Gale

for the money they're great yeah

if you have access to zvx pro i'd go for those otherwise i'd take the kz gale as a more balanced allrounder or caastor pro if you're a basshead

KZ EDX series/ KZ Gale/ QKZ AK6 for budget options. Crinacle Blue for mid range experience. Personally I'd just buy whichever is the cheapest available among the first 3 options I've mentioned https://www.reddit.com/r/PakGamers/s/KGOvMVL7XW

KZ EDX/ Gale don't have any tuning switches. Gaming IEMs are supposed to be strong with the mids & highs so harsh sounds such as gunshots will be loud, sometimes uncomfortably so (as I've already mentioned my experience with the QKZ AK6 pros but never felt the same fatigue with Castor/ Castor Pros) Sound tonality however is highly subjective & preferences will vary from person to person, if you think Crinacle Blues is what you want, go for it.

I would recommend kz castor silver(4k) or kz gale specifically for gaming(5k for type c variant). Don't get an edx pro for 3k it's not worth it at all. Another option is the gk kunten. Don't buy from temu or AliExpress tbh. Buy from a local seller. I can the contact info of the guy I bought my kz castor from if you want.

The KZ Gale's sound for me is so good that I get hard thinking how a much better IEM sounds like. It's why I am asking for recommendations at just a little bit higher pricepoint 😂

I always see something on my youtube feed like "This is good, but you know, it's KZ so don't" and I really don't have any context to understand what that means. I'm pretty happy with my KZ Gale myself, so I just want to understand why I always see videos saying avoid KZ.

Super cheap: KZ Gale (~$5 but you'd probably want to add the QKZ T1 cable on for another $4-ish). Better build quality: EPZ Q1 Pro (~$35) or Tin C2 (~$30). Neither is strictly speaking neutral, but neutral IEMs don't exist. These are "neutral-ish" and tuned quite similarly with a balanced, slightly brighter tilt (which is what you need for soundstage & imaging). They all have good instrument separation as well (which is different to imaging). The C2 probably has the best separation & imaging, whereas the Q1 Pro probably has the widest soundstage. The C2 is fairly tip-sensitive and probably the brightest out of the box, with the stock tips, but you can tone that down if you're prepared to experiment a bit with aftermarket tips. The Q1 Pro is probably a bit safer otherwise.

Stick to 1DDs (single dynamic driver) to run off old hardware, because they won't change frequency response if the headphone amp isn't great, and while Apple stuff is usually better, older stuff isn't always that great. For around $5 on sale you can get the KZ EDC Pro, although recently I have been preferring the KZ Gale (the EDC Pro is bassier, the Gale sounds more resolving). Both come with crappy cables so you'd probably want to upgrade that. The QKZ T1 is good and cheap. Fits the Gale but not the EDC Pro. For the EDC Pro, basically any KBear cable (8-core or 16-core, the cheapy 4-core ones are passable, but nowhere near as good) with a standard 2-pin connector. There's also the incredibly over-hyped GK Kunten (also made by KZ) but while people were getting those on sale for around $2 (and that's why there's so much hype) the price has gone back up to normal now, so whether or not you can find one under $10 will depend what regional offers are running. I'd say they're perform about the same level as the Gale, so look for whichever one is cheaper or you prefer in terms of looks. The tuning is slightly different, but they're nearly identical. Both are QDC so both will work with the QKZ T1 cable. There's also the KZ ZVX Pro which I haven't heard myself, but apparently is the exactly same IEM as the Kunten (same driver, same tuning), just in a slightly higher quality all-metal shell, and now that the initial sales have passed, it's usually cheaper. So that's another potentially good option. QKZ T1 cable again. Unfortunately under $10 pretty much all your options are made by KZ, who are a slightly dodgy company, but their QC has improved a lot in the past couple of years. If you prefer a bassier sound and can stretch to around $15 or so, the QKZ HBB is excellent (QKZ are not related to KZ). Unfortunately it also comes with a pretty crappy cable, and once again the QKZ T1 is the solution.