ranking list

GRADES

S: Must try. Experience what the best has to offer.
A: While not at the top of the summit, Grade-A IEMs are still very respectable performers that would still be considered as some of the best by many.
B: Can essentially be described as “very good”, or excellent performers in their own right.
C: Average in the grand scheme of things, anywhere from “passable” to “good”.
D: The threshold for “bad” starts here.
E: The truly horrible.
F: The failures. One needs to literally sound broken to reach the depths of F-tier.

Value Rating

★: “Worth the price” (MSRP)
– Only those with a grade of “C” or above are considered for their first star.
– Discontinued models are not eligible.
★★: “Redefines the price bracket”
★★★: “Revolutionary” (For its time)
– Needs to be eligible for at least a ★ rating before ★★★ can be considered.
– Discontinued models may still be considered.

“You’re the measurements guy! You measure more than you listen! I’m not going to listen to you!”
Great, I’m not telling you to. My work on measurements is separate from my reviewing work. It takes me 2 minutes to measure an IEM, you honestly think I don’t have time to listen to it as well?

↓↓↓ READ THIS: Notes & Disclaimers ↓↓↓

• The IEMs are ranked purely by sonic performance. Fit, isolation, durability, build quality etc. are ignored unless they interfere with the sound itself.
  • The IEMs are not ranked in terms of price-to-performance value. They are ranked according to what I think is “objectively” the best.
• The IEMs in each tier are sorted alphabetically.
• Most of the IEMs in this list are determined based off (universal) demo units from shops.
  • Customs tried will be specified as “custom”. A “Third party custom” is someone else’s customs that I forcefit into my ears. Any other use of the term “unit” will be universal.
• The positions are not set in stone. I’m only human; I may miss out on certain details or traits that may only be apparent with repeated listening. Expect changes.
• Ranks will be determined based on the best unit tried. Because of this, I am not accounting for unit variation. I cannot guarantee that what I’m hearing is what you will be hearing.
  • This will revert to the most recent unit tried if there is a significant time gap between the last and most recent times I tried a particular model.
• Unreleased products will not be included in the ranking list until they are officially out of preorder stages or have production units sent to distributors. I will still be talking about them in my subreddit if I ever get the opportunity to try such units.
• Prices are at MSRP in USD. Prices not directly available in USD are based off the exchange rate during the time of writing.
• A (non-complete) list of IEMs that I’ve tried can be found on my measurements database.
  • If you can tell, a lot of IEMs on the database (that I’ve tried) are not in this list. This is could be due to lack of interest or lack of enough ear time to make a proper decision on tier placement.
• Yes, this is the opinion of one person on the internet. Please do not get too offended if your favourite IEM isn’t graded as highly as you’d like. (vice versa applies)
• This list is meant to be used as a reference point. I highly recommend against blind-buying and suggest to have a listen to the IEMs yourself. By all means, use this to shortlist what you should try in the future but don’t take it as gospel.

To aid searching, ranks without the + or – symbol will be marked with a “=”. That also includes the E & F ranks.