Perhaps because different sound signatures tend to be more suitable for specific music genres?

Here is a fun one for you all. I am around 60 years old. I can’t hear anything above around 12 kHz. So no air or sparkle for me! Guess what happens when higher frequency stuff gets lossy encoded at progressively higher compression ratios? Audio compression artifacts! Not just audio compression artifacts, but audio compression artifacts which create sounds at LOWER frequencies! In other words, totally false lossy audio compression artifacts of higher frequencies which are actually heard at lower frequencies and in the upper midrange and the lower treble.

So what do I do? I use an aggressive preprocessing rolloff filter for anything above 12 kHz when I convert original sources to 320 bitrate MP3 files. This prevents any lower octave artifacts from being created during the MP3 compression when set for a 320 kbps bitrate during compression to MP3. How? Since there basically is nothing above around 12 kHz for the lossy MP3 compression algorithm to compress. Since there is nothing to compress, then no lower octave artifacts are created. The result is that, given my age limited hearing which extends only up to 12 kHz, I don’t hear any compression artifacts or any difference between the MP3 file and the original source.

You are welcome. My favorite tips would be the Azla SednaEarFitLight eartips in terms of pairing extremely well with the nozzles on the MagicOne. I have a micro drill. I think that I will try to drill a micro hole in the side of each eartip bore near the very end where the bore meats the flange. This should give pressure relief without affecting the sound.

Nice review. I received the MagicOne Saturday afternoon and evaluated it that evening. I am sensitive to sibilance in the upper midrange and treble, yet I had no issues at all with this IEM. Vocals are quite nice. I really liked the details in the midrange and upper midrange. I found the bass to be a bit soft with a soft leading attack on bass notes and kick drums. This IEM is nice for vocals and for classical music. It does not perform as well for rock and EDM music. The MagicOne has an overall performance which makes it a poor man’s version of the Orchestra Lite which also is best suited for vocals and for classical music.

You can purchase replacement nozzles/filters for the Kato from the Moondrop Official Store on Aliexpress. See:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803559403072.html

Alternatively, the 4.0mm diameters dust filters from either of the following two Aliexpress stores should work just fine since the Kato filters are merely dust and earwax filters and are not meant to significantly affect tuning:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803958562978.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805399657415.html

I also found the the EW200 to be a bit too bright in the upper midrange. A really simple fix to reduce the brightness in the upper midrange is to install the 300 mesh filters which are included in the DIY tuning kit for the EA500. Here is an Aliexpress link for the tuning kit:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805636792228.html

I liked the 300 mesh filters the best. The 200 mesh filters will not reduce the brightness quite as much, and the 500 mesh filters reduced the brightness a bit too much. You simply use the included tweezers from the DIY tuning kit to install a mesh filter directly on top of the metal dust filter which is in the end of each of the EW200’s nozzles. The mesh filters from the tuning kit fit perfectly in the EW200’s nozzles. After installing the mesh filters, I found that the EW200 is one of the best IEMs which you can buy which costs less than $50. Here a few photos of my EW200 IEMs after I installed the 300 mesh filters:

https://i.imgur.com/HaEt4xW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7rIm40f.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/z86BmTs.jpg

It will be fine.

It is possible that you have a tiny bit of hair in your left ear, perhaps from a haircut. Do you occasionally feel a slight bit of a tickling feeling in your left ear? I recently had this issue. It was a tiny bit of hair. One end of the hair was directly stuck onto my eardrum. The rest of the hair was coiled against the inside wall of the ear canal. A doctor removed the hair and now everything is peachy good.

No way to say unless you tell us for on average how long and how often per session at listening at this volume level. Some quick and helpful questions…

Have you ever experienced any ringing in your ears afterwords? If yes, for how long?

Have you ever noticed that your perception of sound is different either hours later or a day or two later?

How often do you listen at these really high volume levels?

How long do you listen at these really high volume levels?

In my youth, I regularly listened to music at these volume levels, yet not every day and for at most only around 3 hours. I did this for three or four years. Now and and decades later I have no hearing issues.

A 10mm DD probably is equivalent to a 50mm driver in a headphone.

I would keep the Performer 5

The Melody has a lip on its nozzles. The diameter of the lip is 6.2 mm. I don’t know the diameter of the rest of the nozzle, but obviously it is less than 6.2 mm. The Quintet nozzle diameter is 5.4mm. There are lips on the end of the Quintet’s nozzles. The lips on the Quintet’s nozzles are 6.3 mm in diameter.

I can’t believe that Moondrop applies a bit of glue for holding on the shell to the one spot which can move very slightly (the connector) such that the glue can break and the shell can drop off. You did take a really nice photo of the interior of the Variations. I haven’t had any issues with the chi-fi IEMs which I have purchased. Presently my favorite is the Aful Performer 5. There is nothing that can fall off the Performer 5.

Please post your credit card information so that we do an intervention by sucking your bank accounts completely dry in order to stop your purchasing compulsions. It is either this or we will have to perform very painful electroshock therapy. Your choice.

Obviously a battery fire. This is why I refuse to wear any headgear which has batteries in it.

Nice. I still listen to the Mele from time to time. The Cadenza still is my favorite of all of the budget IEMs.

Vertigo usually is caused by dislodged calcite crystals within the semicircular canals (the tubes for your sense of balance) inside your inner ears. I suspect that you are listening to your earbuds or headphones at way too high volume levels which will eventually damage your hearing.

A short version of a 6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter literally ripped off the tip of the 3.5mm plug on one of my headphone cables when I tried to remove it from the adapter. This was due to a manufacturing defect and due to the very limited space inside the short version of the adapter. I use this longer version of a 6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter since they are much better constructed:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077F3Q5WC

I perceive zero difference in audio quality when using the above adapters, and I have zero issues when plugging a 3.5mm cable into these adapters or plugging these adapters into a 6.35mm socket.

Hi Mom! Please turn off The Price Is Right so that I can explain speaker impedance to you. You need to learn why those new speakers which you got for Dad and which you hooked up yourself burned up Dad’s amplifier.
Resistance is how hard it is for direct current (DC) to pass through a wire. The DC voltage doesn’t matter since the DC resistance will always be the same for a wire. For DC voltage, the impedance is also equal to the resistance. The same is true for direct current (DC) passing through a speaker even though the speaker has a magnet and a voice coil. The measured resistance will be constant, and the impedance will be equal to the resistance.
Things get more complicated when alternating current (AC) is used instead of direct current (DC). Another variable is the frequency of the AC. If you pass a very low frequency (perhaps 1 or 2 Hz) AC through the speaker, the impedance will still be almost exactly equal to the measured DC resistance of the speaker. If you pass progressively higher frequencies of AC through the speaker, then the impedance will rise or fall in comparison to the speaker’s measured DC resistance. Why the impedance rises and falls depends on the mechanical design of the speaker. You can create a graph of the rise and fall of the impedance versus the frequency of the alternating current (AC).
For example, let’s say that you have an 8 Ohm speaker. The measured DC resistance usually will be noticeably less than 8 Ohms, yet the DC resistance will always be constant. Yet when you send AC through the speaker, the impedance at various frequencies can rise above 8 Ohms or drop below 8 Ohms. In other words, the graph of the speaker’s AC impedance versus the frequency will be a wavy line when measured at AC frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. How wavy the line is will depend on the mechanical design of the speaker.
The DC resistance of a speaker is always constant. Think of impedance as being the equivalent the DC resistance of the speaker for AC current at a specific frequency. If the AC frequency is increased or decreased, then the equivalent DC resistance of the speaker can either increase or decrease.
We now have a wavy line for the speaker’s measured AC impedance versus frequency. What is the average impedance of the speaker for AC frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz? It is the average of the wavy line. The average of the wavy line is the impedance rating for the speaker. If the average of the wavy line is 8 Ohms, then the speaker gets a stamp which says “8 Ohm” on the back of the speaker’s magnet. As I mentioned, the average AC impedance of the speaker usually is a good bit higher than the measured DC resistance of the speaker. And as I mentioned, the actual AC impedance of the speaker can be higher or less than the average AC impedance, depending on the frequency of the alternating current (AC).
Mom, you burned up Dad’s amplifier since you hooked up the additional pair of speakers into the B channel of his amplifier. The minimum combined impedance for the A and B channels of Dad’s amplifier is 4 Ohms. Dad’s original speakers have a rated impedance of 4 Ohms. When you hooked up this new set of 4 Ohm speakers to the B channel, the combined impedance of both pairs of speakers became only 2 Ohms. This combined impedance was too low, and this is how you burned up Dad’s amplifier since the combined pairs of speakers drew way too much current from Dad’s amplifier.
Hey Mom, don’t worry. I can replace the burned up output transistors on Dad’s amplifier with new transistors from either Mouser or DigiKey since nothing else in Dad’s amplifier was burned up.
Mom, it seems that you now understand about impedance. Impedance is simply the resistance at a particular alternating current frequency. Cool. You seem to totally get it.
Lets look at some other stuff inside Dad’s amplifier. Do you see these things which look like little cans inside Dad’s amplifier? Those are capacitors. Do you see these coiled wire things? Those are chokes. Do you see these things with three legs coming out of them? Those are transistors. Transistors are like the pedals and the control column and yolk in a passenger airliner. Movements of these by the pilot get greatly amplified in order to move the huge control surfaces on the wings and the tail of the airliner. In other words, transistors amplify small signals in order to turn the signal into much greater signals. Hey Mom, how cool is that? The power assisted brakes in your car do the same thing when you press the brake pedal. The power assisted steering in your car also does the same thing. You can think of both systems in your car as being the mechanical equivalents of transistors! This kind of signal amplification stuff has been around since the 1920s.
Yes Mom, transistors simply amplify things. Let’s look again at those capacitors which look like tiny cans and look at those chokes which look like small coils of wire around small magnets.
Now things get even more fun. All capacitors totally block DC current, yet will pass AC current. How much AC current flows through a capacitor depends of the capacitance of the capacitor (basically the physical size of the capacitor) and on the AC frequency! Cool, isn’t it? All chokes and coils pass DC current, yet progressively block AC current at progressively higher frequencies! Again, the physical size of the choke, and whether or not the choke has an internal magnet, determines how progressively the choke blocks higher frequencies. More cool stuff, isn’t it?
Now lets think about Dad’s 3-way speakers. In a nutshell, capacitors and chokes are used to limit what range of frequencies go to each speaker in a 2-way or 3-way speaker system. The combination of chokes and capacitors in a speaker are usually mounted on a crossover board inside the speaker.
Dad really loves his expensive IEMs. Amazingly, miniature crossover boards are used in Dad’s expensive multi-driver IEMs to send specific frequency ranges to the specific drivers. This is very similar to how crossover boards are used in Dad’s speakers to control what frequency ranges are sent to each speaker in Dad’s 3-way speakers. Now that is really cool, isn’t it? I think that it is really amazing that many expensive IEMs truly implement resistance ® and choke (L) and capacitor © or RLC crossover boards inside these tiny IEMs.
Hey Mom, do you remember a few years ago when your cat Precious decided to use one of the midrange speakers on Dad’s favorite speakers as a scratching post and that Precious destroyed that midrange speaker. Do you remember that Dad replaced that speaker with a generic speaker which had the correct stamped impedance and power rating? And do you remember that this replacement speaker sounded muddy at frequencies around 600 Hz? The reason that this replacement speaker sounded muddy around this frequency which was in the crossover range in Dad’s 3-way speakers is that this replacement speaker’s impedance around the crossover range was significantly different than the original speaker. This resulted in a significant phase shift for the replacement speaker versus the original speaker. In other words, the replacement speaker’s sound, moving out of sync due to the phase shift, was somewhat cancelling the sound from the woofer.
Mom, I need to teach you more about phase shift and how varying impedance affects phase shift. Yet at least you now have an understanding about impedance and some understanding about other stuff such as capacitors, chokes and transistors.

I bought a set of the small size Coreir eartips. The shape of the umbrellas resulted in discomfort from the brass inserts. Since these eartips are not suitable for me,