Review: Head-Direct RE1 High End IEM

[antonyfirst]

Hello. This is a review for my newest toy, a pair of Head-Direct RE1 IEMs.
I have received them a few weeks a go and have been listened to them until now. I also bought the Etymotic ER4P to make a direct comparison with them, and I'll talk about it.

The IEM
The RE1 are a 150 Ohm dynamic driver IEM. This means they need an amp to shine, and they improve with more power (soundstage especially).

Gear used
4th gen DIY iMod with blackgates and Sonicap docks. Minibox E+ as amp (and some hours with an unknown home amp).

Past experience
UE Triple.fi 10 Pro, tweaked Super.fi 5 Pro, Ety ER4P, ER4S, Apuresound ER4S, Shure E500, ATH-ESW9, Sennheiser HD650 and minor IEMs

Build quality and fit
It's 6.30 in the morning here, and I am really too sleepy and lazy to take pictures of the IEM. You can see very nice pictures in ClieOS review thread. The RE1 look quite spartan, don't have a fancy cable like that of Westone custom IEMs. The cable is a bit micophonic without a shirt clip, but with one microphonics are negligible.
The RE1 come with two pairs of biflange. The bigger pair is very important to achieve a proper seal. The nozzle are the same diameter as the Triple.fi 10 Pro. They can work with Comply T400 tips, Sony tips, Sennheiser tips.
The RE1 have vents on the back (I have been said that's for reproducing the bass), but provide enough isolation for train, underground and road. This comes from someone (me) who didn't have any use of the ATH-ESW9 for their insufficient isolation on the go. The RE1 are up to isolate against any noise.

The sound very first impressions (foam tips)
Ok, let's start. At first I listened to the RE1 using my pair Shure black foam tips. These couldn't fit the RE1 normally, but I practiced surgery on the tips replacing their nozzle with a comply T400 one. The sound was very warm. Lots of bass/midbass and recessed upper midrange were the distincive characters of the IEM. The recessed upper midrange had two effects: there was no sibilance at all with any recordings, but vocals lacked some air.
I talked with Fang about it, and he adviced me towards using the big biflanges. It took a few days before I tried those.

The sound: definitive impressions
What brought me to try the biflanges was that I recalled the effect that Shure black foam tips had on Etymotic ER4P: they reduced the upper midrange by a lot.
Switching to the biflanges, the upper midrange came out more, the overall sound became clearer, with better representation of the 6 kHz range and cymbals. For some reason, bass became also a lot deeper: Shure black foamies in my book are not famous to represent deep bass, and the biflanges do it better.
Vocals sound with enough air. The overall sound reminds me of that of my Triple.fi 10 Pro with foam tips, but with less sibilance and possibly deeper bass. The RE1 retain the best quality of the Triple fi and the ESW9. The latter were the first portable headphones I found to be totally forgiving towards sibilance, mellowing the harshest cymbal crashes and strong "s" pronounced by singers. The RE1 have the same forgiveness, but with less colored presentation, flatter, closer to that of the Triple.fi. I didn't like my Triple.fi with the Minibox E+: there was sibilance. I can't detect any with the RE1. I listen to lots of 60s-70s rock music, and the RE1 are the first IEMs that let me listen to ALL my music without complaining.
Apart from this, they are warm, have fat bass and very big soundstage. Treble is not up to that of ER4P, about which I'll elaborate in future. Vocals are full sounding.
Regarding the soundstage, here is an anecdote. I've listened to an acoustic illusion track shacking a matchbox. It was incredible. I could "feel" the matchbox shaking not only over and behind me, but also down to my tummy, almost expecting to be tingled by it. This is what the RE1 are able to do at their best, even if "normal" track don't do such a crazy use of sounstage.
In the end, I really advice towards biflanges as they are the tips the RE1 are thought with. Foam tips don't do justice to this IEM.
Being a dynamic driver IEM, the RE1 are supposed to burn in. I have felt it does, but it might have been my ears that "burned in". Anyway, it's not as dramatic improvement as switching from foam tips to the biflanges.

RE1 vs ER4P
At first, a premise. I decided to remove my rankings from my signature because I felt it could condition too many new buyers. Rankings have a more persuasive effect than extensive reviews on people. The reason for I removed them is that many top IEMs are simply different flavour, and ranking some on top than others is a simple matter of preference. For example, while I liked the Triple.fi 10 Pro over the Ety ER4P, they are not that far in terms of sound quality. The Etys have really tight and deep bass, clear vocals, strong upper midrange, exciting treble. Sometimes I feel Ety bass is the best, sometimes I feel it's boring and I'm missing something. The real problem of the ER4P is the boosted upper midrange. It can provide lots of details, but gives also a terrible harshness with many tracks.
The RE1 are different from Etymotic. They have fat, deep bass. Fuller sounding vocals, more delicate/forgiving upper midrange, less exciting treble, big soundstage and good details. I could say that the RE1 with Etymotic treble could be the best IEM in the world. Or that the ER4P without the crazy upper midrange boost, and with more bass volume could be the best IEM in the world.


Conclusions (updated 07/24/2008)

As they stand, the RE1, the Triple.fi and the ER4P are differently flavoured IEMs. With rock, the RE1 are very smooth, fun, thumpy, big sounding and quite detailed, but they could make you want to raise the volume too much to be satisfied by their treble presence.
The Triple.fi are uncomfortable, the removable cable is a pain in the butt and they have sibilance. I would definitely place the RE1 over the Triple.fi if the former had just flat upper mids and lower treble, which instead are recessed.
Side note:
At this moment I am seriously convinced that the brash upper midrange/lower treble is a property of all balanced armature IEMs, not only Triple.fi. This doesn't seem to have to do with roll off, as roll off usually concerns an upper part of the treble. To give more validation to my hypothesis, I have looked at many graphs at Headroom, and all those armature IEMs have some spikes in the upper mids region (each to a different extent). This could explain why some people consider them to be more detailed than dynamic driver IEMs, and why other people consider them unlistenable. I consider them sibilant for this reason.
Not all dynamic driver IEMs have smooth upper mids, though. For example the Sony EX700 have been reported to be sibilant by some (like ClieoS), and their frequency response confirms it, with an awful hill at 8 kHz.
The RE1 are soft, but too relaxed to be perfectly enjoyable for treble lovers. They do some things very well though, like bass definition, imaging (much superior the dynamic driver Atrio M5, for example), soundstage, overall clarity.

The ER4P would come third in this ranking due to the strongly bright and unnatural sound.

Priced at the 169$, the RE1 are very good value, especially if you already own a portable amp, but they high levels of SQ even unamped, at least if your player provides enough volume kick.

Informative note: The Big Clear BIFLANGES
The RE1 big clear biflanges are the best ones I ever tried. They are soft and seal well, very comfortable. Though, you need to be aware that the inner diameter gets larger after many times you plug/unplug them from the nozzle, so they might need to be replaced every 1-2 months. Think about them like disposable biflanges. I know that the RE1 come with two pairs of these, but I hope Head-Direct can ship them separately.

Tony

[Tomikans]

wow sounds like i might get this after i get my amp.

I got my Re2's and after 48 hours of burn in, I must say they're pretty warm sounding. A huge improvement from my marshmallows. Though i feel like the vocals sounds like it's being overrun with instruments. But yes, this is comparing these to grado sr80's.

The only disappointment i had with these earphones is that they don't have that sparkle, kind of too warm.. I'll burn these in for a couple more days. But it won't replace my sr80's for home use.

I'll definitely listen to these with my clip when I'm traveling though.

[MarcusL]

Nice to finally see your take on the RE1, Tony. Well written.

Originally Posted by antonyfirst

The RE1 are different from Etymotic. They have fat, deep bass. Fuller sounding vocals, more delicate/forgiving upper midrange, less exciting treble, big soundstage and good details.

Hmmm.... sounds a bit like the E500 characteristics.

I wonder if modding the cables with the Westone ones would bring out the treble.

[antonyfirst]

Originally Posted by MarcusL

Hmmm.... sounds a bit like the E500 characteristics.

I wonder if modding the cables with the Westone ones would bring out the treble.

Treble is more prominent on Etys than Triple.fi as well. I can't comment on the E500 because it has been a year since I owned them, but they weren't very forgiving towards upper midrange harshness.
I don't know if a silver recable might bring out more treble with the RE1. As far as we know, it might also increase sibilance. I'd be interested in Fang's take.
Anyway the RE1 don't have removable cables like UE IEMs.

[tstarn06]

Nice job Tony. I am going to go back and try my RE2s with their flanges, just for kicks, since I am using the Comply foamies and wonder if they aren't coloring the sound too much (and losing some detail in the process). I also am going to try the RE2s with the Minibox, which I haven't done yet. Still prefer the Sleeks, but the RE2s are a much less expensive phone compared to both the Sleeks and the RE1s. You didn't make any comments about going ampless with the RE1s. How does it match up with the ER4P when not using an amp?

[antonyfirst]

I'll try later using the only non-imod mp3 player I have left: the MuVo V200. I'll listen and report.

[Cool_Torpedo]

Nice write up Tony, thanks for sharing your impressions.
From them one is left to doubt if the Minibox E+ is a bit in the harsh side of things regarding upper mids and lower treble, or whether the RE1 are in the too mellow side of the spectrum on that range. They seem enjoyable phones anyway.

Rgrds

[nettuno65]

Ciao Tony,
thanks for your review.
Could you please tell us more about RE1 versus ESW9?
Do you know when RE1 will be available?

Saluti

Antonio

[antonyfirst]

Test:
Queen - I'm going slightly mad.
Joan Baez - Jesse
Queen - Who wants to live forever

Using unamped MuVo V200

Soundwise, the MuVo is able to drive both the ER4P and RE1 very nicely. Power-wise, for Etys I have to set volume at 20/25, for the RE1 it's 23/25. The RE1 have the larger sondstage and darker presentation. Etys tend to be shrill sounding and Freddie Mercury's "s" is more pronounced.
Jesse: the initial claps can be "counted" with both IEMs. Both reveal the same amount of details, but while the RE1 are darker, the Etys shift everything to the bright.
Joan Baez vocals sound more "intense", "felt" with the RE1, while are lean and almost empty using the ER4P.
Who wants to live forever: Etys tend to enhance electronic effects (like using the Energy equalizer of my old JVC player), things tend to sound more artificial, giving a sort of "special effects" presentation. The RE1 capture better the emotion of the song.

[antonyfirst]

Originally Posted by nettuno65

Ciao Tony,
thanks for your review.
Could you please tell us more about RE1 versus ESW9?
Do you know when RE1 will be available?

Saluti

Antonio

Ciao,

I wish I still had the ESW9 for a quick AB test. From memory, the ESW9 are more midbassy, extremely warm. I think the upper midrange is even more subdued on the ESW9.
The RE1 should be available in a few days.

Tony

***EDIT: they are ready for a group buy on the website page***