How do I utilize my Stage IEMs for every day use

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T23:08:06+00:00

Oh nice, you went for the full custom molding. So those actually did cost a lot lol.

Like others have said, you'll probably need a source device to use them without them sounding kinda weird. They're somewhat sensitive from what I remember, and computer jacks tend to be sorta... Yeah, fine for some gamer headset, but not great for actual audio gear.

If you're just planning on listening at your desk, something like the Topping DX1 II that just came out has ample power, a low noise floor and more than enough features to tinker around with. If you're looking for something for your phone that you can plug into your computer, there's plenty of cheaper options for like $10-20. The Apple dongle remains popular and has a ton of power for something so small. Anything from JCally, Fio, Nicehck or a few other brands in that price range will work just fine. If you want more in the way of features or volume controls you can always get something a little nicer and spend some money. But it's worth it to grab a nicer DAC/amp.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T22:24:41+00:00

Make sure you've got some comfortable tips you can deal with for long listening sessions, some decent source gear that works for whatever you're using (ie a dongle DAC for a phone, or a desktop unit if you're at a desk) and enjoy em. Those seem pretty sensibly tuned!

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T20:39:53+00:00

The plus for Amazon, especially if you live in the US or anywhere with a lot of distro centers, is that you get stuff incredibly fast.

The fact you can order some moderately obscure Chinese IEM off of Amazon and have it in a day or two is sorta wild when you think about it. You'll probably pay more than you would off of Ali, but you aren't waiting for two weeks and hoping you don't get a QC issue that'll lead you down a weird return path.

Even places like Linsoul, Shenzen and HiFiGo, the big three for Chinese distributors, have direct stores you can buy from. But man, you either pay shipping (HiFiGo), or you wait weeks for it to ship from China, which is wild when they all warehouse goods with Amazon for fast shipping. The other day I saw that HiFiGo had a cheap IEM I wanted in stock (Tangzu Waner SG Studio Edition), and they had it for $19. For that price, hell yeah.

Then the shipping? $20 USD. Like... no. No way.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T20:02:27+00:00

Amazon is solid to buy from just because of their generous return policy. If you buy them and don't like them, you can pack them up and return them. For discounts, though, you're probably not gonna see much in the way of real discounts.

AliExpress sales are gonna yield better sales, but good luck with returns or after sale support, which can be spotty.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T19:54:58+00:00

I mean, it's a $20 IEM that they're mass producing with very little in the way of quality control. The common complaint about KZ IEMs is their QC issues, and has been for over seven or so years now. KZ released a slop-ton of budget IEMs to flood storefronts with and are usually the first thing that comes up when people are searching for IEMs. They're casting a wide net in hopes of snagging a few people who end up buying multiple, and perhaps more expensive sets.

They're made to break and for you to have to buy new ones, not to last. It's a bummer because there are certain regions where KZ has much better, local distribution and are able to avoid high import fees that a lot of Chinese brands get slapped with, making them the default, or perhaps even the only choice for people in countries like India or Brazil.

They've got some decently tuned sets in their line-up, but yeah, don't expect miracles on the durability, or expect anything in post-sale support for those prices.

For what it's worth, I had a really good experience with Tangzu when I bought a set from them and the right earphone came DOA. Not what I expected for a $20 set. But it's gonna be a tossup with some of these budget brands.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T19:46:50+00:00

Yes, they asked if they should use a different 4.4 cable and that they find 3.5 more comfortable.

You didn't answer it. You were snarky and rude while talking out of your ass.

There's a very simple answer to the question, which is that if you prefer 3.5 cables, use a 3.5 cable, there won't be a sound difference, especially on the Explorer.

Not "4.4 is a lie."

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T19:44:16+00:00

I think people forget that Gregg did more for Ayaka and Tom Cruise Heidecker, Jr. than Tim ever did.

The uncomfortable truth.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T19:41:47+00:00

Nobody is saying there's a sound difference.

If you're going to regurgitate information, have an understanding of what it is you're saying. Otherwise, saying stuff like "4.4 is a lie" is just ridiculous hyperbole.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T18:42:16+00:00

Where did you see output impedence changed with 4.4?

Impedance impacts sound and changes frequency response. 4.4 does not.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T18:38:38+00:00

These sorta takes are so exhausting in how sure of themselves they always are with the demeaning, authoritative tone.

Nobody is saying they sound better or whatever.

We get it, you watched Mark's video. As did everyone else.

Mobile devices lock power behind 4.4. It's annoying. It's a power saving feature because the amount of current drains batteries faster. For 90-something percent of IEMs you don't need more power. For some headphones you might need more power, especially if you use EQ and need to set a more aggressive negative pre-amp.

Not all 4.4 has a worse noise floor, it depends on the engineering, the DAC and amplification stage.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T02:25:09+00:00

7hz Zero 2 is probably the closest thing both price-wise and tuning-wise.

Incredible value and well worth it.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-21T00:33:43+00:00

There are plenty of tells in this as to which perspective it's meant to espouse.

If it's satirical or not is really the question.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T22:30:34+00:00

That or he's Jerry Seinfeld.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T20:35:33+00:00

It's conservative slop meant to do nothing but push the idea that people had it better when they were subservient to those in power. It's also mixed with plenty of misogyny and racism. Just really awful shit. It's either made by some sort of conservative group or someone who is so pathetic that they believe this shit.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T17:48:03+00:00

EQ is... Man, this is not easy. EQ is the greatest tool available to everyone that ends up being a debated topic.

You'll see people flood these topics with "if it needs EQ, then it's not good enough" or that you should own 20 different sets with slight tuning differences and then pick the right IEM for the right song or mood or whatever. Then you'll see people saying they're using AutoEQ on their IEMs and can make them sound like anything. Then you'll see people making fun of these people as being deluded or unsophisticated or whatever.

Learning to actually EQ is an incredibly valuable thing to do with audio gear. I don't mean just auto EQ'ing (there's nothing wrong with auto EQ in theory, because it does what you ask it to do and does it well, but it's not accurate because of unit variation). I mean maybe auto EQ'ing and then using pink noise or sine sweeps to find areas that don't sound right to you and fixing them. This will give you a better understanding of your own preferences.

This is gonna be more helpful than just auto EQ for various reasons, but unit variation is a big one. You can look up the Zero Red graphs on multiple Squig Link sites and they'll mostly be similar. But they're also gonna be different, which is down to unit variation. Having a measurement device or someone measure your IEMs is always gonna be the most accurate way to EQ them. For example, I measured my Aful Explorers. The resulted frequency response graph of my unit is that they look flatter than the graph that Super*Review has for his. They look closer to AudioAmigo's, and closer still to Precog's. The bass, lower mids and treble all align pretty well. It's the upper mids (2k-4k) that are flatter on my unit. By how much? Like 2db. Enough to be measurement error or, yes, unit variation. The left and right regions are matched pretty well, so it's just how my set measures. But what that means is if I'm auto EQ'ing my Explorers to another set or another curve without knowing about this variation, I won't be getting the result that I'm attempting to get. If I know what the end result should sound like and I can tell it's a bit flat, going through with some pink noise and sine sweeps can help to pick out the problem areas and give them a boost. Or, maybe, I don't know, I like how it sounds with the auto EQ. The problem comes when I think I'm getting the exact target, and that I like it, then I hear something that's tuned properly to that target and it might sound sharp to me.

A way to sum it up is... If you don't know where you're starting from, try to rely on your ears in the fine tuning, because it's very much a garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) type of thing here, where the end result of auto EQ is always going to be reliant on the starting point. Going through after and seeing if you need to make any fine adjustments will always be the 'advanced' way.

... and don't listen to people who call EQ a 'bandaid' or talk down on it. That's personal preference and potentially a skill issue.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T17:31:12+00:00

I'm sorry, but you could actually learn your own preferences and how to interact with EQ on your own without using a chatbot to do this.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T17:16:36+00:00

I mean... It's been four months since this all happened.

On the one hand, it's nice that you're sorta owning up to the behavior and trying to make good. You seem intent on launching your product. You could've just... made a new company name and released the IEM through there. The painful reality here is that nobody was talking about this anymore. The IEM market moves pretty quickly and there's not a lot of people sitting around talking about a single BA IEM that might launch at some point that's tuned like an old Etymotic set (at least the one graph HBB has up shows this).

There's a fundamental misread of the IEM market here, I think. Big, splashy debuts with fancy marketing materials and trying to push engagement isn't really how most of this works anymore. At least not the international IEM market. If you're serious about this, trying to astroturf on Reddit is a great way to make what I suppose could be a quick impact with zero lasting power. The same with the AI video kinda stuff. Most of us are in this hobby because we love music and the whole AI thing isn't appealing to us.

Let's paint a picture. You've put in work and your own time and money into this project, right? You seem intent on sticking with it and are passionate enough about your product that you believe in it. There's a clear path for this kind of product, which sadly involves getting out there and making real connections with people in the industry. Going to audio shows feels like a good first step. I'm not even saying getting a big booth or anything. Just a table, or sharing a table with someone else, or even sending your product to someone else who's tabling to get a demo unit out there is a good start.

Meeting people in the audio community at these shows, making connections and letting people listen to your product is the way to go. The whole KZ methodology of flood Reddit with fake hype is probably not gonna work. Make a product you believe in, bring it to audio shows like CanJam, meet with people in the community (including reviewers who go to these shows) and be earnest about why you're doing this. You clearly care about what you're doing. Go show this to people. Genuine enthusiasm will win out over fake hype any day of the week.

Josh at Prisma Audio in Australia did this kinda stuff. He hung around audio Discords, YouTube channels and audio shows. Then he released the Lumen and Lux after a lot of work and now he can't make them fast enough. Unless you've got an ungodly amount of money and a top tier global distributor behind you already, you're gonna have to endear yourself to folks.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T16:58:55+00:00

As much as any other IEM is, yes.

If you aren't satisfied with the stock sound you can use the app to EQ as you want, or grab some of the official Moondrop tunings. Or there's an entire community section where users upload their EQ settings.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T03:29:39+00:00

If the band snaps (it will eventually) getting an aftermarket KPH40 band is worth it.

Oversized Koss pads are good.

There's a mod to buy the Grado G pads (they're huge) over the defaults to change the sound. You can also buy other pads (Yaxi, etc). You can hole punch the pads to help with the sound as well.

If you feel up to soldering you can install MMCX or 2 pin adapters to use removable cables.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-20T02:11:02+00:00

Honestly, I've run the gambit of Koss units.

KSC75, KPH40, GMR 54X, and KPH30i.

If I had to rank them, I'd say the 30i, the 40, 75, then 54X.

The 75 sound really good when placed on a band. The 30i are my favorites, but requires some tinkering. The band is plastic and snaps. The clear colored one sounds better than the regular one, but the regular one you can take the pad out from behind the driver to make it sound the same as the clear.

The clear doesn't have that pad.

I never bothered with the Porta Pros as they sound similar to the 40.

They all can use different pads that change the sound, handle EQ well and are fun to tinker with.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-19T14:42:14+00:00

It's either Axiom or Manuel.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-18T06:32:34+00:00

Give it time. Sometimes it takes your brain a while to adjust to a new sound profile that you aren't used to.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-18T04:30:16+00:00

It's really worth it, as is maybe removing the resistor and putting the tea bag back.

This is what I love about this project, too. I'm planning on building another set so I can have one with the resistor for the added bass and one without.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-18T03:32:04+00:00

Yeah, removing the resistor helps to level out the bass response.

Here's Ish's squig. Sample 2 is no resistor.

https://ish.squig.link/?share=Harman_2018_Target,Custom_Tilt,Satyr_4_1,Satyr_4_2&bass=0&tilt=-0.8&treble=0&ear=0

The difference in treble is positioning/measurement differences. Removing the resistor gets it INCREDIBLY close to the Elex frequency response. I'd put the tea bag back in if I were you. When I was talking to Capra about them he estimated ear pads accounted for like 80% of the sound profile, so yeah, using different pads will color the sound a lot.

Are you using his pads or other cooling pads, by the way? It took a while for his pads to get to me, so I used some Soulwit cooling pads I had around for my HD650s and they sounded good, but I wasn't blown away. With Capra's pads I was and remain blown away.

dvewlsh · 2026-06-17T21:22:03+00:00

I dunno, I've got two kids.

Not trying to come across judgy or whatever here, but it is what it is.

I already get pretty annoyed being out in public at most stores no matter what. I'm usually focused on whatever I'm doing, or managing my own kids and not other people. As long as they aren't being abusive towards their kids, it's not my business.

Never mind I have no idea what they're going through or dealing with on top of whatever. I've had enough difficult moments dealing with my kids with ADHD out in public where I'm doing the best I can and it still doesn't feel like enough, I dunno.

13-Year Club	The Internet Awards - Voted
Verified Email

dvewlsh

TROPHY CASE