I'm treble challenged. Any good warm and smooth iems to upgrade from starfields?

I love my starfields (w/ foam tips) and haven't found anything I liked more yet. I'm just that treble challenged. I've posted this this in other forums but I wanted to try my luck here too. I hope my super audio best friends can point me in the right direction.

The stuff that I've owned includes the KATO, Dusk, FDX1, ISN H40, Penon Orb, kbear believe, Tripowin mele, ER2XR, 1more triple driver, bgvp dmg + lz a6 filter and whatever else I've tried.

The closest I've gotten to the starfields in terms of enjoyment are the ER2XR (triple flange), and then after that the KZ DQ6 (foam tips) w/ tape mod + a little eq and in third place I guess the ISN H40 (foam tip).

I played around with the apo eq on my PC using my e1da 9038s, I liked the oratary target more than stock on my er2xr, but I didn't like it more than stock tuning on my starfields. My favorite eq target outside of stock tuning on the starfields was leaving the bass shelf unadjusted and adjusting the upper range to crinacle's ief neutral target. I believe this was the older ief neutral target, before crinacle added a few extra db in gain. I still preferred stock tuning on most tracks but on some tracks where the treble or upper mids were a little more harsh I found the ief target eq to work better.

I'm looking for something under $300 that can fit what I'm looking for and sound better than the starfields. Here's what I've figured out so far many iems later..
- I'm really sensitive to harsh upper mids and treble so this has made my search a little hard. Even the mele hurt my ears with it's "tame" treble because of the larger than usual peak at 8k. The Kato as well hurt my ears for some reason and sounded a bit thin in comparison to my starfields, I don't like a thin sound. Of all my iems I've had only the starfields and er2xr don't hurt my ears without eq.
- FR curve wise in the upper range, I think I want something in between the starfield tuning and crin's ief neutral target. I also really like boost and extension in the air region, like that boost at around 15k that the starfield has, but this isn't a big deal for me.
- Bass quantity wise I consider the starfield perfect, it had not too much, and not too little. I won't be bothered if there's a tiny bit more, but having significantly too little would be an issue. Tactility and physical impact is nice.
- I find too much sub bass fatiguing but still like a nice impact, so I like having a little mid bass focus, which is why I really like the shape of the starfield's bass shelf.
- I'm open to hybrid and ba iems as long as they don't have noticable ba timbre. I found it noticable on the dusk which ruined it for me. I also don't like the metallic timbre of the fdx1.
- My music library is (ordered from most to least) mostly pop, hiphop, rap, metal, indie rock, rnb, and some Lofi/trap/house/edm/dubstep. Most of my music has vocals, around two thirds of it male vocals.

I was considering the Hana 2021 but it not only looks a bit brighter in graphs, but was also said to be less warm in super review's review so it sounds like it's a step away from what I'm looking for, the oxygen being an even further step away since it supposedly sounds a bit thin (relative to the starfields). I also don't like the flat bass shelf of either iem since I prefer a bit of a mid bass focus. I may end up trying one anyways if I can find one for cheap but I'm looking for other alternatives that will hopefully fit what I'm looking for better. I was interested in the mangird teas as well but that bass shelf again looks like the opposite of what I'm looking for. The timeless 7hz looks interesting but the fairly large 8k spike compared to the starfields on super review's squig and crinacle's squig remind me of the mele and how it ended up being too harsh for my ears. So hit me with your other recs, help me find a starfields successor so I can finally retire them. I hope one of you can save me or I'm just gonna keep going deeper down this rabbit hole then end up back with the starfields again..

 

Most likely there are many options but what comes first to my mind looking at your preferences is MD Plus. if you can find one. I do not not think you will have a problem with treble and it is still seriously good IEM

 

Thanks for the rec! Going to keep an eye out for them on the used market.

edit: That fr curve looks perfect all the way up until after 6k. That 8k spike looks massive! I don't think it's just the coupler https://squig.link/?share=Super_Review_Target,Massdrop_Plus,Moondrop_Starfield

 

Hi,
I could have written same words. As said ... I too have starfields and I also have some problems with "rough" uppers mids / lower treble ... sometimes. Did you find anything you like? I was thinking about Kato and new Hana or old Oxygen. Does Starfield still sounds smoother compared to Kato? The reviews are so puzzling. Did you try Oxygen?

cheers, V

 

I have them. The treble is not a problem. I think it's the coupler.

 

I have the kato, didnt like it much even when I forced myself to try to like it with some "brain burn in". I think most others would like it more than the starfields, it has a flatter bass shelf making it sound less bloated and more control with less bleed into the mids but that in turn makes the sound thinner which I didn't like. The extra treble they added was not to my liking either, was a tad too sharp for me to be able to enjoy as much as my starfields but a lot of people were complaining about the starfield treble being too tame.. so the kato is more for them than me. I haven't tried the Hana or oxygen. I was told they sound a bit thinner but I am still curious if they would sound any better than the starfields to me.

 

Thank you for reply,
I was thinking about sony xba n3. Did you have chance to hear that one? A bit old and probably bass heavy, but that is not problem for me.
When I got Starfield they were much too bright for me. I got used to them, but not entirely.