Blessing 2

So I actually kinda bought a ton of IEMs to answer this question too. I was trying to find something that works for voiceover, for mixing, for critical editing, and for checking how mics sound in reviews. If I had to choose under $300, here’s my categories: * Mixing: Neutral enough to translate well on different setups (HD6xx, speakers, etc.) * Critical editing: Can it expose bad audio or does it hide flaws? * Monitoring: How good it is for hearing your own voice accurately. * Enjoyment: Just how fun it is to listen to. Letshouer Galileo Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent (voice literally sounds just like me when monitoring) Enjoyment: Low Moondrop Blessing 2 / Blessing 3 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Low (pretty harsh, basically MDR-7506s in IEM form) Zigaat Lush Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Below average unless you crank the volume on sibilant spots Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Good

Etymotic ER2XR / ER4XR Mixing: Below average (soundstage is too 2D) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Okay Crinacle Daybreak (surprisingly) Mixing: Depends—more “Meta” neutral than Etymotic-style Critical Editing: Excellent (picks up sibilance like crazy, great for catching issues) Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: High Xuan NV (big surprise) Mixing: No, too much bass Critical Editing: Excellent (vocals are super accurate for both male and female) Monitoring: Iffy—low impedance can be weird with interfaces like the MOTU M2 Enjoyment: High Thieaudio Legacy 2 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Decent Cadenza 4 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Orchestra Lite Mixing: Excellent (surprisingly neutral—not bright like Blessing 2/3, not warm like Dusk or Lush) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Basically the Studio4 but more revealing with sibilance instead of smoothing it out. Hexa I don’t really recommend it—too many fit issues and inconsistent impressions. If you do try it, use wide-bore tips (not narrow). Video explaining why: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs) Hope this helps.

Update: Something new added. Softears Studio4. Subjective opinion: HD600 - Neutral HD650/6xx - Warm neutral Truth Hexa - Bright neutral (thin sounding imo) Blessing 2 - Bright neutral like Hexa but better soundstage. More detail. I do recommend adding a bit of acoustic foam in the tips to vastly improve the audio though. Simple mod here--> [https://youtu.be/gsQIODnxmVQ](https://youtu.be/gsQIODnxmVQ) I do feel the Blessing 2 and Hexa were both a bit anemic with bass. ER2XR - Dead-on neutral. I strongly recommend getting the red adapter from the Final Audio tips as it allows you to use it with all tips. This has a bit more bass than Hexa. But I much prefer it and think it sounds more accurate or "neutral"

Going to use a grading system: A, B, C, D, F like in school A means excellent B is good C is average D is bad F is absolute fail **Mixing:** Going to avoid using the word "neutral" because then every mofo comes in the thread saying, what's neutral. Let's use the word "even-keeled'. Good iems for mixing are generally more even-keeled. If it has way too much bass you'll thin out your mix. If it's way too trebly and bright and shouty you're going to overcompensate. Ideally you want something more even-keeled. **Enjoyability:** Subjective. But how enjoyable it is **Critical Editing:** This isn't the same as mixing. But it means will it let you know if you have shit audio. If I listen to Kanye's sibilant ass tracks does he sound sibilant on them? If I listen to Lana White Dress is she sibilant on it? She better be. If I watch a DMS video from 6 years ago, does he sound sibilant on it? He better. Because he does. This is important because you need to evaluate your audio and the iem lets you know your audio is shit before thousands of people hear it. Etymotic ERXR Enjoyability: C to B to A. Pretty good, depending on who you ask Critical editing: A+. Very good at letting you know areas of trouble in your audio Mixing: D. Poor soundstage Truthear Hexa Enjoyability: D. I hate it Critical editing: A+ with wide bore tips Mixing: C. Imo actually a bit thin on lowend. You'll overcompensate. Also the soundstage on Hexa is kinda eh ngl. Salnotes Zero Original Enjoyability: C. I think it's ok. Or mid. Critical editing: B. Honestly pretty good at letting you know egregious areas. The version 1 is less forgiving with sibilance than 2, so it's better for critical editing. Zero 2 blunts the sibilance out (better for enjoyers; bad for audio engineers) Mixing: A. pretty neutral imo Softears Studio 4 Enjoyability: A to A+. Very enjoyable IEM Critical editing: D. Ironically. It smooths out all sibilance so you won't know sibilance is there. This is why it's so beautiful sounding. Mixing: A+. Very neutral. I'd even say probably my closest definition of neutral Moondrop Blessing 2 Enjoyability: D (harsh, shouty, bright, sibilant). Same with Blessing 3. Critical Editing: A. These are very picky with harshness in vocals. I genuinely think these are the Sony MDR 7506 in iem form. Mixing: A Zigaat Lush Enjoyability: B to A Critical Editing: C You won't really find problem areas of sibilance. You really really really have to crank it to hear it. Mixing: A. Pretty even-keeled. Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite: Enjoyability: B to C Critical Editing: A. Excellent at picking out flaws. Mixing: A+. Excellent at telling you the whole picture. Excellent for mixing. Very very even-keeled.

PART 2 That said, a quick clarification on the Hexa. While it's not the "truth," it's not useless for mixing. If you can get your mix to sound clean and well-balanced on the Hexa, you're probably in good shape for how your track will sound on most consumer gear. It's not a tool for finding problems, but for making sure your fixes sound right to the average person. But then that raises another question: Does that mean the Etymotic ER series is great for mixing? Imo it's great for editing. Not good for mixing. Etys reveal flaws really well, but they don’t give the most trustworthy picture of a full mix. Why? They have no soundstage. From my experience editing voiceover, I’d notice they couldn’t detect issues with people's booths, specifically the acoustics around the microphone. This also means they aren’t very good for things like gaming because they lack soundstage. What about the Truthear Pure? No. The Pure isn’t accurate at all. It has a very warm tilt that will make you think your tracks have more low-end than they really have. What about all the IEMs that are the 'new Meta'? No. These aren't accurate either. They are conformed to a frequency response where most people find music enjoyable—a new Harman target. Ironically, not only is this target not 'neutral' for critical listening, but it also doesn't even sound good. Sounds bleh. Let's get back to the playbook. What would I recommend? I'd actually say the Moondrop Blessing 2. Not the Dusk version. I have the Blessing 2 Dusk and the Crinacle Dusk. Neither of these two are accurate. A quick point on the Blessing 2. While I recommended them, they aren't perfectly accurate. They're intentionally a little harsh. They aren't the "truth" but rather a tool for finding problems—a "bug-finder," if you will. The original Blessing 2 reminds me of the Sony MDR-7506 with a lot more soundstage. Why is the 7506 so common in studios despite sounding like crap? Because it reveals every flaw in your recording. Studios don’t use the Sony MDR-7506 because it sounds “nice” — they use it because it’s brutally revealing. The joke among audio engineers is if you make it sound good on a 7506 it'll sound good on everything. The Blessing 2, with the default tips, will make you hear sibilance in soundtracks. You need something to tell you where the problems are. The issue with the Crinacle Dusk is that it rolls off the highs and hides flaws. That's great for musicality, but not for critical listening. For me, personally I'd use something like the Blessing 2 or the Studio4. I also want to add something that throws a wrench into all of this, but it's a crucial point. Mixing with something like AirPods Pro is not a bad idea at all, even though they sound nothing like the tools I just mentioned. Many people use them, and they are arguably the most common listening device for a massive audience. So while a truthful "bug-finder" like the Blessing 2 or a neutral headphone like the HD6xx is for doing the work, a consumer-grade device is an essential tool for cross-checking. Ultimately, your mix needs to sound good on your target audience's playback system. So, getting it right on your professional gear and then checking it on something common like AirPods Pro, a car stereo, or a laptop speaker is a non-negotiable step.

PART 1: I'm coming back to your post now 22 days later. Because I wanted to answer this question. So think of this as a better update/answer than what I gave you. From a point of simplification, there's monitoring (this means when you use a microphone your voice sounds pretty close to you). There's critical voiceover editing (this means you wear headphones you can accurately detect problems with your audio, ie sibilance, plosives, phasing issues, etc) Then there's mixing. mixing means you are generally trying to make everything comprehensive and cohesive and sounds good on many mediums, ie iphones, speakers, car speakers, cans, openbacks, everything basically. Here's my thoughts: The Tanchjim Origin/Tanchim Fission are good at all 3. The Westone Mach60s (bought recently) excel at all 3. To elaborate, when I use any microphone it sounds exactly like me. When I watch microphone reviews by Podcastage, Boothjunkie, Curtis Judd, not only does it sounds like them to the dot but it sounds exactly individually how that mic sounds on them. When I listen to male singers, they sound correct. When I listen to female singers they sound correct. But it also does a great job of pointing out flaws in audio, ie I can hear everything. But also these have a ton of soundstage. The Beyerdynamic DT70IE (bought recently) excel at all 3. Though I'd give the edge to the Mach60s. Vocally it's pretty on point, with my voice and others. I noticed a voiceactor on Youtube mentioning the same thing. Just be sure to use the silicone eartips and toss the sponge ones (those suck). The Shure SE846 (bought recently) can do all 3. However I used the blue filters (neutral) along with the the black adapter from the AZLA SednaEarfit Crystal Standard which allows you to use all eartips, ie Dunu S&S. It veers warmer than the Mach60s but it's still pretty on point. It reminds me a lot of my JBL 305 speakers on my desk. The Moondrop Blessing 2/Blessing 3/Cadenza 4 excel at all 3. I map these all the same. While not exactly the same they're pretty much in the same camp. If you own 1, you don't need the other. The Softears Studio4 is good at only 2. Monitoring and mixing. But it isn't good for critical editing for voiceover. This is because it tends to round out sibilance and round out flaws in audio. So you need to cross-check it with something like a Moondrop Blessing 2 or a Thieoaudio Legacy 2. The Etymotic ER2XR is only good at voiceover editing and monitoring. But because of its poor soundstage it's not good for mixing. The Crinacle Dusk is good for monitoring. Good for mixing. But not suitable for critical voiceover editing. You won't know you have sibilance and problems in your audio. It even smooths out DMS's old sibilant headphone videos. ie I use his old videos as a reference for detecting horrible sibilance. The Dunu Titan S (original) are good for monitoring and mixing (it's relatively neutral). But not good for critical editing. It completely smooths out harsh sibilance on female vocals. Wouldn't count on these. The Salnotes Zero (original) are surprisingly good for $20. They are perfectly fine for monitoring. They also give you a general sense of the landscape and can be used for mixing. I thought it was a meme when I saw a ton of audio engineers mentioning the Salnotes Zero (original) for mixing. It also is good with critical editing (but nowhere near as reliable) as other options but it'll definitely point out egregious areas with your audio. Not bad for $20. I'd still strongly recommend going with the Fission (with S nozzle) which almost the same as the Tanchim Origin for a good price.