List of universal fit in-ear monitors >200$

As far as I can see no comprehensive and up to date list of this kind exists at the moment. So I've spent the last few hours going through website after website trying to compile a list of all the universal fit in-ear models currently in production. Becaue the market is flooded with cheap shit (and non-shit), I've decided on 200$ as a cut-off point. Anything below that doesnt interest me. I'm sure there are some great products there, but I think most of us are comfortable spending 200$ on a set of great in-ears.

Why only universal? - Because that's what I'm interested in. It's less complex to purchase, far easier to sell and you can actually give them to others to listen to something.

I'm certain there are lots of models I missed and lots of errors in this list. Feel free to correct me, I'll update this post accordingly. Ideally, this list could become a sort of starting point for people interested in universal-fit in-ears to see what's out there.

A note on prices: A lot of these prices have been converted from different currencies to USD. They were then rounded to the nearest number ending in 50/00. As such they are not precisely what you would pay wherever you are. They are intended to give you a rough estimate for the pricing and to allow for grouping into pricing tiers. Note also that some of these models can in fact be bought a lot below retail price (think Sony for example). Pricing tiers are NOT intended to reflect performance. An in-ear that costs 1500$ is not necessarily better than one costing 500$.

I have color coded the models into dynamic drivers, balanced armatures, electrostats, magnetostat hybrids and hybrids using dynamic drivers and balanced armatures. As with price, the technology used does not guarantee sound reproduction pleasing to your ears.


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Saudi-level retardedly expensive (1500$ ≤ x)

• Shure KSE-1500 | USA | ES | USD 3000 (including amp)
• Final Piano Forte X | JPN | 1xDD | USD 2700
• Jerry Harvey Audio Layla | USA | 12xBA | USD 2500
• 1964 Ears U12 | USA | 12xBA | USD 1600
• EarSonics S-EM9 | FRA | 9xBA | USD 1600
• Empire Ears Apollo-X | USA | 10xBA | USD 1600
• Noble Kaiser 10U | USA | 10xBA | USD 1600
• Jerry Harvey Audio Roxanne | USA | 12xBA | USD 1500

Retardedly expensive (1000-1450$)

• Unique Melody Mentor | CN | 10xBA | USD 1450
• 1964 Ears U10 | USA | 10xBA | USD 1400
• FitEar To Go!334 | JPN | 4xBA | USD 1350
• Campfire Audio Jupiter | USA | 4xBA | USD 1300
• Empire Ears Athena-VIII | USA | 8xBA | USD 1300
• AKG K3003 | AT | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 1250
• Rhapsodio Solar | HK | 10xBA | USD 1250
• Final Piano Forte IX | JPN | 1xDD | USD 1200
• Lear LUF-BD4.2 | HK | 4xBA + 2xDD | USD 1150
• Empire Ears Hermes-VI | USA | 6xBA | USD 1100
• FitEar Parterre | JPN | 2xBA | USD 1100
• Jerry Harvey Audio Angie | USA | 8xBA | USD 1100
• Shure SE846 | USA | 4xBA | USD 1100
• Beyerdynamic / Astell & Kern AK T8iE | DE | 1xDD | USD 1100
• iBasso Oriolus | CN | 3xBA + 1xDD | USD 1050
• EarSonics S-EM6 | FRA | 6xBA | USD 1050
• 1964 Ears U8 | USA | 8xBA | USD 1000
• Final FI-BA-SS | JPN | 1xBA | USD 1000
• Noble 6 | USA | 6xBA | USD 1000
• Westone W60 | USA | 6xBA | USD 1000
• Final Piano Forte VIII | JPN | 1xDD | USD 1000

Very expensive (700-950$)

• Dita The Answer (Truth Edition) | SG | 1xDD | USD 950
• Stax SRS-005S MKII | JPN | ES | USD 900 (including amp)
• 1964 Ears U6 | USA | 6xBA | USD 900
• Stax SRS-002 | JPN | ES | USD 850 (including amp)
• Stymax Obravo ERIB-2A | TW | 1xMS + 1xDD | USD 800
• Rhapsodio RDB Mk.IV | HK | 4xBA + 1xDD | USD 800
• Rhapsodio RTi1 Ultramag | HK | 1xDD | USD 800
• Kumitate Lab Trio | JPN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 750
• Sony XBA-Z5 | JPN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 750
• 1964 Ears U5 | USA | 5xBA | USD 750
• EarSonics Velvet | FRA | 3xBA | USD 750
• Empire Ears Spartan-IV | USA | 4xBA | USD 750
• InEar StageDiver 4 | DE | 4xBA | USD 750
• InEar StageDiver 4S | DE | 4xBA | USD 750
• Westone UM Pro 50 | USA | 5xBA | USD 750
• Campfire Audio Lyra | USA | 1xDD | USD 750
• Sennheiser IE800 | DE | 1xDD | USD 750
• Aurisonics ASG-2.5 | USA | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 700
• Ultrasone IQ | DE | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 700
• Final Heaven VIII | JPN | 1xBA | USD 700
• Rhapsodio Venus | HK | 6xBA | USD 700

Expensive (400-650$)

• 1964 Ears U4 | USA | 4xBA | USD 650
• Audio Technica ATH-IM04 | JPN | 4xBA | USD 650
• Empire Ears Cerberus-III | USA | 3xBA | USD 650
• Noble 5 | USA | 5xBA | USD 650
• Dita The Answer | SG | 1xDD | USD 650
• Cypher Labs C6iem v2 | USA | 3xBA | USD 600
• Noble Savant | USA | 2xBA | USD 600
• Westone W50 | USA | 5xBA | USD 600
• Flare Audio R2Pro Titanium | GB | 1xDD | USD 600
• Onkyo E900M | JPN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 550
• Audiofly AF180 | AU | 4xBA | USD 550
• InEar StageDiver 3 | DE | 3xBA | USD 550
• InEar StageDiver 3S | DE | 3xBA | USD 550
• Lear LUF-4B | HK | 4xBA | USD 550
• Lear LUF-4C | HK | 4xBA | USD 550
• Lear LUF-4F | HK | 4xBA | USD 550
• Sony MDR-EX1000 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 550
• Aurisonics ASG-1 Plus | USA | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 500
• Aurisonics Harmony | USA | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 500
• Ultrasone IQ Pro | DE | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 500
• 1964 Ears U3 | USA | 3xBA | USD 500
• NuForce Primo 8 | JPN | 4xBA | USD 500
• Westone W40 | USA | 4xBA | USD 500
• JVC HA-FX1200 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 500
• Olasonic Flat-4 Nami TH-F4N | JPN | 2xDD | USD 500
• Audiofly AF160 | AU | 3xBA | USD 450
• EarSonics SM64 | FRA | 3xBA | USD 450
• Empire Ears Supra-II | USA | 2xBA | USD 450
• Noble 4 | USA | 4xBA | USD 450
• Shure SE535 | USA | 3xBA | USD 450
• Sony XBA-4IP | JPN | 4xBA | USD 450
• Kennerton Audio Algiz | RUS | 1xDD | USD 450
• ACS Evolve Studio Universal | GB | 3x? | USD 450
• Astrotec AX-60 | CN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 400
• Atomic Floyd SuperDarts Titanium | GB | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 400
• Aurisonics Forte | USA | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 400
• Sony XBA-H3 | JPN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 400
• 1964 Ears U2 | USA | 2xBA | USD 400
• Audio Technica ATH-IM03 | JPN | 3xBA | USD 400
• EarSonics SM3 V2 | FRA | 3xBA | USD 400
• InEar StageDiver 2 | DE | 2xBA | USD 400
• InEar StageDiver 2S | DE | 2xBA | USD 400
• Jays Q-Jays | SE | 2xBA | USD 400
• Sony XBA-3IP | JPN | 3xBA | USD 400
• Ultimate Ears 900S | USA | 4xBA | USD 400
• Ultrasone Tio | DE | 1xBA | USD 400
• Westone UM Pro 30 | USA | 3xBA | USD 400
• Westone W30 | USA | 3xBA | USD 400
• Cardas EM5813 | USA | 1xDD | USD 400
• Rhapsodio RD3 Ultramag | HK | 1xDD | USD 400
• Grado GR10e | USA | 1xMA | USD 400

Moderate (200-350$)

• Audiofly AF140 | AU | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 350
• Dunu DN-2000J | CN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 350
• Fidue A83 | CN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 350
• FLC Technology FLC8 | CN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 350
• Gorilla Ears EX-2b | USA | 2xBA | USD 350
• Klipsch X11i | USA | 1xBA | USD 350
• Noble 3 | USA | 3xBA | USD 350
• Pioneer SE-CX9 | JPN | 1xBA | USD 350
• Audio Technica ATH-CKR10 | JPN | 2xDD | USD 350
• Aurisonics ASG-1.5 | USA | 1xDD | USD 350
• Kennerton Audio Jimo | RUS | 2xDD | USD 350
• Atomic Floyd SuperDarts | GB | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 300
• Dunu DN-2000 | CN | 2xBA + 1xDD | USD 300
• PSB M4U 4 | CA | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 300
• EarSonics SM2 V2 | FRA | 2xBA | USD 300
• Etymotic Research ER-4 | USA | 1xBA | USD 300
• Fischer Audio TBA-04 | RUS | 3xBA | USD 300
• InEar StageDiver 1 | DE | 1xBA | USD 300
• InEar StageDiver 1S | DE | 1xBA | USD 300
• Shure SE425 | USA | 2xBA | USD 300
• Sony XBA-2IP | JPN | 2xBA | USD 300
• Westone UM Pro 20 | USA | 2xBA | USD 300
• Westone W20 | USA | 2xBA | USD 300
• Aurisonics ASG-B | USA | 1xDD | USD 300
• Bose QuietComfort 20 | USA | 1xDD | USD 300
• Cardas A8 | USA | 1xDD | USD 300
• JVC HA-FXZ200 | JPN | 3xDD | USD 300
• JVC HA-FX750 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 300
• Sennheiser IE80 | DE | 1xDD | USD 300
• Grado GR8e | USA | 1xMA | USD 300
• Audiofly AF120 | AU | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 250
• Trinity Audio Atlas | GB | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 250
• Alclair Curve | USA | 2xBA | USD 250
• Atomic Floyd MiniDarts | GB | 1xBA | USD 250
• EarSonics SM2 iFi | FRA | 2xBA | USD 250
• Final Heaven VI | JPN | 1xBA | USD 250
• Ortofon E-Q8 | JPN | 1xBA | USD 250
• Sony XBA-300AP | JPN | 3xBA | USD 250
• Audio Technica ATH-CKS1000 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 250
• Audio Technica ATH-CKR9 | JPN | 2xDD | USD 250
• Aurisonics Kicker | USA | 1xDD | USD 250
• Aurisonics Rockets | USA | 1xDD | USD 250
• Bang & Olufsen H3 ANC | DK | 1xDD | USD 250
• Celsus Gramo One | USA | 1xDD | USD 250
• Flare Audio R2 | GB | 1xDD | USD 250
• Kennerton Audio Ikiz | RUS | 2xDD | USD 250
• Pioneer SE-CX8 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 250
• RHA T20 | GB | 1xDD | USD 250
• ACS Evoke Studio Universal | GB | 1x? | USD 250
• Audiofly AF78 | AU | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 200
• Audiofly Clublife Adagio CL7 by Tiësto | AU | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 200
• Dunu DN-1000 | CN | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 200
• Sahara Magic Snake MS900 | CN | 1xBA + 1xDD | USD 200
• Audio Technica ATH-IM02 | JPN | 2xBA | USD 200
• EarSonics SM1 | FRA | 1xBA | USD 200
• Klipsch X7i | USA | 1xBA | USD 200
• TDK BA-200 | CN | 2xBA | USD 200
• VSonic GR01 | CN | 2xBA | USD 200
• Westone W10 | USA | 1xBA | USD 200
• Atomic Floyd HiDefDrum | GB | 1xDD | USD 200
• Bang & Olufsen H3 | DK | 1xDD | USD 200
• Echobox Finder X1 | GB | 1xDD | USD 200
• Fidue A81 | CN | 1xDD | USD 200
• Future Sonics Spectrum G10 | USA | 1xDD | USD 200
• Hifiman RE600 | CN | 1xDD | USD 200
• Hifiman RE600S | CN | 1xDD | USD 200
• JVC HA-FX650 | JPN | 1xDD | USD 200
• JVC HA-FXZ100 | JPN | 3xDD | USD 200
• JVC HA-FXT208SE | JPN | 2xDD | USD 200
• KEF M200 | GB | 2xDD | USD 200
• Master & Dynamic ME05 | USA | 1xDD | USD 200
• NuForce Optoma NE800M | JPN | 1xDD | USD 200
• Philips Fidelio S2 | NL | 1xDD | USD 200
• Tiinlab TT231 | CN | 1xDD | USD 200
• Venture Electronics The Duke | CN | 1xDD | USD 200

This list was last updated on November 9th, 2015.

 

This is a fantastic list. Thank you. I too like my universal IEMs. Awesome sound in a neat, pocket-friendly package.
It almost looks like a race for who can squeeze more drivers into an IEM.
How do manufacturers ensure that cross-overs work properly when they have so many drivers?
Does that also mean that the likes of Sennheiser et al have been doing it all wrong with a single driver taking care of the entire frequency spectrum?

 

I actually use a Sennheiser IE8 for my personal IEM. And I've been using it almost daily for the last three years. I think it's a fantastic sounding in-ear, with big, dynamic soundstage, strong bass and good amount of details. I really enjoy listening to vocals and less well recorded music with it. Is it the last word in terms of clarity and speed? - Certainly not. But I dont feel like I'm missing anything either.

The reason I'm starting to look at other products is 1.) the cable is starting to break, 2.) I do like my gadgets

 

Shure KSE 1500 - Electrostatic - prospective MSRP 3KUSD - performance unknown
Dita the Answer - Dynamic - 649USD for non-truth edition, truth edition 999USD
Atomic Floyd Superdarts Titanium - hybrid - 399 CAD
Focal Sphere - unknown - 380 CAD

 

Flare Audio, Microdriver, from 270 to 620 USD, depending on material(Aluminium, Steel, Titanium)

Full range of new Empire Ears universals.

Rhapsodio.

 

Rhapsodio Solar | 10xBA | 1250 USD
Rhapsodio Venus | 6xBA | 680 USD
Rhapsodio Earth | 4xBA | 600 USD (2x switchable 'modes')
Rhapsodio RTi1 | 1xDD | 800 USD
Rhapsodio RD3 | 1xDD | 400 USD
Rhapsodio RDB Mk.IV | 4xBA 1xDD | 800 USD

I have a universal Solar at the moment. It is still early days but it seems like a Noble K10 'done right'.

 

If you're paying 290 USD for the Focal Sphear you're getting ripped off: In Europe these retail for 120-180 USD. Thus they do not qualify for the list. Good suggestions otherwise!

Good suggestions.

Good suggestions. Although the RDB MK.IV doesnt seem to be universal and thus doesnt qualify and I couldnt find anything about a Rhapsodio Earth.

 

There's the new aluminum shelled K10U for a bit less $.

How about the Aurisonics' Harmony and other iems?

 

I will get confirmation from Sammy but RDB Mk.IV seems like a universal to me (confirmed: available as both universal and CIEM).

http://www.rhapsodiostore.com/products/rdb-mkiv-hybrid

Earth is a new release.

https://www.facebook.com/rhapsodiohk/posts/776980522412007

 

I've added the Aurisonics Products to the best of my understanding. I've also introduced some order to the listing.
From top to bottom the list is ordered by 1.) Price, 2.) Type, 3.) Name from A-Z.

 

Pretty sure FitEar Parterre and Noble Savant are both 2x BA. Parterre had that variation of the Sonion 1723 Acupass dual, and Savant had two different Knowles ED drivers, I think.

Manufacturers can pad driver counts. Stack up a bunch of tiny little BA duals for mid and/or highs, and take two sets of duals and have it cover one band instead of some crazy 10+ way passive crossover.
Balanced armatures generally have somewhat limited extension. You end up needing multiple BAs for bandwidth. Meanwhile, you have multiple fullrange dynamic IEMs that can do complete extension scattered across various price points. You don't need to have multiple dynamic drivers in an IEM.

 

Ummm, I think the prices for both versions of Dita are $50 short??

Also I think it might be a good idea to indicate street prices in different regions??

 

Thank you for the information! I have updated the Dita-pricing accordingly.
While I agree that street prices for different regions would be a good thing I believe it would add a giant layer of complexity to the table. Also I wouldnt even be able to find all the information. Sometimes just finding US prices is hard enough. I believe it's good enough to have a common currency (USD given my impression of the majority of the users of this forum; of course we could also go with GBP or EUR) that everyone is familiar with and a disclaimer that prices will be inprecise. People are able to do conversions themselves (In my case I'm lucky: USD-CHF is basically 1-1 atm).

The list is after all only intended as a starting point for research. 'Hey I'm interested in purchasing a UIEM for up to 600$, let's see what's out there.' After that you go out and try to find reviews, information, stores nearby etc.

Thinking about it, what I could do is add a nation information, so that you know where the products are coming from. A US citizen can look at a product from the US and be fairly confident that that's the price he'd effectively have to pay, while I would know that there's a hefty customs+shipping charge to be added.

 

A wonky idea though ... How about making it a interactive public Google form?

Also adding PSB M4U4. I think it's 300 US.

 

I added the PSB - good call.

Also, wonky or not, I just added the country designation to all the in-ears. I'm not quite sold on the publicly editable form yet. Things like that can get out of hand... but if we could figure out a system for a publicly editable list including review scores, now that would be interesting...

 

Your list makes me realize that there are no authorities out there, who've heard them all. Only people who've heard some. Most people will only hear a few. When you add in preferences for sound signatures and difference shapes of ears... getting an authoritative recommendation on what is best is futile.

 

I've been thinking about that very issue... I believe if we wanted to come up with some kind of SBAF recommendations list, the procedure would have to be this:

1.) Define a narrow price range: Say 450-600$. (Thats a total of 24 products as of right now)
2.) Come up with a shortlist of interesting products in that range simply based on spec-sheets, technical design etc. (Perhaps 6?)
3.) Get as many of the shortlist candidates in for audition/measurement as possible (ideally get loaners from manufacturers, otherwise this stuff gets really expensive)
4.) Get some trustworthy ears on them. In a way I think having three people listen to lots of products is better than having lots of people listening to few products.
5.) Define a SBAF recommendation for that narrow price range.

Then repeat that for every pricerange of interest to our users.

Obviously steps 1 and 2 could easily be accomplished by using polls. 4 is where the loaner program would come in. 3 is the tricky part. I have no idea how many manufacturers would be willing to play ball and loan out demo units for review by us.


Option 2: Get people to use the same measurement systems, so we get objectively comparable data. That wont help for the subjective side of things unfortunately...

Option 3: Get Tyll on the job. Little big sound 2016!

 

Also new Q-jays, 400$ balanced armature dual driver

 

I think I saw some people wanted to see the IEM section of the current leaderboard expanded. If I recall correctly, the current leaderboard IEM section was based on the opinions of just a few core pyrates in the old times, and the current market has evolved a quite bit. And as imackler suggested, I agree there is no authorities out there (AFAIK - ljokerl is not here).

On either CS or SBAF, it seems to me that the core members have been focusing on full-sized, relatively higher-end cans, and IEM seemed to have devolved into a state that only the five items on the leaderboard worthed any series attention, adding Noble 6 to a lesser extent. We see a lot of headphone, source, and amplification discussions, but the IEM section seems to be a circlejerking of just a handful of members. So I think the idea of @Koloth is awesome - and the price range is pretty right, given the "price range hole" in the current leaderboard is $400~650 - it meets the demand of community.

But I also want to hear @purrin 's idea about possibly executing Koloth's plan. A SBAF recommendation list based on lonar units seems to go parallel with the "bought by the community& assessed by the community" spirit of SBAF leaderboard.

 

I added this one and a few others.