Note: Hidizs sent this unit out for a review in part of their Global Public Review. I will have an affiliate link for the product, but they are not paying or trying to influence me for the review and all opinions are of my own.


Quick Spec Sheet

Release date: Apr 21st 2023

Pre-sale price: $379 USD Regular price: $499 USD

Driver config: 4BA+1DD

Connector: 0.78mm 2-pin

Impedance: 5.3 ohms

Sensitivity: 104db



Introduction

Most of you guys might’ve heard of Hidizs for their excellent budget DAPs. With the release of the MS5, Hidizs now has an offering for the very competitive mid-range IEM market. With heavy hitters coming out quite frequently, I find it interesting that they are pricing it over competitors like the ever-popular Moondrop Blessing 2. Let's see if this is worth it.



Accessories
Nobody’s here for this, but we still have to do it.


Included in the box are

• 1* pair of Hidizs MS5
• 1* 1.2m 0.78mm 2-pin to 3.5mm cable
• 1* Three pair of tuning filters (Balanced, Treble, Bass)
• 1* Three pair of ear tips in three sizes (Balanced, Vocal, Bass) (S, M, L)
• 1* IEM case
• 1* User Manual, Warranty card, Frequency response graphs for the tuning filters

Looks and build



The MS5 weigh 6.8g each, 13.6 g total. The internals are cased in an aluminium alloy shell, and the black panel is made out of resin. They feel quite nice, but it’s not very fingerprint resistant. However, the black colour masks it quite easily unless you’re staring or taking photos of it.

You’ll probably see that I had A LOT of fun taking pictures of this IEM. It reminds me of a gaudier FiiO IEM, though I think looks more understated than what photos might suggest. Some stated that it looks like a bicycle helmet, and I can definitely see the similarities.


Cable



It’s a 2-pin cable that terminates in a 3.5mm. Balanced connectors would’ve been appreciated, but I can see why Hidizs chose the more common option. If they decide to release a pricier IEM, I would like to see variety or at least options to choose balanced.


From up to down: Final F7200 stock cable, random IEM cable, Hidizs MS5 stock cable, ethernet cable

The thickness is around 0.5mm, so this cable will probably be thicker than most IEM cables. While it never really bothered me, sensitive users might want to grab a thinner cable.


The corpses of the ear hooks (Yes, I kept them for the review)

Some might’ve realised that my cable looks slightly different compared to other reviewers. I found the ear hooks quite uncomfortable and removing them using a small knife solved my comfort issues.


Isolation and leakage


The two vents that leak sound blocked by restickable tabs

While noise leaks from a 0.2mm hole below the text, it’s not noticeable unless you pay attention to it. I would be comfortable using these in public transportation or a quiet office environment.

I would compare the MS5’s passive isolation to a poorly fit bullet IEM. While background noise like a computer fan is mostly inaudible, quieter noises like news playing from tv speakers are quite easy to hear. Fortunately, the isolation is good enough that you’re not going to notice unwanted noises when playing music.



Filters and ear tips
Different nozzles are usually closer to a preset EQ than a different IEM



There are 3 filters included with the MS5: Balanced, Treble, and Bass. They are made out of an aluminium alloy, and they easily screw in and out, making them quite secure on the IEM and easy to swap them out.

The filters mainly change the treble, bass for most relaxed, treble for more treble. My preference was towards the balanced filters, so I used them for the rest of the review.


There are three types of ear tips included with the MS5: Balanced, Vocal, and Bass.

The z-height of the vocal filter is quite shorter than the other tips, probably an effort to make the drivers physically closer to the ears. It does make vocals more present, but it also boosts everything else which I did not prefer.

The bass ear tips considerably boost the mid-bass compared to the balanced ear tips,

While I tried a decent amount of aftermarket tips, my preferences are towards the balanced ear tips. I mostly used them for the rest of the review.


Case



The MS5 comes with a PU leather case. The colour is close to beige white, and the inside is covered in some sort of soft felt material. While it feels quite nice, it reveals light scratches quite easily, so I would be careful with it.

While it might not be as luxurious as what their marketing might suggest, it’s still a nicer case than what you’d get from other manufacturers and certainly a useful accessory for whoever owns it.


Drivability



The MS5 is quite sensitive. I was able to hear the noise floor of a low gain E10K. While it usually wasn’t noticeable when playing audio, I would advise you to use an input with a low noise floor.

5.3 ohms @ 104db… The MS5 can present itself quite well on decent sources and suffers on others. When tested on an E10K and L50 + E50 stack, it sounded grander on the stack and relatively compressed on the E10K. While it might be good news for people already invested in the hobby, it could be troubling for newcomers and budget conscious audiophiles.

That being said, I do not think a pricey output is strictly necessary for this IEM and most of the review was done on the E10K or a cheap Apple dongle.

Now, on with the sound review


Sources

• FiiO E10K (Primary)
• Apple type-c to 3.5mm
• Topping E50/L50 (rarely)
• iBasso DC01 (rarely)

Hidizs recommended a burn-in period of 200 hours. While I do not believe in burn-in, I adhered to the manufacturer’s suggestions and started testing it after the period ended.

Overall tonality


This is the graph of the MS5 that Hidizs provides. Why did they measure over 20k?

The tonality of the MS5 can be quickly described as ‘V shaped with spiky treble.’ The things to note here are: the quite aggressive bass boost, the recess around 2kHz, and spikes in the treble.

While this is quite a bold sound signature, I found out that it never really struggles on delivering it. It almost feels like the MS5 is telling me to take it or leave it. While this isn’t my ideal tonality by a long shot, I ended up having a lot of fun using the IEM.

I don’t hate neutral; my ideal tonality is definitely closer to neutral than this. However, during the time where that neutral IEM basically measures like that other neutral IEM, I find it refreshing that manufacturer like Hidizs are still creating fun IEMs that caters towards the mainstream audience while not being too offensive towards the audio focused crowd.


Bass


It fits oddly well in SHP9500 pads

Even in my first impressions, I realised that the bass is the bread and butter of the MS5. There is an impressive amount of sub-bass and the quality clearly shows on tracks like the first 30 seconds of ‘The Droid Invasion and the Appearance of Darth Maul’ from Star Wars, ‘Subway’ from Joker, and most of Han Zimmer’s work that has a steady rumble in the background.

However, the low end is without its problems. The mid-bass is quite emphasised and it can mess up the mid-range. While it’s not common, it can sound quite lopsided on some tracks. Let’s take Childish Gambino’s ‘Redbone’ as an example. The already lighter vocals paired with the less emphasised mid-range of the MS5 added with the boosted mid-bass makes the vocals quite difficult to focus on. Still, I have heard more bass on gear like Sennheiser’s IE300 or Sony’s WH1000 line-up, and there were a lot of tracks that sounded extremely fun without sounding messy or bloated.



Mid-range



The mid-range of the MS5 might sound familiar to some because it sounds oddly similar to the Moondrop Blessing 2. Personally, I find the mid-range of the Blessing 2 quite laid back and I feel the same with the MS5. Where it differs with the Blessing 2 is the recess around 2kHz, which makes the already not forward mid-range quite even more recessed. For these reasons, I found female vocals quite frustrating to listen to, as tracks with intimate vocals like ‘Ungodly Hour’ by Chloe x Halle or YOASOBI’s ‘Idol’ just sounded further away than usual. However, it’s not even close to the mid-range hole that something like Drop’s HD8XX offers, so I find the mid-range dip to be in the realm of preference.

Surprisingly, male vocals are where the MS5 absolutely shines. For how unimpressive female vocals were, I was blown away how good male vocals sound on these. My first realisation was when listening to ‘Giorgio by Moroder’ by Daft Punk. It starts with a 2-minute monologue read out by a deep male voice. The actual music part starts around 1:55, so I usually skip the monologue. However, I listened to a second of Giorgio’s voice and I listened through the entire monologue with a surprised grin on my face. The mid-bass helps emphasise his deep voice, but the recess in 2kHz helped in an odd way. It doesn’t sound like he whispering into your head, but like he’s next to you, talking like a normal person would. It’s impressively natural sounding and most deep male vocal tracks are represented in that way. While I started puzzled on the marketing, now I realise why Hidizs is calling the MS5 ‘Dark Angel.’



Treble


The MS5 touched grass

The treble is probably going to be the most controversial part about the MS5. After the dip of around 4kHz, it peaks around 6k and 8k. While this could be a welcoming sound signature for the treble lovers, a lot of people like me find the Blessing 2 borderline sibilant, and the MS5 takes one step further. Cymbals, synthesisers, and other instruments in higher frequencies can sound harsh, and I got ear fatigue within 2 hours, usually quicker than that.

However, I didn’t really mind the treble as much compared to the Blessing 2. Nothing really stands out on the Blessing 2, so the treble peak is more apparent compared to the coloured MS5.


Soundstage and imaging



Soundstage is quite impressive, but there was something slightly odd about it. While the width is pretty good, the height was unusually large, which I didn’t anticipate at all. When listening to Maroon 5’s ‘Kiwi’, there was an odd two-tone separation between Adam Levine’s voice and the instrumentals on the MS5. Is it closer to the original? I don’t think so. I’ve heard this track A LOT of times on over dozens of audio gear, and this is the first time I heard it like this. Does it almost sound too odd that it might be broken? I’m not sure. Is it fun to hear it like that? YES!

The imaging of the MS5 can be quickly described as ‘better than the Blessing 2.’ It’s getting close to pinpoint territory, but it’s still a bit blobby to compete against TOTL IEMs, like the Monarch Mk2 or U12t. Still, it’s quite excellent for the price tag and I don’t think anyone would complain about it as an owner.


Technicalities



Detail retrieval can be quickly described again as ‘better than the Blessing 2’, which is getting slightly annoying as it has been replaced with the Blessing 3 when this review comes out. It further helps on its strengths, like busy orchestral tracks, and I was impressed on minute details on the first 10 seconds of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ where the detail helps a lot and makes the huffing sound precise and realistic. While it still falls short to starter TOTLs like Moondrop Variations, it’s also not in the same price bracket, so I’ll give it a pass.

Similar story with the resolution. It’s quite good compared to its competitors, but it’s quite obvious that it still has a long way to go before comparing to TOTL IEMs.

The timbre of the MS5 is great when you’re listening to focused tracks like a piano solo or vocals with minimal instruments in the background. Unfortunately, it’s limited to what the tonality of the MS5, which can get quite messy like mentioned before.


Conclusion



For a first go at the $300+ range, Hidizs did an outstanding job. There isn’t really a fatal flaw that I would warn to potential buyers, and it does some specific things so well that I would call some parts the best representation under $500, which is a lot of praise considering the extremely competitive market. It’s impressive that I have compare a lot of its characteristics with higher price IEMs. However, it’s clear that the MS5 is without its flaws. While I appreciate them trying a bold tonality, the coloured sound signature can get in way of their technicalities, which can be quite annoying at times. Still, as I told before, it never struggles on delivering that bold sound, which might be what bass lovers and people used to more bass and treble are looking for.


I would recommend the Hidizs MS5 if you…


Like deep male vocals

As I said before, deep male vocals are natural and impressive on the MS5. It’s one of the best I’ve heard under $500, and it can go against higher priced IEMs in terms on how realistic it sounds.


Like the V-shaped sound

Neutral is not the end all and be all of tuning, and there are a lot of people who like this type of tuning because they are used to it from more mainstream gear. If you like this sound signature, the MS5 is a solid attempt and should have your attention if you’re interested in this price bracket


Thought the Blessing 2 sounded boring

Personally, I think the Moondrop Blessing 2 is ‘the HD560s of IEMs.’ While a lot of people recommend it, it’s too neutral to be fun for the Harman-Neutral chasing folks. If you returned your Blessing 2 or find it to be boring, I would consider the MS5 as it’s some improvements technicality-wise and a more fun sound signature.



I would not recommend the Hidizs MS5 if…

You dislike peaky trebles

One of the drawbacks of the MS5 is its treble. If you know you disliked treble before, the MS5 will probably not convince you to like it.


You’re already used to neutral

If you like the netural sound signature, the MS5 would be a quite different sounding IEM than what you’re used to. While I would suggest to try something different, it’s not really probable when you know you’re going to hate it.


You don’t have proper sources and cannot stand having worse performance until you do

I was able to test some sources out with the MS5 and it does get 95% there on something like a Schiit Stack, Topping DX3 pro + or FiiO BTR5. However, it sounded quite underwhelming to me on FiiO E10k or Apple dongle. If you cannot stand having worse performance or is in a situation where better sources really aren’t an option, I would hesitate the purchase.



Please keep in mind that these are my personal experiences and opinions. I would advise to check other reviews before making a decision.

Thank you Hidizs for sending this unit out for a review. They have also provided me a discount code for the people who somehow read through all of this. helmet5%OFF will be my code to get 5% off the MS5.

Link to MS5: https://www.hidizs.net/products/ms5-4ba-1dd-hybrid-5-units-hifi-in-ear-monitor-earphone