Introduction
I have been an enthusiastic headphone user for many MANY years now. My first set of serious headphones were the open-backed Sennheiser HD400 headphones. From what I remember about them, they sounded pretty good but needed a lot of power and lacked bass. From there I progressed to some Sony earbud headphones which were new on the market and something of a novelty - again what I remember about them was they lacked bass but were still a pretty good headphone.
From there I have had numerous (actually countless would be a better description) headphones and my current collection consists of the following:-
- Audio Technica ATH M50X
- V-Moda Crossfade Wireless
- 1More MK802 Bluetooth
- 1More iBFree Wireless
- 1More E1001 Triple Driver
- 1More Capsule Dual Driver
- Apple Earpods
- Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10
As you can see from this list, I have a wide and fairly varied collection. The most expensive being the Ultimate Ears and the cheapest being the Apple Earpods. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses and, in my opinion, all of them have excellent sound quality. What you can also see from the list above is that apart from the Apple Earpods, I tend to use full sized on or over ear headphones and in ear monitors rather than earbuds. I tend to generally prefer the bass response from in ear monitors and definitely prefer them in noisy environments or whilst walking the dog.
In fact, it’s actually been quite some time since I have used earbuds. I actually like the Apple Earpods - although they do lack bass, they do sound pretty good nonetheless. One thing I feel it’s important to point out is that I really don’t like using earbuds without foam covers. I feel that foamies offer far greater comfort and overall sound quality. I purchased a bag of 100 foamies from Amazon some time ago for use with the Earpods and am still using my first set. With this in mind, I briefly tried the weird rubber tips that came with the E1008’s - didn’t like them and so fitted a pair of foamies out of the bag and am using them instead of the supplied tips.
Physical Description
The 1More E1008 headphones share a similar construction standard to their popular E1001 Triple Driver headphones. They are constructed from the same material and have the same subtle gold finish. They also share the long stems featuring a small port for additional bass response, headphone cable and (yay!!!) fully Android compatible remote control on the right hand headphone cable. The remote can control volume as well as Play/Pause/Track Skip on my G4 and Tab S Android devices flawlessly. I tried the headphones with the Apple Nano and the volume controls didn’t work but the Play and Pause controls did. I found the Triple Drivers behaved the same way.
These are pretty big earbuds. Their basic size and profile remind me of the Sennheiser MX400 earbuds from yesteryear. With foamies fitted they feel comfortable and stay in place under normal circumstances. I find that they sound their best when as much of the driver as possible is facing your ear so their fit is slightly different from the Earpods which feature a port that ‘squirts’ some of the sound directly into your ear canal but I certainly didn’t have a problem regarding fit - to be honest though - I don’t go jogging.
The cable is basically the same as found on their Triple Driver E1001 model. I personally really like the material coating on the bottom part of the cable and the subtly ribbed rubber coating leading to the headphones themselves. The in-line remote is extremely light and doesn’t make the right hand side feel any heavier. The buttons have a nice positive feel to them and each one is pretty easy to locate. Another nice touch is the right angled headphone plug - a definite improvement on their Triple Drivers there.
The packaging is utterly fantastic. The packaging includes multiple tips - 2 pairs of foam and various sizes of silicone tips with ‘wings’. I briefly tried the silicone tips but preferred the basic foams. These positively radiate quality and they would make a truly excellent gift. I really can’t imagine anyone being disappointed getting these. I think Sony and the like could learn a lot about quality packaging from 1More.
Equipment Used
My primary listening source is the Motorola Moto G4 Android phone. Whilst the phone is generally considered to be a basic model these days, I have found the sound quality through the headphone socket is pretty good. My previous phone was the widely praised (from a sound quality perspective) Samsung Galaxy Note 2. To be perfectly honest I cannot really tell a difference between the two and the bluetooth performance of the G4 is definitely better than the Note 2. I tend to use Neutron for most music playback. I am currently working my way through a free 3-month subscription to Apple Music but I can’t say I’m all that impressed with it. I think both Spotify and Google Play Music offer improvements in both sound quality and user interface.
I also use the following devices:-
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablet.
- AGPtek H1 - a superbly made and inexpensive MP3/FLAC player
- Benjii 5 MP3 player - another superb little player which offers both excellent sound quality and value for money.
- Apple Ipod Nano 6g - very neat little player - sounds pretty good but does tend to lack power.
Sound Quality
As mentioned previously, I am using the E1008’s with a set of foamies from my collection. I briefly tried some of the tips supplied with the E1008’s but found that the sound quality and fit were not as good with those. Obviously your results could differ as everyone’s ears are different.
Firstly these headphones are full-sounding and nicely balanced - they definitely share a similar sound signature to 1More’s other Luca Bignardi tuned headphones. They are efficient enough to be driven to high levels from your mobile phone - in fact even the humble Ipod Nano can drive them to acceptable levels. Isolation from outside noise is pretty much non-existent - you will need to use these in a quiet environment if you want to get the most out of them.
Bass. Nice and deep - far deeper than I have experienced with other earbud type headphones. The bass has a nice amount of detail too - the instruments have texture and detail which can easily be picked out of the mix. One word that springs to mind is ‘controlled’. Bass notes are easy to follow and, if you had the music skills, you could effectively transcribe the bass onto music sheets without too much difficulty.
Mids. Detailed but not forward. Flat in character which helps reduce listening fatigue in my opinion. Again these headphones can resolve a lot of detail and instruments show texture and timbre. Listening to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album was very satisfying - subtle details in the sheen of the cymbals and impact of the drums was really nice. Again, to use an appropriate word I would say ‘analytical’.
Highs. I really hate headphones that are too bright. Even though the frequency range of the E1008’s goes way WAAAAAYYYYY beyond what my ears are capable of picking up, they are wonderfully detailed in the top end without being overly bright. This is again most welcome.
Whilst they share similar sound characteristics to 1More’s E1001 headphones, they don’t go as deep in the bass. This is to be expected with this type of headphone as their lack of isolation tends to bleed away some of the bass. Another thing they share with the E1001’s is drive and impact. They appear to offer iem clarity with earbud convenience.
Like with all earbuds the sound becomes much ‘fuller’ when you gently press them further into your ears but with these you don’t have to do this as their sound is full enough and pressing them in causes detrimental changes the sound character.
Good Points
Clarity, drive, bass detail, build quality, Android compatible remote, cable quality, angled plug, superb packaging, leather-like case and metal construction.
Bad Points
Perhaps a little too big for some people (they are bigger than the Apple Earpods). Don’t sound so good without foams (although I have never found a pair of earbuds that sound any good without foams being fitted).
Conclusion
I own quite a lot of 1More headphones and all of them are truly superb - each one fitting into a niche without really overlapping each other. Although the E1008’s are very close in price to their E1001 Triple Drivers, they are really aimed at different users. Some people can’t get on with in ear monitors and prefer earbuds - and vice-versa. 1More have them both covered. Their C1002 in ear monitors are also of a similar price but again are aimed at people who want a low profile headphone which could, for example, be worn whilst wearing a motorcycle helmet or whilst lying on your side in bed - not something I would recommend with the Triple Drivers or E1008’s.
I think 1More have set the standard for other headphone manufacturers to follow. Whilst it’s fair to say that Sony, for example, offer a wider variation of models, their primary focus on their budget headphones is style and on their more expensive headphones, their primary focus is features. It’s only when you start to spend some very serious money on Sony that sound quality is their primary goal - and they don’t always get that right. 1More appear to be completely focussed on sound quality and value for money. In this they succeed brilliantly and they definitely deserve recognition for their outstanding sound quality. Without a doubt, the 1More E1008 is the finest earbud headphones I have ever heard and wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone looking for a viable alternative to in ear monitors.
You can get these on Amazon UK's web site at http://amzn.eu/i2Ac1AK
1More E1008 retail for £89.99 and are available on 1More’s UK website - UK.1more.com
Thanks