Brainwavz R1 Review - Page 20

You've made your point, lifebot. You can stop now.

Both of you stop it. Opinion is opinion, but don't be offending ones opinion because they do not match yours. I personally do not find my R1s enjoyable, in fact, I have to agree with lifebot, they are bassy, recessed, and I personally find them a bit distorting when using the comply tips. They are also a bit sibilant. The silicone tips work nicer, but they are not that much greater. Compared to my S2m which are considered poor headphones even for $30, I find the S2m's and the R1's to hold just about the same clarity and quality, with the R1s sounding more wide, yet more distant and recessed for rock music.

At the same time, they only cost $35, and I do not own many headphones in this area (or many headphones in general) so I may not know the expectations of a pair of headphones at that price, but I did expect it to be much better than the Image S4i's seeing that reviews say that the E30s perform just about the same, if not better than the S4's. I personally do not like them, but the Monoprice 8323s to me also sound like garbage, regardless of it's $20 price tag.

I personally purchased the R1s mainly due to your review dragon2knight. I'm not going to call you a liar, but I personally cannot categorize the R1's into balanced headphones. The bass is really strong; I actually thought that Monster bought Brainwavz and renamed the Beats by Dr. Dre Tours into Brainwavz R1. I am kind of disappointed in them, but many others find them great so unless I am expecting much too much from a pair of $35 IEMs, I am not going to approve of them. Perhaps it's my expectations, perhaps they weren't burned in properly, perhaps mines came with a different or defective driver, I have no idea. Once again, opinion is opinion, but it doesn't beat the S4's from when I listened to it. I'm receiving my B2's in a week from now, hopefully those will sound much much better, at the same time, I might check the M5's since they seem to perform really well for it's price from reviews.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sycho 

I might check the M5's since they seem to perform really well for it's price from reviews.

Well don't get your hopes up...remember, reviews are all wrong. ;)

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of the R1s so I ordered some M5s too.  We'll see how those go.

The M3s are probably my favorite Brainwavz branded headphone...other than that, I haven't really liked any of their other products.  B2, HM3 (on ear), Betas and M2s.  I guess I need to just stop buying them if the M5s aren't my cup of tea.  It looks like Amazon finally has the M3s back in stock (via MP4Nation) so I may just have to go back to to the trusty M3s...I just wish they had a chin slider!

Someone requested for pictures, here they are. Please excuse the quality, taken with my phone. Edited:

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrathzombie 

Someone requested for pictures, here they are. Please excuse the quality, taken with my phone.

 

 

 

loos like you switched the sides??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelda 

loos like you switched the sides??

Yes, I have changed it now.

Hi everyone - new member here. Decided to make an account to post my thoughts thus far with a 12 hour burn-in. Ordered my pair on the 11th and have followed this thread since its inception. First of all, these are my first pair of IEM from Brainwavs. I am coming from Senn CX-55 which I Bass-EQ'd heavily to get the sound I liked. I lost sound on the right bud and I was without earphones for a long time. I discovered mp4nation during my quest to find an affordable replacement. After reading up on the M series, I decided to wait for the M2 to go on sale - supposedly the strength of these were bass and that's what I was looking for. Fast-forward to October, the M2s have yet to go on sale and mp4nation released a new model - the R1. My interest baited by the price and dual driver design. I decided to wait on a review, knowing some people got their hands on it before bulk-release. I was pleased to read - based on d2knight's review - that they were described as a more mature version of the M2 - I ordered.

Now, my perception of how they sound (100% objective on my end):

I'm a noob when it comes to audio lingo, understanding terms and being able to properly convey what I want to describe but I will do my best.
I noticed right off the bat that my music felt suppressed, though I could not put my finger on exactly what. I shuffled through a variety of genres and eras of music and came to a consensus in it's infancy:

1) vocals and melodies sound stuffed at their apex / or volume limited - like hearing music from the room next door.

2) I hear instruments and sounds that I never heard before on any IEM/Can/Speaker (attributed by the U sound-sig perhaps? or testament to quality?).

3) Bass is cleaner and less enveloping than my EQ'd CX-55. They sound more separated opposed to being the milk in my cereal. The cereal flakes being instruments and sounds (confusing? lol).

I learned a lot in the passing day - listening and reading opinions in this thread. dbdynasty brought up driver flex, a term I've seen before but finally read up on it's meaning. I can say that I've experienced it on both sides while using the foam tips. Now for my break down of specific songs in relation to my old CX-55:

1) Come rain or come shine - Eric clapton & BB king: Main Guitar doesn't stay in the air. Each note starts clean at the guitar pick but feels stuffed at the apex. Supporting instruments are clear and sharp - many of which I didn't notice on CX-55. King's vocals on this track are not as broadcasting as Clapton's, in my mind he was sitting at stage right-front but behind a barrier that makes him sound stuffy. Clapton's vocals are prominently on the left side, but once again, I'm sitting front row and hes a few feet away from me, but he battles with an obstruction ("I'm with you always" comes out as "I'm with you alway")

2) In too deep - Kool G Rap: Main melody requires some selective hearing. Vocals sound magnified (almost distorted) at inception but are stuffy at apex. Words and syllables similar to the 'S' sound in "Snake" are very hissy.

3) Killin It - Krewella: For the most part this dubstep piece is satisfactory, but the vocals - although less stuffy than the preceding examples - feels like a step too far from the mic.

4) Thriller - Michael Jackson: The creaking door sequence was pleasantly rich and 3D like ( I assume it benefits from the U/V sound-sig). Michaels' vocals are naturally soft on this track to begin with, and even more so with the R1. Continuing with the trend, supporting instruments are much more apparent and clear.

What I can say so far is that the R1 has a separated bass that compromises mid-melodies and vocals for many tracks. It's not necessarily a bad thing, melodies and vocals EXIST, the design simply gives more room for a cleaner sounding bass and  the apex of melodies/vocals don't hang in the air as obvious as other IEM/CAN/Speakers. Not all songs are affected though, specifically instrumental/bass aggressive tracks where nuances do not contribute to the heart of the track. Though I'm pleasantly surprised to hear supporting instruments/sounds in many of my songs that are totally new to me. Please feel free to contradict my statements or add to them. I stand only behind myself and speak as objectively as possible. Sorry if I'm not thorough or not easy to undestand.





 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nihontoman 

you are right, burn in only makes small changes, but they are still audible. also, burn in can't make anything sound "worse", because it just improves the mechanical abilities of the driver and I don't see how a constricted in movement driver would sound better than burnt in, more "free" driver... if that makes any sense though :)

 

as for amping - I don't think those will need any. sensitivity and impedance are quite good to be driven directly from any source and amplifing  won't make any difference, if of course the amplifier is neutral and only does that - amplify the signal...

I think it's a bold statement to say that. First of all, how do you know it's always audible? I've had drivers that didn't change a bit that I could discern. There are hundreds of other reports of this. I don't question that a driver gets more flexible with time, I just don't think this is audible in most cases, let alone all.

Second, there's no correlation between a driver being 'free' and sounding good. In fact, the less constricted a driver is the more it will move, and the more distortion will be created (Axel Grell, the engineer behind Sennheiser's HD800, said this was something he had to overcome when creating them). Just because 'free' sounds like a better word to us than 'constricted' to us doesn't mean the sound will be more appealing.

Even if you can hear differences, how do they go in polar directions (some people report more bass, others less bass/tighter, other more present mids...) it's always something different. And somehow it always sounds better to you. If you enjoy detail they get more analytical, if you like bass they extend deeper. Anyway this is just food for thought, I have no intention of inauguring Head-Fi's 1,000,000th burn-in debate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudJack 

Now, my perception of how they sound (100% objective on my end):

I'm a noob when it comes to audio lingo, understanding terms and being able to properly convey what I want to describe but I will do my best.
I noticed right off the bat that my music felt suppressed, though I could not put my finger on exactly what. I shuffled through a variety of genres and eras of music and came to a consensus in it's infancy:

1) vocals and melodies sound stuffed at their apex / or volume limited - like hearing music from the room next door.

2) I hear instruments and sounds that I never heard before on any IEM/Can/Speaker (attributed by the U sound-sig perhaps? or testament to quality?).

3) Bass is cleaner and less enveloping than my EQ'd CX-55. They sound more separated opposed to being the milk in my cereal. The cereal flakes being instruments and sounds (confusing? lol).

I learned a lot in the passing day - listening and reading opinions in this thread. dbdynasty brought up driver flex, a term I've seen before but finally read up on it's meaning. I can say that I've experienced it on both sides while using the foam tips. Now for my break down of specific songs in relation to my old CX-55:

1) Come rain or come shine - Eric clapton & BB king: Main Guitar doesn't stay in the air. Each note starts clean at the guitar pick but feels stuffed at the apex. Supporting instruments are clear and sharp - many of which I didn't notice on CX-55. King's vocals on this track are not as broadcasting as Clapton's, in my mind he was sitting at stage right-front but behind a barrier that makes him sound stuffy. Clapton's vocals are prominently on the left side, but once again, I'm sitting front row and hes a few feet away from me, but he battles with an obstruction ("I'm with you always" comes out as "I'm with you alway")

2) In too deep - Kool G Rap: Main melody requires some selective hearing. Vocals sound magnified (almost distorted) at inception but are stuffy at apex. Words and syllables similar to the 'S' sound in "Snake" are very hissy.

3) Killin It - Krewella: For the most part this dubstep piece is satisfactory, but the vocals - although less stuffy than the preceding examples - feels like a step too far from the mic.

4) Thriller - Michael Jackson: The creaking door sequence was pleasantly rich and 3D like ( I assume it benefits from the U/V sound-sig). Michaels' vocals are naturally soft on this track to begin with, and even more so with the R1. Continuing with the trend, supporting instruments are much more apparent and clear.

What I can say so far is that the R1 has a separated bass that compromises mid-melodies and vocals for many tracks. It's not necessarily a bad thing, melodies and vocals EXIST, the design simply gives more room for a cleaner sounding bass and  the apex of melodies/vocals don't hang in the air as obvious as other IEM/CAN/Speakers. Not all songs are affected though, specifically instrumental/bass aggressive tracks where nuances do not contribute to the heart of the track. Though I'm pleasantly surprised to hear supporting instruments/sounds in many of my songs that are totally new to me. Please feel free to contradict my statements or add to them. I stand only behind myself and speak as objectively as possible. Sorry if I'm not thorough or not easy to undestand.

 

These are the exact things I'm struggling with which I posted previously in my comments. I have to really FOCUS to listen to the vocals which are coming from far on the sides and the instruments are all placed on the sides too. I mean I understand having a good soundstage with separation of instruments but what's the point if EVERYTHING feels like it's coming from a distance.

You're spot on with the bass. Something I like on the R1 compared to the PL30s I had previously.