Odd-Spend-8757 t1_itvurip wrote on October 26, 2022 at 6:04 PM

Interesting. I only own over and on ear headphones so I can't fully understand, but are in ear comparable to over ear regard sound quality? (obv if they are on the same budget)

Summer__1999 t1_itw4734 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 7:05 PM

Are they comparable? Yes, they both have strengths and weaknesses when compared to each other. Over-ears (especially open backs) generally have better and more natural soundstage, but the iem more in-your-head type sound feels (to me) like more details is crammed into my ears. The rest of it is down to the specific iem and headphones imo. For example, I have the sundara and b2d, they’re both in the same price point. Sundara’s bass isn’t particularly special, but it still feels more natural and just plain better than the b2d to my ears. That’s not because iem bass are inherently bad, it’s just that b2d specifically doesn’t have a great bass. If I heard another iem that’s known for their bass I might think that sundara’s bass is bad this time around.

It’s really down to use case tbh, I can’t bring my full sized headphones out on the street, can I? (Technically I can, but you know what I mean). And I certainly don’t want to sweat in my full sized headphones when the weather is hot. That’s where iem comes into place: when I can’t, or just don’t want to strap a full sized can onto my head.

hlonuk t1_itw3x9a wrote on October 26, 2022 at 7:03 PM

IMO yes

audiopure110 t1_itwn9a3 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 9:04 PM

They can compete in everything except soundstage. I'd even say iems offer more value in the summit-fi level. For example my anole vx sound as detailed or better as a lot of over ears that are more expensive and they require way cheaper gear to get most out of them.

However the peak is higher on headphones, for example, no iem will sound as good as susvara or 1266TC in terms of overall detail and package.

testurshit t1_ity01hl wrote on October 27, 2022 at 3:09 AM

imo the detail aspect is very competitive and the way the sound is crammed into your ears like summer said is a big part of that. That being said, they can't match high end headphones in other technicalities like dynamics, soundstage, etc in a lot of cases.

The portability, light weight, and sound isolation is a big plus though. I love how I can bring my IEMs everywhere and get so much performance out of such a convenient form factor.

It's a different type of listening experience though so I enjoy it equally as much and increasingly more as I get more IEMs.

None of my current IEMs really get close to my LCD-X in terms of sound quality but I'll reevaluate this when my SA6 Ultra arrives.