Arete II

lots of people like the simgot em6l, my first were the supermix 4 and they were great - but i’d actually recommend the 7hz crinacle divine- kind of the number 1 in your price range. if you wanted something amazing but a lil higher than your budget i just upgraded to the ziigaat arête 2 and ive never been so impressed, or a safer bet for an all rounder would be the softears volume S (ultra cheap option if you fancy it, simgot ew300)

honestly the main reason i recommend the volume S is just how good of a deal it is, equally high tier good for both but you’re the same as me - gaming focused with music secondary and the arête 2 are perfect they have a bass switch which makes them extra fun, like i feel headphone rumble in my head with the bass switch on, people i’ve seen call them the monarch lites (the monarch mark 4s are my endgame when i have £800 to throw away) also yeah the arête are super good for music too

If we are considering to up the budget in that price range, I'd suggest the astral as well. the arete 2 are really fun for music as well, really depends what kind of sound you like, definitely less technical than the astral, but warmer and more exciting, probably more versatile than the Astral, especially if you like the bass and treble. Volume S are also great overall, but your focus is mainly gaming, so I'd stick with Arete 2 and Astral as over budget options. For in budget options you can see my other comment.

Ziigaat Arete 2’s have been waiting for them to drop for a good while now. Super happy with the original.

Iems are all about tuning. I just started, and budget wasnt too much of an issue for me, so I went with all mid range stuff to start with. I grabbed a Protocal max for a dongle, an IFI Zen DAC V3 for a computer DAC, then the IEM i chose to start with were the Crinear Daybreak for music + Movies, and the Zigaat Arete 2s for Gaming. I love every single part of each item I bought, but I did vigorous research before I came to those conclusions. Norw that I understand my taste, I went all out and ordered a pair of Mangird Top Pros to see if I could reach my endgame pair quickly. But all in all ive spent about 1500$ in the last month or so and im not mad at a single penny spent. So my reccomendations would be, if youre using mainly your phone, get a nice dongle, the protocol max is good, but too powerful for iem, so I qould go down a bit on that. For PC use, the IFI Zen v3 is a DREAM. And for your first set, I would recommend the crinear daybreak. Those things are what sent me down this rabbithole.

zigaat arete 2s. I love these things. Tuned by an ex pro gamer

Save a bit more and get an arete 1 or 2. I have an arete 1 for sale if you Wanna get it at 160$ shipped

Get something metal, like the new Kiwi Ears Halycon coming out. Or the zigaat arete 2s, those are super comfy to wear around. Idk about the dust thing though bro, most IEM aren't meant to abuse. They do break easily.

Arete 1 or 2. The 2’s are a fairly small upgrade based off my A/B testing. You can snag the 1’s for cheap and the best bang for the buck IMO. They’re also easy to drive with a simple Apple dongle. You can get a pair + dongle + long cord for under $200. As mentioned earlier, price doesn’t equate to increased FPS performance. I’ve got kilo buck IEM’s that are amazing for music, but terrible for FPS games.

Ziigaat x Fresh Reviews Arete are my go to for Comp COD

Ziigaat x Fresh Reviews Arete are my go to for Comp COD

have arete 2 and is enjoying itm feels like purchasing kiwi astral to compare but whats the point.

Tried the Astrals as they were the number one recommended gaming IEM in the IEM subreddit but after doing some more research I saw the reviews for the arete 2 and ordered them so I could do some AB testing with the astrals and found I enjoyed the arete 2 much more. More fun sounding for music but also has imaging and soundstage that work perfectly for CS. I’ve played CS since 2015 and have been at the highest ranks including winning ESEA main in 2017 for what that’s worth