For detail and isolation, get yourself a pair of Etymotics HF3. They are difficult to source though.

Thank you for your suggestion. I just googled about it and they fit my requirements really well except the budget. Also, don't you think it'd be an overkill with the kind of inputs I have? I don't own an audio player.

I had a similar requirement. I took the Braiwavz M2 and it is pretty good. I had previously owned Ep630, Soundmagic PL-30 and Headdirect RE-2.

M2 beats all and the quality both sound and buildwise is pretty good.

Originally Posted by agudam

Thank you for your suggestion. I just googled about it and they fit my requirements really well except the budget. Also, don't you think it'd be an overkill with the kind of inputs I have? I don't own an audio player.

Not necessarily an audio player. Your phone will still work.



But it will surely 'blow you away'

@OP Interested in a used M3 for 2.3k? It was RMAed recently. Have a little bit of warranty remaining.

Originally Posted by pradeep200417

I had a similar requirement. I took the Braiwavz M2 and it is pretty good. I had previously owned Ep630, Soundmagic PL-30 and Headdirect RE-2.

M2 beats all and the quality both sound and buildwise is pretty good.

Nice to know that. Where did you get the M2 from? Pristinenote? How long did it take for you to receive them?

Originally Posted by 3.14or22by7

Not necessarily an audio player. Your phone will still work.



But it will surely 'blow you away'

Oh! But the budget; it's almost twice that of what I'm willing to spend. I think I could spend that money on getting a decent audio player instead, along with a pair of mid-tier earphones. What's your take on it?

Since your budget is pretty high and the Brainwavz M3 are readily availabe at 3950 shipped to your doorstep from pristinenote , for me these were mindblowing IEM's despite having a m1 and a nuforce ne7m before these were like a major leap ahead in Sound Quality , these are my personl opinion on m3 but each person has his own personal taste

Originally Posted by sukant

Since your budget is pretty high and the Brainwavz M3 are readily availabe at 3950 shipped to your doorstep from pristinenote , for me these were mindblowing IEM's despite having a m1 and a nuforce ne7m before these were like a major leap ahead in Sound Quality , these are my personl opinion on m3 but each person has his own personal taste

I did zero in on the M3. But I was wondering if there's anything better when I'm spending that much. Would you say that for my requirements the M3 would be ideal? Are there any other IEMs similar to the M3 but priced lower?

Originally Posted by agudam

Nice to know that. Where did you get the M2 from? Pristinenote? How long did it take for you to receive them?







Oh! But the budget. It's almost twice that of what I'm willing to spend. I think I could spend that money on getting a decent audio player instead, along with a pair of mid-tier earphones. What's your take on it?

Yeah got it from pristine note. Got it within 2-3 days

Lucky you! I ordered it once, waited for a month and then got a mail saying it was out of stock. I waited till the stock arrived, ordered it again, and again after a month I was told it was out of stock.

Depends on what you want.



I have Etymotic HF2, which sounds similar to HF3 and HF5. It uses the same driver as the famous Etymotic ER4P/S, I guess. If you want something analytical and could stand the experience of getting used to inserting tri-flanges deep inside the ear canal, Ety is what I'd look at. Look for any Ety HFx listing on head-fi to sweeten the deal a bit.



M3 is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to sound. It is thick sounding, lighter on bass but should have more than HF2, warmer and sweeter sounding mids as opposed to Ety's transparent presentation, but would lose terribly in the treble department compared to HF2. But, M3 has sound stage, Etys do not. As one highly revered reviewer mentioned to me, Ety's do "left, right, pfft" as far as stage is concerned. It would need some great source to extract a stage out of Etys, but separation is still exceptional. But, one thing though - Etys will scale up and shine with better sources than M3 can.



Personally, I like HF2 much more than M3, but it's wrong to assume that it'd be the same for everybody. Hope this helps

Originally Posted by esanthosh

Depends on what you want.



I have Etymotic HF2, which sounds similar to HF3 and HF5. It uses the same driver as the famous Etymotic ER4P/S, I guess. If you want something analytical and could stand the experience of getting used to inserting tri-flanges deep inside the ear canal, Ety is what I'd look at. Look for any Ety HFx listing on head-fi to sweeten the deal a bit.



M3 is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to sound. It is thick sounding, lighter on bass but should have more than HF2, warmer and sweeter sounding mids as opposed to Ety's transparent presentation, but would lose terribly in the treble department compared to HF2. But, M3 has sound stage, Etys do not. As one highly revered reviewer mentioned to me, Ety's do "left, right, pfft" as far as stage is concerned. It would need some great source to extract a stage out of Etys, but separation is still exceptional. But, one thing though - Etys will scale up and shine with better sources than M3 can.



Personally, I like HF2 much more than M3, but it's wrong to assume that it'd be the same for everybody. Hope this helps

Thanks, Santosh. That really helped. I'd like to buy a higher end IEM a few months later, after I see myself being able to understand the nuances. In other words, I don't want to take a risk of extending my budget too much and later on regretting the purchase. So I've decided to purchase the M3, from Akshay, which seems to fit the bill. I definitely want to buy an analytical IEM in the near future, and might end up buying an Etymotic.



Btw "left, right, pfft" was funny!