The Aful Explorer for Music and Gaming (1DD + 3BA)

Hello again, this time I've decided to review one of my IEMs, those being the Aful Explorer. For reference, I have it using a balanced 4.4 on a Fiio K7, using both the small size of the stock (blue core) eartips and small kiwi ears flex eartips. Also, I bought these with my own money (duh, I don't have pull with companies at all) during a sale on aliexpress over the summer, and have had them for around 4 months. The configuration of these is 1 dynamic with 3 balanced armatures, with a relatively warm and dark tuning.

I think saying I love this set for music, especially for what I listen to, would be a gross understatement, as these are by far my favorite IEMs I own, and my favorite still even if you include my headphones, with the HD6XX being potentially tied (that said, I haven't been able to use those a lot recently because my new apartment has a lot of outside noise). Now, I'm no expert on audio, nor do I have much experience reviewing stuff, but I will say that this is probably my go-to recommendation for around this price range (about 110 USD). The treble is very much to my liking, as I'm somewhat sensitive to treble, and the bass is nice where it doesn't muddy anything else but there is still a good amount or when I listen to any hip-hop, rap, or EDM in my playlist. I have something I would like to highlight in this section though, and that is the comfort for long listening sessions. Something about the size of these shells with how long the nozzles are, especially with small earips allows it to sit so nicely in my ear without causing discomfort, but while still allowing for a nice seal. The shells fit very comfortable in my ear with the semi-custom molding, and compared to some of my other IEMs, like the Ziigaat lush, the fit is much better for comfort.

As for gaming, I'm by no means an expert in the field of how accurate IEMs are for gaming or how immersive they sound, but I like these. I mostly play Overwatch, and I have no issues that I've noticed over these months. For single-player games, the immersion is good, but I would always take closed back headphones over IEMs or open-backs for immersion, especially in my current environment or if you have a noisy environment. Imaging feels accurate and better than any gaming headsets I've used, most notably my blackshark v2 pro, especially without the weirdness I attribute to virtual surround. Soundstage is nothing impressive for an IEM but I prioritize imaging for fps games over soundstage. Anything that is supposed to be bombastic or deep-sounding hits hard, but I will say the treble is quite dark at high frequencies, but for most audio cues that isn't an issue you'll really run into.

The only gripe I can really say I have with this IEM comes from the cable, not the sound in any way. That gripe is just that the cable isn't modular, but you can at least get it in 4.4 or 3.5mm if you so desire. While it doesn't come with a lot of accessories, it comes with a carrying case and that's fine by me.

Now for some caveats with my review. Please note I have four pieces of audio devices, those being a Fiio FT1, Aful Explorer, Ziigaat Lush, and Sennheiser HD6XX, and none of those are above $220 new, and I didn't buy new, so I'm not exactly experienced with higher end gear. Second, I would consider myself to have pretty small ears. Lastly, I'm very new to audio. With all that said, I hope you appreciated this review.