Preface

I started this blog specifically to document my constantly shifting interests. It’s time to talk about hi-fi, in-ear monitors, and digital audio players. I’ll try to gather everything I’ve learned over the past week and a half into one piece, though I’ll admit upfront: structuring this isn’t easy.

A Bit of History

I used to rely heavily on in-ear headphones and still remember the Sennheiser CX 300-II well. I bought them several times because the cables kept dying, but I consistently liked the sound.

Then came the era of TWS earbuds. I went through Marshall Major II, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, and for the last two years AirPods Pro 2 have been my constant companions. I really value their noise cancellation and feel genuine pain if I forget them at home before a subway ride.

But a quiet life isn’t for me. The guitars I wanted are already bought, and it’s time for a new obsession — hi-fi in-ear monitors.

Hi-Fi and Hi-End: What Are These Beasts?

These headphones start at around $10 and end somewhere in the stratosphere that’s better not to look at. Mostly they’re made by Chinese companies, actively sold on Aliexpress, Taobao, and other platforms.

The number of designs is literally off the charts: inside there can be a single driver or many, of different types (dynamic, balanced armature, planar), different frequencies, sizes, and functions. The same goes for shapes, sizes, and colors.

Add to that the variety of frequency response curves: neutral, U-shaped, U Warm, and Harman (a special reference developed by Harman International, considered close to ideal sound and suitable for most listeners).

Think we’ve got it figured out? Not quite.

Ear Tips and Why They Matter

When you buy headphones, you get standard ear tips in the box. But “true connoisseurs” will confidently tell you to swap them — for foam, silicone, narrow or wide bore, bullet-shaped or straight. And they really do affect the sound: lows can get deeper, highs cleaner, the soundstage wider. Ear tips are practically another tool for fine-tuning your sound.

The Cable — Another Rabbit Hole

All good IEMs have detachable cables. That means a whole new world of spending and experimentation opens up: different connectors (the most common is 2-pin 0.78mm), various wire materials (copper, silver, silver-plated copper, oxygen-free copper), and different strand counts (2, 4, 8, and even 16). All this magic is supposed to affect the sound, though skeptics might only find it amusing.

And What Do You Plug Them Into?

Now let’s move on to the source. A phone with a 3.5 mm jack, a wired or wireless DAC, or even a dedicated digital audio player? I personally chose a standalone player, because I suddenly spotted the Fiio Snowsky Mini, which literally looks like a tiny cassette tape. The player is simple — no streaming, just the good old flash drive with FLAC files. The last time I downloaded songs was probably around 2013. Does anyone even remember Zaycev.net?

By the way, today you can find music in FLAC not only on torrents but also in Telegram channels, and there’s the mysterious Soulseek — an old peer-to-peer network that’s still alive and full of rare music.

Among more advanced modern players, the Hiby R4 and Fiio JM21 are well known. Both run Android, support streaming services, and can be used as a wired DAC for a computer. They also support Bluetooth with high-quality audio transmission, various codecs (LDAC, aptX, etc.), and balanced outputs — which is a whole different story.

What’s Next?

For now, I’ve already ordered a set of assorted gear and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive. I’ll try things out, listen, and attempt to understand: is there really any point to all this, or are AirPods Pro 2 and Spotify all a normal person needs? And can all of hi-fi be left to people who buy gold stands for audio cables.

To be continued!