ThieAudio - Legacy 2

I can not stand the Harman tuning even though this tuning is very popular with many people. My tuning preference is very similar to the HBB tuning. I prefer the HBB tuning's 8 dB rise for the simulated pinna gain in the upper midrange since the Harman tuning's 10 to 11 dB rise for the simulated pinna gain in the upper midrange is too sibilant for me. I also don't like how the Harman tuning decreases the lower midrange. Right now my two favorite IEMs under $300 are the Aful Performer 7 and the Dunu DaVinci. The Performer 7 simply is an improved version of the Performer 5 across the board. I still love my Performer 5 IEMs. At first I didn't like the DaVinci's powerful sub bass relative to the mid bass, but I found some eartips which fixed this issue such that the sub bass is in balance with the mid bass. I have some other favorite IEMs at lower price points. I was very surprised by how much I like the Kima 2 which Dunu sent to me. I knew that the Kima 2 uses single dynamic drivers, yet when I listened to the Kima 2 I could have sworn that there must also be BA drivers in the mix since the macro and micro details are very well defined. For example, the Kima 2 performs much better than the Thieaudio Legacy 2. It also dawned on me that the Kima 2 is tuned very similarly to the original Moondrop Starfield which was my first IEM, yet the Kima 2's technical performance is so much nicer to listen to in comparison to the OG Starfield. There always a very slight veil to the sound when I listened to the OG Starfield, and the Kima 2 totally rips any veil away. On the budget side, I really like the Simgot EW200 after I easily added some self adhesive mesh filters to shift the overall tuning from Harman to HBB. The transition after adding the mesh filters was splendid. The thing is that after adding the mesh filters to adjust the tuning, I was able to really appreciate the quality of the EW200's dynamic drivers. I hope that the above helps you with your research.

So I actually kinda bought a ton of IEMs to answer this question too. I was trying to find something that works for voiceover, for mixing, for critical editing, and for checking how mics sound in reviews. If I had to choose under $300, here’s my categories: * Mixing: Neutral enough to translate well on different setups (HD6xx, speakers, etc.) * Critical editing: Can it expose bad audio or does it hide flaws? * Monitoring: How good it is for hearing your own voice accurately. * Enjoyment: Just how fun it is to listen to. Letshouer Galileo Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent (voice literally sounds just like me when monitoring) Enjoyment: Low Moondrop Blessing 2 / Blessing 3 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Low (pretty harsh, basically MDR-7506s in IEM form) Zigaat Lush Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Below average unless you crank the volume on sibilant spots Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Good

Etymotic ER2XR / ER4XR Mixing: Below average (soundstage is too 2D) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Okay Crinacle Daybreak (surprisingly) Mixing: Depends—more “Meta” neutral than Etymotic-style Critical Editing: Excellent (picks up sibilance like crazy, great for catching issues) Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: High Xuan NV (big surprise) Mixing: No, too much bass Critical Editing: Excellent (vocals are super accurate for both male and female) Monitoring: Iffy—low impedance can be weird with interfaces like the MOTU M2 Enjoyment: High Thieaudio Legacy 2 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Decent Cadenza 4 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Orchestra Lite Mixing: Excellent (surprisingly neutral—not bright like Blessing 2/3, not warm like Dusk or Lush) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Basically the Studio4 but more revealing with sibilance instead of smoothing it out. Hexa I don’t really recommend it—too many fit issues and inconsistent impressions. If you do try it, use wide-bore tips (not narrow). Video explaining why: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs) Hope this helps.

1. Aful Explorer - Doesn't really have muddled mids like the EW300. It's bassy, but quite clean sounding. The problem it has is that the eargain is very low. So to me, vocals sound recessed, but also sibilant at the same time. How this sounds to you may be dependent on your HRTF as a lot of people seem to like it. It has pretty good treble & resolution too, it's just that one problem that lets it down. 2. Hexa - Is indeed pretty clean sounding, with good treble extension as well. The negatives for me are that the bass isn't great, the treble can be a touch peaky, the soundstage is narrow and the large nozzles make it uncomfortable. 3. S08 - Does not have planar timbre; it's tuned quite differently to other planars. However it also doesn't have quite the same ultra-detailed sound that other planars like the S12 have. It's much darker. I find it very tip-sensitive and it sounds wrong on almost all tips. With the right tip it's got a very intimate sound that is quite bassy, but it's let down a bit by the bass quality, which is a bit boxy. Still my 2nd favourite IEM but only with the right tips. 4. Nova - I haven't heard, but from what I know about it, the nozzles are large and it only sounds good with foam tips. At that point it does rival the Variations for Harman tuning, which is great for female vocals, but the bass tuck can ruin bass guitars etc. 5. Fudu - Honestly just sounds muddy to me, I consider it a downgrade from the QKZ HBB although it does have better build quality. The eartips are good, but it doesn't come with a full set of Divinus Velvet, which if you get them you really should get all 5 sizes. Based on your priorities I'd either go with the Hexa or the Nova depending on what you think about the trade-offs I mentioned. Or maybe consider the Simgot EA500LM - though some find it has too much treble energy; its an unusual tuning that doesn't sound like it graphs. I'd watch the Paul Wasabii review, as I think he captured everything about it more accurately than other reviews. Another one to consider is the Thieaudio Legacy 2. It's tuned a bit like the Hexa, but with stronger sub-bass, a bit more vocal-forwardness (reminds of the HD600 vs HD650) and it rolls off the treble a bit, so it sounds smoother, but possibly less extended. I find it has better soundstage than the Hexa and is much more comfortable. I also find the Kato to be more-or-less a direct upgrade from the Chu 2 and while I haven't heard it, the Aria 2 supposedly sounds almost identical to the Kato. The Dunu Kima 2 apparently sounds very similar too. These are all slightly more v-shaped than the Hexa/Legacy 2, but still a mild v, so there's more bass and the mids sound warmed-up, but not bloated.

Thieaudio Legacy 2. Bear in mind that there's barely any accepted definition of neutral in headphones, and even less so in IEMs because the sound varies from person to person based on ear anatomy. Most of the bass-boosted new-meta IEMs released so far (KE4 and so on) sound either muddy or veiled to a lot of people, including the Truthear Pure which is more of a warm, down-tilted tuning, but some would also consider it neutral. The Legacy 2 is a bit older so doesn't follow that style of tuning, but it's not quite Harman either (which some consider v-shaped or u-shaped), it's closer to what most people subjectively say is quite neutral (mostly) and unlike the Hexa which has no bass, the L2 has slightly boosted sub-bass. The Simgot EM6L is also within the bounds of what some would call neutral, but it's bassier than the L2 and maybe a mild v-shape. Another neutral-ish option is the Dunu Titan S, which is a bit warmer and more vocal-forward. There's also the Aful Explorer which is quite L-shaped so I wouldn't really call it neutral, but it might fall within what you're actually looking for. It has more of a bass boost, but it's quite clean bass that doesn't muddying up everything else. But I do find vocals on it sound a bit recessed.

I prefer the tonal balance of the EW300 to the Hexa because it's got a nice warm tilt that still sounds fairly clean, but it has a major issue with the midrange sounding muddled with anything busy, including distortion. If you're monitoring a guitar with distortion then it's probably going to sound mushy on the EW300. The Hexa isn't my favourite IEM, but it is pretty neutral and has no issues with things like separation & resolution. It's a bit lacking in bass weight but it has enough if it's for a 6 string and not a bass. Not sure if it's the best for metal either. Another neutral option I personally prefer to the Hexa is the Thieaudio Legacy 2. It's got a bit more bass (mainly sub-bass, so it doesn't bleed into the mids) and it's much more comfortable than the Hexa. The Hexa has quite big nozzles and some people find the shell shape awkward despite it being fairly small. The Hexa has better treble extension, but soundstage & imaging are both a bit better on the L2, which is another reason I prefer it for music listening. The Hexa can sound quite narrow & closed-in for some reason, although that won't matter at all for monitoring.

If you want something very neutral then the Truthear Hexa needs consideration. The main downside with it are that the nozzles are quite largev. It's not as massive as the Zero Red/Blue but if you have smaller ears I'd avoid it. Also t has a very narrow soundstage. Another IEM with a similarly neutral tuning but a bit more sub-bass is the Thieaudio Legacy 2. I prefer that one to the Hexa and it's a lot more comfortable. It's slightly more expensive, but not much. Also the L2 has a bit more high treble roll-off although I don't find that sacrifices any detail, it just makes them a bit smoother sounding than the Hexa. These also have much better soundstage than the Hexa. Also sprach Zarathustra sounds very good on these btw; I don't listen to a lot of classical but that's one of my test tracks. I haven't heard the Aria 2 but I do have the Kato which it supposedly sounds nearly identical to, and it's another warm-leaning, mild-v. I think this will tend to sound a bit muddy with classical, compared to some of the brighter or more neutral sets. I wouldn't recommend the S08 either, because it's very tip-sensitive and even if you get good tip match, it's quite a dark tuning. It's great for certain music, but I don't think it will do classical very well at all. The S12 is a better option. Just make sure you have a reasonably good DAC/amp as planars don't always sound at their best when under-powered. Another potential alternative to the S12 is the Moondrop Stellaris. I would advise some caution here, because as it comes out of the box it's really bright and fatiguing. I personally find it becomes less fatiguing than the S12 Pro with Dunu Candy tips, but I can't guarantee those will work the same in anyone else's ears. Still [at least one reviewer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdLqjwXG7CA) recommends them for classical specifically. They do have a much flatter tuning than the S12. At least with the right tips they are a bright-neutral rather than an intense v-shape like the S12. Another non-planar option worth considering is the Simgot EA500. The original, not the LM. The LM is quite v-shaped and also sounds quite closed-in compared to the original. The downside of the EA500 again is, like several of these options can be so bright that it gets fatiguing. In fact it's probably the most fatiguing of these. It has a certain realism though and is nearly as resolving as the planars despite being a 1DD. It has a good sense of dynamics as well the largest soundstage I've heard on an IEM, with pin-sharp imaging. A much safer option is the Moondrop LAN. It's a bright-neutral tuning but regardless of eartips used it doesn't have so much treble energy for anyone to really find it fatiguing. It's also got quite a smooth treble response, and pretty decent soundstage. Short version: Moondrop LAN probably the safest option, but slightly less resolving than some of the others; Stellaris + Dunu Candy tips is a big upgrade iff your ears react to the tips the way mine do. Thieaudio Legacy 2 is another good & safe option.

The Truthear Hexa is arguably the most neutral IEM, but it's a bit lacking in bass and the treble can be a bit peaky. I personally prefer the Thieaudio Legacy 2 as a neutral reference, with a slight sub-bass boost. The sound reminds me of the HD600 but with full bass extension (it's not quite as warmed-up as the HD650, but it has sub-bass instead). The downside compared to the Hexa is the upper treble rolls off a bit, so it may not be ideal if you need to pick out a lot of details in the high frequencies, but I find it sounds more natural. You probably won't get a closed-back that sounds as good as an IEM, unless you go up to something like the DCA E3, which I haven't heard, but a lot of people say it's the best (and perhaps only) neutral-sounding closed-back. You'd need to ask in /r/headphonesadvice about closed-backs.

I haven't heard the Kai, but between the Hexa and the MagicOne, they are pretty comparable in terms of the midrange and I'd say the MagicOne is a bit nicer to listen to, but the Hexa is a better reference neutral. The MagicOne has a slightly "soft" sound where transients don't have as much of a sharp edge as they should ideally. This actually sounds very good and is great for relaxing, but it also sounds coloured. The MagicOne is slightly lacking in extension both in the sub-bass and the upper treble, whereas the Hexa has good extension both ends. The negatives of the Hexa are: * The nozzle is bigger than average, although not as huge as e.g., the Zero Red. It's short enough that shallow-insertion tips help if it's a problem and I find Zhu Rhyme tips work the best. * I'd say the bass is actually a bit below neutral, but tips choice helps and with a good seal it's pretty clear and avoids masking the mids. Again I find the Zhu Rhymes help with the bass, both to keep it sounding tight and linear, and not rolling off more than necessary. * The treble is slightly peaky, but it's not terrible * Soundstage is very narrow, but this shouldn't matter too much as far as a neutral reference is concerned. I'd say it's a slight colouration though as it goes the opposite way than something with an exaggeratedly wide soundstage. My preferred neutral reference is the Thieadio Legacy 2. It's slightly more upper-mid-forward than the Hexa, but both have pretty flat mids. The L2 tuning reminds me of the HD600. It has slightly more rolled-off treble than the Hexa, but that only matters if you care a lot about frequencies above ~12kHz. It's not really missing upper frequencies, but they are definitely quieter than true neutral. It's *smoother* than the Hexa though. Bass on the L2 is also a lot better than the Hexa. It's slightly boosted into the sub-bass, but the shelf starts low enough that there's no bass bleed. It's just enough that the bass is clear and present rather than sounding recessed. I also wouldn't discount the EM6L. I don't think it's really v-shaped and if you check a graph it looks very similar to the Hexa. I think it might sound v-shaped to some because it has much stronger bass than the Hexa, but IMO it's actually closer to neutral bass than the Hexa. Maybe a bit over, where the Hexa is a bit under. It's been a while since I heard the EM6L though, so take that with a pinch of salt - it's worth doing more research. I also wouldn't worry *too much* about the QC issues: it has a problem with the metal nozzle cover falling off, but it's literally just a cover, it's not the nozzle that actually breaks. It's very easy to glue back on. There's a post about it every couple of months. As far as thing that could go wrong with an IEM, it's not that bad and at least it has a well-proven easy fix. I'd be more concerned about the QDC connector, but I haven't seen any reports of that failing on the EM6L (whereas it fails all the time on the Wan'er).

Neither. What you want is something neutral-ish like the Hexa, but the weak bass on the Hexa is going to be terrible for EDM. Look at the Thieaudio Legacy 2 instead. Fairly neutral but with a slight sub-bass boost. Also happens to have exceptional imaging, which the Hexa does not. I haven't heard the Pure yet, but [opinions are quite mixed](/r/iems/comments/1lmledy/first_truthear_pure_review_is_out/). If you want something neutral-ish for music production then I think the Pure is going to be too warm-tilted. If you use it for mixing, everything is going to come out too bright (although ideally you should use studio monitors for mixing anyway, or at least have some other way to check your mix).