In this article we give you a third update on the status of the 2022 Reader voted best gear polls.
It’s been a few months since we last updated you on our Reader Voted Best Gear polls. Seeing we’ll be heading off to High End Munich soon, it’s really time to give another update as a whole lot of new gear will be presented there. Gear which probably will start popping up in the polls soon. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, check out the page below where we announce and explain the Reader Awards.
The categories this year are the following:
- Headphones – Link: Headphones
- Universal IEMs -Link: Universal IEMs
- Custom IEMs – Link: Custom IEMs
- TWS IEM – Link: TWS IEM
- Portable Players/DAPs – Link: DAPs/Port. Source
- DAC/AMP Combo – Link: DAC/AMP
The Status on May 7 is the following:
Headphones
- Meze Audio Elite – 21.02%
- Sennheiser HD800 – 9.91%
- Audeze LCD-5 – 9.61%
The Meze Audio ELITE is still in the lead but where it had 23.91% of the votes last time, it now has dropped to 21.02%. Same story goes for the HD800. It dropped from 12.17% to 9.91% but it’s still holding its second place. Last time the Susvara took over the 3rd place from the Audeze LCD-5, but now they have again changed positions. The LCD-5 is back in the bronze spot with 9.61% of the votes. And it’s closing in fast on the Sennheiser.
It looks like the top 2 spots are set already, but we’re only May, so you never know what can change over the next 6 or 7 months.
Universal IEMs
- Sennheiser IE900 – 15.95%
- Sony IER-Z1R – 8.90%
- Unique Melody MEST II – 10.31%
Big changes here: The Vision Ears EXT has dropped out of the top 3! Sennheiser is still doing well in our lists and the IE 900 – which I absolutely love – still is the number 1 for now. Its lead over the number 2 has grown even more to 15.95%. The second spot now is for the Sony IER-Z1R with 8.90%. The third position is for the Unique Melody MEST 88, with 7.67%.
With all the new IEMs coming out each week, this top 3 is bound to change many more times. Will the EXT be back next time?
Custom IEMs
- 64 Audio A18T – 27.27%
- Vision Ears Elysium – 14.55%
- Unique Melody MEST – 12.73%
No changes in position here. Still a very clear lead for the 64Audio A18t CIEM even if it lost a good 1 percent. It’s now in the lead with 27.27% of the votes. The Elysium stays in second place but it’s vote count has dropped from 16.67% to 14.55%. The third position like last time is for the UM MEST MKII and its count has increased from 11.90% to 12.73%.
The Craft Ears Craft Six is in 4th place with only 7.27% of the votes, so it will be hard I think to change the actual top 3 over the next few months. Prove me wrong.
TWS IEM
- Apple AirPods Pro – 16.84%
- Sony WF-1000XM4 – 15.79%
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 – 14.74%
The Apple AirPods Pro are still your favorite TWS IEMs but the Sony WF-1000XM4 is catching up fast!
The Airpods Pro are still in the lead with 16.84%, but they previously has 21.82% of the votes, so it’s dropping fast! The Sony now is in the second spot with 15.79%, where it was in third spot last time with 12.73%. The Sennheiser Momentum TWS2 is now in the third spot with 14.74%, it came from 16.36%.
Last time the Lypertek Z7 was catching up fast, but now this is the case for the Noble Falcon Pro.
Portable Players/DAPs
- Fiio M17 – 23.46%
- AK SP2000T – 12.76%
- AK SP2000 – 8.23%
The awesome Fiio M17 still is in the number one spot but its lead has decreased from 25.60% to 23.46% It’s still very comfortably in the lead however. The second spot still is for the Astell&Kern SP2000T. Its vote count increased minimally from 12.50% to 12.76%. The third spot is also for AK, but where it was the SE200 before, it now is the “good old” SP2000. It holds 8.23% of the vote count.
The 4th and 5th place is also for Fiio and AK, so I don’t see any other DAP brand coming close to the top three any time soon. But again, prove me wrong.
DAC/AMP Combo
- Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 – 15.64%
- RME ADI-2 DAC FS – 13.97%
- Chord Electronics Mojo 2 – 11.17%
The Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 is still in the lead and its vote count has stayed stable with 15.64% where it before was 15.57%. The RME has lost a bit of its votes and it has dropped from 14.75% to 13.97%, but it stays in the second spot. Third place is still for the Mojo 2 but it also dropped from 12.30% to 11.17%
I am a bit surprised to not see any units like those of Burson in this list, or any of the popular Chi-Fi brands such as SMSL or Topping for that matter.
Don’t forget that you can still vote and participate in all of these polls. If you don’t agree with the intermediate results or you want to see your favourite piece of gear in the results, you know what to do…
Check out Page 2 and following and get voting!
Full links:
Headphones: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/2
Universal IEMs: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/3
Custom IEMS: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/4
TWS IEMs: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/5
DAP: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/6
DAC/AMP: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-3/7