so i got my first pair of iems back in may for my birthday and theyre ikko OH10’s (the old version not the OH10S) which were like $200 so still a lot for me but way cheaper than a lot of other iems
but these are still the best things ive ever heard in my life by far and i dont understand how any pair of headphones can sound even better than this, like it actually feels like the music is inside my soul, i was listening to justin timberlake yesterday and was literally crying and getting goosebumps cause of how beautiful it sounded, and i dont even like justin timberlake 😭😭
anyways the reason im wondering is cause i kinda wanna save up for some even better ones that are a bit smaller cause these ones are kinda big for me and they start to hurt my ears after a little bit, but im kinda scared of spending a ton of money on headphones just for me to barely notice a difference, like do $1,000+ iems sound way better than $200 ones or do they just sound only slightly better?? and what actually makes one pair better than another?? like compared to my basic earbuds these ones are way louder, clearer, and a lot fuller and richer, so would more expensive iems just be even louder and clearer than these ones?
Only my two cents, with another example.
There are this headphones that you get with in an mp3 player (about 100€). They sound not really bad, at least if you only used headphones like this. There are also a lot of people who are very happy with e.g. Smartphone + “cheap” Bluethoot IEMs. Expensive means +50€ in this case. I used different sony mp3 players between 100 and 200€ for many many years.
Give these users an IEM that cost more than 200€, I am sure many people would say “WTH?”… but not positive… missing bass, sound is “wrong”, … the 200€ thing does not hold in the ears… expensive crap. Reason? Either the device is not good or they do not use the IEM for e.g. a week. I can remember the same. I bought a Shure SE 535 for a Sony MP3 player, terrible sound. So I ordered a DAP Player from Pioneer. But even with the Pioneer, it takes some weeks to notice that the Shure is really much better.
I guess it’s the same if I would replace my SE 535 (about 400€) with an 1000€ IEM, it’s possible that it takes some time before I would hear the 600€ difference or I need another device too.
About “fit in the ear” my experience with the SE 535. I need weeks before I notice that none of the tips works. Either the sound was not good, too big for my ears or they do not hold. I use the trible flanke silicone now, but cut off one flanke and the root a little bit.
Can agree with using for a week. When I first played a song with olina se I got disappointed but decided to think not too much and use it. Keep in mind my iem before is warm and olina se is bright-ish tuning.
Tomorrow I noticed the bass have impact that is lacking in CCA FLA(I have to downgrade from hiby loki since the cable broke). The treble despite being peaky never felt harsh(it was 12k peak). Midrange is mixed opinion as some songs vocals sounds absolutely dead which is most likely bad mixing as some songs vocal are just wonderful especially asmr where binaural mic are used.