I would say that burn-in is a must for this earphone. Before burn-in, the earphone sounded unimpressive. I almost wanted to return or sell it off. It sounded so much better after burn-in.
The first thing that I noticed is the bass. There is a good quantity of it (once you get a good seal) but it is not muddy at all. It was very punchy. Using it for movies proved quite satisfying. I was impressed. I do not consider myself to be a basshead but I really enjoyed it, especially on rock songs.
The mids are slightly forward and it really brings out the voice of the singer. I liked it, especially on Jazz songs, which I guess is where they should really shine. I was using the UE TF10, which has often been mentioned as min-recessed. I actually did not find the TF10s to be objectionable in the mids but the tribute sort of brings me closer to the singer it seems.
The treble sounded brighter than the TF10s but not harsh. I'm not very particular with regards to treble as long as they sound natural and not harsh.
The soundstage is not particularly wide but sufficient. The TF10s sounded wider in this respect.
The tips included are comfortable and provided a good fit. I prefer the foam tips over the gels in terms of comfort and fit. The foam seems to be more durable than the comply tips.
On the whole I am very satisfied with the earphone. It seems to do well for all genres. However, a user-replaceable cable would have been a nice feature. There is slight micro-phonics (not objectionable) with the cable when wearing it straight down. The chrome finish seems to tarnish slightly after a month.
