https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/v2zue6/my_openclosed_headphone_and_iem_buyers_guide_from/

Blessing 2 sounds up your alley.

Truthear hexa and Tim t3+

Your budget? That narrows it down so I don't recommend too many IEMs

u/smh_johan

Balanced Armature (BA) and Planar drivers have provided me the most clear, rich audio detail experience. I believe these type of setups will need the least EQ tinkering.

BA drivers require less energy so they sound more vibrant/powerful than a planar at the same EQ/gain settings. You need at least 5-6 BA’s per ear (personal opinion).

I have some hybrid Dynamic driver/ BA setups. The bass is more powerful on those.

I have yet to experience a reason to spend over $150 on a set unless they are gift for a woman and need to be pretty on top of sounding good.

Go to EQ. Then if it is inconvenient to use EQ all the time or you don't want to for any reason then you will know where to go.

Also you could try listening to some frequency sweeps and see if you get any big treble peaks in your ears. These can be hard to EQ perfectly and if you have them you might be better off finding a set that doesn't produce them as much.

This is seriously important. No matter what the price range, whether an IEM works with your ears to produce a smooth response is far more important than what any reviewer says or the set's reputation for "technicalities". Most people seem to think the Aria is better than the Chu but for me the Chu is very good and the Aria is the worst thing I have ever heard.

But how to find the one that sounds best to you? Well that's hard. You can start by looking through various reviewer's databases and notice how they show different peaks at different magnitudes. If one reviewer's measurement of an IEM that you own shows treble spikes that correspond with what you hear in your ears then that might be an indication that that particular's measurements are more relevant to you than others'.

For example, I don't find Crinacle's measurements useful to me at all. Many of his measurements do not show treble spikes that I hear and that other reviewers' measurements pick up on. I particularly like Precogvision's measurement database. Most of his measurement's show nasty treble spikes above 10k but notably the Blessing 2: Dusk did not and most other measurements showed it as smooth as well so I bought that one and lo and behold, it sounds good to me. It has no flaws that I can't improve with EQ so it is total endgame for me.

$80 Aria is a pretty safe choice.
If you want to get spendier, the Blessing2 Dusk is more of a palpable upgrade instead of a sidegrade with a different tuning.

How is Aria better than Chu though? It sounds absolutely awful to me. Worst audio I've ever heard including $5 junk.

You sure it's not busted somehow? I'm not a huge fan of the Aria (it has some kind of large >10KHz peak I find fatiguing) but it's pretty inoffensive all-rounder, like a slightly darker, bassier Chu.

It had a gigantic 12k peak for me which I have seen more or less backed up in some measurements though the exact location of the peak often changes somewhat.