Angelears - Delci AE

What about Kefine Delci AE?

What about Kefine Delci AE? Personally i found the EW300 to be a little harsh in the treble region, that may just be me though

Surprised to not see many recommendations for Kefine Delci (regular or AE) here?  Seeing a lot of EW300 suggestions. Personally I found these to be a bit shouty with the treble sometimes being a bit fatiguing.

I love metal body iem like my kefine delci ae

Of all the IEMs I have, for some reason, the one I like the most is the Aful Explorer. I also have the Kefine Klean, Kefine Delci Ae, Sivga Que, Kiwi Ears Airoso, Lesthouer S08, Simgot EW300, Hidizs MP143, and MP145. All of these IEMs have a somewhat neutral, warm signature, but they all have excellent, very different sounds. I recommend the Aful Explorer, it's the best without a doubt. I won't tell you about the Hidizs MP145 because they're too big and can have adjustment problems if you have a narrow ear canal. Another thing I recommend is that you play with different types of cables and eartips, they can make a difference.

I've tried several IEMs under the $100 range, the Lesthouer S08, Kefine Delci AE, Kefine Klean, Sivga Que, Simgot EW300, Isn Audio H20, and Turthear Zero Red. All of these IEMs are excellent for the price paid, and the ones I liked the most are the Lesthouer S08, Kefine Delci AE, and Sivga Que. https://preview.redd.it/86zc1z7oabtf1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=397875ebb7606dfc6e3d1de604e148efbf11c483

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sHR4QwC1-YprWbjDEHtrz9qCQskY_uuOsAo-Amjznts/edit?gid=0#gid=0 Fresh Reviews list is probably the most comprehensive Gaming IEM list out there. Personally, in that price range, i would look at the 7Hz Sonus, or my personal favorite sun $100 IEM from 2024...the Kefine Delci AE with the Gold Nozzle.

Kefine Delci AE is tuned a little better than the OG Delci, IMHO. The new Kiwi Ears Airoso is a great alternative, especially for gaming, as it has better treble extension than both the Delci or the EW300. Personally i am NOT a fan of the EW300. I think its overhyped. And if it doesnt agree with your ear anatomy, it sounds "off". Myself, Jaytiss, and Tone Deaf Monk all experienced this problem. As do plenty of others in many HiFi Forums.

The Delci's have warmer bass presentation. Where as the Airoso has a faster more tactile bass presentation. By that i mean the bass on the Airoso does not get that lush subwoofer feeling to it. Because the Airoso leans so heavily on the BA's in the treble and mids, that faster bass actually nicely tunes the DD to the BA's, giving them good matched tonality. When you look at an IEM like the Tangzu Fudu (another favorite of mine), the bass can sometimes present as being bloated, just because the decay speeds between the BA's and DD are so different. You really feel like the DD is pulling duty as a subwoofer. So, the Fudu feels like a small bookshelf speaker with a 12" subwoofer, where as the Airoso feels like a full tower, full range, speaker. So while the Airoso does have a tendency to make some bass notes feel a little dry. This is really only an issue if you are listening to something like Jazz or Big Band, where notes from an upright String Bass are prominent in the mix, and the bass plucks loose some of that natural warmth because they fade out a little quicker than our ear might hear it naturally. So, while it is accurate to the recording, the timbre can feel a little dry and clinical in some songs, if you are used to hearing them a certain way. Which is something people new to Planars often experience for the same reason too, the speed of the driver can make it feel less natural sometimes. That being said, if you predominantly listen to EDM, or any kind of electronically produced bass, like from a Roland 808, they are perfectly capable of replicating the rolling bass notes, and really replaying the bass notes with authority, provided the song is mixed for them to play that way. So in the right songs, sometimes the bass of the Airoso feels more impactful than the Delci, because it can really dig out some of the texture of very low sub bass frequencies, in a way the Delci cant. Overall, the Delci is going to have generally warmer tonality, and timbre, and represent a subjectively "better" bass presentation for most music types. Owning all three, musically, i will go for my Delci AE with the Gold Nozzle, and for gaming, or YouTube videos, i will go with the Airoso. And as a lot of my music is Popo and EDM based tracks, it works fine. I might consider something different than those two if i wanted to listen to metal or classic rock, because i think they fall on either end of where you want an IEM for that kind of music. Comfort wise, i have no complains with either. I regularly sleep with my Delci's in, because they have a very thin profile, and they disappear into my ear. The Airoso is a little thicker, so its not a sleepable IEM. But I have no issues with all day comfort with either. They fit my ear very well. As always, make sure you use the right tips, and try every tip you have available to you for the best seal, comfort, and tonality. Tip selection is SUPER important. Sorry if thats an overwhelming amount of data, but i hope that helps.

For your preference, i would look at the Kefine Delci AE, or the KiwiEars Airoso (provided its still available under $100). Both offer fantastic bass impact, and solid treble details, that translate well to gaming. I would also consider getting the Fosi DS2 USB Dongle for using with your phone and PC. The measurements for it are stellar, very neutral, maintains good musicality, and clarity for gaming. And the price is excellent.

Personally, i feel the best of the three is the InAwaken Dawn. It just has a special quality about it that i find very engaging, and really enjoy. You and i listen to very simialr music, so take that as you will. Plus they look gorgeous, and come with a great accessory pack of quality tips, a good cable, and a fantastic carrying case. The Klean is also a good set. However, the tuning nozzles on it are, IMHO, a bit gimmicky. The alternative Black Nozzle is a little too bright and glaring. And, myself, and others, have experienced some QC issues with the filters. My Black Filters have one side that is quieter than the other. Some people have had that issue with the stock silver filters too. So, be aware that this may be a problem on your set also. The accessories pack on the Klean isnt anything to get excited about. Tips are sufficient, and the cable is functional, and the carrying case is decent enough. Now, i will say, that i do have some bias with the Klean. The Kefine Delci AE is one of my favorite sub $100 single DD sets. And the alternative nozzle on the Delci AE sounds amazing. And it really brightens up the tonality of what is a predominantly warm set. The Klean, on the other hand, is a little brighter on treble extension than the Delci past 10k on the stock tuning, while having very similar overall tunings. So the Klean gives at lot of the same energy i like from the Delci AE, but it gets to be a little too much with the alternative nozzles. So, this is where my personal head bias comes into play, because i am intimately familiar with the Delci AE's sound, and i find the Klean to be a little lacking in technicalities to the Delci AE, while also sounding too similar. Which is why i keep coming back to the Dawn more, because it has a different tonality to its flavor. Basically, because i have the Delci AE, the Klean becomes the orphaned step child of the two. Now, one area where the Klean will excel over the Dawn is durability. If you plan on wearing these outside a lot in direct sun, i would go with the Klean, as the Dawn being full resin, can, with time, have some yellowing, or crazing issues. As all fully resin IEM's can, when being exposed to the suns UV rays. I try to keep all my resin IEM's as indoor only sets for that reason. The Cadenza is a good little single DD set. But i dont think it is as good as the Dawn or the Klean. If you really want to have the Cadenza sound...just pick up the KBear KB01. Exact same driver and tuning made in the exact same assembly facility as the Cadenza, and its like $10 cheaper.

Kefine Delci AE There is no other option. The EW300 is an absolute joke. Over hyped, over marketed. I mean, hell, the top post in this thread literally says "I hope they sound good". THEY DONT EVEN HAVE THEM YET!!! But they are telling you they are good, and that you should buy them. And likely have nothing to compare them to either. So at this point, it is just speaking out loud to justify their purchase, and convince themselves of their own confirmation bias. Unlike the vast majority of jabronis in this subreddit, I won't comment on things I don't own.

Under $100 for Valorant, Kefine Delci AE. End of discussion. If you want to go for a budget option, check out the Tripowin Vivace. Very similar tuning tonality to the Delci, but not nearly as high quality a driver. Cables are purely for aesthetic purposes. There are some absolute dog shit cables out there on super cheap sets, that, yeah, replace those, because they are uncomfortable, and pick up a lot of static. But i dont have any problems with the cables on the Vivace or the Delci, and there is no real need to replace them. Its just bling, or comfort. So, unless you REALLY hate the stock cable, its not necessary, unless you need/want a different connection type.

OK, well, first, forget about the EW300. It's way over hyped. It has weird ear gain issues in a lot of people, and I guess it sounds fine in isolation, but you put it up against any other IEM from $50-$100 and it just doesn't stack up. That alternative filter on the EW300 makes the IEM unlistenable. It's so bad. Something like the Kefine Delci AE has tuning filters that actually work, has a ton of detail for gaming, ASMR, with the Gold Filter, and is very musical and still works great for gaming with the Silver filter. Things like the TRN Shell are also a great value if you are starting out in the hobby. And come with a great accessories package, a nice case, a modular cable, tons of tips to experiment with, some tuning filters (though they don't do much). I personally have no issue with this Hexa, but understand it will give a very tonally flat feeling of sound in your ear, based on the Etymotic Diffuse Field. It is very polarizing and hit or miss for some. The Pure is warmer and feels a little more refined. It will feel dull back to back with the Hexa because the He a just throws the Pina Gain at you, and it feels brighter because of it, but the Pure is far more nuanced. Both are very tip sensitive. As for DACs, I DO NOT recommend the Apple Dongle. And I really hate it when people do. Sure, "it works", but the stupid comments by people like Crinicle who say "its good for 90% of people" includes 50% of them being too dumb to know good audio, and 60% of them having iPhones. It is not the magical one and done like people. Make it out to be, it's very limited. It doesn't t work with Android phones without a paid access 3rd Party App. It has bugginess with Windows. And most consoles refuse to recognize it properly. The Fosi DS2 is a great dongle, fantastic sound. Just remember to adjust your bitrate and frequency response in thr Windows Audio Properties. But outside of Windows and Android it is a UAC2.0 only dongle, so some devices will simply not recognize it, especially consoles which require UAC1.0. There are also things like the Snowsky Tiny and Melody, which work with Fiios free app, and allow for firmware updates, and EQ, and filter options, as well as UAC 1.0 and 2.0 mode switching, so things like the PS4/5 and the Switch can recognize it. And the Tiny is <$20, and the Melody <$50. For a little more you can also get something like the Retro Nano which adds a battery and BT greatly expanding your connection options.

Kefine Delci AE. Aingle DD so impedance mismatch from the PC won't matter. Highly rated for gaming. Well built metal shell. Not really much better for gaming under $/£100.

Damn, didn’t expect the EW300 to rank that low compared to Delci AE—knowing how hyped it is in this sub as the best all-rounder under 100 USD. By the way, have you tried EQ-ing the S12 Pro's bass to match the tuning of the S08? I was thinking, since most planar IEMs in this price range have a single planar driver—and usually share the same one—why not buy the most technical one and then EQ it to your preferred tuning. Planar drivers have low THD anyway, so you won’t easily get distortion from boosting frequencies compared to DD. Maybe increasing bass instead of decreasing treble would also make it less bright—to your liking.

What do you think about the difference in bass between the Delci AE and the S08? Do you think it's worth getting a planar IEM just to experience that planar bass? I’m planning to upgrade from the Zero 2 to the Delci AE, and I’m wondering if it’s also worth getting the KZ PRX just to try out planar sound, even though I’ll already have the Delci AE.

I REALLY love the way they sound. Unfortunately my right IEM goes very quiet after 30min-1hr. So they are unusable... the manufacturer and the seller have 'noped' out of helping me beyond "change the filter, clean them." They were broken right out of the box, but I was dumb and chalked it up to high humidity because it rained a ton when I first got them and I'm my research they hate humidity. None of the trouble shooting has helped and I'm stuck with $80 IEMs (my first pair) that are useless. I tried storing them in an air tight container with silica and they still don't work for long. This was a big purchase for me so I had to downgrade to Kiwi Cadenzas. They don't sound as good, but at least they work. I'm heartbroken over it, they sound so SO good for a short time.

It opened to a new world. This was back in 2015. Audio-Technica ATH-CKR10 would be an awfully overpriced set now. But back in the days it was the best earphones I've ever heard. They had a finnicky build. Drivers could fail very easily, resulting in unbalanced volume between L/R phones. I've had two pairs and both had the same problem. My first pair had this problem within 4 years and my second pair had it within 2 years. My second IEM was even better. It's an airy set. Mee Pinnacle P1. The cable didn't have a plastic ear loop guard and cable became brittle due to the oil. Nowadays I always clean my ears before using IEMs. But it's too late, as both of the Pinnacle P1 cables that came with the package died. I think the connectors are proprietary and the replacement cables prices are too much. The ear meshes also detaches from too much moisture. You'll need to glue them back somehow, or they will detach. And speaking of moisture, they built up moisture just like the Moondrop Chu 2. I miss using those IEMs, but I also don't. It was nice while it lasted. I think it might still be my airiest sounding set even today. I returned to the IEM hobby in 2024 and things were looking quite different compared to back in 2017. I started out with cheaper sets then eventually moved my way up to more expensive (70+ USD) ones. I had Simgot EA500 LM but I wasn't really impressed with the tuning. Ended up selling it. I got a Kefine Delci AE and liked it. It was more relaxed than the LM with good tuning. Then I got Tanchjim Origin and it's been my favourite IEM since. Perfect for the genres/styles I listen to. I won't count Artti T10 as I got it for less than 50 USD, but it's the best IEM I own at its price category.

IMO the EW300 is pretty overrated and this sub can be a huge echo-chamber at times. The reviews from well-known/trustworthy audio reviewers mostly put it at "OK". It's got a pretty safe tuning though and the way it sounds is, at least on initial listening, much cleaner and more resolving than more budget IEMs. However, the EW300 seems to have coherency issues that mean the mids can get very muddled with busy tracks. It also has an annoying upper treble peak (possibly caused by the PZT) that takes some tip-rolling or EQ to fix. That doesn't solve the coherency issue though. TBH I wouldn't put the Delci much above it either. The Delci is just a nice 1DD that's not a huge technical upgrade over the $20 ones, but it has a slightly better driver and very well tuned. And a general advantages of 1DDs, unless there's something badly wrong with them, is no coherency issues. It's also built really well and is extremely comfortable, so all those things combined make it a very good IEM. It's not quite on the same level as the Kato or other higher-end 1DDs though. Even the EA500 and EA500LM are much more capable technically, but the Delci is tuned better, without any harshness in the treble.

My first was Salonotes Zero (not 2), I was impressed for the price but it was downgrade compared with headphones I used at that time (Steelseries Arctis 1). Same would be with Zero 2 because even if they are improved still not the best for FPS gaming. After that I was considering getting Truthear Crinacle Zero Red but so many reviews that they are uncomfortable because of the big nozzle size. Zero Red should sound good enough for FPS tho and you could buy additional eartips to make them feel more comfortable but for some people that didn’t change much when we talk about comfort. So for me Zero Red were no go. I went for the Kefine Delci AE and I really like them soundwise and comfort too. I also play almost only FPS games (Apex, COD sometimes etc.) and can feel the difference. Even more difference when you adjust sound of your audio in the playstation 5 menu. Out of these, I would go with Kefine Klean, as a “safe pick” as they sound really nice for the price but Kefine Delci AE is little bit better in terms of sound compared to them but also for higher price. You can see youtuber FreshReviews sheet of best IEMs for FPS games too. P.S. I’m also new to the IEMs hobby and my opinions are based mostly on other peoples reviews I found od internet. I have tried only Kefine Delci AE and 7Hz Salonotes Zero so keep that in mind! EDIT: Also you need to know that not many IEMs is better soundwise when it comes for FPS and positional audio but for music it is night and day difference. Also, it depends from what kind of audio (headphones) you come from. So for people there could be biggers or smaller difference when they start to use IEMs.

I got Kefine Delci AE for $50ish. I wanted some dedicated travel IEMs that weren't too expensive.