Want to treat myself to nice IEMs. $100- Recommendations?

[Aereldor]

My Shure Se215 earphones got stolen out of a rehearsal studio at my univrersity in 2017. I've been slumming by with (admittedly very good) $17 KZ ZSA earphones ever since. 

 

Well, now I'd like to treat myself to something nicer. I'm considering buying another set. 

 

Another set of Shure SE-215s will run me $100, but there are convincing alternatives. 
 

Tin T5 at $95

 

Final Audio A3000 at $100

 

Monoprice Quintet at $80

 

However, I'm still leaning towards the SE-215, mainly because I just want them back in a way, and because the mic on those is nothing short of amazing.

 

Also, with the SE215 - what is this Gen 1, 2, and 3 all about? Do they sound different? 

 

 

[Spork829]

I'd go with the 215s, but that's definitely a personal preference. I've heard really good things about the T5, not sure about the Final or Monoprice. I'm running KZ ZSTs right now specifically because, with a bit of EQ tuning, they sound very similar to a pair of 215s and are much cheaper (I tend to lose/break my IEMs often). I'm not sure if there's a difference between the generations sound-wise. 

[rice guru]

Moon drop aria is the pick for sub$100 right now. Imo . Really good tonality with it's slightly modified harman , good build and overall just good sound. 

[Aereldor]

4 hours ago, Spork829 said:

I'd go with the 215s, but that's definitely a personal preference. I've heard really good things about the T5, not sure about the Final or Monoprice. I'm running KZ ZSTs right now specifically because, with a bit of EQ tuning, they sound very similar to a pair of 215s and are much cheaper (I tend to lose/break my IEMs often). I'm not sure if there's a difference between the generations sound-wise. 

Cheers thanks. I'm really reluctant to spend more than $20 on KZs, a lot of chi-fi IEMs tend to ship with the same crappy cable, and I know they can be replaced but that 2-pin system just hasn't worked for me across all the IEMs I've owned. Worst part is the earphones would just fall off the cable, so I had to superglue them in place, defeating the purpose of a replaceable able.

 

The Tin T5, still a maybe!

[Aereldor]

12 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Moon drop aria is the pick for sub$100 right now. Imo . Really good tonality with it's slightly modified harman , good build and overall just good sound. 

That's the 3rd recommendation I've heard for them, cheers! Would you get them over the Tin T5s? Also wondering about the Moondrop Kxxx for $160 on Massdrop, heard good things about those too. 

[rice guru]

The aria are literally almost the kxxs but cheaper and slightly different tuning. Not sure if I would recv over t5 I have yet to hear t5 unfortunately

[Kadzo]

Damn didn't know there are that many people with KZ IEM`s, i have ZSN Pro for the past year+ maybe year and a half and so far i do enjoy them

[rice guru]

1 minute ago, Kadzo said:

Damn didn't know there are that many people with KZ IEM`s, i have ZSN Pro for the past year+ maybe year and a half and so far i do enjoy them

While they are decent sadly iem space moves stupid fast compared to the rest of the audio scene what's the best now won't be the best 3 months from now.

 

 

 

[Aereldor]

4 minutes ago, rice guru said:

While they are decent sadly iem space moves stupid fast compared to the rest of the audio scene what's the best now won't be the best 3 months from now.

 

 

 

according to some r/headphoneadvice guys the SE215s hold up with some EQ, It's between them and the Aria right now, but I might still get the SE215s, I like the warmer sound and the comfort, and the build quality/mic beat the pants of the Chi-Fi alternatives. 

 

How woul dyou say the Aria IEMs compare? 

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, soundlogic said:

according to some r/headphoneadvice guys the SE215s hold up with some EQ, It's between them and the Aria right now, but I might still get the SE215s, I like the warmer sound and the comfort, and the build quality/mic beat the pants of the Chi-Fi alternatives. 

 

How woul dyou say the Aria IEMs compare? 

The thing is personally I think the aria is. Better with better build with it's metal built and 2 pin cable and overall to me just a better pickm the factor is there is no better alternative to what your familiar with than what you are familiar with. If you like the shure's a lot then go with the shures cause everything else will be different.