IEMs, why should I care? How to choose some? | @mdeous I'll put...

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IEMs, why should I care? How to choose some?

mdeous

toniidesu

318

Oct 29, 2020

@mdeous I'll put my answers in bold.

I have read a lot that "IEMs provide better quality than regular earphones". What does that mean? How does it compare? Would average IEMs provide better sound than high-end earphones or than over-ear headphones for example? Why do audiophiles love them so much? I would be skeptical of any sweeping claim like that. I've listened to a lot of IEMs and over-ears and IEMs aren't better OR worse. They sound different because they reproduce sound differently. Instead of basically cupping a miniature speaker over your ear, IEMs use an even tinier speaker (or sometimes a whole array of microspeakers) to pipe sound through a tube into your ear canal. If you leave out cost, then average IEMs absolutely do not outperform high-end headphones. High-end headphones win every time. Average IEMs probably do outperform average headphones, though, and you can get more for your money with a high-end IEM than a high-end headphone. The high end of the headphone market is absurdly expensive, though IEMs have started to catch up, which I don't think is a positive development. The explosion of low-cost Chinese enthusiast brands (often called Chi-Fi) in the last ~10 years has brought real competition to the IEM market, which for a long time was dominated by a bunch of US/European dinosaurs coasting on brand recognition alone. That competition has taken place in the IEM world because IEMs are cheaper and simpler to manufacture, so the full-size headphone market is still dominated by western brands. Audiophiles love IEMs because audiophiles love novelty, and it seems like a new IEM model comes out every week.
IEMs seem mostly used by musicians on stage, but are also used by some audiophiles. If I enjoy good sound quality, but I also use my headphones a lot while on the go, would IEMs work for me? Are they more suited for people who listen to music in the quietness of their homes? IEMs beat over-ears for on-the-go listening hands down. Most of them are small and light and easy to squeeze into a pocket. This is also why true wireless buds are the fastest-growing segment in the headphone market. "IEM" is a somewhat technical name. The most popular headphones in the world are almost certainly cheap in-ears, of the sort included with smartphones or sold at small shops for $5-15, so they're by no means primarily for stage musicians. If you're talking about custom IEMs (abbreviated CIEM), then you're right, the only people buying those are serious musicians and affluent audiophiles. If you can only afford one set of headphones, I think it should be an IEM because they're just more versatile. You can use them in quiet and loud environments, when exercising, when sleeping, and even in bad weather (though I wouldn't recommend wearing expensive ones in the rain). They're great for travel/commuting because they block out the noise of trains, planes, and buses.
A lot of IEMs are wired, what are wireless IEMs worth? Are wireless ones less common because they imply a loss of sound quality? For other reasons? Wireless IEMs are actually MORE common in the wider world, just not on Drop. Drop is by no means representative of the overall audio market. Drop is a niche site selling to a niche audience, and because Drop makes a fair bit of money off amps and DACs and cables, they can't afford to embrace wireless audio fully. How many people do you see wearing [IEMs by unpronounceable Chinese brand] vs Apple AirPods? Exactly. :) That said, wired audio will always sound better, for the same reason wired Internet always works better. That's just the physics of signal loss and interference.
Is a DAC/AMP required to get good sound out of IEMs? Depends on the model, just like any headphones. In most cases, no. This is probably another reason IEMs are so popular, because most of them sound just fine without a DAC/amp, whereas a lot of full-size headphones need an amp. To be clear, an external DAC is NEVER needed. Every output device (laptops, phones, etc.) with a headphone jack on it already has a DAC inside.
At what price point do IEMs start to hit the law of diminishing returns? This depends on who you ask. Some people are going to say $50, some people are going to say $1500. I would say at around $300. To give a recent example, I bought two ~$100 IEMs (Moondrop Starfield and Etymotic ER2XR) and while both are good, they're not even close to the JVC HA-FDX1 for $250.
It looks like plenty of factors make IEMs perform worse or better in different fields, if I wanted good all-around IEMs without going into super expensive products (see previous question), what should I be looking for? This may sound counterintuitive, but "all-around" means different things to different people. To me it means they're not so expensive you're afraid to use them, that they have a sound you like (V-shaped, Harman target, DF target, bright, neutral, etc.), and that they have low power requirements so they'll sound good plugged into anything.
Additionally to the previous question, if you could own only one pair of IEMs, which ones would it be? Why? As of right now, I'd say the JVC HA-FDX1 because they sound amazing from any source I've tried (with the exception of a PS4 controller but whatever), they're comfortable, and the cable is replaceable. Before I got these, my "one pair" (I've never actually had the discipline for just one pair) was the Etymotic ER3SE, which I still think is fantastic. The Etymotic is also much lighter and more portable than the JVC and does a better job blocking outside sound. Really the only thing I don't like about them is that you can't swap in a microphone cable.

Hope that was helpful!

(Edited)

mdeous

230

Oct 29, 2020

toniidesuThank you so much for that detailed answer! It must have taken you a while to write, I'm super grateful! I just recently (after writing this post, obviously) realized that "IEM" is just the technical name for earphones, as everything I was seeing here looked very different than what I'm used to, I thought it was a whole different thing, while they're just "the same". All your answers are incredibly helpful! As you highlighted I should have been more precise about what I mean by "all-around", it was more about the sound quality, something that would perform well with about any kind of music (I've read a lot of "these are incredible with that style, but not so much with this one", and I really don't want to switch earphones between 2 tracks...). I have to say you completely lost me with all the V-Shape/Harman/etc though 😅, I'm gonna have to do some googling! Those JVC are in the range of what I could spend on earphones, so I'm adding those to my list of options to consider and I'll definitely be reseaching more about them, thanks for the input! One clarification though, you say you like everything about the Etymotic ones but a few things, but still prefer the JVC, I assume that additionally to what you listed you also prefer the sound of the JVC ones, right? Thanks again for your time answering my post!

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toniidesu

318

Oct 30, 2020

mdeousWhat can I say, it was a slow day at the home office. :) Yeah, "IEM" is just a fancy term for earphone. The high end stuff you see on here is usually pictured without a cable. It's just the driver housing, usually with no eartips. They often look like pieces of candy, which probably isn't an accident. I may be in the minority with this opinion, but I believe that a truly good headphone/earphone should sound great no matter what you listen to on it. In other words, anything that's NOT an all-rounder is fundamentally flawed and claiming otherwise amounts to making excuses to justify owning something that's not consistently good. Of course, people don't present it as a rationalization, they present it as a luxury, like saying "this wine is only for Wednesdays and this one is only for cloudy weather." I'd rather have a wine (read: earphone) that I can enjoy whenever. Don't for a second believe it's a necessity to have more than one set, or that having more earphones will make you happier. Quite the opposite is true, but curiosity is the wallet killer in the audio world. :) "V-shaped," "Harman," and "DF" are all references to target frequencies. Earphone/headphone makers will typically try to tune the sound toward one of these targets. These are represented as frequency response graphs, where the X axis is frequency (from low to high, left to right) and the Y axis is +/- decibels, indicating how loud a frequency is relative to others. Here's what a Harman Target Curve looks like:

There's a characteristic boost in the bass, then it comes down to flat in the lower mids before rising again in the upper mids and falling again in the highs. A V-shaped response doesn't actually look like a V. It just means that the bass and upper mids/highs are boosted at the expense of the middle frequencies, which usually dip below the 0 db line. This is a big topic and it's pointlessly academic until you know what kind of sound you like, but it's important and will help you narrow down your search in the future. There are a lot of enthusiastic amateurs making their own graphs, so you can find them for most any headphones that interest you. Of course, a 2D graph doesn't tell the whole story since sound is a very 3D experience, and graphs are no replacement for actually hearing something yourself. And yes, I much prefer the sound of the JVCs to the Etymotic. I think if you've never had a pair of earphones (something I find hard to believe tbh), an affordable and excellent starting point would be these. They sound unbelievably good for the price and I highly recommend them. Are they better than the JVC? Not to my ears, but I think more people would probably prefer the Starfield's sound (it's Harman, more or less).

mdeous

230

Oct 30, 2020

toniidesuThat sound shape is gonna be the hard factor to determine, as it seems that it's something I can't really figure out without trying different hardware and deciding which one I prefer. Would trying to mimic those shapes with an equalizer be useful? Or would it be pointless because hardware vs software tuning would be too different? I obviously already own a pair of earphones and headphones, for which I both love the sound and design, but they also frustrate me each in their own way. On the IEM side I'm tired of bluetooth connectivity issues, so I think I'd rather go back to wired ones and focus exclusively on sound quality. Can you explain what you mean by "not to my ears, but for others probably"? What do you "dislike" about them that other people might not?

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toniidesu

318

Oct 30, 2020

mdeousWhich earphones do you have now? Using an equalizer can absolutely work, and there are a lot of people who swear by EQ (as it's also called). Digital signal processing has gotten really good, and I've messed around with software from a company called Sonarworks that was quite impressive. That said, I think if you have to rely on an EQ, I'd go back to my comment about making excuses for something with a fundamental problem. You're covering up what you don't like about the sound with a software trick, but as soon as you plug in to a new device and lose your EQ settings, you're in trouble. I listen on multiple devices and can't be bothered to set up an EQ solution on all of them, not to mention that I'm not aware of any cross-platform, cloud-synced option. So I wouldn't personally rely on EQ. It's a poor substitute for getting something that sounds right to begin with. I tried Bluetooth for a bit, but like you, I lost patience with the connectivity issues. I actually ditched Bluetooth for Etymotic, which do a phenomenal job of blocking outside noise and were great when commuting on the train was still part of my life. As for the sound of the FDX1 vs the Starfield, I think the Starfield provides a more relaxing listen that still sounds impressive because of the boost in the upper mids and slight bass boost. It's a pretty unique sound that clearly came about through R&D rather than chance, and I think most people would find it easy to like. The JVC, on the other hand, has a much more intense, in-your-face sound. I think some people would probably find it harsh, but I find it engaging and articulate. In the interest of not repeating myself, you can read my reviews for the JVC, the Moondrop, and the Etymotic if you'd like. Let me know if you have other questions. I believe very strongly in sharing such knowledge and opinions as I have rather than keeping them to myself. :)

mdeous

230

Oct 30, 2020

toniidesuMu current earbuds are a pair of BeoPlay E8, I like their sound but they lack a little depth in bass with their default settings (to my taste), and they're a pain to connect to devices. Thank you again for all the advices and insights, I'll read your reviews before I ask more questions! :)