Simgot EA500LM - budget DD tour de force

Disclaimer - these were sent to me by Simgot free of charge. But I did buy the EA1000 afterwards to see what Simgot can do with extra money.

The EA500LM is an evolution of the regular EA500 which was well-regarded if a bit bright sounding. The driver has been upgraded to a lithium-magnesium alloy diaphragm which should in theory push breakups higher.

Like many Simgot IEMs, the EA500LM uses a single dynamic driver. The earshell has a divided acoustic chamber and both parts are ported. These IEMs come with 2 extra tuning nozzles. Here's what Simgot says about the tunings:



My favorite is the gold copper (brass?) nozzle. It has the best musicality of the bunch in my opinion. The silver/red-band nozzle was more technical and 2nd best with the last one just having too much brightness. Unlike IEMs with a bunch of tuning switches, these nozzles properly change the character of the whole IEM giving you 3 distinct sound signatures.

With the brass nozzle and stock tips the general sound signature is neutral-warm in my opinion. Each of the nozzles has a chunk of foam inside which can probably be replaced with whatever you pervs have in store. The DIY potential here is real.

What kind of took me aback since the first listening session were the technicalities. The staging is a bit backed off, with distinct side-to-side phantom sound sources. No three blob effect here. I got the dynamic driver bass I love and it had actual texture. While the extension isn't bottomless, it's more than good enough for electronica. Oh, and there's a cohesiveness that I just don't get with multi-BA setups.

The build is superb with an all-metal shell that's anodized in dark chrome. It can probably catch easily, but it sure is pretty. The cable is okay, not much more. Overall the EA500LM are easy to drive but I felt an improvement with better sources.

The kicker? They're 81 bucks or so. This is what I wanted the Aria 2 to be.

 

Ok, here goes. I'm using the default brass nozzles on the Simgot.

The Aria 2 has more emphasis on mids and mid-bass. In comparison, the EA500LM has less quantity in the mids which is offset by greater resolution. This is mostly felt in rock music.

Switching to electronica like Moderat I hear that both IEMs have more bass/midbass emphasis rather than sub-bass but the EA500LM seems to have more extension and bass texture/resolution.

In the highs the EA500LM seems to have the same level but they stand out more due to resolution and finesse.

Generally the differences between presentation are largely driven by the edge the EA500LM has in technicalities. Stage layering and width is a standout which makes the Aria 2 sound a bit 2D and between-the-ears.

In short - Aria 2 - more cock-rock, EA500LM - more smooth operator. This makes me turn up the volume more on the EA500LM to get the same subjective loudness. Also the Simgot seems more genre universal.

 

Tonally I'd say the main problems with the EA500LM are a minor scoop at 400-500Hz and some peaking at 5k or so.

 

Exactly what I'm experiencing, too, but I didn't have a grasp on the exact frequencies.

Definitely a bit of a scoop in the mids and a bit of tizz in the treble. I'm also testing the Letshouer Galileo, and its more midcentric and rolled-off presentation in the bass and treble helped me identify the mild scoop and tizz in the EA500 LM.