i never usually write reviews, but when i do, its usually with underrated earphones/headphones, because i think they do deserve some justice.
 
just a background, i owned headphones/earphones like brainwavz, sennheisers, superluxes,  beyerdynamics, etc. Some of them on come and go fashion, buy and sell. im no heavy audiophile, but i love listening to music in all aspects of genre.
i bought it because it was on sale.
this will be a short review since headfier manveru already wrote a conprehensive review. this will be to highlight and add some.
here goes:
 
initial impressions: for its price, i say it is very beautiful. pictures dont give justice since feeling it rather than seeing gives justice to its quality. feels more expensive than its price, with premium feel and faux leather. it sounded closed out of the box, but after 100hrs burn in, god they opened up.
 
bass: one of its strong points. accurate, does not bleed, punchy, tight, and appears when needed, disappears when not. 
 
mids: average. not recessed, not forward, but is there when needed. 
 
highs: its very bright sounding, decay and attack excellent. some siblance on very high frequencies, but rarely
 
 
comparisons: 
with brainwavz hm5: blows it out of the water. the brainwavz may have been bassier, but is muddy with poor details. the philips uptown is more versatile and fun sounding with no compromise on retails.
audiotechnica ath m50: the philips uptown has more control on bass than the m50s, with more vibrant highs. but depth portrayal and soundstage the philips uptown had it. I had to say philips give better value than m50s, even in build quality.
creative aurvana live: the aurvana live gives more details no question. but bass reproduction, soundstage, and versatility, i give it to philips uptown. 
 
 
conclusion:  one of the headphones i was forced to make a review since i find it hard to understand how such headphone with excellent quality came unnoticed. 
its more or like v or u shaped, but fun and versatile. if your looking for neutral then steer away from this. but if your a music lover looking for fun versatile headphones, i highly recommend you take a second look. its philips testing the audiophile waters, and i give them credit for making the uptowns.
 
highly recommended underrated headphone.

Build Quality and Initial Impressions:
- build quality seems remarkable. materials doesnt seem like the company cut cost to gain more income and i salute meelec to that. the earphones themselves are made of a metal alloy and not plastic, plus the cable seems very sturdy even if you pull it off or step on it, it remains solid. build quality is something you'd expect from a $50-$70 IEM's. and the accessories, man, the package came in with a lot of extras:
a balanced tip
3 extra tips for bass enhanced
an airplane adapter
a semi-hard case
all for a total of more or less (im not from US), $20.
never been able to hear a lot from MEELEC, i searched reviews regarding the product as i was looking for an additional IEM, and found good reviews so i decided to try one. i was hesitant at first knowing i haven't had experience with them, but gave it a shot since it was just a $20 earphone. the first time it came in (these are my second pair), i plugged it in (without burning in), and was like, meh, they sound a bit muddy, with the high's prominent, and the bass was creeping to the mids. they have a dark signiture, but detail was there. so i tried to burn it in for the next 50hrs and viola! seem to open up a bit, the mids started to show, and the timbre of the highs came prominent. well, i know this part should be on the sound quality so im gonna take it off from here.
 
 
 
Sound Quality:
 
first, im a musician from a show band and i listen to a lot of music, pop, punk, rock, alternative, hip hop, jazz, rnb, and a lot more, so i might base my opinions from these genres so if you feel i might be biased to these or if you found your genre above, please bear with me. i cannot place the albums i listen in particular, there's too many of them!
 
 
Bass: tight, punchy, well modulated and controlled. its flavored, but somehow in a good way to make the music not sounding too dry. the problem with the bass is sometimes it creeps to the mids, and the bass-mids separation is sacrificed. im not a basshead, nor an audiophile, but it seems to have a bass that the bassheads will love and audiophiles will respect. its there and its enough, its presence is really felt to be punchy and clean.
 
 
Mids: this i think, to my own opinion, is the con. they seem to be pushed-back behind the bass and the trebles. so vocals located in the mids, might sound a bit far. not so bad though, but it can be improved with EQ.
 
 
Highs: they sparkle, have a sense of tingle and clanging detail. some people find it a bit tad too excessive, but i find it sufficient. the detail is very good, clean, and modulated.
 
 
isolation: very good. people cant be heard talking unless they are about a meter from you and talking out loud. 
 
 
sound stage: a bit wide, but not much. i am a musical instrument "separation" freak. so you might not take my word for it.
 
 
 
amp vs unamped: not much difference. with this amount of impedance, its unnecessary. there might be little changes yes, but not that significant to deserve additional power input. save the environment, use less power if it aint really much.
 
 
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
 Exceptional!! one of the many reasons people should go try this product because the company really stands for their product. my first m9 had sound issues, as the right bud sounded louder than the left. i mailed meelec since i did not bought it from an authorize reseller and there has been no meelectronics customer service in our country (im not from US), about my problem and on how i can have a warranty service despite not having bought it from an authorize reseller. they mailed back, and told me i had an old stock m9 (which means out of warranty even if i recently bought it). but to them, their instruction to me was simple, with a statement ending with "..and we will send you a new one." no further questions were asked. to my disbelief, i never experience any audio equipment manufacturer went that far to send even a $20 earphone from USA to Philippines even if the product was brought from an online "black market". ive heard a lot of people saying their customer service was very good, and here i say yes indeed those stories were true. A big plus to meelectronics.
 
 
Conclusion: if you have a tight budget of $20 or so, you cannot go wrong with these!