ZiiGaat - Arcanis

I have the Arcanis but wasn’t really blown away by them. I’ve see people recommend changing the tips. What tips did you use with yours?

I'm probably in the minority here, but I have no complaints about a company releasing a ton of options with branded Knowles or Sonion BAs instead of bellsing crap. People have no idea the price difference in branded BAs is sometimes an increase of 10X over drivers companies like Aful use. If you are at all familiar with graphs and how an IEM diverges from JM-1 (neutral), plus the different properties of certain driver types (Dynamic vs. BA vs. Planar etc) you can usually guess 90% of what it sounds like. I like options. My only complaint is their shell shape creates a pressure point on the top/back of my ear. Ziigaat's shells are the only ones I've ever had a problem with. CHANGE UP THE SHELL SHAPE GUYS.

I use Divinus Velvet Wide Bore or use memory foam eartips. I agree arcanis is good value for technical and accuracy. I rather pay for driver mostly and keep shitty accessories for backup because I would buy better accessories anyway.

Ziigaat Arcanis is my first iem and probably my only for awhile. Want to introduce my brother to iems too.

the monarch mkiv can sound jarring if you’re coming from a warmer iem (i have the sa6 mk2 and it’s hard for me to categorize. sometimes it sounds warm, sometimes it sounds open and bright—not sure how you hear it). but, since it’s already in your hands, i’d give it some more time. just today, i put mine on and found them to be warmer than i remembered. sometimes it just depends on what you heard last, how tired you are, etc. otherwise, maybe the mega5est. it’s more vocal forward than the sa6 mk2 and more conventionally tuned, so it would complement your sa6 by giving you something that sounds a little more proper while being more laid back and natural than the monarch mkiv. you also don’t give up too much in terms of technicalities. coming from the monarch mkiv, the bass will definitely sound less defined, but i think it fits the overall sound signature well. some people call the mega5est boring, but musicality is subjective and hard to define. i’m a neutral head and the mega5est has a touch more warmth and bass than what i consider neutral, so in that sense, it’s musical to me. if you want to be risk-averse, the ziigaat arcanis has pretty much replaced the sa6 mk2 in my rotation. it’s what i expected the sa6 mk2 to sound like (and what i wanted the mega5est to sound like). a bit more sub bass and bit more satisfying bass overall. i find the upper mids and vocals of the sa6 mk2 to be too recessed and the arcanis addresses this by bringing them forward just a smidge (but not as much as the mega5est). vocals have a vibrant quality to them that you might consider musical. and there is just enough treble extension to give it air and sparkles. it doesn’t come across as technical as the sa6 mk2, but all of the details are still there. it’s unique and i actually like it more than the mega5est, but that comes down to how it fits in my collection penon/isn has been recommended a lot. i can vouch for the ebc80. its warm, has phenomenal sound stage, and is super fun. it isn’t fatiguing at all to me, but it doesn’t really fall under the category of laid back. their other iems might for the bill, though. these recommendations i think would be an “upgrade” to the sa6 mk2. however, my philosophy is that for a laid back sound, you don’t need to spend a lot of money. so personally, my warm, laid back iem is the ziigaat arcadia. it’s warm, punchy, has just enough treble, and with the right tips, can sound just as well-executed and beautiful as anything in the $200-$250 range. i prefer it to my penon serial and canon 2 for this purpose. i’ve also been going to the odyssey 2 a lot for a laid back listen, though it is not as warm. the punch audio martilo is also a good choice if you think you can tolerate a lot of sub bass. it sounds mostly normal and conventional, which, like the mega5est, could complement the sa6 mk2 well. when there isn’t a lot of sub bass in a song, it doesn’t sound like a bass head iem. but when there is, the bass sounds like you have a sealed subwoofer in front of your face.

The Arcanis for that sweet sweet base!

Ya there is amazing stuff in the 200 to 300 dollar space, really, like the latest run of Ziigaat stuff, Odyssee comes to mind.. And Doscinco.. There is also the Dunu Davinci.. Juzear 61t..we are having our little brains blown out the ear holes at this point. Going up further in price, the tuning seems to get very specific and unique. You really need to know very well what you want. I think most people could stop at something like Odyssee

looks promising, shame ive just got the ziigaat arcanis or id have tried these tbf

there are 5-10 great IEMs in 230-530 price range which I wouldn't say one of them is better than the others, rly depends on your tuning preference, actual difference to these would be 800+ IEMs, those Ziigaats fall behind a bit in soundstage compared to Volume S, Tea Pro, maybe not Variations but they are all still good just there are better ones for that

Part of me thinks: *You’ll have fun with almost anything you pick, just choose one and enjoy the music.* This is actually the truth. 5+2, volume S, 12 different ziigaats, hype 4 mk1/2, etc, etc, they all rock and you will be happy unless you can back to back them and pick them apart otherwise 99 percent wouldn't be able to find any real flaws, not to mention the 20 planers I didn't include.

ZiiGaat and AFUL have more of the unique tuning approach and are the Chinese brands that I liked the most on my journey so far (less treble than typical Harman and interesting eargain handling for ZiiGaats, characteristic upper-mid plateau for AFUL)