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.

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

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

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.

I’m new to this hobby I’ll keep it short describing what I like & dislike about the IEMs I’ve tried. I’m aiming for a basshead set for music & single player that can (tho not proritizing) competitive play for COD & PUBG. but comfort is my number 1 priority & DQ’d what was closest to perfect. My budget is pretty loose but TLDR; I want a comfortable Martilo & don’t see myself, tho not opposed to, spending more than $400 USD DAC: Apple USB-C Dongle Source: PC, occasional iPhone Open to EQ?: Yes Eartips: KBear 4540 aka Coffee Tips (enjoyed them over stocks) What my definitions mean Detail: how well I can hear LR tracks or faint reverb tracks that play after the verse in music. Separation: how well I can distinguish separated tracks in a busy song or competitive match Bass Impact: Physical sub bass rumble & bass attack/decay accuracy while not drowning the mids Peak: my upper treble sensitivity at 14,500 kHz In order of comfort Kiwi Ears Quartet: The most comfortable & great seal on the stock tips even (I returned these before getting the coffee ones) but many other issues. These were very hissy without a better DAC. Music is very fun compared to the Darybreak, but the bass impact was much weaker & the peaks were very harsh & wide. It made many music tracks not previously sibilant to me, have sibilance. I had a surprisingly good experience with competitive games for its price. Arete 2: Also very comfortable, a super underrated feature of this imo. I think my ears tend to hurt with IEMs that have large nozzle bases like the Astrals & Martilos. Honestly even with the bass switch on it fell below the Daybreak & Martilo for bass in impact. It did have the best separation & detail for music, & shockingly great for peaks, but idk why music was still kinda boring to me. So far I’m gonna keep these just for competitive play, it has stupid good performance with great comfort. Crinear Daybreak: Yeah these definitely needed the coffee tips but after they feel great. I’m ngl these sounded boring for music & was tough for competitive play & was the reason I returned them. But I seriously debated keeping these cuz the bass experience was the best by a noticeable margin, the subbass was very rumbling but not drowning, the overall bass was clean & accurate. These feel like subwoofers in your ears, a huge plus was nothing peaked, these are very pleasant in the higher frequencies on my ears. Martilo: These were closest to perfect, but that damn comfort, it’s a huge downgrade. The nozzle base felt even bigger than the Astrals & comfort wise were only a slight improvement to those. I actually enjoyed listening to the most music tracks, it was bassy when it was needed to be & was calm when it wasn’t. The peaks were occasional but short lasting & not deal breaking. It was a worthy trade off to the hit in separation & detail to the Astrals & Arete 2, tho Martilos were satisfactory. But as I stated at the beginning, comfort is that important. It made me somewhat sad to return these. Astral: Music like the Quartet was super fun, still harsh but less peaks. They give great separation & detail to tracks that sound more monotone on lower end sets like the Quartets & Daybreak. But these were super uncomfortable to me, I think my ears hurt with large nozzle bases, not nozzles shapes themselves. Also left channel is slightly hissy with my Apple Dongle. Way less than the Quartet, but I didn’t get any hiss issue with the Arete 2, Daybreak, or Marrilo.

Yeah I noticed Arete 2 is a great improvement as they are on par comfort & sound wise with Daybreak but had way more footstep sense in PUBG. I would go as far to say it is a safe upgrade from the Daybreak. PSA Arete 2 is fully metal so if your room is cold it will be cold in your ear for a few seconds but it was far from a dealbreaker for me.

Well I if I had to keep 1, like I said I’m so far keeping Arete 2 cuz it had great comfort & performance despite lacking “musical fun”. Martilos was the best sound experience, I really wanted to keep them, really bad, but I cannot wear them. I dunno what I can put on the “musical fun” sound that the Arete 2s lacked it might just be the tuning cuz I hear better detail separation than the Martilos.

I’d choose Arete 2 because I can actually wear it comfortably for way longer & is wayy less shouty in the upper treble. It’s still boring to me in music, but during my tests of IEMs I learned I gravitate to comfort over the musical experience, even tho I spend most of my time listening to music & playing single player... Astrals are way more fun for music & single player OSTs, but my ears ache after a couple hours, so comfort will remain my top priority.