First, I’d like to thank the folks at Narmoo for providing a sample of their R1M earphones for review.
 
In recent years, the IEM market has sort of exploded, seeing a number of established players making a go of things and a number of impressive upstarts, often aiming for the top by attacking the bottom, releasing high performing earphones for low prices. Enter Narmoo, a company I’d never heard of until an e-mail showed up in my inbox. I have before me their entry level offering, the R1M, an earphones that should appear somewhat familiar to those who frequent this site. Though it’s not identical, the R1M bears more than a passing resemblance to the MEElectronics SP51 and XePort 5010, two earphones that, like the R1M, feature a variable tuning system.
 

Design and Build Quality

Despite sharing a similar gimmick with the Xeport and MEElectronics ‘phones, it doesn’t share the same housing design. The R1M’s housings are noticeably larger with large, flat strain reliefs and flat cables. A noticeable and welcome difference between the R1M and the SP51 and 5010 is the larger screw caps, which share the same color scheme but are easier to keep track of.

Packaging and Accessories

The R1M is most notable in this department because its packaging is one of its accessories. The R1M arrives in a large, rectangular clamshell zippered carrying case, which is probably the best I’ve seen from any manufacturer at any price point. Though it’s a little big for a pocket, it has space for the earphones, accessories, and probably your phone in its two mesh pockets.

Comfort

Being large, straight-barrel IEMs, your level of comfort is going to be highly dependent on the size of your ears/outer ear canals. Personally, I found them to be inoffensive and unobtrusive, despite their large size.
 

Sound Quality

Right in line with the other adjustable bass earphones I’ve reviewed, the R1M has a warm, bass driven consumer-friendly sound. Even with the silver caps in place, the bass is accentuated and powerful but also controlled and never muddy or muddy. Being the unapologetic basshead I am, I went for the gunmetal caps which offered the best balance of low end authority and quantity without overwhelming the presentation so impressions going forward will be based on how the R1M sounds with the gunmetal caps in place.
 
Like I said earlier, the low end is powerful and authoritative. In terms of quantity, it offers sizable impact and presence but falls short of bass monsters like the XK-DUN CK700 and Monster Miles Davis Tributes. That’s not a knock against the R1M though and the accentuated bass should be pleasing to discerning bassheads.
 
The midrange is slightly warm and well detailed, especially for an earphone in its price range. It’s impressively clear and serves up plenty of detail and is mostly free of bass bleed and actually sounds a bit thin at times. The high end is a tad uneven at times, sometimes coming off a bit shrill and dry but this was mostly situational.
 
The presentation is warm and decently spacious with a nice sound stage and solid imaging. As I said before, the low end is the cornerstone of the R1M’s sound signature but it knows its place and rarely steps beyond it except when the black caps are installed, which can make the bass a bit boomy.
 

Conclusion

At a price of $29.99, the R1M is highly impressive, delivering sound quality well above what I would’ve expected. The adjustable sound signature is highly detailed and well defined, despite some issues with slightly muddy bass with the black caps installed. But, the remote and microphone for smartphone users and excellent carrying case make the R1M an attractive prospect. Though Narmoo is certainly diving in to the market as a relative unknown, it should certainly be on your radar now.
 
Re-Posted From My Site, Musical Musings

Narmoo is yet another new contender in the crowded budget IEM world. To stand out in such a competitive field, one either has to get creative. What Narmoo has brought us is an improvement on a old, but interesting system.
 
The packaging of the Narmoo R1M is a great exercise in moderating excess. Instead of forcing the consumer to pay for fancy packaging, Narmoo has instead provided an excellent carrying case and added a cardboard slip over it to serve as packaging. Inside are some basic tips (I don't really like them; read more to see what I actually use with them) and the different filters (black is bassy, silver is heavily damped, and grey is in between). I did have a bit of a problem with the filters though. They would randomly screw off by themselves and I lost one of the grey ones the first week I had them. This review would have been done a few months back if I found the filter before moving out of my dorm last week. The cable is a nice flat cable with a microphone, with with a proper strain relief. For the cost of entrance, the R1M is a great value if for nothing but its case.
 
I primarily used the grey filters with the R1M for this review, but I will describe the differences between the filters later on. At first listen, they didn't exactly wow me; for $30, I thought the Xiaomi Piston 2.0 were much better.
 
After trying to get used to their sound, changing changing the tips to Ultimate Ears tips, and learning not to compare their faults with my Hifiman RE600, I got a better feel of the sound. What stands out most to me is that unlike a large number of sub $30 IEMs, they are able to project a decent soundstage, albeit more wide than deep, but it makes for a very good pair of IEMs for rock lovers. Also a strong suit, which I didn't at all expect, was a forward, energetic midrange. Of course, they suffer what I've normally come across in cheaper headphones: the midrange has a tendency to sound very unnatural, like they've been equalized too far up, to the point where I can sense it will distort if the music doesn't match the IEM well. The treble, even after being burned in for months, is still pretty grainy to me, and doesn't extend very far.
 
The bass deserves its own paragraph, because it's what's affected most by the filters. With the black filters, bass is definitely strong enough to satiate most bassheads, but the more discerning should try the other filters. The bass with the black filters was one of the sloppiest I've ever heard. It got a lot of praise from people that haven't heard anything "nice" but I couldn't even stand a minute of them. The grey filters were a bit of an improvement. Still obviously bass heavy, but finally listenable, if still sloppy. Individual notes were at least differentiable. The silver filters are still bassier than neutral, but the most tolerable to my ears. Timbre with any filter is not very close to natural, but the silver ones get the closest to it.
 
All in all, the R1M is an acceptable choice for $30, but I can't help but think that if the case was ditched, they'd instead be a spectacular $20 option. Even at such a low price point, unless you're explicitly looking for a tunable IEM, there are better options. The good thing is that they're better than the Xeport 5010 at the same price, and much better than MEElectronics' entry. Not to discourage Narmoo, but I feel like the best option for them now is to focus on making an IEM with one fantastic sound signature rather than three slightly different ones.