2022 Reader voted Best Gear polls – Update 4!

In this article we give you a fourth update on the status of the 2022 Reader voted best gear polls.

 

It’s been almost two months since we last updated you on our Reader Voted Best Gear polls. High End Munich was awesome and a lot of new products have been released on the market. But is the new gear good enough to show up already in your top 3 of best/favorite gear of 2022? Let’s find out. 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:

  1. Headphones – Link: Headphones
  2. Universal IEMs -Link: Universal IEMs
  3. Custom IEMs – Link: Custom IEMs
  4. TWS IEM – Link: TWS IEM
  5. Portable Players/DAPs – Link: DAPs/Port. Source
  6. DAC/AMP Combo – Link: DAC/AMP

The Status on June 25 is the following:

Headphones

  1. Meze Audio Elite – 17.47%
  2. Sennheiser HD800 – 11.26%
  3. Hifiman Susvara – 9.20%

The Meze Audio ELITE is still in the lead but where it had 21.02% of the votes last time, it now has dropped to 17.47%. The story goes the other way round for the HD800. It stayed in second place but increased from 9.91% to 11.26%. Last time the Susvara lost its third spot to the Audeze LCD-5, but now it is back in 3rd position with 9.20% of the votes. The Audeze now is in fourth place with 7.59% of the votes.

It looks like the top 2 spots are set already, but there’s still half a year to go, so you never know what can change over the next 6 months.

Universal IEMs

  1. Sennheiser IE900 – 13.47%
  2. Sony IER-Z1R – 8.61%
  3. Unique Melody MEST II – 6.62%%

No changes here in 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 however is dropping, and where it had 15.95% of the votes 2 months ago, it now has 13.47%. The second spot is still for the Sony IER-Z1R with 8.61%, which is a small decrease compared to before. The third position remains for the Unique Melody MEST 88, with 6.62% of the votes but it is losing its momentum quickly as it was 10.31% before. The Vision Ears EXT is in 4th place with 5.74%.

The Empire Ears Odin is in 5th position with the 64 Audio U18S following closely. All of these monitors are going for the bronze medal.

Custom IEMs

  1. 64 Audio A18T – 23.94%
  2. Vision Ears Elysium – 12.68%
  3. JH Audio JH13V2 Pro – 11.27%

We have a new player in the Top 3! There still a very clear lead for the 64Audio A18t CIEM even if it dropped from 27/27% to 23/94%. The VE Elysium stays in second place but it’s vote count has dropped from 14.55% to 12.68%. The third position this time round is for the JH Audio JH13V2 PRO, and it pushed the UM MEST of the podium. The JH13V2 PRO has 11.27% of the votes.

The Craft Ears Craft Six was in 4th place last time but it has dropped multiple positions (7th). The 4th spot now is for the UM MEST with the ThieAudio Monarch MKII coming up fast behind it.

TWS IEM

  1. Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro – 22.34%
  2. Apple AirPods Pro – 13.20%
  3. Sony WF-1000XM4 – 12.18%

Big changes here! The Airpods Pro are no longer in the lead and the first spot is now taken by the …. Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. They have 22.34% of the votes and that’s huge. It’s weird but that’s what has been voted. The Apple AirPods Pro are your second favorite TWS IEMs with 13.20%, coming from 16.84%. The Sony WF-1000XM4 are now in third place. They dropped from 15.79% to 12.18%.

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 were kicked off the podium but they are still in fourth position with 9.64% of the votes. The Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 (?!) is now in 5th position. Special! If you don’t agree, start voting!

Portable Players/DAPs

  1. Fiio M17 – 23.17%
  2. AK SP2000T – 12.06%
  3. AK SP2000 – 8.89%

The Fiio M17 powerhouse still is in the number one spot and its lead has more or less stayed the same. It now has 23.17% of votes where it had 23.46% last time. The second spot still is for the Astell&Kern SP2000T. Its vote count decreased slightly from 12.76% to 12.06%. The third spot is also for AK with the “good old” SP2000. It holds 8.89% of the vote count, which is just a bit more than the 8.23% it had in April.

The 4th and 5th place is also for Fiio and AK with the M11 Plus Ltd and the SE200, so I don’t see any other DAP brand coming close to the top three any time soon. But again, prove me wrong.

https://www.fiio.com/m17

DAC/AMP Combo

  1. Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 – 13.06%
  2. RME ADI-2 DAC FS – 13.06%
  3. Chord Electronics Mojo 2 – 11.26%

The Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 is still in the lead but it has the same percentage of votes with the unit in 2nd place, the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. The TT2’s lead dropped from 15.64% to 13.06%. The RME actually also has lost a bit of its votes and it has dropped from 13.97% to 13.06%. This can still go anywhere! Third place is still for the Mojo 2 which saw its part grow from 11.17% to 11.26%.

The Hugo 2 is in 4th position with only 6.76% of the votes only, closely followed by the Fiio K9 Pro (6.31%). I don’t see this Top 3 changing a lot anymore over the course of the year.

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-4/2

Universal IEMs: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-4/3

Custom IEMS: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-4/4

TWS IEMs: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-4/5

DAP: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-4/6

DAC/AMP: https://www.headfonia.com/2022-reader-voted-best-gear-polls-update-4/7

 

4.3/5 - (61 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

Be first to comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.