Golden Ages

No, it's held back by bluetooth as usual. Otherwise, for a bluetooth pair, I find Moondrop often sounds really close for the sub-100 range. If someone stuffed these in my ears while I'm blind, I could tell. If you want a pair that'll last longer, I much prefer the Golden Ages or even Moca. And if you can, spring for the Robins if you like IEMs, they'll be better overall. Golden Ages uses the same bud design. Sound profile wise, I prefer the Golden Ages' more analytical and neutral sound, and I wish that was in the Robin. If I were to be able to choose only one for day to day, every day, I'd take the Robin. Frankly, just spring a bit higher and it'll last you a long time coming.

Alright.... Time to show off my age. **Sony EX70/71**. One of the first consumer grade IEM to show what IEM was like before IEM was in the hobby's consciousness. If you know, you know. This was one of the first consumer level IEMs available. This was 2003, and I got mind around 2004/5? **Shure E2C.** Around the same time, Shure released their IEM, the E-series to the general public. Slightly more darker tuning if I remember right, but the E2c was one of the first **professional IEM** that was available for the general public. I think I liked it better than the EX71, because it was more rounder and/or more decent sounding. Few years later, the **UE TripleFi** went on sale on Black Friday for $99. That one holds a special place in my heart. First 3x BA driver with detachable cable and was pretty good sound. Sony got my wallet back in the 2010s with their XBA series. **XBA-3** around 2012, 13? That one still remains one of my favorites and I still have them to this day. It just hits right for me. Then... KZ hit the market with their ATE, then ZS series.... and everything changed, in a very positive way. **ZS5** was the major milestone. And that was amazeballs. Multiple BA and DD drivers? For less than $50, let alone $100? Mindblowing. Was it neutral? No, not really. Was it controversial? Yes. But it sounded really good. And I think I got lucky getting the v1 rather than v2? But still. That was mindblowing. Chinese OEMs were now making stuff that sounded good as mainline brands, at fraction of the price! The new wave of $20 to $50 Chi-Fi IEMs impress me to this day. From the **Wan'er** to the **Moondrops** and maybe even the **KZ ZS12 Pro X** (non tuning). I'm going to jump on the cheap bandwagon with the **ARTTI R6 USB-C** version. $3.50? And it sounds better than what was considered state of the art 10 years ago?! Are you fucking kidding me? You newcomers have it immensely good. Before 2017, 16(?), you had to spend at least $50+ to get something worthwhile (SQ, detachable cables, etc) because that was the state of the market.