dragon2knight
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- Joined
- Feb 21, 2011
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I have had a pre release set of the new Brainwavz Delta IEM's for around two weeks now, putting over 100 hours on them in an effort to put up a thorough review of these under $20.00 bargains. mp4nation.net has put a lot of effort into making sure that these are a few steps above the norm you get at this price point, and I honestly believe they succeeded.
For starters the build quality is really good, with thick, rubberized OFC cables used. Also stress relief is present and accounted for in all the right places, something most brands dispense with at this price level. The main housings are made of sturdy aluminum, and they have a nice, non generic look to them as well with a subtle red coloring used for accents. All told, they look far more expensive than they are, a feat that's not too easy to achieve. They even include three sets of hybrid silicone tips and a set of Comply S400 tips...really nice!
The sound signature is the real surprise here, with a spacious open feel, with emphasis on the mids and high end replacing the usual boomy all encompassing low end used by way too many in this price class. That's not to say that the low end is not there, it's just not as prominent as the rest of the signature. Voice and guitars/strings soar here, with very good clarity and a full soundstage that quite honestly surprised me when first trying these out. The sound only opened up more as time went on, peaking for me at around 80 or so hours. To address the slightly lesser low end I simply adjusted the EQ on my trusty Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ and got the signature to even out effortlessly. The Delta's have the best sound quality of any sub $20.00 IEM I've ever used.
As for problems I've encountered, only a few stick out to me. The first is that the rubberized cables tend to have a pretty bad memory effect when coiled up for more than a few hours. This at least isn't permanent as just leaving them hanging over a chair stretched out overnight fixed this up. That same material is the reason that they don't tangle up much if at all, so the memory effect is the trade off for that. The second is that the color used for the accents on the rest of the design isn't quite up to the look of the driver housing, being a washed out red instead of a bright, bold one....but this, of course, is a matter of one's taste. Some might not mind it at all. Lastly, the cable length isn't too long, leaving folks who use their pants pocket to hold their phone's/players at a loss.
Summing up, the Delta's are the nicest surprise I've had in a long while. The build quality and sound signature simply blow away all other budget IEM's I've had recently, from under $10.00 Panasonic's to over $30.00+ Sennheiser's, these are simply better. Better built, better sounding. These need to be on your short list if looking for a budget IEM for taking to the gym, or just to knock around with, you wont be disappointed.
Here's the link to them on mp4nation's web site(they are currently on pre sale): http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-delta-iem-earphones
For starters the build quality is really good, with thick, rubberized OFC cables used. Also stress relief is present and accounted for in all the right places, something most brands dispense with at this price level. The main housings are made of sturdy aluminum, and they have a nice, non generic look to them as well with a subtle red coloring used for accents. All told, they look far more expensive than they are, a feat that's not too easy to achieve. They even include three sets of hybrid silicone tips and a set of Comply S400 tips...really nice!
The sound signature is the real surprise here, with a spacious open feel, with emphasis on the mids and high end replacing the usual boomy all encompassing low end used by way too many in this price class. That's not to say that the low end is not there, it's just not as prominent as the rest of the signature. Voice and guitars/strings soar here, with very good clarity and a full soundstage that quite honestly surprised me when first trying these out. The sound only opened up more as time went on, peaking for me at around 80 or so hours. To address the slightly lesser low end I simply adjusted the EQ on my trusty Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ and got the signature to even out effortlessly. The Delta's have the best sound quality of any sub $20.00 IEM I've ever used.
As for problems I've encountered, only a few stick out to me. The first is that the rubberized cables tend to have a pretty bad memory effect when coiled up for more than a few hours. This at least isn't permanent as just leaving them hanging over a chair stretched out overnight fixed this up. That same material is the reason that they don't tangle up much if at all, so the memory effect is the trade off for that. The second is that the color used for the accents on the rest of the design isn't quite up to the look of the driver housing, being a washed out red instead of a bright, bold one....but this, of course, is a matter of one's taste. Some might not mind it at all. Lastly, the cable length isn't too long, leaving folks who use their pants pocket to hold their phone's/players at a loss.
Summing up, the Delta's are the nicest surprise I've had in a long while. The build quality and sound signature simply blow away all other budget IEM's I've had recently, from under $10.00 Panasonic's to over $30.00+ Sennheiser's, these are simply better. Better built, better sounding. These need to be on your short list if looking for a budget IEM for taking to the gym, or just to knock around with, you wont be disappointed.
Here's the link to them on mp4nation's web site(they are currently on pre sale): http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-delta-iem-earphones