though so IDK if you'll find one in stock. I'd say overall it's quite neutral, with a bit of added vocal-forwardness (but unlike a lot of "vocal forward" IEMs it doesn't favour female vocals at the expense of male vocals). Failing that I'd probably go with the Chu 2 because it's nicely balanced and is an overall nice IEM in terms build quality, accessories and so on. The EW200 is good as well if you want a slightly more aggressive sound, but the EW200 can be a bit picky when it comes to eartips, in that if you don't get a good seal it will sound bright, thin and tinny (that isn't how it's tuned, but it's a common complain because people often don't get a good seal with the stock tips). The Cadenza is pretty good as well, but I'd probably look at the KBear KB01 instead because it's a 1:1 clone and slightly cheaper. Sounds very similar to the Chu 2 so it mostly comes down to whether you want metal shells or plastic, but I'd say the Chu 2 is a tiny bit more vocal-forward. Personally I don't think the Zero 2 is very good. One that I haven't heard myself but is nonetheless my default first IEM recommendation now is the Tangzu Red Lion. From what I've heard the tuning is more in line with the original Wan'er than the Wan'er 2, and it's a good all-rounder tuning with a bit of warmth (not not crazy basshead levels of bass) and some vocal forwardness, similar to the Titan S. In fact I would say the Titan S is the direct upgrade from the original Wan'er. The thing about the Red Lion is it has a great accessories package, especially since it comes with $15-worth of premium eartips, despite being a $23 IEM. You won't really need a DAC for any of these 1DD IEMs as long as your device has a headphone jack. If you only have USB then some of them come with a USB C cable option, and some don't. But you can always get a cheap dongle DAC like the JCally JM6, or the Apple dongle if you mainly use iOS. There's also the OopusX Op.22 which got some good reviews, but I haven't heard it, so I can't say much about whether it's really any good. It does have an easy-to-use bass switch though, which gives you two tunings without having to mess around with EQ. The accessories aren't as good as the Red Lion though. And since this one is a hybrid, a DAC would be recommended unless you know your source has a low output impedance.

I feel like you've gotta kinda move into the $30-50 range to get a decent cable and tips. All of the budget sets will come with mostly functional stuff, but usually not great. I know some folks like the Chu 2 cable, but I'm not a fan of it at all. The cable that comes with the OG Cadenza isn't amazing, but frankly, I still have it on there and it comes with three sets of tips that are all decent. The Salnotes Zero and Salnotes Zero 2 come with awful cables and decent tips. Everything KZ and KZ-related comes with downright unusable tips and cables. Seriously, the cable stiffens up after a while and I usually wear large tips and the starlines in the biggest size included won't seal for me. Frankly, any variation of the Tangzu Wan'er 2 might be it. The problem is the shells feel so cheap, but they come with good cables and tips.

First off, how will you be listening to them? Is it via a phone, plugging into a computer, or what? Do you already have a DAC (digital to analog converter) for them? If not, you probably need one of those as well. My advice for people getting into the hobby is not go overboard. Buy a solid, budget IEM to get a feel for them, maybe play around with some EQ options to see what kind of sound signature is right for you. You can buy a DAC with PEQ (parametric EQ), although they wildly vary in price. The Snowsky Tiny goes for like $20 USD or so and has access to a parametric EQ. No idea how good it is. You can also just get like a JCally JM6 or whatever and EQ from a phone app, but uh... anyway. IEMs. I always say cheaper, single dynamic driver IEMs. Dynamic drivers are smooth for bass and mids, and competent with treble. You can play with EQ settings and figure out what sorta sound you like. They're also more likely to just sound good just plugging them in. The more expensive you get, the more you've got a chance to get something that perhaps doesn't sound right to you, and then you've spent a lot of money to be disappointed. I'd say... 7hz Salnotes x Crinacle Zero:2, Moondrop Chu II, Kiwi Ears Cadenza, Truthear Gate, Kefine Klean, or the GK Kunten are a very good place to start. Any of those will sound good to most ears, and when you start exploring EQ, they'll allow you to figure out if you're a basshead, a classic V-shaper, vocal forward, neutral, warm neutral, bright neutral or, well, whatever else there is. Most of the above IEMs have similar frequency responses, which is the charts that show the measurements. Here's a bunch of the above on a chart. [https://squig.link/?share=Harman\_Adjusted\_Target,Super\_22\_Target,IEF\_Comp\_Target,Moondrop\_Chu\_2\_(S2),Kiwi\_Ears\_Cadenza,7Hz\_Zero\_2,Truthear\_Gate](https://squig.link/?share=Harman_Adjusted_Target,Super_22_Target,IEF_Comp_Target,Moondrop_Chu_2_(S2),Kiwi_Ears_Cadenza,7Hz_Zero_2,Truthear_Gate) I'm sure you'll see someone with a huge opinion about how one of the above sounds like shit or whatever, but frankly... Eh. Treble is the most subjective part of sound, and different ears mean different sensitivities.

I can only speak for the 'original' non-updated Kunten, but they legitimately sound very good if you're willing to play with EQ and find your own personal sweet spot. I own a lot of better sets and it's my 'safe' set that I use for stuff that I wouldn't use another set for. Going for a hike where I'm gonna get sweaty? Kunten. Sleeping? Kunten. Picking the kids up from school while it's snowing out? Kunten. For what it's worth, it's the end of March and I've had them since early November and they're still going strong. They're absolutely on par with other inexpensive single DD sets, all of which are incredibly capable if you're willing to put some work into them. I absolutely agree with you that for folks who can't swing hundreds of dollars on 'nicer' IEMs, something like the Kuten is amazing. The uncomfortable truth is that spending more money on 'nicer' IEMs doesn't always mean better sound, never mind that sound preference is 100% personal, if not based in part not just on taste, but ear shape and hearing. I'll still rec them right alongside the Zero 2, the Candeza and Chu II all day.