More experienced guys, talk to me about IEMs. Looking specifically at Kinera Freya, Moondrop Starfield or anything from KZ
Is it worth dipping the toes on the cheaper end to see if the IEM story works for me or go for something a bit higher up?
*edited to add* currently only have SE amp/dacs
I cannot talk about models like the Kinera Freya, Moondrop Starfield sinc i haven't really encountered those
BUT
i have tried a few of the KZ models - i love my AS16s - these have 8 balanced armature drivers per side and they sound very high fidelity - they are clearer and cleaner than my full size headphones and they trample the full size headphones in terms of imaging and staging and detail retrieval as well as timbre and neutral tonality but these things are on the pricier side and if you dont like tips in your ears it could be expensive school fees
i also first tried the KZ ZSN pros - which consisted of one balanced armature driver for higher frequencies and one dynamic driver for bass per side - these were good as an introduction to IEMs - they actually were excellent as a high fidelity tem and beat every AKG and Sennheiser IEM that i tried out by a huge margin - the AS16 actually just goes to another level altogether ..... but IMHO try something like the ZSN pro which was around $25 when i purchased - i think that Ari (Capetownwatches) is registered on this forum and he pointed out KZ IEMs to me - he called the ZSN "the best $20 secret ever" and at $25 to $30 you cannot go wrong with the ZSN or ZSN pro but it does have lots of bass in its audio presentation
if you are after a more balanced presentation you can spend more and go for the AS16 but thats around $130 to $150 ..... or there are lots of people who prefer the audio quality of Tin audio or even the Blon BLO3 - you can also try any of those - but try a cheapish model like a ZSN pro first to see if IEMs are for you - many people hate them and prefer the feeling of not having anything inside their ear canals and stick to full size on-ear or over-ear headphones
i would love to spend the money to get something like a 64 Audio U12T but i doubt i will ever afford those so i'm personally going to stick to my AS16s and maybe also just get a set of Tin Audio P1 planar magnetic IEMs (kind of a ribbon driver) but if my AS16s break i will replace those cos i love mine so much ..... as i have mentioned before these really are better sounding than my Hifiman HE4xx and also my Sennheiser HD599 full size headphones in almost every respect when used with my Fiio M11 DAP and also with my PC used as a source via any DAC i care to use
dont worry about only having single ended amps because IEMs especially entry level ones will be very easy to drive because of high sensitivity and low impedance and maybe only a few really high end models will be hard to drive and require highly capable amps (high end being like the aforementioned 64 audio and maybe Campfire Audio models) but you only have to worry about those when you reach a level where you want to spend around R30k on a pair of IEMs (hint : not many people will do this in their entire lifetimes or even their next 10 ..... if you believe in reincarnation
)
but yes do dip your toes into a cheap model and try out the experience - if you enjoy it then maybe move on to better and more expensive models after that but read reviews about the sonic signatures of each model you are interested in - you may not like or appreciate some models for example many people find those cheaper ZSNs to have way too much bass for their tastes so avoid things like that so you can see which direction you want to head in
for me the Fiio M11 and AS16 combo when properly run in as mine are ie i have around 400 to 500 hours of usage behind those do actually sound pretty terrific with well recorded music - im only after one thing now ie the correctly sized "small" foam tips since i only have mediums and those are a bit too large for my ear canals so im forced to stick to silicone ear tips that came with the set until i get the right sized foam ones (using the mediums stil gave me the indication that they can potentially sound better with the foam tips than with the silicone tips if you get the right size to form the correct bond within your ear canal - so order a few foam tips too when ordering your IEMs to experiment with
