Shure - KSE1500

Shure KSE1500 in 2015 then in I think 2017 they released KSE1200, cheaper version without the DAC and EQ integrated for $1k less, they are now discontinued but to this day imo best IEMs, close 2nd(or 3rd if you count these as two different IEMs) would go to GoldPlanar GL-AMT16, those are driver that's something inbetween ES and planar, developed by GoldPlanar(they make planar drivers for a lot of other brands, they made drivers for all of the Audeze planar IEMs afaik) might be too expensive right now and are waiting for production price to go down to make a push with it because it's currently best tech we got except ES and ES need a special amp to run

Headphones: OG HE-6> Susvara=Utopia> Sr-009> HD580=He-500 I would say the Susvara is objectively my best headphone, but my heart still belongs to the He-6. The Sr-009 is a beast and can easily outperform any of my headphones; However, it's very recording/genre specific. IEM: EE Odin> IER-Z1R> Shure KSE-1500= Audeze LCD-i4 > 64audio u12t Fallen out from the IEM game a while ago after getting my Odin. It's still head and shoulders above anything I own and is still my go to to this day. The Z1R's bass does feel thicker than the Odin's, as well as the 1500 being more detailed than it; However as an entire package, nothing quite beats the Odin for me. P.S. I completely feel you on the LCD-4s man. Loved their sound but they were just not practical in the long run :(

Recently gone to my personal iem end game myself with the Shure KSE1500. Seriously never heard audio from headphones as pristine and effortless before. Made my Sony IER M9 ($1500) sound artificial and cheap in comparison.

Shure did come out with something far better than the SE846 with their KSE1500 which is discontinued now unfortunately. The jump was pretty massive. Actually made all my other headphones sound cheap in comparison. Never thought the day would come that I felt my Sony IER M9 sounded cheap but the KSE1500 managed to do it.