Simgot EA500 LM: Not Really an Upgrade?

Pros

• Very well built 
• Easy to drive
• Mod friendly with tuning nozzles
• Impactful, punchy bass 
• Slightly warm and pleasing lower midrange
• Sparkly and airy treble 
• Well extended treble
• Good technicalities

Cons

• Fingerprint magnet
• Tuning nozzles does not provide much without mods
• Shouty upper midrange with shrilly vocals 
• Harsh and peaky treble  
• Metallic timbre

Disclaimer

• Huge thanks to Simgot for providing a unit of the EA500 LM  for me to review. I really do appreciate it. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own, and are not influenced in any way. 
• Please take this review with only a grain of salt, as everyone's hearing, fit, and gears may differ, so our experience may be different.

Price(MSRP)

• $89.99

Source(s)

• It is fairly easy to drive
• Even on the JM6 Pro, I only 30-40% volume at most, but I prefer the Topping DX1 due to its smoother nature. 
• Topping DX1
• HiBy W3 II
• JCally JM6 Pro
• Truthear Shio

Ear tips

• Dunu S&S

Unboxing and Quick Summary 

Packaging

• Simgot EA500 LM.
• Hard carrying pouch 
• A little big but it doesn't feel cheap. 
• Great for storing but a little harder to carry around with only your pocket.
• Standard selection of ear tips.
• 3 pairs of generic silicone ear tips (S, M, L)
• Looks and feels like a 07 clone, which are pretty decent. 
• High-purity, silver-plated OFC cable
• Cable is decently built for the price and is very comfortable to use.
• It is not microphonic and it does not tangle often. 
• However, it can be a little bit thin. 
• Tuning nozzles

Build Quality

• Build quality is excellent for the price, completely made out of metal, with some heft to it.

Fit

• Nozzle length and width is fairly average.
  
• Fits is decent, but not the best. Comfortable enough but not really that deep. 

Tonality

• Bright leaning Harman 

Tuning Nozzles

• Gold
• Least shouty out of the 3. 
• Considering that this nozzle is already shouty to me, so I will use this as a default for the rest of the review.

• Silver with Red Ring
• More shout. Nope. 

• Silver with Black Ring
• More shout. Nope. 

Bass

• Bass is quite balanced between the sub bass and mid bass.
• Rumble is present but doesn't go really deep or is super thick.
• Slams and thumps have great impact and physicality to it.
• Tight, well textured, and snappy. Very satisfying to listen to.
• Overall, the bass is somehow the best part of the EA500 LM to me.
• Quantity is a little more than sufficient, pretty fun amount of bass without being too much.

Midrange

• Lower midrange comes with a little bit of warmth, yet still clean and open.
• Male vocals sound decent. Not exactly lush and forward but not really thin or dry either. 
• Upper midrange is overly energetic.
• Female vocals just sounds too forward, which easily comes across as shouty and shrilly. 
• Overall midrange performance is uneven, where lower midrange is decent but upper midrange being way too much. 

Treble

• Treble is quite bright and harsh especially in the mid and high treble region.
• High hats and cymbals are emphasized a lot, plus it is quite sibilant.
• Can easily be fatiguing especially for longer listening sessions. 
• Treble is very well extended but also overdone, which causes timbre to be unnatural.
• Details in the treble can be perceived well due to how bright and airy the treble is.

Technicalities/Others

• Resolution and detail retrieval is good even when compared against hybrids in this price range. However, this is also partly because of how boosted the treble is.

• Soundstage has good width but with only decent depth.

• Imaging and accuracy is decent, pinpoint accuracy in terms of stereo imaging but I didn't get that 3D holographic feeling.

• Separation and layering is good. It never really gets congested even in busier tracks. 

• Note weight is on the thinner side due to the boosted upper frequencies.

• Timbre is not very natural as it has a metallic sheen to it due to the overly boosted treble and air region. Vocals are not really natural as well due to it being shrilly, especially female vocals.

Comparison 

Simgot EA500 LM vs Simgot EA500

• Accessories:
• Similar, if not, exactly the same. 

• Fit and Comfort:
• Similar, if not, exactly the same. 

• Bass: 
• Quality wise, they are quite similar. Tight, snappy, and impactful.
• A sub bass boost is very much appreciated here to balance out the already bright signature, I prefer the LM in this aspect. 

• Midrange: 
• The upper midrange from the EA500 is already a little too shouty to my ears, but the LM somehow just doubled down.

• Treble: 
• Same story as the upper midrange, but due to the masking from the upper midrange, the treble actually sounds a bit less harsh on the LM, but still on the sibilant and peaky side. 

• Technicalities: 
• To be honest ... technicalities are similar as well, despite Simgot claiming the driver upgrade. 

• Overall, I don't really prefer either, really. They are more similar than different with only minor differences. If I have to pick one, I would actually go for the original EA500 due to the lower price tag and less shouty presentation. However, the LM does sound a bit more balanced but also costs 10 more bucks. 

• Is the LM really an upgrade over the original EA500? 
• Not really.
• More like a side grade but it isn't really too different either.

Conclusion

• Honestly, I think that the Simgot EA500 LM is a little overhyped by the community. 
• While it certainly isn't too bad, but I can definitely see how overbearing the upper frequencies are for many people.
• Timbre and tonality wise, it isn't the most natural due to the metallic sheen.
• As for technicalities, there are many planar IEMs nowadays for under 100USD.

• Also, the EW200 is also available for lesser than half the price of the EA500 LM if you are interested in Simgot's bright house sound. 
• Not a huge jump or improvement in my opinion, plus they share a similar sound signature to my ears.

Thanks for reading!