TRUTHEAR - NOVA

I'll just say this straight up—these things are ***amazing*** However, there is a caveat. The stock tips on this are extremely horrible. It makes the IEMs extremely bright. The treble is literally piercing my ears without eartip changing. Give it some good wide bore eartips like the Coffee or (on my case) Moondrop Spring Tips and you bring out it's full potential. This is gonna be a *dumb* comparison (and thing to say). However out of all my IEMs—my Truthear Nova has the most oomph and spice. My Blessing 3 has the most clarity and detail. I'd say the Daybreak is a good middle ground. It has the right amount of spice and oomph like the Nova however with better clarity. It is **not** as clear as the Blessing 3. However, for the price range—it's really damn good. 170 USD for this is an amazing value. Regarding everything else, the accesories for this IEM are.....meh. But honestly that's fine. You can order wide bore eartips like the Spring Tips online for 10 USD. I don't expect them to make the box and accesories extra fancy due to them cutting cost to (probably) keep this IEM at a good price range. *Should you buy this?* Yeah, I would say go for it if you're willing to change eartips. And I'd say also yes if you listen to exciting types of music (J-Pop, K-Pop, video game OST) because it really does a damn job. I would check out Listener's review regarding this on the Headphones website. He explains everything much better than me. I just wanted to leave my opinion regarding this on Reddit. Anyways, thanks for listening to my IEM TED talk. Hope y'all have a good weekend!

So its not miles ahead of the supermix 4 then. I'm currently stuck in the budget-barely midfi price bracket with S12 pros, TE Nova, Ziigaat Arcadia and I can't convince myself if its evem worth going higher in price especially since I got all of these at big discounts.

Ive had TE Nova, s12 Pros, Ziigaat Arcadia. All pale in comparison to my hd560s in terms of soundstage but I think are still good enough for an iem. Still able to tell directions, space and width but imo I dont find audio gear that necessary for gaming even for competitive ones. Any decent soundstage iem or headphone is enough. I never heard the Arete before and I know freshreviews is like the gold standard for audio gear reviews catered to competetive gaming side of things so it might be a great leap but from the OG TE Zero which he said was good for gaming, didn't notice much of a difference upgrading to the Nova. Idk man, unless you REALLY want to get into high ranking comp games, I personally don't see the benefit. Actually I also ordered the Performer 7 for about the same price and can't wait to get it though I wanted it purely for music enjoyment and maybe casual gaming or media consumption. Better iems or headphones never got me better at gaming so yeah lol. Good luck on deciding tho. Sorry for the lenghty reply

I've listened to all except KE4, and base on what i thought: 1. If you like bass than the others: Aful Explorer with "L-shape sound signature" (on small volume). If you crank up volume to medium-high, sounds will much better but still focus on bass, especially subbass. 2. Harman enjoyer: Truthear Nova/Supermix 4 with "Harman/U-shape sound signature". SM4 will have more subbass than midbass, but doesn't bleeding to mid. Uppermid/female vocal sounds really good. Treble also, and feel it somehow better than Nova. If you like the "rumble" in your ears, you'll prefer SM4 than Nova, although both of them are Harman sound signature. 3. Less bass, vocal more sparkle than Harman: KE4 with "Meta/JM-1". Although I said I haven't listened KE4, but I experienced some higher "kinda" have same sound signature, like Softears Volume S/Thieaudio Hype 4. Sounds nearly perfect to me, not too much or too less bass, but vocal really shines overall. Treble reached enough height to not become too harsh like the name "meta". 4. Least bass of all with higher treble is S12 Pro. Cuz of Planar driver, the bass isn't really have much quantity, but it has good control, hit really tight, and decay very fast, which is not good for basshead. Treble is what it did best, it perfectly fit if you like listen to some genres with treble focus like orchestra or sth related. But if you like, you listen to many different genres, I recommend you choose Ziigaat Odyssey. Unboxing experience/packaging is very bad cuz they spent all money to the iems itself. Thats why it sounds good. If this will be your first iems then I recommend you should buy few cheap iems first to find out your liking. Tangzu Wan'er 2 for Vocal, Kinera Celest Wyvern Abyss/Wyvern Black Remaster (will release soon) for Bass, and Moondrop Lan for Treble. From what I learnt, the number of drivers is not the factor decides that iems is good or not. Look at the KZ, dumped in a hell lot of drivers, and it still sounds like dogshit to me. Compare to Aful Magicone, which uses only one BA driver, but it can make none of the bullshit KZ with the same, even higher price range can mess up with Magicone. Or higher we have Softears Twilight which is my future target, have only one Dynamic Driver at price 800$, but it still have a lot of respect from many audiophiles. Even higher? Sennheiser IE900, 1500$, still 1 Dynamic also.

KiwiEars Airoso. Get it while its still under $100. >Truthhear Gate, Tanchjim Bunny, and KZ Klean for a blind buy or the Truthhear Hexa, Truthhear Nova and Letshouer 12 Pro (but my friend said the 12 Pro has weird bass) Gate = No. Plastic shell resonates. Feels like garbage. People that love the gate, i question all of their listening tastes. Bunny = Fantastic. Probably one of the best $20 IEM's available. The USB DSP and app make it more fun. KZ Klean = Uh... Kefine Klean, maybe? Kefine Klean is a great choice at $50. But i think the Inawaken Dawn is better. Hexa = Good, but very dull to someone who is new to the hobby, and used to V shaped tunings (i.e. boosted bass and treble, Hexa is very flat) Nova = Tuned to the popular Harmon Curve. Which is very V shaped. THe Simgot SuperMix4 is a common alternative. S12 Pro = Planar. Fantastic IEM. BUT...and this is probably why your buddy said ti had "weird bass", it will require you to use a higher powered Dongle DAC/Amp, because Planars need a lot of power to push around. If you underpower them, they sound muddy, thuddy, and dead. With enough power, they have amazing tactility and speed. But they do suffer from a somewhat metalic timbre that can be off putting to some people, as they are not "natural" sounding. But very fun. Overall, like i said, i think the KiwiEars Airoso is your best bet. It is a hybrid IEM that plays very clean, provides tons of detail, and bass when you need it. And seems to play about every genre of music you throw at it, without feeling like its lacking. Its not a neutral tuning, but it plays naturally. If that makes sense?

For gaming I’m sure the novas would be fine audio wise, but I would keep in mind that most people find them uncomfortable, one of the most important things to take into consideration for gaming.

If you're competent with parametric eq, the best option is truthear nova and I will die on that hill. Supermix 4 is fine if you like spicy upper treble. Blessing 2 is a no imo, it was good for its time, right now no

I think the truthear nova is my go to iem for j-pop and female vocals

Truthear nova they don’t feel like they lack anything and also have the sufficient upper end for my liking

The kinera Celeste wyvern is great I personally really love the tuning and it’s consistently within my rotation among 200-300$ iems the tuning of them is similar to other iems I love like the truthear nova

I'm using Truthear Nova right now but after a few LONG arc raiders sessions my left ear is extremely painful because of the actual fit of the IEM. The actual model of the IEM is far too big.

People really like harman tuned iems for gaming, the best of which in the price range is the Truthear nova.

Moondrop Chu, and no. The Kato is the only Moondrop iem I still have and use. I liked the Aria but gave it to a friend to try to get him into iems (I failed). The Chu was good enough to get me into iems, but not good enough to keep me listening. I don't even know where they are now, lol. Of the early iems that I bought, I only have and listen to the Truthear Hexa (lifeless but decent, with wonderful imaging) and that Truthear Harmon-tuned one that Crinacle did with the subwoofer (I forget the name). It is fatiguing, but it is exciting until it wears me down. Good for techno. I listen mostly to the Aful P5, the Chopin, the Letshour S12, and the Kato now. Sometimes at home, I listen to the P8 and the Xenn Mangrid Top (they are too expensive to lug around with me--I have a $200 limit on iems that I'm willing to take in my backpack).