anirbandd
Conversation Architect
Early in January 2015, I was contacted by the TDF representative of [MENTION=157395]SignatureAcoustics[/MENTION]. I was told that they had another product, the O-16 that they were putting up for independent and unbiased first impressions/reviews. Since reviewing (and subsequently buying) the C-12 IEMs, I was always interested in the company and their product(s). I agreed, and in February, I received a package from them.
Note: I will be drawing comparisons heavily with the C12 to highlight how the O16 is different from the C12. But for the sake who are not familiar with the C12, I will also explain in brief.
The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Accessories included are:
• Eartips (Small, Medium, Large).
• Shirt clip.
• Filters (180u & 250u).
• Handcrafted leather carrying pouch.
The default eartips are of medium size, but with a narrow canal. This is to impart a better bass response. The spare eartips have wider canal and thus have lower bass response.
The wire, again is same as C12, is wrapped with sheath, with the wires tightly wrapped inside. The company claims this is anti-tangle. I havent ever faced tangle issue with my C12, so this is true.
However, there is one complain that i have against this. This anti tangle wire has high shape memory. It takes ages to get the wire straight from its tied position that it ships with. The C12 i have took more than a year to get out of the tied down shape. And the review sample, well I havent even dared.
The wire split is simple, no frills and small enough to not get caught up in the clothes.
*i.imgur.com/j6Dm4Ul.jpg
Coming to the IEMs, it looks simple, yet elegant, with a dual color, matte finish. The strain relief is slightly flexible. The company name along with left/right mark is engraved at the back in fine type setting. There is a fine metal mesh below the outer saffron colored ring, lending to the open ended element of the IEMs.
*i.imgur.com/IcUxjQg.jpg
*i.imgur.com/dBTbNA2.jpg
The open-ended design obviously leads to almost zero noise isolation. This IEM is required to be listened to in a quiet environment, and is clearly mentioned on the user manual.
As with the C12, the O16 comes with pre-attached filters. However, unlike the C12 where the filters just sits on the mouth of the IEM, the O16's mouth has a collar and the filter sits inside. It might seem like a very small change, but the effect it has is quite considerable. When I take out the eartips for cleaning the C12, the filter sits on the top, liable to get damaged over time. However, the collar on the O16 prevents this from happening.
In hand, and on the ear, it feels light enough. Its surprisingly light for a metal IEM to be so light. I did not face any problems/fatigue while wearing them for extended listening sessions. Although, for extended sessions, I would recommend wearing over the ears.
*i.imgur.com/4ooSlr4.jpg
However, the wire on my C12 has turned very very hard and plasticky. It has become so hard that if i try to bend it or pack it into a small pouch, the sheath will crack. I hope this is an one off issue and will not affect the other IEMs.
Out of the box, the IEMs sound very bright. Almost no bass, as you would expect from an open ended IEM. I listened for sometime to get the feel of it, before setting it for burn-in of about 30 hours over 2 days.
After burn in the sound changed quite a bit. The highs and mids were more pronounced, clear and airy. The mids and highs are much sharper than the C12. And the bass, although low, did improve, although its nowhere near the C12 in terms of pure bass performance.
Lets see where we go with the actual acoustics part..
Pink Floyd's opening piece in their 1988 Delicate Sound of Thunder live performance, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, sounds very airy, clean and spacious and each instrument can be visualised very clearly. The bass, is just enough so that it does not let it become very bright. It was the accuracy of the metallic sounds, without compromising on the mids and vocals that was impressive.
Now moving onto Indian classical, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborti and Zakir Hussain, 1989. This track has a gloriously big soundstage, with multiple instruments, with each spaced out and not overlapping. The O16 reproduced all this very beautifully along with the clean vocal.
Change over to Amjad Ali Khan's Sarod Symphony, 2010. The details are very well captured and the O16 again performed quite well. Again, the expansive soundstage is really nice and worth the praise.
Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven; all of them sound very nice, with the reproduction of the details and clarity being handled gracefully, with a grand soundstage. I had boosted the bass by a few notches on both Foobar and Sansa Clip, but increasing the bass can only do so much when the IEM is open ended.
Time for some bass heavy songs. Heavy metal ftw!
Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Anthrax etc., all sound great. But too bright. Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls sounded like someone had turnned down Burton's iconic bass intro section. And if moving directly from bassy IEMs, as I had from the C12, it will feel absent.
I listened to the standard run-of-the-mill bollywood, rock, pop, jazz, as well as metal, classical, but where the O16 really shines is Live recordings, particularly those with good sound engineering. It felt like sitting in the front row of a live performance. The soundstage is definitely larger than the C12.
The big question, should you buy it? Well, if you love listening to live performance recordings and they take up the majority of your music library, then yes, you should definitely go for it.
However, if you do not listen to live performances, or listen to them occasionally, then you are probably good with your present set of IEMs. However, if you are looking to upgrade from your present IEMs, then my advice would be to give the C12 a try before deciding on the O16. The C12 have much warmer and fuller sound signature.
That being said, I am not trying to downplay the O16 in any way. Its a great product, but I believe it is targeted at a very niche range of audiophiles.
*i.imgur.com/tzxjUvW.jpg
Overall, the O16 is a grand piece of engineering, another stunner from the stables of Signature Acoustics. The looks are great and it sounds good, albeit with low bass response. Another quality product made [R&D] in India. Considering the early bird pricing of 1850INR on their site, the O16 ranks quite high on the VFM scale.
Although the final retail price is expected to be ~4000 INR / 65$ / 45£, currently the O-16 is available on an early bird offer of just 2000 INR for Indian locals and INR 3000 including shipping ( 47$ / ~30£ ) for International customers to purchase of eBay here: Signature Acoustics O16 Live Metallic Earphone for MP3 Players Audiophile Grade | eBay
Note: I will be drawing comparisons heavily with the C12 to highlight how the O16 is different from the C12. But for the sake who are not familiar with the C12, I will also explain in brief.
The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Packaging
The packaging is the same as the previous C12, except the bronze case. Contains the following:Accessories included are:
• Eartips (Small, Medium, Large).
• Shirt clip.
• Filters (180u & 250u).
• Handcrafted leather carrying pouch.
*i.imgur.com/JY3SaFH.jpg
The default eartips are of medium size, but with a narrow canal. This is to impart a better bass response. The spare eartips have wider canal and thus have lower bass response.
Build Quality
The 3.5mm jack is the same as the C12, gold plated, well built and a solid base. No complains here. The wire, again is same as C12, is wrapped with sheath, with the wires tightly wrapped inside. The company claims this is anti-tangle. I havent ever faced tangle issue with my C12, so this is true.
*i.imgur.com/JrIOcPB.jpg
*i.imgur.com/5cvthCo.jpg
*i.imgur.com/5cvthCo.jpg
However, there is one complain that i have against this. This anti tangle wire has high shape memory. It takes ages to get the wire straight from its tied position that it ships with. The C12 i have took more than a year to get out of the tied down shape. And the review sample, well I havent even dared.
The wire split is simple, no frills and small enough to not get caught up in the clothes.
*i.imgur.com/j6Dm4Ul.jpg
Coming to the IEMs, it looks simple, yet elegant, with a dual color, matte finish. The strain relief is slightly flexible. The company name along with left/right mark is engraved at the back in fine type setting. There is a fine metal mesh below the outer saffron colored ring, lending to the open ended element of the IEMs.
*i.imgur.com/IcUxjQg.jpg
*i.imgur.com/dBTbNA2.jpg
The open-ended design obviously leads to almost zero noise isolation. This IEM is required to be listened to in a quiet environment, and is clearly mentioned on the user manual.
As with the C12, the O16 comes with pre-attached filters. However, unlike the C12 where the filters just sits on the mouth of the IEM, the O16's mouth has a collar and the filter sits inside. It might seem like a very small change, but the effect it has is quite considerable. When I take out the eartips for cleaning the C12, the filter sits on the top, liable to get damaged over time. However, the collar on the O16 prevents this from happening.
*i.imgur.com/casZdfD.jpg
In hand, and on the ear, it feels light enough. Its surprisingly light for a metal IEM to be so light. I did not face any problems/fatigue while wearing them for extended listening sessions. Although, for extended sessions, I would recommend wearing over the ears.
*i.imgur.com/4ooSlr4.jpg
However, the wire on my C12 has turned very very hard and plasticky. It has become so hard that if i try to bend it or pack it into a small pouch, the sheath will crack.
I hope this is an one off issue and will not affect the other IEMs. Sound Quality
Out of the box, the IEMs sound very bright. Almost no bass, as you would expect from an open ended IEM. I listened for sometime to get the feel of it, before setting it for burn-in of about 30 hours over 2 days.
After burn in the sound changed quite a bit. The highs and mids were more pronounced, clear and airy. The mids and highs are much sharper than the C12. And the bass, although low, did improve, although its nowhere near the C12 in terms of pure bass performance.
Lets see where we go with the actual acoustics part..
Pink Floyd's opening piece in their 1988 Delicate Sound of Thunder live performance, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, sounds very airy, clean and spacious and each instrument can be visualised very clearly. The bass, is just enough so that it does not let it become very bright. It was the accuracy of the metallic sounds, without compromising on the mids and vocals that was impressive.
Now moving onto Indian classical, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborti and Zakir Hussain, 1989. This track has a gloriously big soundstage, with multiple instruments, with each spaced out and not overlapping. The O16 reproduced all this very beautifully along with the clean vocal.
Change over to Amjad Ali Khan's Sarod Symphony, 2010. The details are very well captured and the O16 again performed quite well. Again, the expansive soundstage is really nice and worth the praise.
Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven; all of them sound very nice, with the reproduction of the details and clarity being handled gracefully, with a grand soundstage. I had boosted the bass by a few notches on both Foobar and Sansa Clip, but increasing the bass can only do so much when the IEM is open ended.
Time for some bass heavy songs. Heavy metal ftw!
Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Anthrax etc., all sound great. But too bright.
Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls sounded like someone had turnned down Burton's iconic bass intro section. And if moving directly from bassy IEMs, as I had from the C12, it will feel absent. I listened to the standard run-of-the-mill bollywood, rock, pop, jazz, as well as metal, classical, but where the O16 really shines is Live recordings, particularly those with good sound engineering. It felt like sitting in the front row of a live performance. The soundstage is definitely larger than the C12.
The big question, should you buy it? Well, if you love listening to live performance recordings and they take up the majority of your music library, then yes, you should definitely go for it.
However, if you do not listen to live performances, or listen to them occasionally, then you are probably good with your present set of IEMs. However, if you are looking to upgrade from your present IEMs, then my advice would be to give the C12 a try before deciding on the O16. The C12 have much warmer and fuller sound signature.
That being said, I am not trying to downplay the O16 in any way. Its a great product, but I believe it is targeted at a very niche range of audiophiles.
Conclusion
*i.imgur.com/tzxjUvW.jpg
Overall, the O16 is a grand piece of engineering, another stunner from the stables of Signature Acoustics. The looks are great and it sounds good, albeit with low bass response. Another quality product made [R&D] in India. Considering the early bird pricing of 1850INR on their site, the O16 ranks quite high on the VFM scale.
Pricing [provided by SA]
Although the final retail price is expected to be ~4000 INR / 65$ / 45£, currently the O-16 is available on an early bird offer of just 2000 INR for Indian locals and INR 3000 including shipping ( 47$ / ~30£ ) for International customers to purchase of eBay here: Signature Acoustics O16 Live Metallic Earphone for MP3 Players Audiophile Grade | eBay
Last edited:
