Sony IER-M9

“Sony IER-M9 Sony WM1A I've been listening to the M9 for a month now and I absolutely love them. They sound very natural and balanced. Transients are neither too much or too little, allowing instruments to be well defined and distinct from one another despite it's warm tuning. The sub-bass rumble doesn't compare to the Z1R which I also own, but I am actually liking the bass on the M9 more. The bass on the M9 sound more precise. Sometimes the bass on the Z1R can be overwhelming and interfere with other parts of the mix. The M9 has the best vocals out of the iems I've tried so far. I mostly listen to Jpop and listen to female vocals 95% of the time. Getting the M9 when most of my library is female vocals may seem counterintuitive, but female vocals sound smooth and do not have any graininess/haziness to me. Male vocals were also exceptional and the best I've heard so far. The fit was quite finicky for me, especially with silicone tips. I didn't spend much time testing with silicone tips since the M9 is unvented, but the treble felt too sharp to my taste with silicone tips. The M9 doesn't allow you to deeply insert it, so most of the tips I had were uncomfortable. I have tried Comply foams, Azla Foamax, and Sonicfoams with the M9 and currently use Sonicfoam tips. In terms of treble dampening, Sonicfoams dampened the least while Comply tips dampened the most. The WM1A has been very nice especially when I'm on the train and the internet is garbage. The battery life is long and it has enough power for my iems. I don't ever go beyond 40 on low gain.The mrWalkman firmware has been installed and is on the WM1Z tuning. I'm not sure whether there is a difference between the different firmware tunings, but it feels like the WM1Z tuning makes it a bit brighter. I only notice this with my favorite song which isn't mastered the best and even then the difference, if any, is very small. The same could be said when comparing it to the apple dongle, but listening to the WM1A sounds "better" to me even if there isn't an actual difference. Music I listen to [Dearly Love - Dr. Flowers (streaming master has too much bass unfortunately)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAfPjHc0JEQ) [Paipai kamen wa dou kashira - Houshou Marine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv2vo94FOF4) [III - Houshou Marine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUDPjyfmJrs) [Let me Battle - 9Lana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkT97TqVNXw) [Bang - EGOIST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CfHTQGoPv4) [My Dearest - supercell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmZQFfypvhg) [No Doubt - Official Higedandism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHw005ZqCXk) [Dancing Hero (Eat you up) Dear Pop Singer Version - Yoko Oginome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vWvdnrIu3s) [Sasayaka na hajimari (TV anime version) - Visual Arts/Key](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGBV1spNH1k) [Koino uta - Yunomi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSeENqfskI) [Next Color Planet - Hoshimachi Suisei](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-BVYLmQNV8) [Daybreak ~ Grand Finale - Falcom Sound Team jdk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQxcsGqSYs0&list=PLzFTGYa_evXhFx5VEw66y_K37qGFPGB19&index=36) [Arc en Ciel - Falcom Sound Team jdk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0To8SJiRUKw)”