Shangguan Wan'er Studio Edition (SE)

Can you get a hold of the wan’er sg studio edition? That’d be my pick in your price range

Yes. Cleaner, clearer treble and modest, but good bass. They’re a vocal/acoustic oriented tuning. I think you’d love them if you can get them

Here is a link if you can access AliExpress: I just found this on AliExpress: | TANGZU WAN ER STUDIO Edition In Ear Monitors 10mm PET Diaphragm Dynamic Driver Replaceable 0.78mm 2Pin HiFi Wired Music Earphone https://a.aliexpress.com/_mr0eivr

Kima 2 isn’t redundant at all — it sounds nothing like anything on that list. It’s probably the most unique IEM I own, and even now I can’t fully explain it because it doesn’t sound a damn thing like its graph. (looks like it'd be identical to Tanchjim Origin but is actually warm like Dusk and Tea Pros) Wan’er Studio Edition is also its own unique thing.

Answering this in my terms: – If you want a V-shape, get the SG2. – If you want something neutral, get the Studio Edition. – If you care about vocals or accuracy, the Studio Edition is the clear pick. To illustrate: grab a few IEMs, put them on, and monitor yourself through a neutral mic like an NT1. Each one will color your voice differently. The Studio Edition gives you an accurate, “this is actually my voice” result. The SG2, by contrast, makes your voice (on the same mic) sound like a cheap Blue Snowball-tier mic. It's worse with vocals. Edit: Make sure you’re buying the *Studio Edition* specifically. If Ctrl+F doesn’t find that wording on the product page, it’s the wrong version. Edit: I used the white eartips included with the Studio Edition.

GK Kunten (before retune) (don't get it now). Could be bought for maybe 8 bucks? Basically a mispriced $60 iem. Artii T10. Nothing better below its price. Also gives $100 to $200 iems a fight. Dunu Kima 2. About a hundred bucks or so. Great vocals, great tuning, great bass. Not for trebleheads. Undoubtedly a warm iem. Also comes with a full rack of eartips that are some of the best out there ie, Dunu S&S, Dunu Candies, etc. Celest Pandamon 2.0 at 9 buckaroos. That was a hecking steal. Celest Wyvern Abyss at 9 buckaroos. Another steal. Great for vocals. Purely a vocal set. Terrible 'technicals', ie bad soundstage and imaging. But vocals are chef's kiss. Sivga Que (original). A pure vocal set iem. Insanely good for the price. Just listen to the female vocals on it and compare it to iems that cost more. A/B it. You'll just think, how the fuck is this so good at 60 bucks? Xuan NV. At 67 bucks or so. A well rounded iem. I think these are fantastic for hip-hop lovers. Juzear Defiant (if you get one that works). Outperforms iems double its price. Tangzu Wan'er Studio Edition - Discontinued. But imo the best of all the Wan'ers. Great vocal set. Use the white eartips on it. If those don't fit, buy Kbear07 eartips and get the size that fits you. Don't use wide bore on it. Truthear Hola - Was 20 bucks. If you have it. It seriously makes you question why iems cost more. yu9 Que - It's about $400. But it makes me question iems that cost double, triple its price. Letshouer Cadenza 4 - This is a point of contention but imo I tell everyone just to get Cadenza 4 instead over the $500 Tops Pro. It's an iem that seriously made me consider the worth of Tops Pro at $500. I genuinely believe that if you already have Cadenza 4 you'd be disappointed spending $500 on Tops Pro. I might really like Beryllium drivers.

Wan'er Studio Edition. This is how it maps to Crinear Reference on a 5128 https://preview.redd.it/y1889pdbaj3h1.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f7eaed6dce37a7cad6147b690e864f9ca07e1c8

and on a 711 clone Edit: My point is not that they're the same. My point is this is as close as it gets at 20 buckaroos. https://preview.redd.it/mrgp8qukaj3h1.png?width=1038&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae9e82f7cbd7b72b4114e5c38fa53aef7497259e

It sounds like what you're after is a reference IEM, and not something for actually making music sound "better". In which case, the Tangzu Wan'er STUDIO EDITION (specifically that version) is a neutral tuning that will play exactly what the audio is without any EQ tuning And then you could grab something like the Kiwi Ear Cadenza (my personal favorite IEM under $50), or Juzear Defiant or Awful Explorer (my favorite IEM I own, ~120) if you wanted something with a wider soundstage and better instrument separation, and for a slightly more exciting tuning for actually enjoying to your music vs when you're referencing with the Wan'er SE's. Reference tuning and tunings for music are polar opposites in terms of sound signatures, and it would be difficult to do meticulous tuning with a "music" IEM imo. The Wan'ers are also cheap (not in quality by any means, Chifi "budget" IEMs are very high performing compared to what you would get for the same money 6-7 years ago) If I were in your shoes, I'd get the Kiwi Ear Cadenza and the Wan'er SE.

Yeah I'm having a hard time finding the SE's on amazon (I assume USA, I'm in Canada so swapped sites) I had heard some people say the Truthear Hexas are slightly "boring" which may make them suitable as both a reference IEM and for your music. They are very highly rated, so they're not actually a "boring" IEM, they're just a bit more neutral than other popular IEMs

I have the studio edition version of waner and they are phenomenal for the price range. No other iems beat them in that price or even +10-20 dollar range of those.

It's very good for their use case at that price $20, probably Tangzu Waner Studio edition but I don't think it has that bass they asked