I got the Daybreak on a discount for a total of $114.82! That probably made its performance/dollar value almost unbeatable...
I like the Daybreak a lot. It sounds 'right' mostly to me (I guess that's tonality?). Not too much bass, no bloat, separation is there, detailed, no obvious harshness/peakiness to my ears (I'm 37, tested hearing recently and can barely hear 15 kHz top). I just wish maybe a wider and deeper soundstage for classical, opera, orchestral, big band jazz, and acoustic.
I also took out my old Tin Hifi T2 original to compare. I was pleasantly surprised by its performance. To my ears, it actually has a 'larger' soundstage presentation than the Daybreak, slightly more...'holographic' perhaps? But I guess Daybreak is more cohesive and slightly 'darker’ in the background.
I heard soundstage isn't really IEMs’ forte, so I ventured into the unknown world of flathead earbuds and was pleasantly surprised by the TGXEar Red Serratus performance, but it's a bit peaky to my ears at higher volumes on some tracks. But it opened a new unexplored world of flatheads. It’s like having an open-back headphone the size of IEMs. So I recently purchased (incoming) the Flathead Audio Studio. I can't wait to try that.
Sorry for that digression, but my real question: What IEM set would be a clearly superior and even an endgame-worthy set from the Daybreak up to around $500? Genres: classical, jazz vocal and instrumental, opera, R&B, folk, world, light rock, and pop here and there.
Xenns Top Pro?
Moondrop x Crinacle Dusk?
Tangzu XuanWu Gate?
Hisenior Mega5-EST?
Something else entirely I don't know about?
Thanks all!
My 3 most expensive iems that cost $1000+ at msrp, but purchased for <$1000 (sales or used) are Noble Katana Gunmetal Blue, Campfire Moon Rover, and Meze Rai Penta
I started off with Tin T2 (og version), Fiio/Jade Audio EA1, and MassDrop X Noble Universal X then proceeded to add more from there.
Meze Alba (when on sale) with QoA Rum cables
QoA Aviatons (when on sale) with QoA Whiskey cable
Tin T2 with FiiO LC-RC cables and AZLA Mithryl ear tips
back when I used to use iem, I used kz zsn pro and tinhifi t2. they're both good enough for valorant.
I still use tinhifi t2 from time to time. kz zsn pro, I gave it away to my auntie who needed an earphone before.
My Tin T2 IEMs suprised the heck out of me the day I plugged them into my THX 789 amp. They sound just fine off of any source but give them extra headroom and the depth of what they produced just increased significantly. I don't really use them very often because of earwax and they're not the most comfortable for me, but they have been the most suprising.
The other headphone I was suprised by and really enjoyed was the Focal Hadenys. Too expensive for me but I got to demo them and just couldn't take them off.
Tbf, ZST was one of the first if not the first IEM in sub $20, i think it was released in 2017. It was extremely old but back then, his only enemy was TRN (i forgot the exact model) and eventually a TFZ - except TFZ is in sub 50 category.
TFZ T2 and TIN T2 were the amazing IEMs back in the day. TIN T2 was the "first" neutral. TFZ Galaxy T2 is the bass one.
honn13
