Moondrop - Quarks

Well, here is my way to serious and in depth response: It depends on the mic used and if you want it to sound like being there yourself. We have to assume that the mic already amplifies everything like your ear does, meaning you'd need a perfectly flat response - which pretty much no IEM has, since they're simulating the ear gain themself and adjust to our bass preferences. If not corrected to be flat you'll get double the effect of your ear gain and other effects. If there are differences between the Binaural Mics HRTF and your own HRTF you'll have to compensate for it by taking the difference and EQing it out. Since no positional data is given and angle dependent live correction is pretty much impossible in this usecase is the difference between the Diffuse Field a good starting point. The typical MiniDSP Ears have a very non human like response so a lot of correction is needed, while the 4128C gives good results for me. (Used at our universities lab for audio recording and simulation) So I'd say get one with a consistent response in the treble and EQ them. The Tangzu Wan'er got a good treble in my ears for example. And lastly add EQ to make them less of a perfect simulation and instead better fit your taste. Level matching is difficult - so do it by feel and consider loudness tonality corrections via EQ based on the ISO 226:2003. This could be useful if you have to increase the playback level to make the distance to the noisefloor bigger without impacting the tonality too much. You can look here for some EQs - https://github.com/Plompudu/Equal-Loudness-Correction/tree/main (haven't gotten around to coding/fixing the GUI for usage on my PC) The artist (conventionally known as "mommy") might add EQ or other sound effects that could impact the simulation accuracy. You could also ask "mommy" what headphones/Iems she uses to hear the content like she heard it and if you're not interested in perfect simulation. Comfort also matters if you want to sleep, so consider bullets IEMs like the quarks and getting a Qudelix5k for BT and EQ. Tldr: Good In ear Treble, EQ them flat, compensate HRTF difference via additional EQ on top, add EQ to preference

Chu1 (owned) Er2se (tested in local meet up) Yu9 ER4 (owned) Hexa (demo'ed in local store) Tanchjim OG zero/ola (same) OG quarks (bassy iems i have for now) Very old batch SSR (a bit bassy and smooth treble).

I've tried multiple ones for side sleeping. The best sounding turned out to be Moondrop LAN. The most comfortable are Sony MDR-EX-110, Not far behind in comfort - Moondrop Quarks. Also good are SoundMagic PL-50.

I'll harvest the tips and then give the set to my sister. I think it's a nice upgrade from the Moondrop Quarks.

Iva had a bunch of those, i can give opinion: - Chu 2: sound good, nice bass and detail. Sadly the tip started leaking green liquid and clogging all the time, not very good on the go, had to unscrew it to dry. The cable and eartips were awful and i bought other ones. The pouch, looks nice but its whatever, does its job. - 7Hz x Crinacle Zero 2: didnt have it myself but asked a guy who was wearing it and it sounded bass boosted but kinda dead compared to the Chu 2. Kinda weird fit too, didnt really feel comfortable to me. - Tanchjim Bunny: Sounds good and similar somewhat to the Chu 2 (with default of the box EQ). Had some issues on the other iems that i used a dongle dac to use on the phone but they had a very annoying background electrical buzz to it, probably bad dongle but i had tried 2 brands same issue. The cable usb c that comes with this one finally solved that problem for me, no background hiss at all. Eartips are ok so is the cable. I've been trying a Truthear Pure eq profile these days. Without EQ (not the defaut, just a custom one i made all to 0) they are very bassy. - KZ ZSN ~~Pro~~ : i had the not pro version of this one, my first chifi. Good sound, just not that good as the other ones. High pitched noise on some tracks that was unconfortable. The cable, ass, it broke in half. The iem itself broke at the connector too, i left it once on the sun and then it fell off the cables. The eartips, they were the worst, but i didnt really care at the time. - Truthear Gate: The best cable and eartips of the bunch, even the pouch is really good, very confortable fit. The sound? Hot garbage, sounds the same as some cheap earbuds. And i mean earbuds, not iems. No bass no treble, nothing. Most boring sound ive ever heard (and im eq the Pure to my bunnys, mind you, that one is supposed to be no bass and its way better). - Moondrop Quark: It sounded ok. Cable bad, but not as bad as the chu, eartips ok. It was ok. I prefer the ear over cable iems, just more confortable. - Truthear Zero Blue: i had it for very little, it felt very big to my ear insides. It sounded ok and bassy The dongle DAC i had were some CX31993 and ALC5685

(amongst the iems have I owned) s tier: kiwi ears ke 4 and truthear hexa a+ tier: Ikko OH10, Pula PA02, Shuoer s12 pro, Sennheiser ie200, Kefine Delci, Dunu Titan S OG a tier: Dunu Titan s2, Tanchjim One, pre revision CCA CRA+ A- tier: Binary Chopin, Tangzu Waner Studio, KZ PR2 pre revision, Tripowin Olina SE B+ tier: Kiwi Ears Quintet, Tangzu Xuan Ji, Simgot EW 200, Truthear Gate and Hola, Tangzu Wan'er SG B tier: Moondrop Chu 2 and OG, KZ EDA Balanced, Kiwi Ears Quartet, Moondrop Aria Snow, FiiO Jade Audio JH3, Tripowin Lea B- tier: 7hz zero OG, Truthear Zero Blue, Whizzer BS1 C tier: KZ CRN D tier: Moondrop Quarks honorable mentions: Koss KSC75 in A minus, Porta Pro in B, Moondrop Space Travel in B-, Galaxy Buds Plus and 2 in A minus along with Airpods Pro Gen 1, and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in A plus.

I enjoyed the moondrop quarks

I can’t wear AirPods because they hurt my ears, so I take Moondrop Quarks. They’re very affordable and the snug fit blocks a lot of noise.

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.