How IEMs are BETTER than over-ear headphones!

00:00 - Intro
01:37 - Such incredible benefits to IEMs
02:16 - Reason 1: Cheaper to make
03:11 - Reason 2: Positional variation
05:19 - Reason 3: IEMs are easier to tune
06:35 - Reason 4: More detail?
07:00 - What would I choose?

[NoHairMan]

I don't have any issues with "headphone hair" because u know...

[ImAWSMDanny]

Unrelated to my marriage, could you also do a video on why audio gear is a better investment than a college fund or retirement savings? Please and thanks.

[icicle]

I think it would be interesting to see a video talking about when diminishing returns hit for both iems and headphones, and at what price points headphones start to supercede iems and for what reasons.

[sidesaladaudio]

2:10 clearly the best feature that IEMs have over headphones

[marksr]

I live in a warm climate...IEMs are way better than headphone ear muffs! All my headphones have been collecting dust since I got in to CHI FI. Even during our very mild winter its been IEMs. Always enjoy your videos, Thanks!

[TheRebelLion]

i watched that video in its entirety and i learned a lot from it. I am an IEM guy, and i when i first saw the title, instead of feeling offended, i thought "ok, let's hear what he has to say...". And i thought you made very good and valid points because it was all based on factual stuff such as the structure of the human ear. But also, when you got to the part where you started discussing the advantages of IEMs over on-ears, i'm like "cool".

In a hobby that is mostly subjective, i think people who have become too subjective(even to the point of being hyper-sensitive about it) and too "preferential", miss out and lose out on the few objective things of this hobby that they can really learn something from, which would actually help them enjoy this hobby more.

Bottom-line is, IEMs and head-phones each have their own pros and cons, their own limitations, strengths and weaknesses, and whatnot. It's an objective fact. One just has to accept that and learn to appreciate IEMs and headphones for what they each can do; just appreciate each for what it is.
It doesn't have to be a "Vs" all the time; it doesn't have to be a competition. It doesn't need to be.
This hobby is about enjoying music, and not "This Vs. That".

And instead of throwing hissy fits and temper tantrums, why don't we, the community, instead keep an eye and call out the brands who try to sell "snake-oil" products, and are just trying to screw the hobby community out of their hard earned money; this issue, which we have a good number of, with IEMs.

Good videos, by the way, Andrew 👍 👍
i learned a lot from the first one, and enjoyed watching that; just as i did this one too.

[traviswilliams]

I bit the bullet last year and bought some custom fit IEMs and I will never go back. I never liked IEMs because I could never get a consistent fit! But custom IEMs and a friggin revelation! The fit is almost always perfect and they sound good. Cannot recommend more!

[carminedesanto]

GM ☕️❄️
They EACH bring something to the party 🎉
IEM’s are intrusive..not everyone likes ( or takes time to get used to them)
Headphones are more “approachable..ease of and instinctual usability .
As for sound ..IEM’s beat headphones.
Good headphones cost more that IEM’s to match performance.
Great video and honest take .

[zerotactix]

As one person pointed out, in hot countries like mine, headphones are so inconvenient unless I have the AC on the whole day, which is too expensive in my country. The headband, ear pads peel off, and it just startd looking way too old way too soon. Iems look as good as new since 2 years since I've been using them.

[MorriganJade]

I saw a few comments, and OMG... Some people genuinely don't watch a video, immediately comment, and then probably leave as well.
What are they there for? Getting up votes, in a need of approval kinda way?

Anyway... Recently I've become more of an IEM person simply because I'm quite easily satisfied when they have a good tuning, and my preference is more towards imaging than sound stage.

And since I'm neurodivergent, I realize that sound isolation helps far more for me than open backed headphones, in regards to sensitivity of overstimulation. At a cheaper price point too. Without getting any other sensory issues.
Including when it comes to immersion. Since I can't filter sound, the less I hear outside noise, the more my mind shuts off and can focus entirely on the media at hand.

The only true downside of iems, in my opinion is earwax management. And I call it management, as it's inevitable

[JohnClarkW]

You mention headphone hair, but left off that they trap heat. I got into IEMs when I lived in LA. For all day wear, you are nuts to do that with headphones in anything but cold weather. The value for entry level IEMs is insane.

[xyliss]

This video nailed the biggest key point no on talks about. Headphone hair is real.

[wsy]

Just spent 2 x 2 hour visits to E-earphones in Tokyo! Listened tovevey IEM they had there. In my opinion, The fitup of the ear tips is paramount to the Sound of an iem given its state of tuning!
What I heard at e-earphones tell me that IEM price does not equate to better sound . Some IEMs were 300, 000 yen to 600, 000 yen and some 150000 yen iems bettered the more expensive iems
Preferetial tuning appeal to different people .. reviews are only good as guidance!! U hv to test drive the iem personally to know its Sound

[briantooze]

I have still not found an IEM that I can wear for long listening periods but I don't have any comfort issue with my headphones.

[proffessasvids]

I'm mostly interested in staging, so iem's will never satisfy me, unfortunately. I will say that due to the tiny physical dimensions of iem drivers and their extremely low MMS.. it is not difficult to design the waveguides to have extremely low levels of higher order modes and the drivers themselves, to be extremely fast. The theoretical resolution of such tiny drivers is way above that of your average over ear driver. Excellent vid! as per usual😉. Thankyou dude xx

[sander]

My biggest problem with iems is the sound stage and sound accuracy esp in video games. Footsteps sound terrible compared to headsets. Can't pinpoint exactly where they are. Only time i use iems is if i listen to music and if i have to switch back and forth for gaming audio to music audio i might as well just get better headsets. I've only used moondrops and shure for iems if you got any to recommend but I'm probably not going to get my hopes up.

[rene]

Could you make a list/ranking of your favourite IEMs like the one you already have for headphones?

[arokh]

Good video mate. I'm looking for IEMs (a term new to me today) for walking etc, but will stick with headphones, and their longer charge, for home use. I wear headphones for at least 14 hours per day, and very few IEMs can match that time. I can wear my headphones over multiple days before recharging. That's where they win for me. Makes sense, larger device = lager battery = longer time between charging. I'll go and watch your other video now :)

[madant]

I would wear IEMs only if I have to, never because I want to. Also, I own the Audeze Maxwell (wifi/BT closeback planar magnetic) and they are great as a complete package, not just great sound.

[hokagoteatimereviews]

I sweat a lot and just can't wear headphones at all. So iems it is, also portability of the items is a big reason.