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Honestly I hit this too recently, splurged on some top line stuff and honestly need to force myself to use them over some cheaper options I have. For example I picked up the Moondrop Meteors and Blessing 3’s Yet still find myself falling back to the old trusty Shire se215, kiwi ears orchestra and moondrop aria snow editions I find the top line are always very “clean” sounding but i personally enjoy the sound curve on the lower line models best! Might be what my ears are capable of hearing also. Again all subjective and YMMV Always enjoy the little sense of discovery with things like this, think finding the limit of price to returns for me is a fun thing with most hobbies i get into. Finding out for yourself is important! Now I get more excited when I find some a pair of cheap little gems that I can recommend to people looking for some IEM’s!
Still go back to my first pair, owned 3 over the years Shure SE215 Cheap \~$100, super comfy and great sounding HM : Moondrop aria as a first IEM
Tanchjim Force for sus pick, Aria Snow edition for my actual fav.
I also added Moondrop Aria Snow edition to my collection
I already ordered the chu 2 dsp and truth ear hola. I also added the may ,,aris snow edition , aria 2 and truth ear zero blue v1 ... so from truth ear i only have blue 2 left
https://preview.redd.it/obp03885b86f1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a671c70f329629be1bb2010403e6e55a10435de Update: Some of the boxes arrived Aria SE, Aria 2, Nova , Chu 2 DSP and Hola
I already ordered the chu 2 dsp and truth ear hola. I also added the may ,,aris snow edition , aria 2 and truth ear zero blue v1 ... so from truth ear i only have blue 2 left
https://preview.redd.it/obp03885b86f1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a671c70f329629be1bb2010403e6e55a10435de Update: Some of the boxes arrived Aria SE, Aria 2, Nova , Chu 2 DSP and Hola
To be fair I have tried several IEMs with my controller and none of them have had static issues. I have used: - Moondrop Chu 2 - Moondrop Aria SE - Letshuoer S08 - Kiwi Ears Aether - Thieaudio Hype 4. Maybe you should try another pair to confirm it isn't your controller.
I use moondrop aria snow edition iems.
From my experience with the kefine klean the soundstage was pretty mediocre, to me it was a airpods pro 2 but significantly more narrow. Similar detail retrieval and tonality so I think klean is great value at <35-40$. It’s actually nicer than my Aria SE lol. But not what you’re looking for imo.
I use wired because wireless always introduce delay and the best ones like ROG Cetra cost a fortune(I have those). The chinese brand Moondrop makes some pretty solid TWS and IEM earbuds at affordable prices. For TWS I have Space Travel 1 & 2. Highly recommend Space Travel 2. It has gaming mode that reduce delay. Cetra has better sound and less latency in gaming mode though. As for IEM, the Chu II is the best money for your buck by far and is often listed as the best IEM at that low cost. I own ARIA SE, and Aria 2 came out last year at the same price range and is an upgrade. Though at that price range also consider Truthear Zero Red, Trurthear Hexa or Moondrop May depending on the type of music you listen to.
holy hell most of these comments are so mean, it's literally ok to be into whatever sounds best to you there's no need to apologize it justify it with online tests. from what I've gathered the chus are great for the price but very cheap, I've been listening on the simgot ew300 out of a moondrop dawn pro (they sound great out of the aux port honestly you really don't need a dac here but it is a little cleaner) and before that i had the moondrop Arya snow edition but there are definitely tracks i would rather listen to on bassier "dirtier" sounding cans as someone who's really into garage rock! also no matter how good the iems (and some of them are amazing) i would say there's a difference when the sound is coming from around your ear as opposed to from inside just like there's a difference when you go to a concert and you feel the sound all around your body abd maybe that's something you really like and that's perfectly fine :) i don't mean staging by this btw staging on iems can be really really great tl:dr enjoy what you enjoy follow your gut and chase the qualities that made you really love listening in the first place no need to be snobby about it
Rankings by Use Case
Top recommendations from others in the same boat
Best for Competitive FPS gaming

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Kiwi Ears - Astral
Best for Console controller gaming

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KEFINE - Klean
Best for High-noise environment isolation

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Shure - SE215 Pro
Best for Immersive cinematic gaming

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ARTTI - T10
Best for Live bass performance

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KZ - Castor Pro (Harman Target with Improved Bass Version)
Best for Live vocal performance

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DUNU - Kima 2





