Best IEMs from $50 - $100

Moondrop May

• A very enjoyable listen, hard to fault at this price and design. Could be a winner for you.
• The May is the way to go if you have 80 bucks. Standard EQ sounds great. Nice low contrast neutral sound

JUZEAR x Z Reviews Defiant

• Another all-rounder with good balance. Doesn't do anything right or wrong, but has qc issues with channel imbalance (and also my case ziper broke within a few weeks), it's ok but there are better...
• Punchy bass, natural vocals, balanced tuning, great detail. Solid all-rounder.
• Fun engaging set!
• Pleasant, neutral warm tuning with good treble extension that wholly belies its price point.
• Pros: Great balanced tuning with a vocal emphasis.
• Exciting and contrasty. Very well tuned. Sub-bass focused. Vocal area pretty well tuned. Treble surprisingly well tuned. Tasteful V-Shaped sound signature.

Letshuoer S08

• More uniquely tuned than other planars. Tamer uppermids, not as energetic, but still with great bass separation and tech. Timbre is good.
• Fantastic value product, really strong.
• A little bit thick and poofy in the bass. Aful Explorer is better option.

Intime Sora Light

• Solid little set, could work for you.

Tin Hifi T4

• A worthy successor to the legendary GR07.

Truthear Hexa

• Foam helps tame uppermids/treble. Amazing detail for price and new benchmark below $100. Better tuned "softer" Dusk with slighlty less accurate imaging. Note-weight can be light.
• KING. Special. Inoffensive. But honestly where bass?
• Sounds like a warmer, lo-res Moondrop B2, emphasis on lo-res in the bass.
• Pros: Well done, clean midrange focus tuning. Cons: Can be fatiguing in the treble.

TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero Red

• Great all-rounder, IEF-harman. Bass is a bit pillowy.
• Great balanced, smooth tuning. Needs more bass for my taste, can be a bit soft at times.
• I think this is massivly overhyped, but it's not terrible and a great value with impedance adapters
• Pros: Balanced tuning, smooth and natural timbre, good stage. Cons: Can use more micro details.

NICEHCK F1 Pro

• A cheaper S12. Almost identical sound and tuning. Good value. Look for aliexpress deals.
• I like this planar the best of all planars, normally I hate them.
• Pros: Cheaper S12 Pro/ Z12.

Simgot EA500LM

• Very resolving for its price, great value. A warmer EA1000 with a slight decrease in separation and resolution, but warmer with more bass (same bass quality). Not as sparkly and resolving as the...
• It's a good u shaped with nice bass, but be weiry of uppper mids.

Moondrop Aria: Snow Edition

EPZ X Tipsy Star One

• Vocal focused set. Female vocals are sweet and clean with subtly air and sparkle. Treble and bass is decent, does the job. Harman but with a twist.
• I like this set a lot for the price. Good value and vocals.

Tripowin X HBB Olina SE

• It's a solid set for the price. Hard not to like, a little mellow.

Kiwi Ears x Crinacle: Singolo

• Why. If you like Crin just buy the RED, OG Zero, or Khan. Hype and marketing bait. Not actually "revolutionary". Avoid unless you can get these for under $40.
• Sound is fine, packaging and fit are not.

KEFINE Klean

• Same as Delci, graph and sounds the same, but cheaper with extra tuning filter
• Solid set, very enjoyable.

7Hz Salnotes Dioko

• Bass sounds oddly restrained and treble still has some oddity. Solid enough otherwise.

INAWAKEN DAWN Ms

• An OG Delci with more sub-bass rumble, and vocals pop a little more. Nice warm bassy set.
• A great pick at this price.

Fiio FP3

• Can be a fun specialist

Kiwi Ears CANTA

• Bright set with lots of treble detail. Airy, splashy, and shimmery with great extension. Isn't sharp or metallic in the timbre, but not 100% "natural" either, comes down to preference. Mid-volume...
• It's a little too V for me, but not a bad set.

Kiwi Ears Melody

• Fun signature done right. Sparkly and energetic V-SHAPE, but with punchy bass and not bloated for under $100 - how? Can get a bit sharp with certain tracks.
• Not a bad iem, but another planar that needs eq

DUNU Titan S

• It has a bit of a lean sound.
• Good Harman-ish tonality with reasonably decent technical chops - an easy recommendation.
• Pros: "audiophile" reference style tuning with good details.

Moondrop Aria 2

• A more engaging Aria SE with more bass, air, and reverb. Feels too smoothed out with a hit in the texture. Bump in tech over the old one, but pricing is an issue vs EW200 and EW300
• Nice package for the price.

Moondrop Aria

• A cheaper Starfield.
• See KXXS. Just slightly less upper-midrange and more bass.
• Pros: Pleasing neutral tuning with impressive wide stage.

Truthear Zero: Blue 2

• Harman tuning with clean, punchy bass and great resolution. Bright treble.
• Pros: Slightly more balanced and pleasing Harman tuned. Cons: Treble with silicone tips is piercing.
• Harman target tuned. Sounds pretty V and contrasty. Not a whole lot of mids. Fairly tasteful. Good sense of separation. Sterile/Lifeless mids and annoying treble. Needs foam eartips.

Etymotic ER2XR

• An ER2SE with better bass control.
• Great tuning with natural vocals and safe treble. The fit.
• Legendary iem. But I can't even.
• Controlled bass and darker treble. Narrow imaging, but solid technicalities for a single DD.
• Pros: Great detail and solid tuning. Cons: Intrusive fit.

Oriveti Dynabird

• Vocal focused and clean, but 2K gain can be too much plus the uppermids/treble. Good tech.
• A fun V -Shape.

Sivga Que

• Warm and engaging set with good energy and extension when it comes to vocals, could use more air, but overall very fun and bassy set
• Nice technicalities, decent tune.

Samsung Galaxy Buds+

• Tuned even closer to the Harman IE target compared to the original.
• Better bass shelf than the OG Buds, but with setbacks in the strange treble and timbre.

Kefine Delci

• A warmer/less sharp EW200, a slightly more resolving BLON Z300, price might be an issue tho
• Nice tone, great overall sound with only a few issues.

Tangzu Yu Xuan Ji

• Airy treble/staging. Clean balanced sound. Good tech. 8-10K Peak isn't as big as graph suggests.
• interesting iem, but bad and forgetable.

Tripowin x HBB Olina

• New HBB Xuan NV is just the way to go over this.
• Exellent tonality and shimmer (for a DD); nonetheless, could possibly benefit from better layering chops.

Tin Hifi T3 Plus

Tanchjim 4U

• Solid IEM. Warm to neutral depending on the switch. Overall pretty smooth with good tech.
• It is not super special, unless you are looking for standout stereo imaging.

Truthear x Crinacle Zero

• Variations-ish tuning with sub-bass focused. Low-end is rumbly but lacks mid-bass impact/warmness in general. Fatiguing above mid-volume. Can sound light and thin. Mid-bass tuck affects libraries.
• Harman tuning with nice punchy bass.
• Sounds good, and fun..
• Close ringer for the Harman IEM target with great bass and slightly harsh upper-mids and lower-treble.
• Pros: Very well tuned, clean bass. Cons: treble can use more eveness.

Simgot EA500

• Slamming bass with the variety. High quality DD with good resolution.
• For me it's just easier to recomend the EW200, or em6L due to this being lean in the bass.
• Pros: Inoffensive, warm, versatile. Cons: Bassier and harsher Kato. Nozzle largely useless.

Dunu Titan S2

• Very nice built and cable for the price. Sounds like a warm harman. Tech is good, but not too competitive at the price (EA500LM).
• Pretty! But boring and bright, and doesn't fit.
• Pretty unreal accessories for 80 bucks. IEM is not bad.

ZiiGaat Cinno

• Good intrument separation/layering, but feels like the music is cut into certain areas in the stage and not harmonious (UPDATE: tip rolling helped, the fit was a little weird like the OG Dark...
• Budget sa6 with no technicals or forward vocals. So mid.

ARTTI R1

• Bassy, warm set, good dynamics, smooth.
• I'd just save up for the T10 pro.

Kinera Celest Plutus Beast

• Fun set, non linear. The bone conductor.... is nice!

Etymotic ER2SE

• Great detail & clarity. Fit took a long time to get used. Very clear and natural mids and treble. Lacks lower-extension, and couldn't handle bass notes on Time by Hikaru Utada (0:40+).
• Old, Treble for days.
• See ER2XR but with less sub-bass.
• Pros: Great detail. Cons: Intrusive fit.

TinHifi Dudu

• Least planar, almost doesn't sound like one. 3K gain can be a bit much, tech very similar as the other ones.
• A few minor issues, but still a good value little set.
• Not really good looking IEM and not very much in the sound which I like

EPZ Q5

• Can be a bit bright on pop/edm, but very good for jazz/blues/soul and warm instrumentals.
• Nice Bass response, great graph, overall clean set.

TRN-Medusa

• Nice overall tonal quality, with just a dash of shout.

Kefine Delci AE

• A smoother EW200 with the silver nozzles (although vocals are better on the EW200). Bronze nozzle can be too bright and peaky, but brings up the technacilities

Tin Hifi T3

• Somewhat generic hybrid signature, tuned well with good transient ability.

Tin Hifi T2

• Well-balanced tuning and an all-rounder signature that works for most.

Tin Hifi T2 Plus

• A solidly-tuned, inoffensive signature with middling technicalities.

Truthear Gate

• All rounder with less uppermids than the EW100P, very close to waner.
• Yuck, at least it has a cable.
• Nice frequency response. Stellar Cable. Bright but not overly in the vocals. I would still call it a mild V-Shaped sound signature.

Moondrop Sparks

• A tad too shouty and lacking low-level detail, but nothing too egregious as a whole.
• Solid tonal balance and great bass for a TWS.

ORIVETI OD100

• A well-done slight v-shape with good technicalities. A fun starter set. Treble surprisingly smooth for the tuning and price.
• A bit harsh to my ears.

Moondrop Rays DSP

• A more neutral version of the May with less bass and treble, very neutral sounding, inoffensive and boring, overpriced, many cheaper options with similar tuning and performance
• When People ask me for the best IEM for gaming, I would probably point them to these.

TRN V90

• Generic V-shape tuning with middling technicalities.

Blon BL05

• A more technical but far less pleasing BL03.

Fiio FA1

• A pretty standard reference-style tuning that just works.

Intime Sora

• Well controlled bass boost with slightly skewed tonality. Potential is there.
• Decent tonality, perhaps a tad strident.

Tangzu Fudu

• Fun/bassy harman without sacrificing much tech. Engaging low-end, and tips are also nice addition. BA timbre.

LETSHUOER D13

• Slightly too shouty and comes across as a mildly dirty V-shape for some reason.

Kbear Diamond

• Pretty good bass texture if not somewhat bloated; overall solid tuning.

HZSound Heart Mirror

• Sounds like vocalists are asphyxiating. Very thin note-weight.

Thieaudio Legacy 2

• Pleasant tuning marred by low-level detailing and downwards compression.

Vsonic GR07 Bass Edition

• Rather than a bassier GR07, this seems more like a darker GR07.

Tripowin x HBB Mele

• Very easy on the ears with characteristically blunted DD transients. Well-tuned, but could use with more air.

Soncie Meory SW500H

• Unique tuning. A little bit on the weird side. There are pos and cons to it. Overall... this is a hard one.

KZ PR1 Pro

• Solid choice at $50 for an exciting, high-clarity sound, but at the expense of an artifical brightness and timbre.

Tanchjim Echo

• Low-level detailing and dynamics with a resonably decent tonality.

Fiio FH1

• Surprisingly better tuned than its successor. Sparkly but non-sibilant treble with good bass response.

Kinera Sif

• Bloated bass with sharp and sibilant treble.

Tin Hifi T2 Evo

KBear Neon

• Extremely limited resolution despite OK tuning.

GS Audio GD3C

• Typical Chi-Fi sound of old - lots of bass, peaky lower-treble, and lack of air.

Blon A8 Prometheus

• An even warmer, less resolving BL03. The essence of Blon running out of oppoties to score another hit.

TinHifi T3

• Another one
• Low-level detailing and cheap timbre from the midrange and up with barely passable tonal balance.

Shure SE215

• Sounds like a typical dynamic IEM. Slightly bloated bass and narrow staging.
• A relic of the past that should be avoided by any self-respecting audiophile who wants good sound.