IEM Sources - How much does it matter?

Sovrce Gear
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So, I never took IEMs as a serious musical experience (for some reason), until recently. After hearing Simgot SuperMix 4 and Ziigaat Estrella, I started to realise that I was missing out on a part of the hobby that is evolving at break-neck speed, and is something that can offer a unique musical experience.

I have started to imbibe IEM content from certain YouTubers that I do not find too objectionable, and they are somewhat ambivalent to/do not discuss in satisfactory detail their source gear/synergy. I wished to ask those on this forum with experience of this, how much do sources matter for IEMs? This query has two elements as I see it: source signature affecting IEM signature, and source technical capability affecting IEM capability. These queries can then infer synergy.

I have an understanding, and I can’t put my finger on where it came from, that source gear doesn’t have nearly the same impact on an IEM as over-ear headphones or speakers. And if I can’t justify this position, I must challenge it. My understanding seems to be largely reinforced by the content I’ve started to consume on YouTube, and obviously, other forums are awash with all manner of opinions. I don’t believe that I currently have IEMs capable of/suitable for discerning source differences and don’t have a great variety of sources to test. I am however going to go further down the IEM rabbit hole, but I wished to understand the importance of source gear, so I don’t make too many missteps on the way.

So, what are everyone’s experiences?

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I think it depends on the iem.

The Sennheiser ie900 scales very well from my experience and, at one point, I used it to evaluate any changes in my system, mainly with cables.

The rhapsodio infinity mkii. is hella picky. I did not enjoy that iem with the vast majority of my gear. I found only 1 amp I really liked it with.

That said, I don’t use iems on the go so the gear I use for them are typically meant for headphones :man_shrugging:.

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I don’t really do IEM’s, but I have played with them.
The big thing is going to be noise floor of the amp, most IEM’s are insanely sensitive, so any noise your amp makes you hear, you can ameliorate that a bit with solutions like the IfI IEMatch that attenuate the output at the same time they present a more reasonable load to the amp.

Cables are a bigger deal in IEM world if only because the impedances tend to be lower, so that ~1Ohm of cable impedance makes a bigger difference.

My one splurge IEM is a Hyla Saarda, and IME it’s pretty source picky.

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Thanks, gents. This is helpful stuff. I hadn’t thought too hard about noise floor, in part because I use my IEMs with my Chord Mojo most of the time. That or an Earman Eagle. Saying that, I have plugged my few IEMs into my newly acquired Goldenwave Prelude. Although it’s class A, the noise floor seems to be very low as I haven’t noticed it. That amp seems to play nice with everything I plug into it. Although Utopia on was boring and peaky.

That point about cables is another good thing to consider. It’s obvious when you spell it out! At least now I have an excuse to buy a nice IEM cable :grin:

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