Akoustyx R-210

Link to my review and measurement index thread where one can also find a full review overview, more information about myself as well as my general-ish audio and review manifesto: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/956208/

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I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:

5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.

4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.

3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]

2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]

1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]

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Akoustyx R-210


Source:

Review sample.


Miscellaneous:

Nicely designed package. Good unboxing experience.
Accessories nice/adequate for the price (three pairs of differently sized single-flange silicone tips, one pair of dual-flange silicone tips, one pair of foam tips, one neoprene storage pouch case).
Also come with three pairs of differently sized silicone ear hooks (called “Surefire EarLocks”) that are supposed to hold the in-ears securely in the concha, however as the R-210 are in-ears and not earbuds, and as they already fit well and securely, I personally don’t need them and am not using them.
I really like the neoprene storage pouch case – it’s got two pockets that are closed by a zip, as well as a large Akoustyx logo on its front as well as the zips.

Nice blue colour metal shells that definitely appear to be somewhat of an homage to Etymotic’s design.
Pretty small shells.
One white Akoustyx logo on either in-ear piece as well as large, easy to read side indicators (white as well).
Angled MMCX connector housing made of smoky black plastic.
Good build quality.
Overall probably not the visually most premium appearance, but with no faults.

Comfortable, secure fit.

Detachable cable with MMCX connectors.
High quality, flexible and supple cable with twisted conductors. The visual appearance of the twisted copper conductors with clear insulation is great.
Pre-shaped (no memory wire) ear guides, therefore the more professional over-the-ear fit is definitely intended by Akoustyx.
Three-button remote control, which is really nice to have, located on the cable’s left hand side.
A chin-slider is present.

One Balanced Armature driver per side.




Sound:

Largest included single-flange silicone ear tips.

Tonality:

Warm, bassy, smooth, inoffensive.

Compared to in-ears that follow a flatter, more diffuse-field-oriented approach, such as my Etymotic ER-4S and the ER4SR, the R-210 feature a bass boost of around 10 dB.
The lows’ boost starts to climb around 800 Hz and reaches its climax around 60 Hz, although the area between 90 Hz and 400 Hz is already full and elevated.
What’s very nice is that the in-ears don’t roll off towards the sub-bass and are able to keep the elevation upright down into the deep sub-bass.
As a result of the lows’ elevation, the root and lower midrange are on the warmer, fuller side. Definitely on the warm and cosy side and with some unavoidable masking effects with this very tuning, but without overshadowing the midrange yet.
The full, fairly strong elevation is also responsible for a fun, impactful bass presentation.

The central midrange at 1 kHz is neutral in quantity and sounds quite natural. Of course the lows’ elevation is responsible for a generally warm midrange tint and colouration, but voices aren’t too unnaturally coloured (warm but not unnaturally thick or masked); therefore on the warmer and thicker side of natural.
The upper mids are somewhat more on the darker side without being subdued. This definitely adds to the warm, bassy, relaxed character and fits well, even though sometimes just a little more upper midrange presence would be desirable.

Level is back around neutral again around 3 kHz just to decreases once again a bit above that without ever being perceived as dark.
Further up, the level climbs a bit between 6 kHz towards 10 kHz, and adds just a bit of slightly-more-than-neutral sparkle to the sound, however it’s really only a bit wherefore the highs are generally on the inoffensive, smooth side (there’s no bright, countervailing treble peak to compensate for the bass warmth and fullness – the treble is generally quite soft, with cymbal attacks ultimately even missing some final bite).
Super treble extension is good up to 14 kHz and rolls off quite steeply above that.

So definitely single-BA in-ears that are tuned for a bassy, warm and smooth presentation. Definitely nice sounding to me.
On a related note, the single-BA R-210 do definitely show a lot of similarities to the dual-BA EARNiNE EN210 in their tuning, with the EARNiNE being the ultimately somewhat darker sounding in-ears out of the two.
There are also some similarities to my single dynamic driver Shure SE215m+SPE, with the Shure being a bit more boosted in the bass below 100 Hz, along with some more midrange intimacy (due to a stronger presence range and upper midrange quantity compared to the Akoustyx’ more relaxed level in those areas) but an overall noticeably darker, more down-sloping treble. As a result, the R-210 are a serious single-BA alternative with a less dark upper treble tuning and (much) better cable, however with the remote control located on the (in my opinion) less convenient left hand side.
Needless to say, as I like the EN210 and my SE215m+SPE as bassy, warm and smooth and/or dark sounding in-ears, I personally also like the R-210.

Frequency Response:


ER-4S-Compensation


ProPhile 8-Compensation

Resolution:

The level of resolution is generally good for single-BA in-ears in this price range and I personally see the Akoustyx even a bit above that of the Brainwavz B100 and B150, while they don’t fully reach that of the more balanced tuned FiiO FA1 or comparably tuned dual-BA EARNiNE EN210.

Perceived coherency, which is not really surprising given they are single-BA in-ears, is really good.

Speech intelligibility and midrange resolution are good, nonetheless not without the nearly unavoidable masking effects on the lower midrange caused by the root and bass elevation.

The R-210s’ bass is definitely quite a positive highlight – even though it’s a single-BA implementation with a fairly strong bass elevation, the lows are comparatively clean, tight and precise, although typically for single-BA in-ears, with a slightly longer decay compared to really good multi-BA implementations, which adds some body and just a bit of a dynamic driver-like character to them (control is better on the Akoustyx compared to most bass-boosted dynamic driver in-ears, though).
Especially nice is that the R-210 are able to keep up the bass definition, tightness and precision down into the lowest sub-bass (not a hint of softening or loss of bass definition) – very nice.

If there’s a “weak spot” in the resolution, it’s the treble whose transients and response are soft and lack some definition compared to the lows and mids. Not fully to the point of sounding smeared, but definitely not as clean as the treble separation could be. Sure, it fits to the warm and bassy tuning and smooth character, but just a bit more treble cleanness would have been better.

Soundstage:

Authentic; however generally definitely more on the oval side.
Expands a bit further than the base between my ears, so definitely not small or congested.
There is some front-projection, but it’s not as present as the in-ear’s spatial width.

Instruments are placed fairly precisely in the imaginary room.
When it comes to instrument separation/imaging precision, some smear becomes present when the track is spatially busy and/or more bass-oriented, but fortunately not to the extent of that the soundstage would collapse.
Generally pretty clean and stable as long as the bass’s masking effects don’t kick in.




Conclusion:

Good sounding single-BA in-ears with a bassy, full, warm and smooth tuning and high bass quality as well as really good cable.


Photos:

AKOUSTYX R-210 REVIEW:


SOUND: 8.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
DESIGN: 8.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 9/10
VALUE: 8.5/10

If you take a look at AKOUSTYX logo, which is a pronounced frequency curve, you can naively think it means the sound signature of their earphones are rather peaky, super sharp or offensive, but with the model I will review today its quite the opposite in fact and most probably with more of their other model too because they describe their sound signature target as ‘’truly neutral’’.

AKOUSTYX is an American start-up manufacturer based in San Jose, California with their assembly line in Nashville, Tennessee NOT in China….which is something I truly admire nowadays where even big brands do not tend to care to assemble their product in their own country mostly to higher their benefit, not to lower the price of their final products. This fact tends to make the final product less rushed in production, which at the end can result in more trustable craftsmanship and quality check.

Behind their company, they have a team of musicians and audiophiles, which serve them to achieve acoustic qualities that will please as much musician searching for reference monitor sound than audiophile searching for musical reference sound.

The model I will review today is from their latest R2 series. The R-210 is a single balanced armature in-ear which is ultra-small and a little similar to Etymotic iem in the design of housing. But Akoustyx gives a lot of work in the material used for their housing as well. It must be noted that they collaborate with Knowles's balanced armature company to create their specific tuning too.

Give a read to know how the R2 serie is birth HERE

I always appreciate when a company explains how their product is created, to me its a proof of seriousness and professionalism.

Priced at 120$, I consider the R-210 budget-friendly, especially if we take into account the number of accessories included as well as the fact it’s made in the USA.

Anyway, like always, even if I receive the R-210 as a review sample (Disclaimer) I will be objective in my personal judgment and try to discover if this iem gives an audio performance on par with its price range.

ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN :


UNBOXING experience is a very rewarding one. The presentation is minimalist, but youare spoil by lot of accessories in the box. I’m often underwhelmed by the protective case included with earphones, not this time because we have a superb neoprene padded carrying case that has 2 pouch with a zip so you can bring an extra cable with the R-210. It's really a well-crafted carrying case that I will use daily. As well, you have good amount of ear tips including their own-designed customization kit ear tips, silicone ear tips and a pair of memory foams ear tips. The cable include have a mic and is multi braided OFC cable that looks of good quality too.



CONSTRUCTION is simple yet well made. It's supremely small, and a unique look that looks like a mix of Etymotic and Final Audio F iem. Material of housing is a mix of alluminium alloy and polycarbonate plastic. Sturdy and classy looking iem that promess long durability.



DESIGN is nice and comfy, it's so small that it will fit any size of ears. As well, you can both wear it over ear or cable down. It must be noted that if you wear it cable down, cable will create microphonic. As well, with earhook, over ear design is less comfortable than with a soft flexible cable without ear hook. But, and this is an important BUT, if you use the earlock tips, the earhook problem is partly solved as the fit will be very secure.

ISOLATION is impressive and it really acts like noise ears plug when used with memory foam tips. As well, sound leakage is inexistant, which is a big plus.

DRIVEABILITY at 50ohm of impendance do benifit from good amping, should it be with a powerfull DAP or with the help of portable amp. If not properly amped, the sound will be more congested and lack in dynamic impact.


SOUND :



OVERALL SUBJECTIVE APPRECIATION is quite good, and more on par with what I would have expected from a micro-dynamic driver than a balanced armature. Nope, this isn’t bright, ultra-detailed, thin-sounding bass light single balanced armature and I really think Akoustyx collaborates with Knowles to tune this badass full range BA their way. The sound is slightly warm, with weighty mid-bass, quite thick mids for a BA and smooth treble that do not feel tamed, just well balanced. In fact,everything is flat but the mid-bass, upper mids and mid-treble. This isn’t aggressive iem, even if the level of clarity is rather high.



SOUNDSTAGE is wider than deeper, intimate and a little ‘’in your head’’ but in an immersive way. It feels like you're in the middle of the band instead of being in front of them.

IMAGING is average, which is due to warm tonality and soft attack in mid-range that affect overall clarity, this is a drawback if this iem was mean to be used as monitor iem. Instrument lack clean space between them.

CLARITY is good but have soft sharpness in the definition. Timbre texture is soft as well as attack. Tonality is warm and quite opaque.

BASS is very impressive for a single BA, all its dynamic comes from mid and high low, making the lower end recessed and rolled off, but still, bassline are hearable in a dry way. Kick drum have a nice weighty punch and rounded definition that can move some air and warm lower mid-range. This is good for low notes of electric guitar, or higher range of bass, but when it comes to 20-100hz region, it's rather dry. This type of bass do good with rock and classical, less so for jazz or bass heavy music.

MID RANGE is flat, clear, with warm tonality and above average body for a balanced armature. All this range sound very neutral, not pushed fowards wich can make the vocal feel a little recessed when the drum of a track is on the heavy side, but it isn’t and what impress is how smooth and inoffensive it sound, you will not heard any sibilance or artificial peak in this range wich perhaps stole some energy in attack but give a very natural musicality. Akoustyx play it safe with this tuning, and the soft tone can affect imaging especially in very crowded music track where single BA show its limit.

TREBLE is relaxed and surely rolled off on top, all its energy is in lower highs wich give nice crunchiness to electric instruments. You will not hear lot of sparkles and decay with the R-210, wich have a type of treble reminding me Final Audio E serie. I would have like crisper treble with more attack so instrument like acoustic guitar and harp can have natural decay and more presence but this type of gentle highs have the advantage to make overall sound smooth as well as intensify mid-range presence.


SUB BASS : 6.5/10
MID BASS : 8/10
MID RANGE : 8.5/10
TREBLE : 7.5/10
TIMBRE : 8/10
ATTACK-DECAY : 7/10
SOUNDSTAGE : 7.5/10
IMAGING : 7.5/10



RANDOM TRACKS TESTING:

CHINAWOMAN ‘’AVIVA’’


The bass kick is weighty, softly rounded and tigh, it really is the lead of all track attack. Vocal is centered, intimate, very clear and free of any sibilance. Its neither too grainy or too soft, have flat presence with good clarity. Guitar line are accurate, again, not particularly sharp and the organ keyboard could benefit a little more texture but still is on line with other instrumental. Lower bass line is a little recessed but still easy to discern. The overall song is very well balanced and laid back, their no unpleasant peaks anywhere wich make it very enjoyable and avoid to be boring due to good mid bass response.



KATIA LABEQUE & TRIPLE SUN (MOONDOG) ‘’Bird’s Lament’’


Again, everything sound clear and flat, inoffensive until drum begin and electric guitar take first seat. Clarity give good discernment of instrumental even if show in an intimate way. Bass line this time are hard to hear when all instrumental are togheter. Piano sound a little dry and recessed, lacking in decay and attack, while kick drum have good natural weight. Chime too is little too soft, which shows the limit of upper treble. This track lacks the Grand presentation it should have and even if everything is quite balanced it lacks overall energy in attack and some treble sparkle to help liveliness and give more air between instrument.

COMPARISONS:

VS FINAL AUDIO F3100 (140$) :


The F3100 is a single balanced armature, not a Knowles like the R-210 and surely a little smaller due to its smaller housing. Still, its a very capable and fast single BA with different flavor than the Knowles house sound.
SOUNDSTAGE is slightly wider with the R-210, while the F3100 win with more deepness. The IMAGING is sharper and more precise with F3100 even if slightly more intimate in presentation. BASS dig deeper with the R-210, its weightier and more punchy too, tough the dryish mid-bass of F3100 tend to be faster and more controlled. MID RANGE is clearer and flatter with the F3100, as well its more transparent and detailed than warmer, thicker R-210 that have more peaky upper mids to compensate the slightly recessed vocal. Timbre being more transparent and sharp, its thinner too but have better overall attack wich give impressive accuracy compared to less clinical sounding R-210. TREBLE is sharper and more sparkly with the F3100, it sure have more emphasized extension and nice snappy attack compared to more natural and balanced treble of R-210 that stay on line with the rest of the frequencies response.
All in all, R-210 is warmer, more bassy and natural sounding while the F3100 win in technicalities, clarity and attack.




VS EARSTUDIO HE100 (100$) :



Akoustyx use a Knowles Balanced armature, tough its a single full range one while HE100 have special dynamic driver.
SOUNDSTAGE is this time more wide and deep with HE100, with a sens of airyness the more intimate R-210 lack. IMAGING benifit from this spacious sound as well as tamed attack with the HE100, offering clearer positioning but lacking is physical separation as if we look at a wall of sound instead of being in the middle like the R-210. BASS is faster, tigher and way more weighty and punchy with the R-210, but it lack buttom line extension of the HE100 wich do not warm lower mid range as the R-210 do. For a reference targeted iem, R-210 is notably more bassy than HE100. MID RANGE is clearer and leaner with HE100, again, its thinner in timbre and softer in attack but deliver wider definition and better accuracy, wich make the HE100 more a reference sounding iem that the R-210. TREBLE is more emphased and foward with R-210, but it do not have lore of decays and sparkle and sound harsher on top than the more delicate and relaxed HE100, wich in they end deliver a more detailed sound and easier to perceive high range even if more recessed.
All in all, if your searching for a reference sound, skip the R-210 and take the HE100, but if you want lively, punchy and aggressive sound with a weighty attack, the R-210 will sound less boringly flat perhaps to your ears.

CONCLUSION:



I didn’t know what to expect for this new American Audio company, especially in this affordable price range, and i’m sincerly impress by what I got. The tuning is balanced, smooth and neutral with good thickness to timbre, the construction is excellent and super comfortable, number of accessories is very impressive. Yep, Akoustyx sure offer tremendous overall value that can easily compete with mass produced audio products from other countries.

I respect the fact its crafted in U .S.A as well as the attention to acoustic engineering.

Akoustyx is a serious audio company to keep an eye on, and the R-210 is sure an excellent introduction to the rich sound experience they offer.

If your looking for super small single balanced armature IEM that offer quite a big sound experience, with rich timbre, smooth bass and treble, clear and articulate mid-range, I think the Akoustyx R-210 will not disapoint you at all because this type of easy going soundsignature is just too cuddling in musicality to not like it.


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