2024 Reader voted Best Gear polls – Update 5!

In this article we give you a fifth status update on the 2024 Reader voted best gear polls. 

It’s already been 9 months since we launched the 2024 Reader Voted Best Gear polls. 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.

Anyway, it’s time for a new and third update. Let’s find out what you so far in 2024 find to be the Best / Your favourite Gear on the market! 

There are more categories this year and they are the following:

1. Headphones
2. Universal IEMs
3. Custom IEMs
4. TWS IEMs
5. Portable Players/DAPs
6. DAC/AMP Combos – Including Dongles
7. Amplifiers (only) – Tube or Solid State
8. DAC (only)
9. Streamers
10. Cables & Accessories

The Status on September 13th is the following:

Headphones

1. Meze Audio Empyrean 2 – 20.06%
2. Sennheiser HD800 S – 15.01%
3. Audeze LCD-5 – 11.69%

The Meze Audio Empyrean 2 is still strongly in the lead. The Sennheiser HD800 S and the Audeze LCD-5 have switched places again but they’re still strongly in the top 3. It will be tough to change this strong top 3.

Universal IEMs

1. Sennheiser IE900 – 14.87%
2. Empire Ears Odin – 13.33%
3. Sony IER-ZR1 – 11.03%

The number 1 position still is for the Sennheiser IE 900 but it’s position decreased from 16.97% to 14.87%. The Empire Odin is still second and it went up from 11.19% to 13.33%. The Unique Melody MEST MKII is no longer in 3rd position. This place now goes to the Sony IER-ZR1 with 11.03%. The UM MEST MKIII is now in place 4 with only 7.69% of the votes. Has the top 3 settled already? 

Custom IEMs

1. JH Audio Layla – 28.85%
2. 64 Audio A18T – 19.23%
3. 64 Audio A12T – 13.46%

The market is mostly focusing on universal IEMs now and even the CIEM companies are now offering a whole series of universal IEMs. I personally will take a custom over a universal any day, simply because of the comfort and sound quality. That said, the CIEM market is getting very niche and that shows in the number of votes and the models in the list.

The first position is for the JH Audio Layla with an impressive 28.85% coming from 19.44% of the votes. The second spot is for the 64 Audio A18t and also their A12T is in third place with 13.46%. The fourth place is for the Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor with 7.69%. It is one of my personal fav custom IEMs.

TWS IEM

1. Apple Airpods Pro 2 – 33.96%
2. Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 – 24.53%
3. Sony WF-1000XM4 – 11.32%

The Airpods are now even stronger in the 1st spot with 42.24%, coming from 33.96% of the votes. The Sennheiser Momentum TWS3 is 2nd with 18.01% of the counts. The Sony WF-1000XM4 still is in the third spot with 7.45% of the votes. 

Portable Players/DAPs

1. Astell&Kern SP3000 – 21.61%
2. Astell&Kern SR35 – 19.78%
3. FiiO M15s – 6.23%

The Astell&Kern SP3000 always is one of the best scoring DAPs and it is an incredible DAP to own if you have larger budget. At this stage it has the most of the votes with 21.61%, coming from 24.75%. The second spot is for a newcomer and it is for the AK SR35, which has 19.78%, coming from 11.62% of the votes. The Fiio M15s is still 3rd with 6.23%, where it had 7.07% before. The excellent Hiby RS8 with 5.13% is close to taking the 3rd spot back. All great DAPs!

DAC/AMP – Dongles included

1. Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 – 24.74%
2. Chord Electronics Mojo 2  – 23.37%
3. Cayin Audio RU7 – 7.90%

The top 2 spots have changed here. The Chord Mojo 2 and the Hugo TT2 are still doing very well with the top 2 positions. The TT2 won this category last year, but it’s still a bit of a surprise to see it here. The third position still is for the Cayin RU7, which is one of my personal favorite DAC/AMP dongles. It however is closely being followed by the Fiio Q15. 

Amplifiers only 

1. Ferrum Oor – 9.76%
2. Linear Tube Audio LTA Micro ZOTL 2.0 – 6.10%
3. iFi Audio iCan Phantom – 4.88%

The first spot was for the Astell&Kern PA10, but because of voting fraude it was removed from the list. The popular Ferrum OOR amp, which is especially impressive with the dedicated power supply, now is first with 9.76% of the votes. The second place is for the LTA Micro ZOTL with 6.10% and the new 3rd spot is for the iFi iCan Phantom.

DAC only

1. Chord DAVE – 30.05%
2. Chord TT2 – 20.77%
3. Holo Audio May DAC – 8.74%

The Chord DAVE is a TOTL unit and I really enjoyed my time with it. It’s a bit surprising to see it in the lead, but it seem you all like the DAVE, a lot. The second spot is for the Chord TT2, which is scoring well in our DAC/AMP poll as well. The popular and excellent Holo May DAC is now on 3rd position.  The Ferrum Wandla (5.46%) is advancing fast and it has almost caught up with the Holo.

Streamers

1. Eversolo DMP-A6 – 22.73%
2. Eversolo DMP-A8 – 16.67%
3. FiiO R9 – 15.91%

This is a new category and Eversolo is strongly performing as you can see. Both their A6 and A8 are strongly in the top 2 and they are just ahead of the Fiio R9 all-in-one unit. The DMP-A6 won our streamer of the year award last year, so I have a feeling it will stay in this top 3. The FiiO R9 is coming up strong here and I expect to keep climbing fast.

Cables & Accessories

1. Linum SuperBaX – 31.15%
2. Effect Audio Signature series – 27.87%
3. Eletech Sonnet of Adam – 8.20%

Cables, you like them or you don’t but we are running a poll about them anyway. The first spot is for the awesome and super comfy SuperBaX. The second place is for the multiple award winning EA Signature series. In 3rd spot we have the high-end Eletech Sonnet of Adam cable.

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. Start voting!

Full links:

1. Headphones
2. Universal IEMs
3. Custom IEMs
4. TWS IEMs
5. Portable Players/DAPs
6. DAC/AMP Combos – Including Dongles
7.  Amplifiers (only) – Tube or Solid State
8. DAC (only)
9. Streamers
10. Cables & Accessories