First thing that's very likeable about this IEM is the plush wooden housings joined meticulously with front metal nozzle end. These have over 200+ hours of burn-in. Let's start with the basics:
Packaging and Accessories : Housed in a plastic case. Sure to stand some rough handling. It comes with a shirt clip and plethora of eartips to select from, ensuring that you get the perfect fit and tuning of sound you are looking for. Pleasant surprise that the number of tips are same as what I got with Golden Crystal, plus a few more EPH-100 type eartips which I will be using for testing as it doesn't accentuate bass as much as others and bring out a fair bit of sparkle.
Build Quality : Aesthetically, red cable matches with the overall design. And the thickness betrays the confidence in build quality. Paint job on metallic nozzle piece is pretty fine without any graininess. There are no rough or jagged edges. Filter mesh job reminds me of some of the top end IEMs in my collection.
Unlike non-L-shaped 3.5mm jack, strain reliefs on ear pieces are not as limber. Similar to RE-0 in stiffness. Vent placed at the bottom, towards metal nozzle piece, just beside the strain relief could have had better finish. Rear filed ends of each housings are different in size but that's probably because they were hand filed.
Comfort and Isolation: These are pretty light and the housings are small comparatively (smaller in diameter compared to RE-0). Getting a proper fit with Xears XE200PRO was a bity tricky but not with these. One can get a deeper seal with bi-flanges for good isolation. I'll be using EPH-100 type bi-flanges for testing these.
Sound
Lows: Quite an intimidating beast it is at the low end. Packs good rumble at the sun bass frequencies. Let me be frank here that I don't quite like the mid bass hump in lows. But HiSoundAudio team has pulled out the right combination here that I couldn't fault much. Bass is not as fast as e-Q5's and impact is softer comparatively but the texture is quite similar to e-Q5 and quantity higher than XE200PRO. Not boomy and not crammed up. It's like one can actually feel the layers. I personally liked the texture reproduction.
Mids: Weighty, warm and smooth. Slightly recessed compared to RE272 and similar to FXT90. Despite of the bass proclivity, vocals still stand out without any noticeable bass bleed. They have this lush warmish reverberating tinge, quite the signature of wooden housing IEMs. Unlike FXT90, these do lose out on detailing, esp on complex passages. No sibilance in appreciable amount noticed.
Highs: Crisp highs but not as bright as e-Q5 or RE-0 or XE200PRO. That actually leads to an easy non fatiguing listening time if you are sensitive to highs. I would have asked for more here as I like my IEMs sparkly. Compromises on some of the liveliness here. A little dark sounding to say.
Presentation: Slightly on warmer and lush side. More suited for certain genres like Dubstep, Electronica and similar genres. But I do like listening to some of the songs in other genres too for fun. However bass overwhelmed the spectrum in Post-Rock genre.
Soundstage: It's good to have great deal of bass with decent soundstage (wider than RE-0). Out of head sound enhances the listening experience.
Instrument Separation: Another plus point garnered here for good instrument separation at this price point except for extremely complex passages where bass overwhelms by strides. Comparatively, RE-0 excels at complex passages because of it's neutral sound signature and better detail retrieval.
Imaging: I was able to pick up the spatial locations of instruments without any concentrated effort. Really well done for this sound signature.
Final Thoughts: For a fun experience, these do prove to be a great sidekick to e-Q5. If you are looking for fun IEMs with good bass response then these, in all probability, will not disappoint you. Of course, if you are strictly an analytical listener then look somewhere else, plenty of other options.
Couple of songs which sounded better with these:
1. A Smaller God - Darling Violetta 320kbps (lows starting at 00.13 are kind of eargasmic with these)
2. The Poet and The Muse - The Poets of Fall 320kbps (good synergy here)
3. Walk to Regents Park - John Murphy 192kbps (1.33 onwards bass texture reproduced is simply inexplicable)
4. Breathing Again - Icicle Feat. Proxima 320kbps (prepare for the rumble)
5. Undisclosed Desires - Muse FLAC (one the songs that sounded better with these)
6. My Only Swerving - El Ten Eleven 192kbps (good beats there)
Source: Asus Xonar STX > Fiio E17 (12dB gain) at 30 > Foobar ASIO
psygeist Blog Archive HiSoundAudio Pop Review
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6928016333_519cdedfc9_z.jpg
Packaging and Accessories : Housed in a plastic case. Sure to stand some rough handling. It comes with a shirt clip and plethora of eartips to select from, ensuring that you get the perfect fit and tuning of sound you are looking for. Pleasant surprise that the number of tips are same as what I got with Golden Crystal, plus a few more EPH-100 type eartips which I will be using for testing as it doesn't accentuate bass as much as others and bring out a fair bit of sparkle.
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6651956877_22720fe426_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6928016967_5cab50cd92_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6928016967_5cab50cd92_z.jpg
Build Quality : Aesthetically, red cable matches with the overall design. And the thickness betrays the confidence in build quality. Paint job on metallic nozzle piece is pretty fine without any graininess. There are no rough or jagged edges. Filter mesh job reminds me of some of the top end IEMs in my collection.
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6928017377_ccb31ec3d5_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6781897738_71ba6219e1_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6781897444_d2924743ee_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6781897738_71ba6219e1_z.jpg
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6781897444_d2924743ee_z.jpg
Unlike non-L-shaped 3.5mm jack, strain reliefs on ear pieces are not as limber. Similar to RE-0 in stiffness. Vent placed at the bottom, towards metal nozzle piece, just beside the strain relief could have had better finish. Rear filed ends of each housings are different in size but that's probably because they were hand filed.
*farm6.staticflickr.com/5234/7083884189_1b6015ac52_z.jpg
Comfort and Isolation: These are pretty light and the housings are small comparatively (smaller in diameter compared to RE-0). Getting a proper fit with Xears XE200PRO was a bity tricky but not with these. One can get a deeper seal with bi-flanges for good isolation. I'll be using EPH-100 type bi-flanges for testing these.
Sound
Lows: Quite an intimidating beast it is at the low end. Packs good rumble at the sun bass frequencies. Let me be frank here that I don't quite like the mid bass hump in lows. But HiSoundAudio team has pulled out the right combination here that I couldn't fault much. Bass is not as fast as e-Q5's and impact is softer comparatively but the texture is quite similar to e-Q5 and quantity higher than XE200PRO. Not boomy and not crammed up. It's like one can actually feel the layers. I personally liked the texture reproduction.
Mids: Weighty, warm and smooth. Slightly recessed compared to RE272 and similar to FXT90. Despite of the bass proclivity, vocals still stand out without any noticeable bass bleed. They have this lush warmish reverberating tinge, quite the signature of wooden housing IEMs. Unlike FXT90, these do lose out on detailing, esp on complex passages. No sibilance in appreciable amount noticed.
Highs: Crisp highs but not as bright as e-Q5 or RE-0 or XE200PRO. That actually leads to an easy non fatiguing listening time if you are sensitive to highs. I would have asked for more here as I like my IEMs sparkly. Compromises on some of the liveliness here. A little dark sounding to say.
Presentation: Slightly on warmer and lush side. More suited for certain genres like Dubstep, Electronica and similar genres. But I do like listening to some of the songs in other genres too for fun. However bass overwhelmed the spectrum in Post-Rock genre.
Soundstage: It's good to have great deal of bass with decent soundstage (wider than RE-0). Out of head sound enhances the listening experience.
Instrument Separation: Another plus point garnered here for good instrument separation at this price point except for extremely complex passages where bass overwhelms by strides. Comparatively, RE-0 excels at complex passages because of it's neutral sound signature and better detail retrieval.
Imaging: I was able to pick up the spatial locations of instruments without any concentrated effort. Really well done for this sound signature.
Final Thoughts: For a fun experience, these do prove to be a great sidekick to e-Q5. If you are looking for fun IEMs with good bass response then these, in all probability, will not disappoint you. Of course, if you are strictly an analytical listener then look somewhere else, plenty of other options.
*farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6928017819_2c14e6bd7a_z.jpg
Couple of songs which sounded better with these:
1. A Smaller God - Darling Violetta 320kbps (lows starting at 00.13 are kind of eargasmic with these)
2. The Poet and The Muse - The Poets of Fall 320kbps (good synergy here)
3. Walk to Regents Park - John Murphy 192kbps (1.33 onwards bass texture reproduced is simply inexplicable)
4. Breathing Again - Icicle Feat. Proxima 320kbps (prepare for the rumble)
5. Undisclosed Desires - Muse FLAC (one the songs that sounded better with these)
6. My Only Swerving - El Ten Eleven 192kbps (good beats there)
Source: Asus Xonar STX > Fiio E17 (12dB gain) at 30 > Foobar ASIO
psygeist Blog Archive HiSoundAudio Pop Review