I've returned to the hobby hoping to limit myself to the "budget over-achievers" space. I have Chu, CRA, and Lea on the list but the new colorway on the Salnotes Zero combined with 11.11 pricing pretty much forced my hand. After an initial listening session, I wonder if I've made a mistake. These appear to scratch the itch for the foreseeable future. Bass is pleasantly elevated while everything else sounds as I'd expect. While I'm sure there are more expensive sets I might be able to enjoy more, I would be stunned if these didn't get me 90% of the way there.

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Salnotes Zero are trash. They're way too bright

I still can't get behind how they look.

Which IEM has your ideal tuning?

Do you believe everything you're unable to enjoy is trash?

I'm happy with my KZ ZSN Hi-Fi tuning. These are the 1 dynamic driver + 1 balanced armature driver model. Even something more V shaped like the Monolith M350 open back planar IEMs are very good to my ears.

Not necessarily, but there are too many stellar reviews and recommendations for these online. They're clearly not for everyone. The tuning is on the bright side.

I'll keep them for my old age though. I might be able to enjoy them when I lose my treble sensitivity

I hope you realize the ZSN has more treble than the Zero which you claim is "too bright".

That is not what I hear. Maybe it is a seal problem. They don't have the best fit for my ear canal. Frequency response graphs are not universal

Lol, he's right: https://pw.squig.link/?share=KZ_ZSNv2,7Hz_Salnotes_Zero

Are the mecha’s the one with the slightly different tuning?

>They're clearly not for everyone.

This can be said about every single headphone, what's your point exactly? Not sure I'm understanding.

>there are too many stellar reviews and recommendations for these online.

In my opinion that's because they provide a good value for their price point. If you don't like their tuning you get something like the CRA(+) or something else more bassy and/or warm instead.

I share my opinion on these because I checked a number of reviews before buying and not a single one mentioned that bright tuning.

Reviewers will often hype a product to get more products sent to them free of charge by manufacturers

Those peaks are pretty nasty

They're not particularly bright or sibilant to me, but I suppose that speaks to how different people are more or less sensitive to different frequencies. Those KZ's you mentioned for example are too unnaturally sharp for me.

I'd recommend figuring out what makes you tick in terms of specific frequencies, since my guess is you're sensitive to specific regions of treble but not others (since the KZs are more often described as bright but in a different way to the Zero, and you like one but not the other). Then you can use that info along with frequency response graphs to check potential future purchases yourself without having to solely rely on reviews.

>Reviewers will often hype a product to get more products sent to them free of charge by manufacturers

Yeah but if you can identify the reviewers that tend to do this a lot you can just stay away from their reviews for future purchasing decisions. Some of the bigger offenders I've found are Z Reviews and HBB (to an extent). There's also dankpods but he falls more into a tech tuber territory (casual viewer audience that isn't necessarily interested in more nuanced details of audio).

On the other hand I've found crin to be pretty good as a standard baseline of how to review things while being aware of biases, but personally I really like Super* Reviews and some of the redditor reviewers around this sub too.

At the end of the day, graphs and reviewers are just data points that you should factor into but not fully base your purchases on.

Zeos has very similar tastes compared to mine. He likes tubes, DSD and R2R. I trust him more than any other reviewer. I should probably try one of the IEMs he "tuned", even if I suspect these are just branding collabs.

>Zeos has very similar tastes compared to mine.

This is a good way to follow reviewers in general, no disagreements there.

>I trust him more than any other reviewer.

I mean maybe consider re evaluating that trust honestly? I think he's entertaining and has some interesting vids sometimes sure. But at the end of the day he's more salesman than reviewer. He rarely publishes a negative review. I could explain more but there's a reason a majority of people in this sub and other more headphone focused subs tend to not use his reviews as a good "objective" viewpoint (although that isn't to say there is a reviewer out there who is purely objective, nor that pure objectivity is even desired).

Edit: Just to further clarify, relative to the more technical reviewers out there, and disregarding other criticisms of Zeos, he doesn't match that same level of technical info you get from someone like Super Review or Crin, but that doesn't mean one is necessarily better than the other.*

Either way I'd encourage you to search around here and other audio forums about zeos and/or other reviewers that could also line up with your preferences. Always good to find new reviewers whose preferences line up with yours!

>I should probably try one of the IEMs he "tuned", even if I suspect these are just branding collabs.

I say go for it and post your impressions if you feel like it!

No, just a recolor

Why are you buying 10 different cheap earphones instead of one good one this is always so upsetting when people do this

If something someone else does with their money upsets you at all you should seek help.

hmmm, i agree that 10 is a bit much, but switching every week between my R70x and XS keeps me going. Just yesterday, I never felt this euphoric switching back to R70x playing some tech house lol. Preventing "sound signature burn-in" is the best way to save money.

Saying that I have the DCA Aeon Closed X, and 6XX on the way FUKKK ME

Because it annoys you

where did you buy them from?

Idk, I find them sounding clear and detailed, but the bass is kinda recessed and the trebles are a touch too strong. Maybe it's the Dolby Atmos processing on my phone, I should tinker with that a little.

Oh and with the stock cable I found no way to figure out which wire was channel left and which was right other than comparing with my TWS as a reference.

salnotes zero = ak6 pro w/ equalizer "classical"

How are these compare to kz zsn pro x? I'm looking for a cheap "upgrade" (or more like replacements, they're basically in the same price range) bc my zsn pro x is already quite scratched up to the point that I wouldn't use it outside lmao.

You could try the CCA CRA. I sold my ZSN PRO X because the damn thing is so ear-piercing.