Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd or similar sub £100
Discussion
I’ve been using Audio Technica ATH-50x the last few months with a dragonfly black DAC, pretty happy with this combo and finally settled on Qobuz Studio Premier vs Tidal (just prefer the UI on Qobuz) and these work well for a budget set up. But I need a new set of in ears for the commute to work.
Was thinking of Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd as they’ve had great reviews and within budget (£100 max) Also looking at the SoundMAGIC E11C but I think the Beyers are the better of the two and worth the extra few £.
Any others to consider please? Need to be wired though, I wanted to use my DAC with these if possible but tried it with my old £30 Sennheisers and found these way too bright with the Dac. Maybe fine with a more premium set though??
Thanks Dave
Was thinking of Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd as they’ve had great reviews and within budget (£100 max) Also looking at the SoundMAGIC E11C but I think the Beyers are the better of the two and worth the extra few £.
Any others to consider please? Need to be wired though, I wanted to use my DAC with these if possible but tried it with my old £30 Sennheisers and found these way too bright with the Dac. Maybe fine with a more premium set though??
Thanks Dave
After a lot of YouTubing and reading reviews! I’ve gone for these Quad Drivers from 1MORE. Should be here by Saturday, had them for £85 elsewhere so under budget 
1MORE Quad Driver In-Ear Earphones Hi-Res High Fidelity Headphones with Warm Bass, Spacious Reproduction, High Resolution, Mic and In-Line Remote for Smartphones/PC/Tablet - E1010 Space Gray https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSJV5B9/ref=cm_sw_r...
1MORE Quad Driver In-Ear Earphones Hi-Res High Fidelity Headphones with Warm Bass, Spacious Reproduction, High Resolution, Mic and In-Line Remote for Smartphones/PC/Tablet - E1010 Space Gray https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSJV5B9/ref=cm_sw_r...
Quick update on these incase anyone’s thinking of getting any.
If you don’t want to read all of this....they’re really good just pick the right tips!!
They’re very finicky with ear tip selection, pick the wrong ones and the bass either sounds very muddy and you loose the clarity, or the complete opposite (too small a tip) and they just sound gash and like a £2.99 Poundland set! So it’s worth going through them all (9 to try!) until you find the perfect fit/sound. I settled on the largest foam tips in the end after using the silicone tips for a few days, but being foam if you install them wrong it can seal the opening slightly and really degrade the Sound. I’ve found the best way for me is pull the tips back slightly before rolling/squeezing to keep the hole as wide open as possible. Miles better SQ!!!!
Reading the reviews the triple drivers sound just as good as the Quads, some say even better. The Quads are around double the price of the triples and it’s only by chance I had a look on eBay and bought these for around the same price as triples on Amazon. Was set on the triples, I’m glad I bought these, had a good deal, but VFM......i’d go for the triple drivers and put the rest towards a DAC.
Sound wise as said these were very muddy with the fitted silicone tips which was disappointing, my 8 year old battered £30 Sennheiser’s sounded better! I spent ages going through all the tips testing 4 or 5 different tracks out over & over and still couldn’t get a decent sound, until I changed the way I roll the foam tips. Now all good!
They give a nice clear punchy bass, mids are great and the highs are clear and never harsh. Decent sound stage, can’t help think these are better for more vocal/acoustic/rock/metal tracks and if your into classical you’ll love them. Bass heavy dance/R&B sounds decent but doesn’t have the deep deep thumping bass which some might be after.
They work well running from my iPhone Xs Max have been using them like this all week but came home yesterday and tried them with my Dragonfly Black DAC, now they’re really singing!!!!
100% recommended....just pick the right tips or you’ll hate ‘em!
If you don’t want to read all of this....they’re really good just pick the right tips!!
They’re very finicky with ear tip selection, pick the wrong ones and the bass either sounds very muddy and you loose the clarity, or the complete opposite (too small a tip) and they just sound gash and like a £2.99 Poundland set! So it’s worth going through them all (9 to try!) until you find the perfect fit/sound. I settled on the largest foam tips in the end after using the silicone tips for a few days, but being foam if you install them wrong it can seal the opening slightly and really degrade the Sound. I’ve found the best way for me is pull the tips back slightly before rolling/squeezing to keep the hole as wide open as possible. Miles better SQ!!!!
Reading the reviews the triple drivers sound just as good as the Quads, some say even better. The Quads are around double the price of the triples and it’s only by chance I had a look on eBay and bought these for around the same price as triples on Amazon. Was set on the triples, I’m glad I bought these, had a good deal, but VFM......i’d go for the triple drivers and put the rest towards a DAC.
Sound wise as said these were very muddy with the fitted silicone tips which was disappointing, my 8 year old battered £30 Sennheiser’s sounded better! I spent ages going through all the tips testing 4 or 5 different tracks out over & over and still couldn’t get a decent sound, until I changed the way I roll the foam tips. Now all good!
They give a nice clear punchy bass, mids are great and the highs are clear and never harsh. Decent sound stage, can’t help think these are better for more vocal/acoustic/rock/metal tracks and if your into classical you’ll love them. Bass heavy dance/R&B sounds decent but doesn’t have the deep deep thumping bass which some might be after.
They work well running from my iPhone Xs Max have been using them like this all week but came home yesterday and tried them with my Dragonfly Black DAC, now they’re really singing!!!!
100% recommended....just pick the right tips or you’ll hate ‘em!
Little update on these 1more Quad Drivers, and not a good one 
Build quality really isn’t the best! Thought they were, they feel very solid and have a nice weight to them, but all I did yesterday was swap the earbuds over and one earphone came apart in my hand!! Got lucky and it didn’t break, so pushed it back together, just clicks back in, and it happened again today when I caught the wire on my face mask, lucky again and managed to get it back together on the bus!
Sound wise they really are excellent once you pick the right buds but this shouldn’t happen after 9 or 10 times use! I’ve hardly used them.
I think I’ll have to put a small bit of glue on the join to keep them together.
Build quality really isn’t the best! Thought they were, they feel very solid and have a nice weight to them, but all I did yesterday was swap the earbuds over and one earphone came apart in my hand!! Got lucky and it didn’t break, so pushed it back together, just clicks back in, and it happened again today when I caught the wire on my face mask, lucky again and managed to get it back together on the bus!
Sound wise they really are excellent once you pick the right buds but this shouldn’t happen after 9 or 10 times use! I’ve hardly used them.
I think I’ll have to put a small bit of glue on the join to keep them together.
thebraketester said:
What stopped you buy buying some headphones from one of the big manufacturers?
Nothing really I was pretty much set on the Soul Byrds then had another look around saw a few reviews on 1more triples and found the Quads and figured I’d give them a try.They do sound great it’s just the build quality could be turned up a notch!
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