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Head-Direct RE2, review

post #1 of 10
8/15/08 at 8:38am
Thread Starter 
I received my RE2 in ear headphones yesterday and thought I should blot down some comments about these here. Since it was from head-fi forum that I discovered Head-Direct.

The company responds very rapidly and after 6 days I received my headphones with TNT courier (I live in Sweden). Unfortunately they sent the wrong headphones and I got a pair of VS-R02PRO. I e-mailed the company about the shipping error and 6 hours afterwards I got a reply where they said they have sent the correct headphones. That's in my book an incredible fast response.

When opening the package, you get a leather holder a little too big for my taste. But it contains two pairs of earbuds in two different styles (in small and large). Bi-flanged and buds. I had to use the small buds to get a good fit in my ear.

Immediately when I connect the RE2 into my laptop, there is a low hissing sound. But that's ok, since even my Shure SE310 had a slight hissing sound in the beginning. What wasn't ok was that the left earplug lost sound after 10 minutes of listening. After many tries I managed to get the sound back by "shock-treatment", increasing the sound to high and repeatedly unplug/plug-in the phones (but that's no way to treat $99 product).

The left earplug lost it sound while listening to music three times during 2 hours.

The sound: It's spacy and detailed. Even when I turn down the volume on my iPod Nano (2nd gen) I can hear individual instruments.

Music:
Rock - Iron Maiden, Rock in Rio, 256 kbps AAC (itunes plus)
Clear sound with nice guitar tones. Voice went very tinny at intervals with several instruments going on. But that's why we have the more expensive dual-driver earphones, right?

Rock - Black Sabbath, Prince of Darkness, vinyl 192 kbps rip
Here I had to rip of the earphones due to the increadible tinny voice of Izzy.
The earphones can't manage the high tones at all and flattens the mid-tones.

Pop - James Blunt, All the lost souls
The plugs actually worked very well with the mellow music. Rich sound and they manage to capture his voice very well.

RnB - Timbaland, Shock value, 128 kbps AAC
Very good quality. The bass comes through. But then why do I have to play a RnB album just to hear some bass?

Techno - Prodigy, Fat of the Land, 192 kbps CD rip.
Very good at low volume. But as soon as I turned my ipod volume up above 60% it turned tinny and the treble couldn't keep up. Lots of static when I turn up above 80% volume. And who doesn't listen to Prodigy at above 80%??? But it was a nice bass...

Good thing: You get alot of audio value for the $99, these are well within range of Etymotics ER6i and Shure E2c.

Bad thing: Production isn't very well. The plugs feel very "plasticky" and almost no sound isolation. Leaks a lot of sound, my coworkers in the office could hear what I was listening to. Why those holes in the back of the plugs? Ventilation?

Did I mention that the left earplug has completely died? I'll give it another 24h, if the sound doesn't come back I'm contacting Head-Direct for a refund.

The ironic thing is that the reason I bought the Head-Direct RE2 is because the left earplug on my Shure SE310 died after 10 months of daily use (broken cable). And now these brand new earphones comes with a faulty left earplug... Yes, very ironic!

In summary: The Head-Direct guys knows audio. I was very impressed by the sound produced by the RE2. But the quality of the product leaves much to wish for.
I'll probably end up buying a pair of d-JAYS, something I really don't want to do because my previous experience with the former company Jens of Sweden put image before product quality. That's sooo... fruity...
Or I swallow my pride and pay $330 for the Shure SE310!

Just my two pennies worth.
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post #2 of 10
8/15/08 at 10:20am
If you are going to pay $300US for anything, get the Sleek SA6s. Soundearphones.com ships internationally, and they are $194 with a $10 discount right now (need to check for the code during checkout). I own a pair of RE2s (my daughter uses them with her iPod) and no build quality issues so far. And with the right tips (Comply foamies, for example), they have good isolation. But they are no match for the Sleeks. Check out the SA6 thread. Just a suggestion.
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post #3 of 10
8/15/08 at 11:39am
I recently purchased a pair of RE2's and had a very dissimilar experience.

I found the build quality to be quite good. Yes the buds themselves are made of fairly cheap shiny plastic, but they felt durable. Wires were a bit stiff, but again, feels durable, and have over the last week or so softened a bit from daily use.

Sound quality wise, when I first heard them, I wasn't too impressed. I had returned my etymotic ER6i for these. Though the RE2 were just as detailed, the highs were not as crisp as the ety's. The bass was a bit more present.

Now that I'm probably over 50 hours into them they've definitely improved. Better bass response, the highs are crisp and the midrange is clear and smooth. I don't get any tinny sounds at all. Definitely a step above the ER6i. I can only suspect you're not getting a good seal.

It's unfortunate you had a bad experience with them. I hope they send you a new pair, and after some burn-in you'll give it another try.

p.s. I started out with the smaller bi-flanges, but changed to Comply foam which provided better isolation. But since discovering this thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/t...lation-351865/
I'm now using the large clear bi-flanges with the foam inserted, and it's giving great results. Good bass response still, isolation just a tad under comply only, but it seems to have increased the soundstage, and brought out a bit more highs.
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post #4 of 10
8/15/08 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks fuzzylogic76 for the tip about the Sleek SA6.
Never heard of them actually, but then I live in way off the map sweden! Will check them out!

Yeah, I am hoping that the RE2's will improve with burn-in and I still don't understand why the left earplug sometimes just fades out. Audio wise, I'll probably keep them to use in the gym, cuz they are so light. But the sound isolation problem will persist even if I change tips, since there's these big holes in the back of the plastic plugs. That's also where most of the sound leaks out from, not from the tips when I'm wearing them.
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post #5 of 10
8/15/08 at 12:43pm
Just a quick comment -- if you are getting hiss, I think it is from your source, not the earphones. I suppose some sort of bad wiring could be a possible cause, but generally hiss comes from the source.

I'm pretty happy with the RE2's; just wish they had a little more punch on the low end.
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post #6 of 10
8/15/08 at 12:51pm
Just to give credit where its due, it was actually tstarn06 that suggested the SA6.

I've never had the pleasure of trying out a pair of SA6, though I'm always reading good things about them. I'm still pretty much a noob when it come to this audiophile stuff.

As for the sound leak, do you work in a very quiet environment and listen to your music very loud? Because I'm in my office by myself right now, and with the volume turned to about 60 percent on my iphone (walking on the street volume level), and with the headphones just laying on my desk, i can only hear a little bit of it, and that's mostly coming from the tips. When I cover the tips I can barely hear anything coming out of the little hole in the back.

Btw, don't try to cover up the little holes. I did that the other night with some black masking tape and it cut out some of the highs, and muffled the sound.

Maybe you received a defective pair. You should ask for an exchange.
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post #7 of 10
8/15/08 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuzzylogic76 View Post
Just to give credit where its due, it was actually tstarn06 that suggested the SA6.
<snip>
Maybe you received a defective pair. You should ask for an exchange.
Sorry, you're totally right fuzzylogic! Thank you tstarn06 for the advice about the sleet sa6! My bad.

* Fuzzylogic:
Yep, I work in a quiet office. But I suspect I've got a bad set, I covered the tips as you described and there's still a noticable sound coming out of the vent holes. Maybe there's a sound filter missing, would explain the tinny sound quality... Yes, I will contact head-direct on tomorrow but for a refund, the left earplug keeps dropping out (total silence) even if I'm only sitting infront of my laptop working. Lots of frustration.

About the comparison with ety ER6i, yes I got a very snug fit with them from the beginning and therefore got a very good initial sound. I will try with other biflange tips with the RE2 then. But the shape of the main plastic plugs makes it difficult for me to get a comfortable fit. I guess I have difficult ears... I would readily have gone back to a new pair of ety's, but the cable connection to the drivers broke after only 4 months of usage and I'm loath to repeat that

* Scott549
Yeah, that's what I thought too. I've been switching between my iPod, laptop and TV. There's a slight static whenever I connect them to an active outlet. My Koss Portapro only makes one static click when I connect to a TV or high-power stereo. But I suspect a thorough burn-in will resolve the static.

* tstarn06
Again, thanks for the advice, especially the store. Prices are 30-40% less than what I have to pay in-store here in sweden. I suspect my wallet will hate me soon...

Very, very grateful for the response from all you guys!
Me likes this forum mucho!
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post #8 of 10
8/15/08 at 9:21pm
Im VERY suprised after reading reviews of Sures customer service that after only 10 months they didnt replace them for you. They also have admitted to cable problems and maybe since yours are old you have that problem. Are you sure that Sure wont replace your 310's?
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post #9 of 10
8/15/08 at 11:24pm
Getting a lemon is very an unfortunate thing, but it doesn't mean the more you pay the less likely you will get a lemon - it is all by chance.

For example, I have my RE2 for a few months now and all is fine, but my newly purchased SE530 cr*pped out in 6 days (loose cable) and I have to visit the dealer for a replacement. Shouldn't a pair of ~$400 IEM last at least 4 times as long as a pair of $100 IEM? Apparently not. Sh*t happens and there is no way to avoid it.

You should contact Fang immediately. I am sure he has no problem replace your RE2 for you.
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post #10 of 10
8/16/08 at 4:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pseudohippy View Post
. Are you sure that Sure wont replace your 310's?
Yeah, very sure.

The reason is that I originally bought the Shure E3c for $240, which after 11 month the right earplug died. So my local dealer kindly sent me the new model SE310 instead ($350) without charging me any extra!
So I have the receipt for a 2 yrs old E3c, but not for my "new" SE310...
I live in sweden, so the prices are probably a bit off the chart for the US market.

And since it's the new SE310 cable that frayed, I kind off feel bad demanding a new pair of SE310's when I only paid for the old model E3c (cheapskate that I am).

* ClieOS
I'm sure the guys at Head-Direct will replace my RE2's, I've nothing but good praise to their customer service. I'm just not very happy with the RE2 sound. Listening to Lost Cause - Beck almost won me over, but the RE2's are hopeless with metal rock (in my opinion). And 80% of my music library is metal... This was just a case of buying the wrong model for the kind of music I listen to.

I was just too cheap to pay for the kind of model my ears have gotten used to!

Oh, again many thanks for you guys who replies. I'm grateful to read your comments and advice!
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