gava
Prominent Member
Well the S12 is as good as £500 IEMs from not very long ago.
However they do go right up to well over £3k. I've never heard anything that expensive though.
Of course there is jewellery too - gold plated & diamond encrusted sort of thing, but excluding that.
Usually the more expensive stuff sounds better, (there are some charlatans about so you do have to be careful) but your money buys you less and less - the law of diminishing returns sets in pretty hard on all audio equipment, and IEMs are no exception. There is often a sweet spot where you can get really good sound for reasonable money and then each step up starts to cost more and more.
The great thing about the ChiFi IEM market is they are really applying exceptional engineering skills and moving that sweet spot lower and lower. I don't think there is any doubt they are leading the world at the moment.
Arguably something like the S12 is right at that sweet spot now.
However they do go right up to well over £3k. I've never heard anything that expensive though.
Of course there is jewellery too - gold plated & diamond encrusted sort of thing, but excluding that.
Usually the more expensive stuff sounds better, (there are some charlatans about so you do have to be careful) but your money buys you less and less - the law of diminishing returns sets in pretty hard on all audio equipment, and IEMs are no exception. There is often a sweet spot where you can get really good sound for reasonable money and then each step up starts to cost more and more.
The great thing about the ChiFi IEM market is they are really applying exceptional engineering skills and moving that sweet spot lower and lower. I don't think there is any doubt they are leading the world at the moment.
Arguably something like the S12 is right at that sweet spot now.