Unfortunately, buying IEMs is a massive crapshoot since you seldom get to audition them before making a decision.
I have only ever seen one store where customers may audition IEMs. To do that, one must purchase a set of eartips and a cleaning swab for hygiene reasons in that store.
In addition, subjective descriptions are next to useless since everybody prefers a different sound signature. That is without taking into account any source interactions and imperfections.
Frequency response curves are useful to a degree, but there are other factors other than a simple FR sweep, such as waterfall charts, impulse response
graphs, impedance and phase graphs...
And interpreting those charts and graphs are far less straightforward than looking at an FR sweep.
I know this doesn't help, but I think you need to understand that you might have to try several sets of IEMs before settling on a good set.
I have only ever seen one store where customers may audition IEMs. To do that, one must purchase a set of eartips and a cleaning swab for hygiene reasons in that store.
In addition, subjective descriptions are next to useless since everybody prefers a different sound signature. That is without taking into account any source interactions and imperfections.
Frequency response curves are useful to a degree, but there are other factors other than a simple FR sweep, such as waterfall charts, impulse response
graphs, impedance and phase graphs...
And interpreting those charts and graphs are far less straightforward than looking at an FR sweep.
I know this doesn't help, but I think you need to understand that you might have to try several sets of IEMs before settling on a good set.