ZiiGaat - x Fresh Reviews Arete

If you play fps games I recommend the Eml6s absolutely fantastic, you can probably find a deal for under $100, they usually are $100-110, for something cheaper and to where you have extra to customize them, Kiwi Ears Cadenza for about $35, amazing value for performance, for starters I think its a really good choice along with you have extra spending money for Eartips so you can try and get ones that fit comfortably to your own ears, along with an adapter, you dont need a fancy dac, you really just need something to convert 3.5mm jack to usb audio, a lot of people on a budget will use an apple one that coverts to usb c, I recently made the switch as well from a gaming headset and swapped to the Eml6s and then swapped again to Ziigaat Aretes, pretty awesome how much more detail gets picked up and how well they are at picking up those small sounds that usually get blown over with headphones

They’ll be replacing my aretes

The Aretes are amazing no doubt but I wanted to see what the hype is on the Tea pros

Had them for about a week now and can say I like them I think compared to the Aretes they are around the same so the price difference probably isn’t worth it but I’m call of duty I’m definitely noticing a little more separation. Also I like the way music sounds through them too I definitely appreciate the bass in them.

I play on Xbox and PC, only using my controller to drive my IEM that i use for gaming. Try the Ziigaat Arete, which I've been using for about a week now. Very very easy to drive because they are low impedance. Amazing soundstage, I can place noises and audio queues in games I play with ease. I don't play competitive shooters such as the ones you mentioned, more PvE content, but I don't see why the Arete wouldn't work for both. Music and movies also sound amazing on the Arete. I can place where enemies are walking, shooting, small faint audio queues coming from around me that I could never place in some other IEMs I tried out. Some people recommend over the ear headphones for the surround sound performance and wider sound stage and imaging, but I dislike how headphones feel on my head and they irritate my ears, so I'm left with really only the IEM. And I have no love lost. After getting into the IEM game a few months back, I can honestly say I'm extremely pleased with the performance and minimal size and positive experience I've had. For gaming, my journey has progressed as follows... Pre IEM.... Sennheiser CX 300S, ASTRO A50, STEELSERIES 9X IEMs... 1. Truthear x Crinixal Zero Red Crinicals 2. Truthear Nova 3. PULA PA02 4. ZIIGAAT ARETE (My favorite for gaming and movie watching especially, but honestly music as well) I don't quite know where to go from here when it comes to my IEM upgrade when looking to improve my experience in movies and gaming. Music, on the other hand, I see many many possible upgrades to consider. Check out the [Fresh Reviews YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@freshreviewsyt). He seems to focus on gaming IEM performance, and the Arete is his collaboration IEM. Good luck, let us know what you chose, I'm curious as well. [ZiiGaat Arete Amazon link](https://a.co/d/fCFXGFn)

If you don't need a mic, go with iems. I have a few pairs and they're better than any of the gaming headsets I've used (Arctic nova pro, turtle beach stealth 700, pc38x). If it has to have a mic I've enjoyed the sound on my pc38x's the most; open back though, if that makes a difference. Check out gadgetrytech on YouTube. He has great content stuff this. My favorite items are the zigaat aretes but they're a but spendy. Simgot supermixes are very good and cheaper.

So, as someone who games, and has similar music tastes inside their playlist. I am going to narrow this down to two options. The Arete, or the Performer 5+2. And there are two big reasons why i would choose these over the other options. Pina Gain. Extension past 10k. So the Pina Gain, or the upsweep from the lower mids to upper mids, is really critical for vocal forward presentation of audio. Its also where the human ear is really attenuated, and so a lot of sound queues in video games will be in that region. So when you look at a "gamer" set like the Arete, you will see that Pina Gain region starts a little earlier, and is a little more emphasized. This will help to hear and position the sounds a little easier. The Performer 5+2 also has a very good Pina Gain that tracks almost identically to the Arete. The second is extension past 10k. This gets more into the psychoacustics of how your brain will perceive and pick up sounds. How reverberations interact with your inner ear. And on some sets that lack this extension beyond 10k, some sounds, like symbol crashes, or brass hitting the floor, or grenade clanks, can kinda get lost in the mix. Because your brain isnt really properly interpreting that reverb reflection from the audio engine. So it ends up sounding kinda flat, and 2 dimensional, rather than positional and wide. And again, we can see both the Performer 5+2 and the Arete share in this trait. Now on the Grit, this Pina Gain carries similar to the others, but its gets a little TOO exaggerated for my liking beyond 2k, and can really make vocals seem very forward, and "out of the mix." Now, admittedly, i have only listened to the Grit once, and dont own them. So i have not gamed on them with any way, so i cant speak to that directly. But the extreme vocal forward nature of the Grit left me in a shallow Uncanny Valley where it would have taken some brain burn in to really come to grips with the sound signature. And in relation to the exdtension past 10k, the Grit, despite its very high pina gain and upper mids, rerally falls off a cliff at 10k. And it was the lack of extension in this area where i kinda lost love with the Grit in my limited listening session. I didnt feel that percussive instruments really rang out with the same level of size and space that other sets did. The BCD did help to fill some of that in. But one of the big issue i had with the Grit, and why i had a limited time listening to it, was because i had to play with about 8 different sets of tips, until i got a set that allowed me to insert it deep enough to get the shell into full contact with my ear. If it wasnt, it had a very boingy bongy sound signature to it, especially with cable microphonics. They were very musical, and i can see where some people might find the appeal. But to me the Grit is an IEM for IEM snobs. Much in the same way coffee snobs need to have their coffee extracted from cat shit and roasted. One alternative i would like to posit to you in this selection, is the OG Performer 5. Its bass level isnt quite as impactful as the Performer 5+2 with its single DD, and it isnt as technically analytical as the 5+2, but it also lacks a certain dryness heard in the 5+2 due to the micro planar top. But what the Performer 5 DOES have, is a great Pina Gain, and an a nice treble extension past 10k that really does a good job of giving it a lighter airier feel, and good sound stage. And, best of all, it can be picked up on sale for well under $200. Sometimes going for as little as $160. And, as crazy as it sounds...i actually prefer the Performer 5 over the Performer 5+2. And its the one IEM that spends the most time in my ears when i am gaming or at my computer. Followed very closely by the Arete. And a toss up in 3rd between the KE4 and the 5+2. https://soundcheck39.squig.link/?share=Apevoix_Grit,Aful_Performer_5+2,Aful_Performer_5,ZiiGaat_Arete https://audioamigo.squig.link/?share=Apevoix_Grit,AFUL_Performer_7,Ziigaat_Arete,AFUL_Performer_5

His collab is at A- on the sheet. The spreadsheet is up to date. I have both the Arete and the Tea Pro and the upgrade was pretty mind blowing.

Kiwi ears ke4 or Fatfreq deuce, maybe also Thieaudio hype 4 and Ziigaat arete

These two iems are good for all types of music, so they are balanced, the vocals are good both male and female. The difference is that the Arete are much clearer, have a larger soundstage and better separation. Both good iems.

It has excellent and balanced tuning. The drivers are high quality so the value is high, they are great for my games i.e. (tarkov-valorant-cs2-apex). In the price range they are among the best. Dusk are slightly better in terms of value and you can change the sound. The hype 2 have a more premium feel. The Spirit torino twin pulse iem have the widest and deepest soundstage of all. If you want some comparison just ask

Thats funny, Fresh Reviews himself rated the Xenns Top as the number 1 IEM under his A tier ranking. Yes, even above is own set, the Arete. I'd say watch his review of both before making your decision. I have the mangird tea pro (not the top) and arete, to my ears the Arete has a lttle nicer separation and soundstage. Might come off as a surprise to some, but thats what my ears are telling me. I havent been gaming competitively for years, but for now I am leaning more towards the Arete for competitive purposes

Yes he did mention that. He gave high praise to the tea pro, and it currently ranks directly below the xenns top on his list. But its also important to remember that audio is extremely subjective. I am only able to tell you my opinions based on my own personal listening experience. And to my ears, I felt that the arete had the better separation. I think that in part had to do with the arete being less bassy overall compared to the tea pros. It does not mean the tea pros aren't good at all, I think it's a very fun set and extremely comfortable to wear, actually one of the most comfortable IEMs I've used in a while. The arete (sound wise) is almost like a less energetic tea pro due to it being slightly less V shaped. But both suffer from the treble not being as resolving as it could, but I don't mind it.

For a cheap set, I'd say Wan'er either 1 or 2, but 1 imo has the better fit because of the nozzle and nozzle angle. For the in-between, KZ Zenith. A seriously good set, I was kinda done with budget IEMs after I got that. For a I just want something really really good and dont mind spending the money even though its my first purchase in this market, Ziigaat x Fresh Reviews Arete OR Ziigaat Odyssey.

Arete has been the best imo. I tried the mangird but they were too big for me.

Out of those 4, I would recommend the Tea Pros out of the others. And I would also recommend the [ZiiGaat x Fresh Reviews Arete](https://www.linsoul.com/products/ziigaat-x-fresh-review-arete?srsltid=AfmBOoobzQ9_PJh_L9ub0AsabuLNAegVIDar2YA5DkRHrVqgf7JTxHJH), as they were specifically made for gaming, but also good for general music listening.

Odyssey abs Arete are two that I'd really love to own huu

I have all three and prefer the Arete. I’m not a gamer

I own these as well, but strictly for gaming/fps. They were tuned by Fresh for that purpose so if you're comparing them to other iems for music then yes, others perform much better. Also swapped tips for Spinfit W1 and cable from Drop. I daily Moondrop's Space Travel TWS and Aful Explorers for music.

honestly, if I'm being dead serious I could have probably stopped at the 7hz Salnotes Zero for $25 just for something to play games with. Currently rocking the Ziigaat x Fresh Reviews Arete, with Spinfit W1 tips and Drop cable. I mostly use iems for gaming, since I don't have to worry about pressure on my glasses, and if I'm just listening to music I have cans that I prefer for better sound stage/bass.

all depends how much you want to spend, the Xenns Mangrid Tea Pros are a really good pair, along with the Ziigaat Arete too, the latter the cheaper of the two

the Ziigaat Arete imo, after like £300/300euro, i wouldnt go OTT either, cos price to performance isnt a massive jump once you go over £300 imo

comfort wise; people say the arete just edge it, but as you said both are top tier for gaming(personally think both are good as a daily driver too)

they are good but I wouldn't take them over Intuaura Splendor II(I bought these for $10 more) and everyone who tried them says Grit is even better for $30 less

about same all 3 in general but arete and grit especially tuning is not fit for monitoring, same with my Intuaura Splendor II, Letshouer S15 too, all good IEMs but only Orchestra Lite is kind of viable for monitoring out of them

Out of these Orchestra Lite by far, other 3 are comparable to $30 Tripowin Vivace when it comes to gaming and get blown out of the water by $89 Kefine Delci AE you should get Truthear Volume S but you could also take a look at Intuaura Splendor II, Apevoix Grit, Yanyin Cannon, Ziigaat Arete, all $350 and under [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9haw33NhPto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9haw33NhPto)

If you want something a little cheaper but still has phenomenal imaging the Ziigaat FreshReview Aretes really are great. If you want to go cheaper than that the Supermix 4s are phenomenal all arounders with crazy price to performance. But yeah Tea Pros are a monstrous set for gaming and music. Probably the best of the 3 but only by a narrow margin when compared to probably more specifically the Aretes where compared to those you're gonna be a smidge of a boost in clarity, staging, and imaging.

I actually don't but I know a few people that do that I trust the takes of and have talked with them about it. I only personally own the Aretes.

If you need something for "try hard fps" the nova is decent and the hexa does not have enough clarity. You can hardly tell if footsteps are next to you, above you, or below you.  For gaming, the Ziigaat Arete is insanely detailed, for Apex Legends, Valorant, Warzone. (It was made by an IEM reviewer Fresh Reviews, specially to sound good for video games.)

I use Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lites and ZiiGaat x Fresh Reviews Aretes… am I gaming wrong?

That definitely is a shock. Fresh even stated himself that the mangrid tea pro had slightly better separation, imaging, and sound stage. I was considering upgrading from the Arete to the mangrid tea pro.

Arete for warzone apex finals

I owned them for two months. Not sure what genres you listen to, but i listen to ACG music, rock, and mandopop and i love the Aretes for them. It's very well balanced and fun, surprised not more recommend it even if just for music.

I don't know about metal, but for me Aretes do rap and J-rock very well. I honestly haven't found anything they dont render beautifully...maybe except classical.

I’ve been using the xenns top in fps gaming for the past 2 years and love them. I recently picked up the Ziigaat Arete and have been enjoying those as well. I mainly play COD and EFT. The audio is complete garbage in COD and extremely good in EFT for directional/footsteps.

I got the arete fresh review and I tried using it just with the Apple adapter but the game doesn’t even feel the bass. It sounds like it’s high pitch like the game is far idk really loud too.. is the how they supposed to sound or I need an amp or something to get full power ? I’m new to iems

Ziigaat x Fresh Reviews - Arete might be worth considering. Haven’t heard it yet, but the supermix4 looks to be great

The Arete became available for purchase in like the last week. HBB has an unboxing vid, but no reviews yet. It’s listed as a preorder too, so might be a few days/weeks until it ships. The tuning looks solid though, and the drivers (biocellulose DD, Knowles BA’s) look good. Hoping HBB can put out a review soon, but I think he has a backlog

The few reviews I’ve seen of the Arete have been generally positive. My set came in last week. I like it a lot. Imaging is good with a great stage (more depth than width). Pretty enjoyable for music too

TLDR: you’ll most likely be fine. The best answer is it depends. Whatever device you’re plugging the Arete into has an output impedance. The general rule of thumb is you want the output impedance to be 1/8th of the headphone impedance. So with a 9 ohm set you want OI of your device to be about 1 ohm or lower. If OI is higher it can affect the SQ, but it’s not a guarantee. If there is an effect it usually shows as muddy bass or peaky treble. Additionally, iems impedance is not always linear they can have an impedance curve. It can fluctuate. BA drivers tend to have more fluctuation than DD. Fortunately, Device OI is almost always linear. The Arete is also fairly sensitive (108db). Sometimes iem’s with low impedance and high sensitivity can have an audible noise floor with more powerful or noisier sources. BUT, I’ve used the Arete with the Shanling M5 Ultra which on the 3.5mm out has an OI of over 4 and it’s fairly powerful. I’ve also used the Arete with my desktop setup (Sparkos Gemini), which is a hybrid tube amp. The Arete sounds great on both and I’ve gotten zero hiss. I bet you’ll be fine.

Love my aretes

First time buying pricier iems and I still have a 25 dollar linsoul coupon that I’m debating on using. Bought: Kiwi ears aether with 50 dollar coupon Linsoul. Ziigaat x fresh review arete on Linsoul. Mangrid tea pro with 150 dollar coupon linsoul. Also recently purchased zero blue 2, Blon x HBB Z300, and tripowin vivace shortly before spring sale.

The soundstage is pretty solid at the price point but their imaging is excellent and the first thing that stood out to me when I got them. Ps I'm not a gamer so this is from a music perspective (not that it really matters).

I don't know if I'd say they're hugely worse myself. They're deliberately neutral for gaming with a focus on imaging, and not... exciting like Doscincos or the other collab Ziigs. However like you mentioned the Tea Pros have spectacular imaging _and_ are exciting too. Even Fresh said they surprised him. Quite a bit more cash, though. edit: also I bit the bullet and ordered the H60s you recommended in another comment. Looking forward to them.

I was going to try my take at a video review and post it on youtube BUT I still have A LOT of work to do both in word choice, tone, and video editing SOO here is what I have in case you want to read it even if it is a bit long winded. I cut out pieces here and there that were meant for more general audiences and keep in mind this was going to be tailored more for those into competitive gaming than traditional audiophiles. If I got anything wrong or left anything out let me know so I add it and kept it in mind for next time. THE REVIEW https://preview.redd.it/orcx92xbfqtd1.jpg?width=1578&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1706ca1c5d82a6e45c4227b221ad3f56444d2390 Let’s start off with the packaging. I can show you here real quick the packaging is nothing special but that is typical for Schiit product packaging. These days more and more companies are spending $5, $10 or even more packaging. It gives you that endorphin rush we all crave when you open it up and looks great on unboxing videos. Schiit isn't doing that and honestly I applaud them for it. I don't care how special the packaging is, I care how good the product is. I don’t need a dozen plastic bags to open and then throw away. I don’t care about the custom foam enclosure or colorful printout telling me how special my mass produced purchase is. Months down the line when the DAC, IEMs whatever product that has been sitting on my desk I’m not thinking about how great the unboxing experience was. I’m not listening to subpar audio or playing with an uncomfortable mouse thinking to myself, Yea but look how nice that box looks in the back of the closet waiting to be used the next time I move. https://preview.redd.it/tkgoas5dfqtd1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f6f785268d8e9584036623e7fc2d0c19b38346b Schiit is not a gaming centric company. Their audience is largely made up of “audiophiles” searching for mid to high end amps, DACs, equalizers and everything in between involving audio except for speakers and headphones. While a lot of gamers have become rgb fiends that isn't everyone and I don't believe that to be Schitt's typical audience. The Shiit Hel, which the Schiit Gunnr replaces, was not rgb laden but it did have a red and black color scheme unlike the rest of the Schiit lineup. This time around Schiit decided to stick with the family look.  I prefer black for most of my electronics and I think it is always best to stick to something neutral that is going to match the rest of my setup and more likely to match with other new products. While more and more companies are offering white versions of high volume products, and some form of individuality in aesthetics can be nice, I don't think the red for "gamers" was necessary. It likely kept many of the OCD setup conscious, including myself, far away from the Schiit Hel. I am a big fan of the industrial powder coated metal frames that Schiit uses and that continues with the Gunnr. It creates the perfect balance of industrial tough rigidity and modern looks. The black and gray color scheme keeps the unit looking neutral but keeps it from being completely unnoticeable. Personally I would have gone with all black simply because I’m boring, but as long as all my other components are fully black it will have no issue matching. I am happy that Schiit chose not to use the gray dial knobs on the Gunnr. Schiit has been switching to gray knobs as they update a lot of their products. Not only does this gray not match with the sides of the chassis, but it is right in front, becoming a real focal point. Now you have this gray item that very likely looks different from the rest of your setup. This likely isn’t an issue for users focused on audio only equipment but for gamers that are trying to match with a mic, a keyboard, a pc, monitors, adding an additional color out front just makes it that much harder to fit in. While using the updated Modi and Magni stack the FIRST thing I did was take off the gray dial knobs and switched them with the old black knobs. https://preview.redd.it/x0e23ccsfqtd1.jpg?width=1694&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a88cee0a9bae77647a0583b7d6e4ee622bca65cc The Schiit Gunnr comes with a large volume knob on top. Because the unit is a self contained DAC and amp it is not meant to create a “stack” like a large amount of other Schiit products so you won’t find the volume knob getting in the way. The knob is big and easy to reach in case you need to change that volume quickly because a kindle gentle soul is screaming profanities over the mic at you with a shrill voice at a deafening volume. On the front we have a 6.35mm, quarter inch jack, headphone input , a 2.5mm mic input, gain, bypass, width, presence and input selectors. With the gain we have options for negative, low and high gain, which is going to allow you to use the most sensitive IEMs up to those hard to drive headphones. While we are talking about driving headphones, the Gunnr has 2 watts of power per channel so you are going to be able to power anything except the most power demanding headphones. The bypass selector serves as a way to bypass or quickly turn on and off the width and presence controls. The width and presence controls are what really got me excited about this product. The width serves as a way to increase OR decrease the soundstage. The presence increases the volume of the vocals. These features were brought in from the Syn but have been modified slightly based on early testers' request for it to work with gaming a bit better. Finally the input selector allows you to switch between the USB (C) input on the back or the optical input also found on the back.  https://preview.redd.it/p7yhtv5vfqtd1.jpg?width=1833&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3977ea551965bce290bf8ff269ab8ebbda05e606 While we're talking about the back, let's go over the back interface really quickly. The back has the USB C input followed by the optical input we just talked about. Then we have an on/off toggle, a preamp output, and a power supply input which is not mandatory. Schiit is calling this power supply port a "linear override". They went to a lot of effort to make the Gunnr easy to take and go and travel with you. The Gunnr can be powered with USB C power alone providing up to 500 milliwatts or 2 watts, if you use the additional power supply. You can plug in or unplug the external wall wart while using the Gunnr. The sound will get louder when you plug it in and lower as you unplug it. Users need to be careful plugging in the external power supply while using the unit. If you have an IEM set on low or even high gain because you are only using usb power and then plug in the external power you could easily damage not only your ears but your IEMs or headphones as well. https://preview.redd.it/bbyxt9gwfqtd1.jpg?width=1591&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06c089ace3a172058f6dc5f07c07b3be7a2e846a The Gunnr supports UAC1 and UAC2 so it is compatible with the PS5. Xbox however doesn't use UAC1 or 2 so it isn't compatible. This means it can also be connected to tvs, ipads, phones and tablets. Supports windows 10 and 11 however not anything before that such as Windows 7 or 8.1. https://preview.redd.it/55a7l8z0gqtd1.jpg?width=1936&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9fbfcf41b4758cc4f8f6860ddd68da6cb749ba0 Let's talk about the power supply. The linear override on the Gunnr. The linear override option added a lot of complexity to the pcb and took up a lot of room. If you look at the back of the Gunnr the on and off switch is a slide instead of the typical toggle on the rest of Schiits products. Here you can see the on/off toggle on a Magni. I love toggle switches. I will buy ANY electronic device that has metal construction, and has a toggle switch or has some of that sweet sweet knurling on knobs and dials. I like over designed, heavy rugged devices that look like they will last a lifetime and then some. The toggle on the back of the Gunnr got removed because their typical toggle just wouldn't fit with how packed the pcb is. Ok fine. I am ok with that. The switch is in the back at the last possible location and I just leave my DAC/amp on all the time so I won’t even get that satisfaction of toggling the switch all that often. But they did it for linear override. Who exactly is only plugging in usb C for power?  Despite the "portability" of the Gunnr I can't see console users dragging a console and a DAC/amp over to their friends house or to a lan. Even those that do, that has to be a very very niche audience. If you are gaming on your pc that you spent thousands on why would you not go into the effort to plug in the wall wart? You already have a ton of cables to manage. I can't see adding 1 more as being that awful. The only real case I can see for this is if you are a laptop gamer or are using the Gunnr as a DAC for your office setup and are plugging into a laptop. I could be completely off the mark here and not understand how other people would use this due to my own use case but it just feels like a whole lot of trouble for a feature that isn't that important. Is it nice, absolutely. Is it something that people were begging for? I'm not so sure. Then there is the bigger issue for me. Who is this device for? I have a hard time envisioning many console gamers using the Gunnr. The Gunnr is 229 dollars which is a steep price to pay for someone that paid 350-500 dollars for a console and has headphones that are most likely well under the price of the Gunnr itself. A lot of non-gaming audiophiles are going to keep opting for the Magni, Modi Schiit stack unless they are dying for one less cable or for width and presence controls and I really wonder how many people are going to fit into that category. https://preview.redd.it/j25naz84gqtd1.jpg?width=1428&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f1f0e56610caa297c3b70899c3c8c92f8ac8af7 Now that I have dragged the Gunnr through the dirt a bit let's talk about where it excels. The width and presence controls. The width and presence controls in my mind are extraordinary. I tested the Gunnr with a combination of Focal Bathys, Hifman Sundaras, ZiiGaat x Fresh Reviews Arete, and the XENNS Mangird Tea PRO. I would have tested them with the AKG 7XX as well but sadly mine have gone off to greener pastures.  https://preview.redd.it/56idu2l2gqtd1.jpg?width=1315&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e727871db73cf9b48ca7474a7b3d89e26df5adf I was expecting the width control to really shine with the IEMs as they are known to not have nearly the soundstage that an open back headphone would have such as the Sundaras or the AKG's which have an absurdly large soundstage. With the width I was really able to dial in just how big of a soundstage I wanted on the Mangird tea Pros and the Aretes without the sound being too far away that I couldn't hear important sound ques. The presence control I tuned after the width control and almost always found myself bringing to nearly the same matching level that I moved the width control. When you move the soundstage out some of the sounds such as footsteps and vocals get a little too quiet when far away so this brings their noise floor up. The presence control effectiveness is somewhat variable from game to game due to the sounds ques you are looking for to be in different frequencies however I found it great while testing CS2, Valorant, and Rainbow Six Siege. While the ability to increase the soundstage is incredibly nice I don't think it would be nearly as usable, without being able to also have the presence control to get back some of the sound that you lost by increasing the depth of sound.. It makes it very easy to be able to tell the distance and location from where sound is coming but not make it too hard to even perceive. It is very possible to turn the presence up too much and create piercing treble, depending on the game and headphone or IEM. I really experienced this with the Aretes where the treble could sound quite painful at times when I turned the presence too high to balance the width I had added. I find the Aretes to be on the verge of treble that is too sharp for some games so this wasn’t that much of a surprise once I understood what effect the presence control had. What I was most surprised by however was that the presence and width controls shined ever greater on the Focals and the Hifimans than the previously mentioned IEMs. Neither the Sundaras or the Bathys have the massive soundstage of something like the AKG 712 or 7XX, but they do have one that is much larger than both the Arete and the Tea Pros. The Sundaras were massively improved by adding a large amount of soundstage and a large amount of presence. Here the treble never got piercing but it did come through very clear and it was immensely easier to tell the distance of sounds. A lot of this may have been just because neither the Bathys or the Sundaras have overly bright treble. This creates an opportunity to really crank the presence control when you turn the width control up, something I did not enjoy doing nearly as much with the IEMs because of the brightness, especially the Aretes. Conversely there were some situations in which it was nice to actually bring the width closer when listening to music, creating a completely different listening experience from the more “natural” sound.  I'm going to say that in a month or two's time, if I play games with another DAC, such as the Schiit Magni or if I review another unit I will feel naked without the ability to adjust the width and presence. It is so incredibly useful for any sound dependent game that I can't see myself wanting to game without these controls. If you have IEMs or headphones that feel too in your ear, or like the sound is too distant, these controls serve as both a functional and fun way to alter sound. I hope other manufactures see the width and presence controls and its  (hopeful) popularity and institute this functionality the same way that Wooting made hall effect switches start to become the industry standard for gaming focused keyboards.

I'd for sure get the Arete. They're better for gaming in my opinion and also don't have the pressure build up issue that effects a lot of people who use the Orchestra Lites. The last thing you want is for your IEMs to be distractingly uncomfortable while you're gaming.

I'm a decades long audiophile, and my final home stereo/surround system includes an Audio Research all tube amp, Audible Illusions preamp, and Mirage M3 chin high speakers. A high end Lexicon surround processor feeds the side and rear speakers through separate amps. Back in the mid-90's I purchased the Sennheiser HD580 and Beyerdynamic 990, but these were considered just 'accessories' those days. I enjoyed them with the portable devices available at the time, but my main stereo system got the spotlight. In 2020, during covid, I became more interested in headphones. I was struck by the huge community of hobbyists and all of the DACS, amps, and headphones available. So I entered the headphone world and became an enthusiast. Over 4 years and many DAC/amp/headphone combinations I settled on a recent mid-level Topping DAC, an excellent XDuoo hybrid amp, 5 Beyerdynamic headphones (including the DT 1990) as my favorites. And then I added the Arya Organic. At that point I figured the bang to buck ratio precluded the need for any further improvements. You know what happened next-- I kept seeing articles, comments, and videos about IEMs and had to see what all the fuss was about. I bought the KZ Terminator and had problems getting a good seal. I had to work with the over-ear cords to get them right. Had to purchase different tips-- and then it all started working right. I soon got the s12 pro, Simgot EW200, 300, and EA1000. I've now added the Ziigaat x Fresh Arete and Hidizis mp 145 and Aful Explorer to my favorites. So is it all hype? No, IEMs can really sound great. It's more of an intimate, in the head experience than headphones, and the sound is immersive. Are they 'better' than headphones? No. They're different, but not necessarily better. My DT 1990's and Arya Organic's still reign supreme, overall. And my home stereo system is still the best in terms of a more realistic, big-scale sound. The difference between a large speaker home setup, and headphones, and IEMs is all about the scale of the sound. IEMs just can't match the scale of the Organics, and the Organics aren't replicating music in the scale of a speaker system. But the IEM experience is very addictive. I think that part of the attraction, after the immersive quality, is the simple novelty of it all. I'm putting these tiny things into my ears and I'm getting this relatively huge experience And they're so comparatively cheap. Back in my home stereo days a component could cost 2-3K or more. The Organics cost $1300. My EA1000's cost $225, and I think of these as equal to my DT 1990's, although at a smaller scale.

I've owned both sets. While the Arete is great for detail retrieval and it's tonality regarding music listening is superb for its price point, I was concerned about the build quality, a BA on the left side was faulty out of the box. Funny enough, I also had a QC issue with the Tea PRO (channel imbalance) but XENNS recently redesigned their nozzles so it looks like they fixed it now. The Tea PRO is still a sub tier above the Arete in shooters regarding depth and verticality perception and the build quality is waaaaay better with the alluminum alloy but will be a little heavier with a little better ergonomic shape. It is also warm with slight darkness in the treble with the Arete being more neutral with the low end I would describe as being barely enough for most. Arete is basically on the same tier in-game (OW2) maybe sublty better than the Hype 4 and S12 2024 when I was testing those. Techs and Tonality across various genres are still 10-20% better on the Tea PRO as well to me on average. Stock accessories on the Tea PRO are good, much better than the Arete's. If you can discount your way to near 300 on the Tea PRO, 100% get it I even think its good at its MSRP. Only set I found "better" that I have is the TOP but its not by much at all. Eartips I recommend are Penon Liquer Orange.

I personally hated the Arete. Bass is downright gaming headphones level of boomy and the reduced ear gain (~3kHz) coupled with the small mid treble peak makes it sound weirdly clenched and thin. It's just an incredibly unnatural sounding set. Mind you I tip rolled with Spinfits, Dunu S&S and Moondrop Springs before selling it when nothing (outside of EQ anyways) could fix its tonality.

Odyssey best allrounder. Very good for music and gaming. Arete is more for gaming but for like competitive and arcadia is for only music but I still would pick odyssey for music over Arcadia. You might need a basic dongle, but nothing fancy the ka13 might be overkill. Ka11 is more than enough or even the basic apple dongle is good.

That’s a great question. I took a look at the serial codes on my IEM’s and tried to find info on Google about looking them up and batch numbers, and couldn’t find anything. Maybe somebody with more experience with IEM’s would know? All I can say is I love the Aretes. I didn’t hear about any issues between batches before now. But if my budget was $250 or under, I would 100% buy them again if I had a do-over.

I’m no audiophile, but to say I’m impressed is an understatement. As I mentioned, I jumped from the EW200’s, and mainly use IEM’s for games. The difference in detail is insane. The sound stage is perfect, both for competitive shooters and story driven games. Out of the box, the stock tips made the IEM’s a little too bass heavy, and for the EW200’s I was using Dunu S&S tips, which made the bass even heavier for the Arete’s when I tried them, but I switched to the KBEAR 07 tips and it reduced the bass massively, and with some EQ could improve that even further. Even for music, the bass and sub bass is clean and not overwhelming, but as I said, for competitive shooters I would recommend different tips. For FPS specifically, I was able to pinpoint where gun shots, explosions, and footsteps were, exactly. And these sounds aren’t overwhelming, but I can very easily tell where the direction is, and even “map out,” per se, in my head, where in the area or room I am hearing those footsteps, and aim accordingly. I’m keeping the Arete’s and will now main them for both gaming and music. Hope this helps.

As someone who used to think anything with “gaming,” in the title was best for gaming; switching from a gaming headset to IEM’s has been the best for gaming. I also followed this list and ended up getting Fresh Reviews Arete’s. I’ve tried the $40 Simgot ew200 and even they are better for gaming than my Razer Blackshark V2. I say that if you’re willing to spend X amount of dollars on a gaming headset, look for IEM’s instead. Great budget options out there.

It was between the orchestra lites and arete’s for me. How does the pressure feel with the lites? Still thinking about getting a pair because I’ve heard they sound amazing.

They’re so damn good. For $250 the money is well worth it IMO.

I’m looking to find my hopefully “endgame,” IEM, but I’m experiencing a lot of mixed reviews across many sources. Every time I think I’ve made a decision, I see something that makes me double guess myself. I’m pretty sold on the Mangird Tea Pros, but am also intrigued by the Hype 4’s and Kiwi Ears x HBB Punch. Even something like the AFUL P7’s. I do love bass and my ears can be treble sensitive, as I listen to a lot of EDM and Hip hop, but I listen to pretty much everything. My main use is for competitive gaming and general gaming, and I’m currently using the Ziigaat Arete’s, but want that definitive “endgame,” if there is such a thing. My current collection contains the Arete’s, Apevoix Grit, and EW200’s. Any advice between the Tea Pro’s, Hype 4, Punch, and AFUL’s would be super helpful. TL;DR - looking for endgame IEM’s, between Tea Pro, Hype 4, and P7’s, mainly for gaming but also music.

I do really love the Arete’s for gaming. The bass response and performance is much better than the Grit IMO. I mainly play R6 as my competitive game. To me, the bass helps with placing footsteps better, and the mid’s aren’t too harsh. The Grit does not have enough bass for me personally, however they are a great pair of IEM’s in their own right. But I always feel like they’re slightly lacking compared to the Arete’s for gaming. Plus the Arete’s are more comfortable for me . If I had to choose between the 2, the Arete’s are specifically tuned for competitive gaming in mind, so that’s my pick. I haven’t heard the P7’s for myself.

I have the Grit’s and the Arete’s. My purpose for IEM’s is also gaming, and I’m no audiophile. However, I will say that the Grit’s do have an amazing sound for music. I mainly listen to hip/hop and EDM, with some alt rock and alternative. The bass isn’t exaggerated, or punchy, but it’s very fast and clean, and doesn’t get muddy. And the soundstage is wide. I feel like it’s an IEM that isn’t talked about a whole lot, especially having a bone conductor, in that price range. I will also say that to my ears, they can be a tad uncomfortable with the wrong tips, the nozzle is long and wide, so I’d recommend tip rolling, but again, those are just my ear canals. Because of the bone conductor, if you cough or hit the shell, you will hear the bone conductor “springy-ness” (?), that’s the best way I can describe it. The separation and soundstage are great on both sets. As for the Arete’s, amazing for bass heavy songs if you’re into punchy bass, yet clean and not muddy. My ears are pretty treble sensitive, and neither IEM’s are fatiguing to me, or bright. I try to switch between the 2 for gaming, and always come back to the Arete’s, for sound and comfortably, again comfortably could just be my ear canals. If your main focus is gaming, and you want something that’s “great” for gaming, especially competitive games, even story games, and not better at music, I’d say the Arete’s. If you want something that’s “good” for gaming, but better for music, I’d say go with the Grit’s. Edit: as i’m sure you’re aware, a lot of this is subjective. My ears could hear these IEM’s differently from your ears. But i feel if these 2 are your final choices, you’ll be happy with either. I have prior posts asking similar questions, with comments and good advice you can look thru as well. Good luck, it’s a rabbit hole. And don’t over think it! Just enjoy whatever you end up getting!

For gaming and music in general I would recommend the ZiiGaat x FreshReview Arete they’re about 250usd but is the best all around iem for competitive gaming and music, if you want something better go for XENNS Mnagird Tea Pro, they’re around 360usd, the best one range IMO are around 150 to 400 usd

I also use w1s with my arete. I use a tripowin cable tho.

They were sold out on Amazon for inthink 2 days and then they were back for a day. I'm waiting on the tea pros now. I have the arete and a 64 audio u4s ATM. I like the aretes for gaming alot but supposedly the tea pros are better. So when they come the arete goes bye bye lol. I'm also pretty new to iems myself. Congrats on the arete.

Scarlet mini by far. Love the bass. Ive only tried 6 iems so far : arete(returned but were fine), tea pro(returned too big for me), thieaudio origin(returned also too big), duece(returned not enough bass) 64 audio u4s(is my all arounder and used for gaming), and fatfreq scarlet mini(my favorite for music) Dac: currently using btr17 but plan on returning as I ordered a hiby r4. In the past I used a fio k3 for my open backs.

no. Sennheiser HD800S are superior. For a gaming IEM you can get something great fro much less. The Ziigat x Fresh Reviews Arete. There are so many IEMs.. The Ziigaats hit a sweetspot for technical Videogame footsteps.

Depends on what you’re using them for. Arete was tuned with gaming in mind. The arcadia is a darker bass leaning IEM and the Odyssey is basically the new meta with elevated bass. You should be able to drive all 3 off of a dongle

Gaming is what they were tuned for. They can be used for music as well, but it will depend on whether or not u like the tuning of the arete for music. The Odyssey is the best all arounder for any type of music. The Arcadia is good if u like darker tuning or less treble. They would probably be the worst for gaming though

2024 was an exciting year for me and all fellow audiophiles. So many great IEMs with unimaginable value. Here are 8 of my favorite sets from my ~15 sets collection. Right to left, top to bottom: ISN EBC80, HiSenior Mega5EST Bass + (custom design), Tangzu Zhu Bajie, Kiwi Ears Punch, Xenns Mangird Tea Pro, DUNU DaVinci, Ziigaat Estrella, AFUL Performer 5+2 Honorable mention: AFUL Explorer (best first IEM IMO), Ziigaat Arete (best gaming IEM IMO), Simgot Supermix 4 (best all-rounder IMO). I'm excited for what 2025 will bring us. Hopefully better sets with lower prices.

Arete was a disappointment for me, slow and muddy, while mangrid tea pro has been a stand out “new meta” set for me.

Well not here tu really ruin your fun but: We’ll start small. Ziigaat tips and cable are some of the worst in the bracket, they use the same low quality cable that you so much think is great on almost all their iems? This cable would be acceptable in the 100-120$ range but for over 200 we can get better elsewhere. To just point it out I do own a 70$ Sivga Que that has all metal/wood build, has nicer case and waaay nicer cable and better tips and more of them.. Tips are just standard throwaway tips. I’d highly recommend getting Spinfit W1/Penon LS tips/ ( those are my two favourites, not only medical grade silicone for better comfort but they improve the sonics a bit. W1 is a bit of a v shape while Penon is more balanced. Arete itself, well frankly I find it the worst out of their lineup of the 200+ stuff. Either Doscinco, Cincotres, Estrella or Odyssey are arguably better ( not sure about Arcadia, did not hear it yet ). Don’t think that I’m a hater or anything of that sorts but Arete really is the worst of their lineup imho. And I’ve nothing against Ziigaat, as I actually own the Odyssey and have the same shitty cable and shitty tips ;)

Ziigat arete if you can afford, if you cannot supermix4 is probably bang4buck iem

Ziigat Arete or Simgot EW300 (and tou can buy some nice little dac amp and nice eartips)

The Arete are definitely a better buy for just gaming, but the Tea Pro are probably the best "one and done" IEMs you can buy at the moment. I foolishly returned them on Amazon and after trying plenty of other IEMs, I sucked it up and rebought them.

The Arete could also be an option, since they are open to stretching their budget a bit. I think Fresh underrates the Arete since it's his own collab, a lot of people say for strictly gaming use it's very close to the Tea Pro. But the Lush and a DAC is probably better from the value perspective.