Gate

Truthear gate is the best one, the wan er 2 is also good but only for flushed 2 pin connectors

ew300 are a nice allrounder that will do any genre nicely. also comes with different nozzles that slightly alter the sound profile. its a nice choice on a blind buy for those reasons if you just want to just get a set and be good for a long time truthear gates are nice if you want to get your toes wet with lower investment

o i had a stroke wtf i read that as truthear pure in your title lol gates are a great set yes. kz zvx pro i've personally been also using and I'm very surprised at all the things you mentioned really . detail, imaging, clarity these were able to provide + full metal build quality for like 12$ if you want a set for the longrun and like a more vocal focused tuning then consider wan'er 2 if those are under 25$, great iem on their own (build quality is pretty cheap though) but you get an excellent cable plus and stellar set of included eartips that people go out of their way to buy on their own to use for much more expensive sets i'd personally take the cheaper zvx pro as its just a sidegrade to the gate but should be a good amount cheaper or spend abit more for the wan'er 2 for the great accessory package

truthear gate are great iem

Alright so everybody here has an opinion, most of them based on "trust me bro". There is a bunch of ~20usd iems, all of them having very similar tuning (tuning is ALL that matters in the sound of earphones/headphones). A lot of them, because they are cheap, come with bad cables that break over time (cables are usually the nost fragile thing on this stuff). Thus I would recommend the Truthear Gate, it comes with a cable that is far better than even cables that vome with iems costing 5x the price. Under 100usd, I would recommend the the Truthear Pure. It is tuned to be what we call neutral now (jm1 and -1db/Oct. Tilt), leaning a bit warm. KZ is... questionable. Some praise it for its price to performance, others hate it. What we are certain about is that they do not sound *objecitevly* correct, not even close to it sometimes. On top of that, they got questionable QC... and marketing practices (paying reviewers, silent revisions for the worse...) 7hz Salnotes Zero:2 - is a good option with a solid tuning, but many find it uncomfortable. Edit: The moondrop chu2 is also a solid option, but I would still go for the Gate.

For first IEM in your budget also agree on the Hexa. It is truly neutral, great definition and clarity, and has a somewhat more reasonably sized nozzle. However, it can be too analytical, and when I'm listening for fun, I rarely go for them. Fun and enjoyable to me is more the Defiant, Artti T10, and Zero Blue 2. I hear the Pure is nice for some, but it is warmer (more bass and lower midrange, less upper midrange/treble). For a first IEM that's lower cost, I like the Truthear Gate. Great soundstage on it, and it's one of the most comfortable iems I own. The Wan'er 2 also makes the list, especially the new emerald dragon edition, but the Gate just hits perfect for my ears.

This is bright neutral so the opposite of what you want. And it has qc issues. For something warm neutral, I'd say Truthear Gate coz it has a nice sub bass extension for a neutral iem. But it also has nice treble which isn't fatiguing. But people do say it's more bright leaning coz it has nice treble, but for me it's really more neutral than bright. The sub bass just makes it a bit warm. Its not overdone, it's just enough to keep it from being boring. It's very comfy as well. This can vary from person to person tho so be careful. The Tangzu waner sg2 is probably a more warm neutral set with a more vocal forward tuning. It has nice accessories as well. It fits R&B better than the Gate. The waner 2 is comfy as well for many people, but if you have small ears I think the gate will be better for comfort coz it is smaller than the waner. For gaming, if it's story mode games, the waner is great. But if it's mainly fps then the gate will be the better choice. Overall, choose between whether you prioritize fps gaming with comfort or music and story mode games with nice accessories.

Moondrop Chu 2 has oxidation issues & if you have big ear the fitting might not be good. 7hz salnotes are great but cables are not good later you might have to replace them I own both red lion & gate. For me gate was the best i used it for gaming, music, calls everything. Balanced lacks the lows(bass) if you care iam not a bass head so not much of an issue for me. Vocal is clear. Highs are well tuned. Red lions are more oriented towards bass but not bass heavy very balanced bass, vocals are not really great but it’s good. Highs are well tuned. Works great for gaming, music, mic is actually impressive. But its quite heavy for longer duration it might hurt ears. Where gates are light weight & great for long duration.