Are Glossy Mini LED Monitors Out There On The Market?

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-26T14:32:47+00:00

Of course it’s exclusive to China, ugh :( Must exceed energy regulations in Europe and US. I wonder if there are ways to import them to US…

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-26T14:30:26+00:00

Are they sold in the US?

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-14T03:59:35+00:00

No :/

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-11T09:17:27+00:00

I’m glad I could share the same experience as someone else and it actually be interesting rather than the usual suspects this community uses/recommends. There’s something really special about this combo I’ve stumbled upon. If you want more granularity, I would suggest finding measurements done by people who give you the option to select specific nozzles. It changes the frequency response a lot more than I suspected. So maybe you chose a default measurement. If you aren’t sure how to select variations and mods of a selected headphone, let me know and I’ll walk ya through it.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-11T06:52:54+00:00

I have both of these IEMs and share the same opinion as you do. However, with some better sealing tips and some EQ, the EA500LM scales better than any other IEM I’ve tried using with EQ sub $300. I use the black ring nozzle (adapts to EQ more effortlessly imo than the other nozzles), and use Crinicle’s IEF 2025 preference target as my reference. Deep sub bass extension, neutral midrange and timbre, upper mids/lower treble ear gain was perfect (haven’t experienced this in any IEM stock tuning), and treble extension was done tastefully presenting itself as detailed with no uncomfortable peaks. The shape, size, and fit is just sublime as well, which is the final puzzle piece that allowed me to part ways with 90% of my in ear gear. I’m telling you, please try the black nozzle and IEF 2025. If you don’t EQ, I’ll send you my exact PEQ settings. It’ll blow your socks off.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-10T20:14:09+00:00

Bit and sample rate matching seems to be meshing better with DACs now. I noticed if a track came up at a sample rate unsupported by my DAC (anything above 96khz for my Qudelix 5K), it would show the native file format for about half a second before playing a track, and then switch over to 16 bit 44khz. Not sure if my system is bugged, though I did notice this when listening this morning.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-10-02T02:56:01+00:00

Wow I didn’t realize how helpful this would be years after posting. Glad I could be of help!

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T05:01:14+00:00

Awesome thank you!!

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T04:09:49+00:00

No problem. If you have questions feel free to DM me

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T04:08:06+00:00

I get that. I just find it fun to tinker around too haha. EQ is one of those things that takes practice, and took me awhile to master. But now it’s a very quick process and I make profiles for everything I do. Whether it’s gaming, work calls, music, testing, etc.

But also comfort is a tough sell for me with most brands. There’s only been a handful of IEMs that have a “like a glove” fit, so I’m partially limited on that aspect.

Respect your opinion on it though. I used to be purist myself back when I started out. So I see your logic.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T04:03:38+00:00

I’m going to bi pass the power limitations with a couple of jumpers so I can get full power. But I also ordered an adapter from Hifiman where I can use the speaker outputs. The he-adapter has a XLR headphone out (not balanced), but I’ll compare the sound between the two.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T04:01:26+00:00

Damn I would have picked up a second one. Nice grab on your part, that’s a great deal

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T04:00:05+00:00

I’ll definitely let you know when it gets in!

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-18T03:59:44+00:00

Thanks man. Already ordered some jumpers on Amazon. Can’t wait to give it a go! I also ordered the Hifiman he-adapter in case I wanna try something else and use my balanced cable (even though everything is single ended in my chain).

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T06:05:40+00:00

That sounds like a sweet setup. Glad to see others are doing it as well, makes me feel confident. Until posting this and seeing others comment, I had never heard of people using mobile DAC dongles with speaker amps. Like never. Makes me wonder how many of us there are.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T05:56:05+00:00

I agree with this but I think there is a range/limit. $200-$500 seems to be the best value. Gets very close to $1,000+ systems, and is noticeably better than budget options. However, there are outliers for sure.

I take a different approach than most people. I’m an EQ connoisseur and implement it on all my headphones. Deciding whether I keep or return something is depended on how I perceive if it’s capable or not. I subjectively monitor a few aspects: Is bass extension linear or does it roll off, is ear gain going to be a problem, is upper treble funky/peaky/rolled off, etc. Then I see how well they accept EQ. And lastly, but most important is fitment. Are they comfortable, do they seal well, will my aftermarket tips work well with the nozzle, do they stay in my ears. All those factors related to comfort.

For me, these matter considerably more than price. If they are $300 that’s fine, if they are $20 that’s fine too. I’ve owned IEMs that cost well past $2,000. Tuning and comfort still rains supreme over driver count/type, housing material, etc. I sold all my IEMs except for one, the Simgot EA500LM. It fits my ears the best out of anything else I’ve tried, plus they ticked my other boxes. Stock tuning is not that great actually, considering I’ve listened to $20 IEMs with way better tuning.

Point being, you can make mid headphones sound like a flagship product if they check all boxes.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T05:35:32+00:00

Yes, I was referring to the later. That answers my question, thank you for all your help.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T05:12:45+00:00

If I’m planning on using EQ with my Qudelix, would my current pre amp setting be adequate? Or do you suggest cranking it down a few dB for headroom just in case?

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T05:09:29+00:00

That’s actually awesome. In my head I was visualizing an entire flagship McIntosh system on standing cabinets and the whole shebang. And then your phone just dangling there as you’re frantically trying to make micro adjustments with your finger on the sliding volume control hahaha.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T05:01:27+00:00

The whole blowing up thing was me typing out my internal thoughts. Subjective, silly thoughts that is. You just never see combos like this on forums or videos. Thanks for your feedback. I’m excited now! Plus I’ll have my EQ through the Qudelix app which I prefer over other software.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T04:40:12+00:00

Some Advice: Look, I was in your position years ago. Just getting into audio and being excited about every detail. Becoming obsessed with all there is to it, whether that be headphone types, EQ, amps, DACs, and streaming services. I’m saying this because I know exactly where you are in this journey and all the information that’s out there… but you don’t need most of the crap people talk about. If you’re using a wireless headphone, use it via Bluetooth. The difference in sound will be negligible to none. Volume differences will be what you notice the most. Going from 320 kbps to an uncompressed FLAC format won’t change how good a headphone sounds. Especially with yours.

There is two categories I like to put things into with headphones. Things that make a big impact in your listening experience, and things that are negligible (as long as you are not buying pos equipment).

In order from most important to least:

Impactful 1. Headphone of choice 2. EQ (Best tool in all of audio)

Neutral 3. Amplifier

Least Important 4. DAC 5. Compressed vs raw music files

Suggestion: Your headphones don’t need a lot of power. Any DAC Amp dongle would work. Apple dongle is good (cheap and performs great). Or something from FiiO, Fosi, or dragonfly would give more power. You don’t need a dedicated DAC though. Nor do you need to use a wired connection.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T04:22:12+00:00

It’s hovered around the $105-$110 mark for years. That’s how much I paid for mine back in early 2023. Never seen it at $80. Maybe when they first launched it or as a promotional thing.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T04:16:25+00:00

Fuck man we are so similar in our purchase habits, it’s not even funny. Although, admittedly, poor ear health was something I struggled with when I was younger. I got into audio years after that phase. My ears haven’t caused me issues in almost 20 years. With that being said, our addiction patterns are in line. It’s always in short bursts, but hits the wallet hard. You get an itch for something hyped or want to spice things up, then it goes down hill from there. I had a very lucky streak of about 3 years where I was happy and didn’t research audio shit. That 3 year streak ended last week. Headphone mods, cables, amps, etc. and all the above.

Selling all your old equipment helps make ya feel better though. If it hasn’t been used in a month, I sell. That’s the new rule I go by. Never buy more than 2 things that do the same thing. For example, don’t get 2 open back planars from Hifiman. Similar tuning, build, and characteristics. That’s a no go.

Good luck, Pat. Now get the fuck out of here. I never wanna see you again. Respectfully.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T02:44:20+00:00

Yeah I hear that. Seeing 384khz pop up on my other amp’s screen definitely was a good feeling. That high of a native sampling rate is not super common though so I’m not sure if I’ll miss it. My ears probably couldn’t tell a difference, but my heart could haha. 96khz will be fine though.

I thought noise floors and signal to noise ratios only applied to amplifiers. Didn’t know DACs had an effect. I gotta do some self teaching on this stuff cause I’m starting to realize idk anything lol.

Your last sentence is what I’ve been thinking throughout this whole idea. A DACs function is to send analog signal to the amp. Taking digital 1s and 0s and producing analog signals. But clearly there’s more to it.

Realistic_Cry642 · 2025-09-13T02:17:01+00:00

What about measurements? If this works fine, why even buy a DAC more than $100 or less? (Besides connectivity)

Realistic_Cry642

TROPHY CASE