QKZ X HBB Hades

HBB Hades. Just got them myself. It's a weird tuning and definitely not an all rounder but it shines with anything bassy. Also the Kbear Rosefinch but I haven't tried those yet. For the cable just buy a third party one like tripowin zonie, openheart or maybe the kbear cables.

As consumers you can get overwhelmed by the amount of options available & become uninterested in the latest trend which to me at least seems like everyone is on the "hi-fi" wave right now with the way they are tuning their IEMs and im personally not a huge fan of the harman target curve i get its place in the community and why its popular but I like when an iem is colored in a way that it just stands out from the rest on the market like the qkz hades with it monstrous bass or the treble rocket that was the moondrop stellaris, or the tanchjim origin where vocals just pop right in front of you, these iems had a small niche following, you either loved them or hated them but it brought more diversity to the iem world, seems now like companies just keep releasing a new iem every few months but they dont really standout, more diversity is needed if you asked me.

In terms of budget bass iems: **KZ Castor (Bass Edition)** \- This has detail & "Technical" bass **QKZ x HBB -** This has more of the "Punchy" bass with less detail **KBEAR Rosefinch** \- This has the most physical "Thumpy" bass you can feel but the least detail "Muddy"

***Punch Audio Portazo*** *is one I have my eyes right now but not sure if its an upgrade to the* ***Fatfreq Deuce****. but in general used FatFreq sets are bass cannons.* ***7Hz Legato*** *is a good set if you want that rumble.* *These are some cheaper sets I like that are bassy if you* * ***KZ Castor Bass Edition*** *- bright treble & punchy mid-bass (Castor Pro is less bassy but more clean & brighter)* * ***QKZ x HBB*** *- warm treble & deep sub-bass rumble (Hades/Khan editions are sadly discontinued)* * ***7Hz x HBB Elua*** *- punchy & controlled bass (Elua Ultra is more refined but slightly less bassy)* * ***KZ Decet Tuning Edition*** *- Hard punchy mid-bass & thick sub-bass (Castor but more bass & brighter)* * ***KZ AM16 Balanced*** *- very clean & controlled BA bass, not really punchy or thumpy (AM16 bass is a mess)* * ***KZ PRX*** *- fast & detailed planar bass, not really punchy or thumpy (Duonic is a hybrid set with more impact)*

1. Kefine Delci 2. QKZ x HBB 3. Kiwi Ears Cadenza 4. Tangzu Wan'er SG 2 Red Lion 5. KZ Castor Bass Edition 6. Kbear Rosefinch These would be my top picks for you. the QKZ x HBB is my favorite as it has deep sub-bass rumble, the Kefine Delci would be a upgrade over it for better bass quality, detail & clarity in the treble neither are harsh perfect for screamo genres The Castor has the most mid-bass punch on this list but is at the bottom of the list because the castor treble is bright its no where near as shouty,peaky or grainy like the ZS12 but it could get fatiguing after an hour of listening screamo genres at full volume. The Rosefinch has the most rumble on this list period with darker treble this would be the least fatiguing if you cranked it to the max but the vocals are slightly recessed & doesnt scale very high with DAC + EQ more for bassheads not for vocal detail & clarity

* QKZ x HBB * KZ Castor Bass Edition * KZ Vader Balanced * 7Hz Zero 2 * GK Kunten These would be my top picks under $30 on Aliexpress, QKZ x HBB is my personal favorite as its vocals are smooth & warm with thumpy sub-bass that got some rumble to it good for all day listening & those sensitive to treble. KZ Vader Balanced is an amazing paired with a DAC+EQ gets more punchy & scales better than the Castor, Castor Bass Edition has more bright & energetic treble with very punchy mid-bass.

KZ Castor Bass Edition, it will have more punch than the castor pro or Duonic, but the Duonic has more detail compared to the other two. QKZ x HBB this has more deep sub-bass rumble than the castor with strong punch and warmer smoother treble this is one of my favorite beater sets with DAC & EQ it will tickle the inside of your ear canals Vader Bass Edition is another I like it scales better with EQ & DAC without distorting, the vader pro is also good but same thing as castor pro they refined the sound by lowering the bass & raising the highs so you get treble cannons I do like the Red lions & zero 2 sound but not a big fan of the plastic builds not that kz is any better but it feels somewhat cheap feeling in the hand, the moondrop chu II is alright but it does have issues with oxidation from moisture & it's brass nozzles

QKZ x HBB, Kbear Rosefinch, KZ Castor Bass Edition, or CVJ Vivian would be better picks, as these all kinda lack a strong bass thump stock without EQ even the Red Lions.

* KZ Castor Bass Edition * QKZ x HBB * Kbear Rosefinch * Tangzu Waner SG 2 Red Lion Edition * Kiwi Ears Cadenza * Tripowin Vivace * Tanchjim Bunny * Kefine Klean * Truthear Gate One of my favorite chifi set is the QKZ x HBB it has a warmish tuning with smooth slightly recessed vocals and deep thumpy sub-bass, the Kbear Rosefinch i would argue has the darkest tuning & most sub-bass rumble on this list its a basshead set not the most detailed but very fun for EDM/Hip-Hop and zero fatigue from treble.

I would say study the reviewer more so than the rankings themselves, this will give you better insight into the reviewers taste, nitpicks and what sound signatures they like the most. this way instead of following 10 different IEM channels you can find the ones that shares common taste in sound as you so when they rank or review a set its less of a gamble buying it. **Crinacle** \- Loves: Neutral + Controlled Bass (Meta Tuning), Nitpicks: Pure Bass Cannons Sets **Super Reviews** \- Loves: Neutral Bright + Technical, Nitpicks: Very Warm or Very Bassy Set **Fresh Reviews -** Loves: Imaging, Soundstage & Seperation, Nitpicks: Bass If It Affects Gaming Performance **Akros -** Loves: Strong Bass + Fun Tuning, Nitpicks: Flat or Sterile Sounding Sets **Paul Wasabii -** Loves: Musicality Balance + Graph Data, Nitpicks: Poorly Tuned Sets **Resolve** \- Loves: Neutrality + Accuracy, Nitpicks: Overly Colored Tunings **HBB** \- Loves: Bass, Warmth + Musicality, Nitpicks: Flat Analytical Tunings **Jay's Audio** \- Loves: Balanced + Smooth All Rounders, Nitpicks: Extreme Tunings In Any Direction **Timmy** \- Loves: Balanced + Decent Bass Shelf, Nitpicks: Extreme Basshead Sets **Precogvision** \- Loves: Detail, Staging + Technical Performance, Nitpicks: Pure Basshead Tuning **Jaytiss** \- Loves: Energetic V-shape + Sub-Bass, Nitpicks: Flat or Overly Safe Tunings **Tone Deaf Monk** \- Loves: Fun + Musical Tuning, Nitpicks: Flat or Analytical Tunings **DucBloke** \- Loves: Warm, Fun Tuning + Bass Texture, Nitpicks: Overly Bright or Technical Tunings **Zeos** \- Loves: Unique & Fun Tuning, Nitpicks: Flat or Overly Safe Tunings **Audio Amigo** \- Loves: Natural Tonality & Strong Value, Nitpicks: Blatant or Obvious Tuning Flaws **Andy Audio Vault** \- Loves: Natural Tonality + Balanced Warmth, Nitpicks: Analytical Tuning or Bloated Bass * Bass + Fun Bias = HBB, Akros, Zeos, Duckbloke & Jaytiss * Neutral + Accuracy Bias = Crinacle, Resolve & Super Review * Balanced + Mainstream Bias = Timmy, Andy Audio Vault, Paul Wasabii, Jay’s Audio & Audio Amigo * Technical + Imaging Bias = Fresh Reviews & Precogvision

I would also avoid graphs all together, i personally had good luck with Paul Wasabii and the sets he suggest usually if you find a video of his and he has a paper with graphs & EQ tweaks on it then it usually means he doesn't like how those IEMs sound out the box most of the time. In my own experience from searching through public uploaded IEC 711 coupler & GRAS 43AG graph data comparing my own sets to ones i was thinking of buying to see if the treble was smoother or bass was deeper it was kinda deceptive in terms of real world testing for example QKZ x HBB & Kbear Rosefinch on paper looks like they are mild v-shape with some bass shelf but in reality they are bass cannons to my ears, on the flip side 7Hz Salnotes Zero & Moondrop Chu 2 look like they got some decent bass lift on paper but to my ears the bass on both of them sounded weak & lean

* Kbear Rosefinch * KZ Castor Bass Edition * KZ Saga Bass Edition * KZ Decet Tuning Edition * QKZ x HBB * CVJ Vivian * 7Hz x HBB Elua * ND Planet * Aoshida E20 * Kbear KB02 * KZ AM16 Balanced Edition * Kefine Delci * CCA CRA * QKZ AK6 Pro * 7Hz G1 * KZ Vibe X * Truthear Zero Blue 2 (with Bass+ Impedance Adapter) * 7Hz Legato * Fatfreq Deuce * Ikko OH10 * TSMR Armor * ISN H20 * Dunu Titan X * Ooopus X op.22 * CCA Hydro * Punch Audio Portazo * Ziigaat Arete II * 7Hz Diablo * Artti R1 * Juzear Defiant * Simgot EW300 (with EQ) * Aful Explorer (with EQ) * KZ Vader (with EQ) My personal favorites are the Kbear Rosefinch as its less than $20 has almost the same bass quantity as the 7Hz Legato when you EQ them though they are not the most detailed & vocals are slightly recessed with a dark treble tuning, QKZ x HBB is a bassy set with warmer tuning this used to be a daily beater of mine and still kept in my personal collection, the KZ Decet as the mid-bass slam is hard almost as hard as the TSMR Armor but not quite, again its not the most detailed & the Decets are rather large/heavy sets & you can experience pressure build-up depending on tips used, Fatfreq Deuce is my endgame basshead set, lightweight shells, the mids are very recessed & its not the most detailed but fun for EDM & Hip-hop something like the KZ Castor Bass Edition or Aoshida E20 can be EQ to get you close to the bass levels of the Deuce again neither is on the same level as the Fatfreq when it comes to bass quality & clarity but they both can get up there with a decent dac like the JM6 Pro/Fiio KA11 especially if paired with a 75-100ohm impedance adapter. I personally find most planar & BA sets to be meh in general for bass as they can sound loud but feel flat/thin but the Diablos are somewhat of an exception for me as the treble is smooth and the bass on them hits pretty hard though i think they are a little overpriced imho. If you want something that scales very well with EQ then i suggest the Aful Explorers, KZ Vader/Vader Pro or Simgot EW300

If you want alot of bass Kbear Rosefinch is bass cannon set with alot of sub-bass. if you want something with alot of mid-bass punch i suggest kz decet. if you want something that is warm relaxed bassy with smooth treble and good detail than i suggest QKZ x HBB or Kefine Delci if you want slightly better textured bass than all of them.

KZ Vader Balanced + KZ AM02 + Tangzu HE Sonic Eartips After buying so many chifi sets i can confidently say this is a very underrated IEM it doesnt scream bass heavy but trust me with this exact setup its reaches basshead levels you wont be disappointed it honestly makes me question why i got the kz castor bass edition or fatfreq deuce sometimes as the vader is good enough for what it is as the vocals are very detailed & clean the bass is more on the sub-bass thumpy side like the kbear rosefinch especially when your pair it with a dac + eq without dac or eq i would say the QKZ x HBB as it has warm & smooth treble with thumpy sub-bass it doesnt give me any fatigue at all even at max volume same with kbear rosefinch but the vocals are slightly recessed on them and they arent as detailed just more bassy overall and wont eq well in my testing but a very fun set non the less.

*Its so subjective in this community some say a $20 set sounds better than a $200 set and vise versa. learn what your sound preference is and then look & do research on IEMs that match that sound profile. I also suggest buying a solid entry set then see if its to your liking or taste. you might want more detail, more bass, warmer treble, ect me personally im a basshead sometimes i want controlled & textured bass sometimes i wanna pickup a muddy bass cannon to make my ears vibrate its all about vibe & preference really.* *Here is some entry-level IEMs* ***KZ Castor (Bass Edition)*** *&* ***QKZ x HBB*** *- Bass Heavy Punch & Fun Energetic Sets to me* ***7Hz Zero 2*** *&* ***Moondrop Chu II*** *- These are Mild & Clean Sets to me* **Kiwi Ears Cadenza** & **Kefine Klean** \- *These are Relaxed & Smooth Sets to me* **7Hz Salnotes Zero** & **Simgot EW200** \- *These are Gaming Sets to me* **Tangzu Wan'er S.G. 2** & **TRN Conch** \- *These Come with extra goodies*

Most of these give me the warm + bassy vibe, some are way more bassier than others & some are more darker or brighter than others in tuning but none are what i personally would consider bright, sharp or piercing in the highs. 1. 7Hz Legato 2. Kbear Rosefinch 3. Tangzu Fudu Verse I 4. Kiwi Ears Melody 5. Kefine Delci 6. Truthear Zero Red 7. Tripowin x HBB Mele 8. QKZ x HBB 9. 7Hz x HBB Elua 10. 7Hz Zero 2 11. Kiwi Ears Cadenza 12. Kefine Klean 13. Kiwi Ears Dolce My Personal favorites are the QKZ x HBB, Rosefinch, Legato & Delci as I can crank them all the way up without treble fatigue, the Rosefinch & Legato arguably have the most sub-bass rumble on this whole list with slightly darker tuning, the Cadenza & Delci are slightly more balanced bassy sets with warmer, lusher sound i would describe

my favorite is the QKZ x HBB but its more so because its the first iem i listened to that had the sound signature i was looking for which is warm, smooth treble + thick or meaty sub-bass thump & rumble. Ironically its my most favorite set even with the more expensive sets i own maybe because of sentimental reasons but i still keep it in my collection because the tuning is my personal baseline for what sound im looking for. then i would say the 7Hz Legato would be my 2nd favorite as it has this bassy club like bass i never really cared for EDM or Electronic music until i got these, i understood what reviews meant when they described it as "A Wall of Bass" when i bought them they are basically are a more bassy more detailed & cleaner sounding Kbear Rosefinch which is already a bass cannon set in its own right both are warm but i would say they lean just slightly in the darker tuning. then you got the more expensive heavy hitters, TSMR Armor, Ziigaat Doscinco, Fatfreq Deuce, Punch Audio Portazo & Martillo. the TSMR Armor is what i would describe as a more refined/detailed QKZ x HBB with even more meaty & punchy bass in the UDD switch config. the Punch Audio Portazo to me sounded better than the Martillo as i already owned the Deuce and i couldnt justify the price tag of the martillo for cleaner sound as i bought the Deuce & QKZ Hades strictly for insane amounts of sub-bass for guilty basshead pleasure, the Portazo just has a harder mid-bass punch than the Martillo with brighter but not harsh,sharp or shouty treble to me its the better value, the Ziigaat Doscinco is what i would call warm, lush sound with mature tight bass i liked the sound of them but ultimately returned same reason as the martillo the value to bass performance for me wasnt there but i see why many people love them. lastly the Fatfreq Deuce my guilty pleasure bass cannons set, these are not warm but just like the Portazo they are not really bright either in the sense of being harsh or shouty in the highs if you are chasing sub-bass rumble and something like the Rosefinch or Legato didnt scratch the itch enough or cant justify the price tag of the Fatfreq Scarlet Mini or Grand Maestro then you have the Deuce i compare the amount of bass on them to the QKZ x HBB Hades which has been discontinued but much much cleaner sounding whereas the bass on the Hades sounded muddy, cheap and the vocals were recessed to the point they sounded underwater, the deuce just make me smile when i play hip-hop and EDM they are what some might call one trick pony but as a basshead they do the trick very very well and they finally scratched my itch because of them i now kinda stop going after more expensive bass heavy sets like the Kiwi Ears Punch or Ziigaat Arete 2 and turned more towards sets that are unique, weird or lesser known to keep adding to my bass collection as the deuce are pretty much my endgame set as a basshead lover.

I would say the **EW300** is the better value for money, its all metal shell, swappable tuning nozzles for desired tuning and great detail and soundstage for gaming and movies. personally i care less about detail and more so about deep heavy bass so IEMs like 7hz Legato, KZ Decet, Kefine Delci, Kbear Rosefinch, Kbear KB02, Truthear Zero Blue 2 (with bass+ adapter) & QKZ x HBB are more my style when it comes to enjoying movies especially action movies with alot of explosions as i want to feel my ears vibrate but the EW300 has a wider soundstage & better detail overall than most of the other iems i mentioned which makes it more immersive when watching movies or playing video games which is why i say its the better value to go with, the EW300 is a hybrid set that has 1DD+1Planar+1PZT driver inside, it give more air or liveliness in the bass region compared to a planar or BA only driver sets but my biggest con is they are not for bassheads but the bass on them is still good enough and enjoyable for what you want. Delci & EW300 are both good picks with a relatively low return/buyers remorse rating meaning people usually keep them in their collection/rotation so you cant go wrong with either, there are cheaper sets like the **GK Streak** & **7Hz Salnotes Zero** that have a surprising wide soundstage for how dirt cheap they are but build quality is not premium i would say

I've listened the FatFreq Scarlet Minis and they are not even close to QKZ & HBB Hades. If you are a true basshead go for Hades. The punch-slam-rumble you get from them is incomperable. But you'll loose some detail, when you crank them up it's not bad they are capable. They take EQ and power like a champ too...

I wouldn't say I've found one like that yet, but it's true that there's very little correlation between price and performance, at least in terms of what you like or don't like. Technical performance does tend to increase a bit with price, but also caps out well before you get into TotL stuff. Ironically, if you're very skilled with EQ and have the patience to dial everything in perfectly, some of the best IEMs to use as EQ platforms are some of the cheapest (Kiwi Ears Cadenza / KBear KB01 for instance). In terms of my collection, I probably spend more time listening to the QKZ HBB than any other single IEM and it's only $15. It's not the most technical IEM out there, but it's tuned to its limitations and does what it does really well, which is to be very warm-yet-natural sounding and easy to listen to for a long time. My most expensive IEM so far, the Variations, is one that I almost never listen to. Even though it's technically excellent, the tuning isn't my favourite (tucked midbass) and it's not very comfortable. My favourite IEM overall is the Simgot EA1000 which falls in the middle price-wise, but I wouldn't call it endgame because it's not perfect. It does however do some things other IEMs cannot do (at least none that I've heard), and at least keeps up with others in all areas. Comfort is another big, and often overlooked factor. And the interesting thing there is no only is there no correlation with price, if anything there's an inverse correlation. With the exception of Sennheiser, almost all IEMs get less comfortable as they go up in price, and the cheapest ones are the most comfortable because they're small 1DDs. I expect that when I do find something I would call "endgame", it'll probably be in the ~$300 price range, technically good, comfortable and stable in the ear, with a tuning that I just happen to like. It's entirely possible it will be a $50 1DD though because there's no technical reason why a well-tuned 1DD can't outperform kilobuck IEMs. Sennheiser's flagship kilobuck IEMs *are* 1DDs, they just put more effort than usual into tuning via 3D printing. There are already 1DDs around $50 with among the best drivers you can get, so cost of parts isn't the issue. It's more a question of when/if the market will start releasing such well-tuned IEMs at that price point. Most IEM pricing doesn't reflect the BOM cost at all, and may or may not reflect R&D investment. I also expect the EA1000 will be kept around for a long time because if you remove the imperfections, you most likely also remove what makes it so good. I expect I'll find something that I'll eventually like as much as the HBB but is better in every way. But so far I haven't, so there's a good chance that will stick around for a long time as well. If I had to get rid of my entire IEM collection and keep just one, it would, perhaps counter-intuitively, not be the EA1000. It would be the Moondrop Kato, which is actually slightly cheaper (but now discontinued). The thing about the Kato is it's just a really good all-rounder, that works for all genres of music, both indoors and outside where it's noisy, and has no issues with being listened to all day. The EA1000 easily beats it technically, but the Kato is just a bit warmer and overall I prefer a slightly warm tilt like the Kato to a cool tilt like the EA1000. I can still listen to the EA1000 all day too, but if you have a badly mastered track, the EA1000 *will not hide that fact at all*, whereas the Kato will lie to you a bit and just make it sound good.

*In theory* you can fix anything with EQ, but in practice you can't. Very fine-grained FR features will be almost if not completely impossible to correct with EQ because you can't rely on graphs and have to do it by ear, which is increasingly difficult to do the smaller the features are. The IEM is highly modal then it will be more reactive to whatever ear (or coupler) it's inserted into so ideally you want less of that. You also ideally want the IEM to be as well vented as possible for comfort reasons, but that can affect things like sub-bass extension, especially when BAs are being used to produce those frequencies. The other factor is pure extension and the absence of nulls. If the drivers can't generate sound past 10kHz, no amount of EQ is going to add those frequencies back in, at best it's going to either do nothing or add distortion. Most IEMs don't actually extend all the way to 20kHz, even though they often make nonsensical claims like 40kHz (which nobody could hear even if it were true). It's always possible to EQ down, but again if the response is very jaggy then it might not be possible to get it where you want it. Nulls are where you get certain frequencies cancelling each other out because of resonances, reflections, or phase issues in multi-driver IEMs. That will result in a dip in the FR that doesn't respond if you try to increase it with EQ, although if you do try, you risk accidentally introducing a peak right next to where you think the dip is. Here's a good video about how trying to EQ away narrow features can often end up making things sound worse, which is one of the main reasons why AutoEQ often doesn't work as well as expected: /r/headphones/comments/1ivy4u7/how_measurement_error_hurts_eq/ The general rule of thumb aside from "sounds good to me" is you want the FR to be as smooth as possible, and change as little as possible between different couplers. That way you are really only making HRTF accommodations & preference adjustments rather than trying to "fix" things. One issue about smooth graphs is that the ones you usually see, e.g., on squig.link, are smoothed (usually 1/3 octave I believe), which means there might be features you can't see. Like a slight dip in the FR could actually be a much narrower null, but when averaged out, it looks smoother than it is.

The crossover just determines which frequencies go to which driver(s), which in turn affects the final frequency response along with other things like acoustic tuning. Badly designed crossovers can cause things like nulls or other phase errors, which I mentioned earlier, can't be EQ'd away. This is why cheap hybrid IEMs are often bad, although the cost of a reasonably well-implemented hybrid has come down a lot in the last few years. That's one of the reasons a 1DD is typically better for EQ than most multi-driver IEMs, because there is no crossover to go wrong (and no possibility of phase errors between the drivers). Doesn't necessarily mean 1DDs are automatically better either. In the end, it's the end result that matters, which is almost entirely about the frequency response. That, alongside HpTF, distortion and time-dependent characteristics, although the last 2 are pretty much always below the audible threshold in IEMs, so there's no point in worrying about them most of the time. Having said that last thing, distortion is one of those characteristics that can't be controlled with EQ, so if it is audible, then it will make a difference. Crinacle actually put some thought into this in the design of the Daybreak, on the basis of "*if*you can hear it, it will sound better like this". He had said he intended to talk about it in the release video, but in the end it's only mentioned in passing, blink-and-you'll miss it sort of thing (I had to re-watch the video to see if it was mentioned at all). The thing about harmonic distortion is that even-order distortion tends to sound good, and odd-order distortion sounds bad. This contributes to why a lot of people like tube amps even though they're objectively bad. They add "good" distortion. Low levels of distortion that don't lead to clipping are typically referred to as "saturation" instead of distortion and are used a lot in mixing & mastering to make things sound fuller. That's another effect that can be added with DSP (not EQ but using the same sort of processing). But you can't *remove* distortion if it's being added by the IEM itself. As a generalism, distortion is always so low that it's not contributing anything to the sound anyway, but that may not have been the case 20 years ago, which may be where some of the myths about technicalities, and *physically* not being able to EQ them (as opposed to it just requiring a lot of skill), came from.

Some particularly good budget IEMs: - **QKZ HBB** - not technically amazing, but really wall tuned warm, relaxing, surprisingly natural-sounding despite being quite bassy - **Tin C2** - mild U/V shape (possibly some unit variance at work there, but I have two and both sound good, just different) leaning a bit bright, but can be made closer to neutral-ish (with a bass boost) with some tip rolling. Very resolving, incisive and with great imaging for such a cheap IEM. Even more so when they were selling off the older model for $20, but those offers seem to be gone now. It's built like a tank too. The build quality of these can easily shame some $300+ IEMs. - **Ikko OH300** - similar to the QKZ HBB, but more energetic and vocal-forward, with exceptional imaging, but especially the sense of depth/layering. These knocked the Letshuoer S08 off my #2 favourite IEM spot because there's enough similarity in how they present sound, but these have better bass, so I tend to grab these over the S08 if that's the sort of mood I'm in. They're also much less tip-sensitive than the S08. The S08 does have a few unique aspects of its own though. - **Artti T10** - just ridiculously good value for what it costs, very resolving with a fun tuning that isn't fatiguing (unlike some more expensive planars). - **TRN Shell** - another one that's insane value for money when it goes on sale around $40, especially given the accessories package. A really well done hybrid that sounds much more expensive than it is, with a really good sense of texturing in particular, without being bright. The OH300, HBB and Shell in particular are IEMs I listen to a lot, despite having many other more expensive IEMs. There isn't really a direct correlation between price and sound quality, but if you ignore the ones that are not worth the price, you do tend to get more of the good aspects together and fewer trade-offs as you go up in price, due to better drivers etc. The HBB is cheap, but tuned perfectly to its driver limitations: it doesn't need to be highly resolving, because it's not an analytical tuning. It has a big weakness, but while I wouldn't say it turns that weakness into a strength or anything that clichéd, I would say that it makes it so that the weakness isn't that important. It just works and achieves what it is trying to achieve. That's something not all IEMs do, regardless of price. I wouldn't say any of these made me "reconsider" any of my more expensive IEMs, because those are generally good too. But I probably spend more time listening to my under-$50 IEMs than my over-$200 ones. A lot of IEMs that I've bought as "a better version of X", or "Y without such-and-such issue" have usually not worked out as well as hoped. Whereas the ones I've ended up liking the most have often just been a pure fluke. Like I bought the OH300 on a whim because it was on sale and I thought the glass faceplate was cool. Also I've kind of lost count, but I have something like 8 or 9 planar IEMs now, and the one I like the most is one that I initially returned because it was too bright, and re-bought it again because (a) it looks cool and (b) was massively reduced to clear. Turns out it can sound *incredible* with some tip-rolling, although to this day I don't know if that's only in my ears or if the same tips would have the same effect for anyone else.

QKZ HBB. Very unique warm and relaxing tuning (or can be fun & bassy if you crank it up). It's not the most resolving driver in the world but for that tuning it doesn't have to be. It can get away with only costing $15 because it's not trying to do anything the driver can't handle. It's a good complement for more expensive, more resolving IEM that might not be as relaxing. And a couple that punch above their weight where I certainly prefer them over a lot of more expensive IEMs: Also the Chu 2 for around $20 (seems to have crept up to $25-30 now with inflation) is surprisingly good and tiny. It's not the most ergonomic though so it sometimes doesn't fit people with small ears all that well. For most people it's really comfortable though. This one is a really good all-rounder and is very handy to just throw in a bag or whatever. At a slightly higher price, the TRN Shell is insanely good value at around $40. Comfortable, looks good, comes with loads of good accessories including a nice cable, solid case & some very good eartips. And IMO it sounds better than the rather over-hyped Simgot EW300, which has a similar architecture and a lot of similarities in the sound. The Chu 2 probably has a slightly more flaw-free tuning, but this is more technical, as well as being quite a fun tuning.

My favorites for PUBG so far: \- Kefine Delci Angel Ears (Delci AE) 70€ \- Tripowin Vivace 30€ \- Truthear Crinacle Zero blue 60€ \- Simgot EM6L 100€ \- QKZ x HBB 20€ (but short-lasting) What I wouldn't recommend: \- 7Hz Salnotes Zero (partrially usable) 25€ \- Moondrop Chu 20€ \- KZ Zex Pro (CRN) 30-50€ I do have the HD 560S, and I use them balanced using the 4.4mm cable and the Akliam PD4. They, like most headphones, cause "gamer hair", and that's a look I can't rock at work. That's why I mostly use IEMs. I also use the IEM-s with 4.4mm cables.