These seem to have fallen out of favor in the last few months. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they're not "audiophile" level gear. I mean, it works out in my favor because I got them on the cheap, but it's kind of sad for Munitio. I want to sing their praises from the rooftops personally. I would have been happy to have paid full price, and maybe a little more.
This is a microreview just to get these some air time--I'm no |joker|, and his review of these was pretty much spot-on.
Make no mistake, these are most definitely not audiophile gear. They're not
uncolored or
transparent or
detailed. They're not even remotely
analytical. They're not any other headfi buzzword you can come up with. What they are is
fun as hell. Seriously.
I'm a basshead, true and proper. Well, maybe not true and proper...I grew out of "MOAR SUBS" about a decade ago--I strongly prefer overall musicality with a very solid thump to back it up these days. But in this case, I wasn't terribly concerned with overall musical balance and just wanted something that could deliver in a tiny form factor.
I will make a very long story very short and simply state that these do indeed deliver. In the back of a dump truck, directly to the center of your brain. When I first put them in, I was listening to the UKF 2010 dubstep mixtape. I had foobar up at a volume that is necessary for me to even kinda-sorta hear the lower bass notes on my Klipsch S4s (around -37db, with the system volume at 80%). I'm pretty sure I caused permanent hearing damage when I put these in. My teeth rattled. My vision blurred. I could have sworn I felt it in my chest. I'm not kidding at all. I'm not exaggerating even a little bit. When I say bass, I'm speaking from the point of view of a man whose best friend has two JL Audio 13W7s in his trunk.
I was hugely surprised by both the quantity and the quality of bass. It's something that I've heard repeatedly here, and something I usually discount out of hand, because it's what old men say when they're talking about the bass coming from their latest ludicrously expensive set of orthos. I won't say this bass is magical--it's no 13W7, in terms of musicality, punch, or depth. But coming from an IEM...holy balls. Dubstep sounds freaking SICK. Hiphop--all of it--is just gorgeous. Rock...well, it depends.
Please understand that these are not a one-trick pony. They definitely won't do it all, but they have become my new travel IEMs, and honestly...I don't think I'll ever buy another pair of IEMs. These are simply too much fun. And they're extremely easy to listen to, because the bass is there even at low volumes, and they're surprisingly pleasant to listen to with other genres at low volumes, too. They are far more balanced than I expected.
I'm not going to bog this microreview down with details describing everything about the listening experience. I already did that in
my slightly more in depth listening impressions. For now, if you like bass, just go buy them. Show Munitio some love for a VERY well designed set of 'phones. I promise you, they're worth every single penny.
