Hi, I decided to start this thread as I value isolation a lot in a universal IEM for several reasons:
1) I travel a lot in buses and subways (sometimes airplanes too) and there is a tendency to boost the volume when there is poor isolation, and this is not good for hearing health in the long term.
2) Related to boosting the volume, one may annoy colleagues, passengers or bystanders due to this.
3) Bass is usually the first frequency to be lost in a noisy environment/poor isolation, and I'm unfortunately a basshead. So a big pet peeve of mine is bringing an IEM for transit and realizing the bass frequencies are missing!
4) I played the piano in a band for the past 15 years and I was never taught about hearing protection during my younger days. I was placed next to a full drum set (sans drum shield) and had ringing in my ears after band practice sometimes. We didn't use IEMs/cans then, this was only introduced about 8 years back. So I previously played with a subwoofer amp next to me, and cause the drum was on my other side, I had to boost the amp to overcome the drum volume. I saw an audiometrist a few months back and unsurprisingly was diagnosed with mild hearing loss for the higher frequencies (I'm in my mid 30s). Thankfully I can still hear till 15 KHz and my daily conversations are not affected, just that I wished I had learnt about hearing protection when I was younger. I never play in the band without my best isolating IEM nowadays.
So, am wondering if you guys can put forward your recommendations here for good isolating universal IEMs so we can all benefit as a community. Any budget, brand, sound signature is fine. If u wanna recommend closed back cans, those are also good.
Of course there's an option to go for ANC gear, but some folks I know get headaches/nausea with ANC, and I'm a bit doubtful about their sound quality compared to non ANC gear (please correct me if I'm wrong and perhaps there are improvements in ANC recently; feel free to recommend ANC in that case). And of course we can go for custom IEMs, but for some of us, these may be out of the budget. Maybe there's also a consideration for custom eartips too, those are pretty pricier than normal eartips but a feasible option. And of course there's the usual caveat that we all have different ear anatomies and different hearing health, plus we use different eartips like foams, silicone, flange types etc (and eartips are a big factor in isolation for sure).
Generally, I find the unvented BA type IEMs with small bean shaped shells such as Westones seem to have the better isolation in universal sets compared to larger vented DD type sets, but of course exceptions exist.
Overall, I think Etymotic IEMs might have the best passive isolation, but they are pretty uncomfortable for me, I get abrasions in my ear using them. So these are my other recommendations across different price brackets so far:
1) Audiosense T800 - about 30 dB isolation. 8 Knowles BA set. $298 USD. U shaped tuning, good technicals. Bass sounds like a DD bass due to the vented subwoofer.
2) Westone W30 - about 25 dB isolation. 3 BA set. Not sold anymore, but was about $400 USD when I got it. U shaped tuning. Pretty balanced but darkish. Comfortable and small ear profile.
3) Westone 3 - about 25 dB isolation. 3 BA set. Not sold anymore. V shaped fun tuning, bloated bass. Comfortable and small ear profile.
4) DUNU DM-480 - about 20 - 25 dB isolation. 2 DD set. $69 USD. Interestingly, it has no vents for a DD setup. Wide soundstage, above average technicals but supremely comfortable.
5) TRN IM2 - about 20 dB isolation. 1BA + 1DD. Cheap, $15 USD. V shaped fun tuning, above average technicals but poor timbre and thin note weight. Mids are overly recessed, so not for mid lovers. But it is a good introductory set for those new to the audio world and is a good cheap beater set.
6) Jade Audio EA3 - about 20 dB isolation. 1BA (knowles) + 1 DD, $40 USD. U shaped. Above average technicals. Bright tuning, best suited for trebleheads and not that recommended for treble sensitive folks. Wide soundstage.
Thanks for your recommendations friends. Am always interested in good isolating transit IEMs (universal), and of course if it is not that expensive, that will be a plus! TIA!!
1) I travel a lot in buses and subways (sometimes airplanes too) and there is a tendency to boost the volume when there is poor isolation, and this is not good for hearing health in the long term.
2) Related to boosting the volume, one may annoy colleagues, passengers or bystanders due to this.
3) Bass is usually the first frequency to be lost in a noisy environment/poor isolation, and I'm unfortunately a basshead. So a big pet peeve of mine is bringing an IEM for transit and realizing the bass frequencies are missing!
4) I played the piano in a band for the past 15 years and I was never taught about hearing protection during my younger days. I was placed next to a full drum set (sans drum shield) and had ringing in my ears after band practice sometimes. We didn't use IEMs/cans then, this was only introduced about 8 years back. So I previously played with a subwoofer amp next to me, and cause the drum was on my other side, I had to boost the amp to overcome the drum volume. I saw an audiometrist a few months back and unsurprisingly was diagnosed with mild hearing loss for the higher frequencies (I'm in my mid 30s). Thankfully I can still hear till 15 KHz and my daily conversations are not affected, just that I wished I had learnt about hearing protection when I was younger. I never play in the band without my best isolating IEM nowadays.
So, am wondering if you guys can put forward your recommendations here for good isolating universal IEMs so we can all benefit as a community. Any budget, brand, sound signature is fine. If u wanna recommend closed back cans, those are also good.
Of course there's an option to go for ANC gear, but some folks I know get headaches/nausea with ANC, and I'm a bit doubtful about their sound quality compared to non ANC gear (please correct me if I'm wrong and perhaps there are improvements in ANC recently; feel free to recommend ANC in that case). And of course we can go for custom IEMs, but for some of us, these may be out of the budget. Maybe there's also a consideration for custom eartips too, those are pretty pricier than normal eartips but a feasible option. And of course there's the usual caveat that we all have different ear anatomies and different hearing health, plus we use different eartips like foams, silicone, flange types etc (and eartips are a big factor in isolation for sure).
Generally, I find the unvented BA type IEMs with small bean shaped shells such as Westones seem to have the better isolation in universal sets compared to larger vented DD type sets, but of course exceptions exist.
Overall, I think Etymotic IEMs might have the best passive isolation, but they are pretty uncomfortable for me, I get abrasions in my ear using them. So these are my other recommendations across different price brackets so far:
1) Audiosense T800 - about 30 dB isolation. 8 Knowles BA set. $298 USD. U shaped tuning, good technicals. Bass sounds like a DD bass due to the vented subwoofer.
2) Westone W30 - about 25 dB isolation. 3 BA set. Not sold anymore, but was about $400 USD when I got it. U shaped tuning. Pretty balanced but darkish. Comfortable and small ear profile.
3) Westone 3 - about 25 dB isolation. 3 BA set. Not sold anymore. V shaped fun tuning, bloated bass. Comfortable and small ear profile.
4) DUNU DM-480 - about 20 - 25 dB isolation. 2 DD set. $69 USD. Interestingly, it has no vents for a DD setup. Wide soundstage, above average technicals but supremely comfortable.
5) TRN IM2 - about 20 dB isolation. 1BA + 1DD. Cheap, $15 USD. V shaped fun tuning, above average technicals but poor timbre and thin note weight. Mids are overly recessed, so not for mid lovers. But it is a good introductory set for those new to the audio world and is a good cheap beater set.
6) Jade Audio EA3 - about 20 dB isolation. 1BA (knowles) + 1 DD, $40 USD. U shaped. Above average technicals. Bright tuning, best suited for trebleheads and not that recommended for treble sensitive folks. Wide soundstage.
Thanks for your recommendations friends. Am always interested in good isolating transit IEMs (universal), and of course if it is not that expensive, that will be a plus! TIA!!
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