Brainwavz M3 - Page 4

well to me the S4's were to bright, sibilant, and metallic sounding. the mid-range, especially the vocals on the S4's sounded very distant. i liked their bass and i liked their fit, but that was about it. the M2 are comfortable as well after a couple days of getting used to them.

i much prefer the M2's and it seems the M3's are even better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judge Buff 

I really disagree about the M2s being S4 killers, since I reviewed them for Brainwavz also. I like the M2s a lot, but the S4s sound  brighter to me and they are still the most comfortable IEMs, next to the PL50s, that I've ever listened to. IMO...

 

The M3s have opened up with about 30 hours of general music break-in. They still seem really centered in the lower mids and bass range, but they are getting sweeter in the upper mids and trebles. They really do sound like a good set of full-size, open cans. This is with the medium silicone tips. I'm shifting to the included foam tips later today, but for the moment, I'm just enjoying these excellent sounding phones... and NFL Red Zone.

jasonb, you bass monster you! I bet that you'd like the new Brainwavz Alpha Pro, as it is supposed to be a heavy bass IEM. It should be in stock soon at mp4nation.net. Anybody that has XBs, has to be a bass monster...

Taking a lead from lecky, I've been listening to the M3s through my Indeed G2 this afternoon. These phones do take an amping very well and he's right about the change in mids. It brings out a ton of upper mids and increases highs. Tomorrow at work, I plan on using my BB2.02 (without the BB, of course). So far, I'd say that unamped, the M3s are very good. So far, tube amped, they are great! While they are much more balanced, they still have deep, tightly rumbling bass. The mids and highs are much better emphasized and they get even more spacious (which might be due to the awesome Amperex PQ in the amp).
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonb 

well to me the S4's were to bright, sibilant, and metallic sounding. the mid-range, especially the vocals on the S4's sounded very distant. i liked their bass and i liked their fit, but that was about it. the M2 are comfortable as well after a couple days of getting used to them.

 

i much prefer the M2's and it seems the M3's are even better.

 

i do like bass. i EQ some out though when i use the XB500's. i much prefer the sound of the M2's though. the only EQ i do on the M2's is a slight boost up top to get a bit of sparkle. i'm not a complete bass junkie.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judge Buff 

jasonb, you bass monster you! I bet that you'd like the new Brainwavz Alpha Pro, as it is supposed to be a heavy bass IEM. It should be in stock soon at mp4nation.com . Anybody that has XBs, has to be a bass monster...

 

Taking a lead from lecky, I've been listening to the M3s through my Indeed G2 this afternoon. These phones do take an amping very well and he's right about the change in mids. It brings out a ton of upper mids and increases highs. Tomorrow at work, I plan on using my BB2.02 (without the BB, of course). So far, I'd say that unamped, the M3s are very good. So far, tube amped, they are great! While they are much more balanced, they still have deep, tightly rumbling bass. The mids and highs are much better emphasized and they get even more spacious (which might be due to the awesome Amperex PQ in the amp).
 

 

Ohk haven't got my pair yet (on their way ) but here are my initial impressions after trying BF1983's  M3 for 15-20 mins .Hope its useful for someone who is thinking of ordering it via the pre-order.

I tried it for hardly 20 mins . Can't be very descriptive .But here are the initial impressions which can change slightly in future :P

Bass : M3s bass is less than M2. M2 reminds me more of TF10s heavy club like awesome bass but without the deep sub bass which is there in TF10.M3s bass is more tighter , slightly less in quantity and more punch then impack . No mid bass like M2 at all .So the mids are more clear than M2.

Midrange : Not warm sounding like that of M2. Slight..very slight darkish tone to the mids but enjoyable and natural.

Treble : Again slightly less bright than M2s but has more micro detailing like the RE-0 (not as good as RE-0 ) . Didnt notice any sibilance .

Soundstage : Had the RE-1 around for comparison so ofcourse the soundstage didn't seem to be ohh so great but definitely better than the narrow congested soundstage of M2 . Overall above  average but nothing out of the world.

Theres an issue with the imaging ..The overall sound is so clean ,clear and if you've noticed nothing(bass/mids/treble) is emphasized .So you don't really have anything that you can concentrate on .  Not as enjoyable / musical as M2 but more detailed , clear and balanced/natural sounding

Its more detailed and cleaner sounding than M2 but I feel I would still prefer M2 more than the M3 for my electronica\trance listening .Other wise for vocals ,classical etc M3 .. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faheem 

Ohk haven't got my pair yet (on their way ) but here are my initial impressions after trying BF1983's  M3 for 15-20 mins

Just a small confusion here - It should be Brendon here and BF1983 on TE

Most of Faheems observations are easy to relate to the M3 and M2. I absolutely prefer the M3 over the M2 - the M2 is really fun for non acoustic music, but too coloured, with a bass that blurs over the mids making it of little use for any acoustic music. I actually prefer the M3 to my RE-0 now. The RE-0 has a bit of an over emphatic treble - high hats on lots of jazz records come right to the front in a way that wrecks many recordings, and otherwise makes them very engaging but not very relaxing. The M3 slightly de-emhasises the top range - it's still all there, but not emphatically. This makes a much more satisfying and a little more versatile listen. There is an apparent loss of detail in comparison to the RE-0, but most of it is there, just not being highlighted. The M3 seems to me to respond more positively to amping than the RE-0. The other thing to note with the M3 is that for me they really need the sony style tips and suffer a lot in the mids with the foam tips. They also change considerably with burn-in. I really like the M3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by esanthosh 

 

Just a small confusion here - It should be Brendon here and BF1983 on TE

Haha ! Thanks !

@Lecky - Yes I concur on your points regarding the M3 and M2. I heard Faheem's M1s as well which are cheaper than the M2s at $29. I actually preferred the sound of the M1s to the M2s as the former had a much tighter / controlled bass compared to the M2s while having maybe a smidgen less detail retrivial. As much as I like the M2s fun sound, I always feel a little irritated when the bass intrudes into the midrange on a few songs. The M3 has deep bass (It can reach down to 20 hz on normal listening volumes) but no mid bass hump which makes for a clean punchy bass without any boom. I am very susceptible to any treble harshness and thankfully both the M2 and the M3 have a clean inoffensive treble that does not cause listener fatigue. I feel the mids are also pretty clean and detailed.

IMO your point on the tips is spot on as well. I always prefer the Head-direct biflange tips with practically every IEM I use but for the M3s I felt the bundled Sony style hybrid tips worked best which is very good for people wishing to buy the M3s do not need to spend extra on foamies or other tips.

What I really like about the M3s sound is that is very balanced and does not have any real weakness or deficiency in sound other that what I perceive to be a little iffy imaging. So the M3s can be enjoyed with a lot of different genres of music.

They sound good directly out of my portable player that I never realized that they benefit a bit from amping. Mostly the midrange improves when adding my Ibasso P3+ to the mix. While IMO amping is not necessary to enjoy the M3s , it helps bring out that little extra oomph in the sound.

Still haven't finished burning in the M3s , so the impressions might change a bit later on. But from whatever little burn-in I have done, there has been little to no perceptible change in the sound so people worried about needing to burning in IEMs for 100 hours and 200 hours can heave a sigh of relief !

Are the M3's available in India?

Are they worth the upgrade over M2?

i really like my M2 but it seriously lacks sub bass.Everything else is fine.

Brendon,

how would you compare the bass of M3 with M1 ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by oyster 

Are the M3's available in India?

Are they worth the upgrade over M2?

i really like my M2 but it seriously lacks sub bass.Everything else is fine.

No the M3s are not yet launched. Should be shipping by Nov 15 (subject to no further delays). You can preorder them for $79 which is a very good price. You can shave off another $10 from the price if you have bought the M2s from mp4nation.

IMO, for you at least if you found the M2s bass a bit boomy and intrusive then the M3s are for you. The M3s have the other strengths of the M2s like a nice clear detailed midrange and a smooth extended inoffensive treble. Detail retrevial is slightly better on the M3s but the M3s have a noticeably wider soundstage compared to the M2. IMO the M2 can sound congested in a few tracks due to the small soundstage and slow bass.

The M3s are not for everyone however. Those who like the noticeble fat bass on the M2s will feel that the M3s have 'less' bass. That's because the M3s have a very linear bass drop off without a mid bass hump. So those who love the M2s bass may feel shortchanged with the M3s.

I feel that those who do not like the M2s mid bass exaggeration or the narrow soundstage should look at upgrading to the newer M3s. Those who have an M2 but want something analytical should look elsewhere.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nizarp 

Brendon,

how would you compare the bass of M3 with M1 ?

I have heard the M1 for maybe 5 minutes so its not really enough to form an opinion about the M1s.

If pushed I would say that the M1 is a pretty capable IEM and you should consider it if you do not wish to spend the extra $$$ for the M3s. The M1s have a nice sturdy cable and build quality even though it costs a lot less than the M3.

However while sound quality wise the M1s sounds very similar to the M3 in that both have tight controlled bass, a nice smooth midrange and an inoffensive treble, the M3 is clearly in a different league with regards to bass performance, soundstage performance (height + width) and detail retrevial.

So if you like the M1 then chances are the M3s are a nice step up. This is again talking about driving the M3s directly from your portable player. If you have an amp , then the differences are even greater as the M3s midrange becomes better and the bass starts to rumble while still remaining tight.

But I will say again I heard the M1s for not more than 5 minutes so please take what I have said with a pinch of salt.
 

Brendon, I agree that they're really nice unamped, anyone could buy these without feeling that they need to amp them, I'll use them on the go with an ipod unamped and I'll be very happy with that.

Of course there's lots in the mix of what an amp brings in colouration as well as the effects of power, so perhaps amping won't help in every situation. What my amp (the headphone out of a Cyrus One - reasonable quality and very powerful, but not many people will know its strengths and weaknesses) does is to tighten up detail, to gives a slightly fuller, more controlled sound, it gives a little better sense of imaging too - it's noticeable particularly in complex layered music, such as some orchestral material, not a huge thing, but quite pleasing.

Do these IEMs need to be amped? Not in the least! Do these IEMs respond favorably to being amped? Oh yeah! Emphasis on the OH!

Without amping, these phones are like Sunday dinner at your grandmother's house: filling, substantial, delicious and satisfying. With the amps I've used over the last couple of days (described below), these wonderful IEMs are a Christmas feast: lavish, extravagantly detailed and memorable. I've had the M3s in my ears most of my waking hours since Monday morning and I grok them. I've truly sussed them out. They are magnificent phones for their price. They do justice to every genre I've listened to... rock, electronica, jazz and country especially. Classical music with full symphonies is awesome, though "strings only" music, not so much IMO. Trebles are sweet and smooth, but these phones are best in the mids and lower. They also have the most expansive sound stage of any IEM I've heard. Ever.

I've not had any listener fatigue from the music all week. But physically, these phones are LARGE. You won't forget they are in your ears. They aren't uncomfortable at all for me, but here too, they are substantial and filling. I'm just glad I have typical "old guy" big ears... You could put a concert hall in my outer ear. Literally.

I've listened to both my Zune 30 and my iPhone 3GS and they pair up well with both. My favorite combo while stationary is my Zune and my Indeed G2 (currently with a marvelous Amperex 6922 PQ tube). These phones really do sound as expansive as a set of open, full-size cans in this setup. This is an unbelievable, little budget-fi sound system! Listening to music while mobile, I prefer the Zune over my iPhone (which is fine since I have no earphones with mics) and this setup is very good with the Zune cranked up to 11 or 12. Below that, detail typically goes away, depending on the recording quality, etc.

I currently have an OPA2107 opamp in my cMoyBB2.02 and this paired with my Zune is a wonderful mobile music machine. Full, expansive and clean. The other amp I've used is a fred_fred_2004 amp with a TI TPA6111a2 opamp. Here the sound is very balanced, detailed and smooth. Fred_fred does amps good!

All of my listening has been with the hybrid silicone tips... I haven't gotten around to trying the foam tips yet. I'm sure that there will be some change to the sound signature... there always is with foam. I may be accused of giving a FOTM reaction to these, but since they they have been around for a while, I doubt that's valid. You can color me as enthusiastic though. I love 'em... nuff said!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judge Buff 

Do these IEMs need to be amped? Not in the least! Do these IEMs respond favorably to being amped? Oh yeah! Emphasis on the OH!

 

Yes I think you hit the nail on the head ! Thats the best way to sum it up.

Has anyone noticed any substantial changes to the sound after burn-in ?

Hey guys. Here's a review I did at MP4Nation. It's not as detailed as some of your impressions, but I think we're all agreeing in what these sound like. Take into consideration that I did this review straight out of the box. No burn in time at all. The M3's are awesome! Really liking them: http://www.mp4nation.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20219

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendon 

Has anyone noticed any substantial changes to the sound after burn-in ?

I feel that mine opened up substantially in the upper mids and the treble. I have no way to quantitatively substantiate this... When I do burn-in or break-in on headphones, I stress the phones by playing them at volumes ~1/4 higher than I would normally listen to them at max. For example, the loudest I normally listen to my Zune is around 12, which makes break-in at 15 or so. My laptop max is around 25, break-in is ~32.

When I first heard the M3s, mine had fairly subdued trebles. I only did about 30 hours of real break-in by playing much of my library interspersed with white noise, pink noise and just random sound files. I've been listening since Monday. Today, when I put them in and turned on my music, my initial thought was, "Oh man, this is awesome sounding!" This was just a Zune and a cMoy and a set of IEMs... a simple setup, but truly excellent music. Can't ask for much more, Y'all.