you know the original price of this one, a rock solid $100. can you feel it ? yees, there's a bad review is coming...

let's take a look at what brainwavz says for it's own product, one thing comes forward: "smooth bass". there was a "powerful bass" for the S1. so this is what S5 suppose to deliver: "smooth bass". so, is that true ? i can say yes, there's a very very very small difference between this two basses. the S5's bass is a little "crippled" compared to S1. there's nothing more to say about this. it's completely unnecessary, weird "feature". but despite this, it's bass performance still one of the top performers, so there's not much to complain.
 
now, let's continue with the treble... first, i was pretty disappointed about it's treble performance (with S1's too). i was stopped using these products for sometime. then i gave S5 another chance after some months passed, don't worry i'm not going to talk about burn-in or another harry potter thing. i just find out that i forgot to reduce 8khz on these earphones somehow. i'm an EQ guy, i do not do such mistakes, but i'm also a human being and i'm slowly aging...
 
unfortunately S1 was already sold by the time, i could only find a chance to try it with S5 and it responded very well. after reducing 8khz, i got a stunning treble clarity. this was the closest performance to R3 among other brainwavz products (but it's still not a R3 of course). but it also carries the downsides of R3, which is, the lack of the aggresion. so it's not something to beat Ostry KC06A, but it's still very good. but here's the thing... S5's price is too much. for this price, for this treble, i'm very sorry but i cannot say this is ok. but it could be ok for S1's price.
 
about the S1 vs S5 comparison, if S1 also responds this 8khz correction at the same level with S5, then this is going to be bad news for S5 owners. because they spent their extra dollars for nothin'. these devices treble performances was very very similar (just like the other aspects), so i expect S1 to respond the same. if i'm going to buy something from brainwavz S series again, i'll definitely go for S1.
 
oh and the worst part isn't here yet, the mids... just like the S1, it's mids are still not one of the top performers unfortunately. their acoustic a little small in size, causing mids to sound a little weird, instruments on the front (close to ear) are not in proper position, their soundstage are too horizontal. i tried to give more details about this soundstage on my table (in the acoustic illustrations section).  
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations:
http://www.head-fi.org/a/table-of-earphocalypse

first things first... this earphone is selling for ~$60 and it's bass performance is far far far far far far far far below than a lot of models selling for $10-20. it's treble performance is okay, but that's it. it's only better than some models that absolutely bad. every other competitive model sound slightly if not certainly better. the only advantage of it's treble, is coming from the wider acoustic. thanks to that, treble gets well separated and that improves your reproduction experience but overall treble quality and detail level are still on the average side.

my first impressions about this earphone was good, because it was delivering one of the best acoustic performances, it's treble detail level wasn't bad too... but i was expecting more bass with an amplifier. after i tried with an amplifier, my final conclusion turned out as bad. personally, i'll not going to accept any model with an anemic bass like this.

so let's see what's more in there... of course the bass is not the only problem here. the mids are big, that's okay, but they absolutely sound cheap. a little quality check with koss plug is enough. same for the treble. so what we're actually getting for our man shooting $60 ??? a little bigger sound and good acoustics. the only problem is... brainwavz r1, moxpad x3-x6, koss & vsonic products etc. already delivers enough acoustic into our ears. havi is slightly better, no one says else but this can't be a game changer alone.
 
so why is this havi hype ? we sure not getting the best treble, we sure not getting the best mid quality, we sure not getting proper bass. but we sure closing our $60 fine for another weird company. if there was some bass in havi, i could consider it as a small weirdo but with this price and with this bass (which not exists), i'm sorry but you're nothing but a big weirdo mr. havi. and that "havi talking" people in the forums making you believe that you'll going to see a magical device this time, actually it's acoustic (soundstage they say) is just a little better and it's downsides are horrible.

this was one of the devices that made me happy when i get rid of it. before you ask, there was no problem with it's channels. keep that in your mind: i'm not just complaining about it's bass performance, i'm talking about it's overall performance + bass + price. you can always buy a better alternative with strong bass and use it without the bass. but you can't do the opposite... you got that ?
 
if it's price was $20-30 then maybe i could recommend it to the people who don't need any bass, but that's a big maybe... i don't know all of the devices in the market. if there's a model with acoustics close to havi in that price level (not has to be exactly equal) and at the same time offers better treble performance (like something close to ostry kc06a's treble), and i believe there must be, then i'll not going to recommend our mr. havi to anyone in anywhere on any planet in a solar system.
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations

the best side of this earphone is, definitely it's mids. i wanted to state that first. this is one of the sweetest mids i've listened. and there's a interesting point, just like the Brainwavz R1 and Vsonic R02 (not GR02), this guy also carries the "2khz boost of the Diablo". i can't say amount of the boost is the same though. i think X3 is a little less boosted compared to them (that two was identical about the boost amount). but there's enough 2khz to annoy us (us = the Diablo hunters).

about the bass, the type of bass is a nasty mixture of Sennheiser CX 300-II and the MEElectronics M-Duo. why ? because it really hits hard, but after all it's not big enough. not feels complete and deep enough. just a powerful, hitting bass is there, without any fun. after i messed with my nasty equalizer, i detected it's 30hz deep bass performance is a little limited but i've to note, after doing some tuning (lowering 60-125-250hz and boosting 30hz) it did well but still you can feel the difference compared to softer hitting models. device's tuning is focused on 60-125hz mostly. okay, definitely not a bassweak device. actually slightly powerful than a lot of devices including G/R02 and R1. and yes probably i'll prefer X3 to G/R02 but i'll take R1 for it's slightly sweeter deep bass (actually i'll prefer Koss Plug to all (a second thought: i'll prefer moxpad to R1, because R1 was weaker in total))
 
 
Bass:
well working, powerful 60-125hz emphasized bass. unfortunately, it's 30hz deep bass performance is not one of the best, not feels complete enough to call a winner, especially if there's koss plug for this price range. it's bass production type really reminds me the R1 again.
 
Mids:
awesome. the best side of this earphone. how much acoustic do you need ? if the size of the sounds were a little bigger (just like on the havi b3 pro I), this earphone was definitely going to add itself to the list of the mid legends of the midgard (midgard ?). again the differences are very little compared to R1. it's mids almost identical! (second thought, it's more like to havi than R1. man, i like this device)
 
Treble:
not bad but not good too. very stubborn to not giving the details we need, but at least not annoying in any way and does it's job well, clear & good on quality. far better than AIAIAI Pipe for example... do i need to say it's treble performance also nearly identical to R1 ?
 
Amplification Requirements:
close to none. easily usable with sandisk sansa, audigy 2 zs level.
 
Equalizer Requirements:
60 & 125hz frequencies are boosted on a moderate level, 250 & 2khz frequencies comes highly amplified. 250hz amplification caused drums to be prominent, you can lower it for more relaxed drums. also keep in mind that lowering 125 & 250hz will help to the songs causing bass distortions and lowering them also will help to the deep bass feeling it lacks. lower 2khz to get more natural sound. another note: treble frequencies needs more amplification than usual to appear.
 
Conclusion:
trust me on this, this earphone is a clone of Brainwavz R1. i don't know if brainwavz manufacture all of their earphones by theirself but i'm familiar to R1's sound and i'll be surprised if this two are coming from different manufacturers. if you ask to me, this is just another version of R1 and i'm not sure about the improvement level. the mids are nearly the same, the bass and treble are still not the best (just like the R1) but not too bad too. if you want to see cool mids get this or R1, this mids are cool... i like this acoustic more than Vsonic VSD3/S and this is also the closest you can get from an earphone other than Havi B3 Pro I (and without it's downsides). but keep this in mind: Koss products produces better bass and their mid & treble performance is also good. if you're going to buy only 1 earphone i say go for koss. 
 
update: with time passing, i'm liking even more this device. especially it's size of acoustic & bass. i'm keeping my thoughts same about the treble peformance and overall similarities with R1 but i'm now sure that it's an update, both on the mids, bass and build side. the device's response to volume amplification is quite awesome btw...

update 2: if this is X3 what X6 contains ? it can't be too good for that price, right ? somebody please say "right", i don't wanna make another order... 
 
update 3: now, i'm sure... this is an update to R1, certainly better than it. does not requires an amp, 2khz boost is less, build quality seemingly better, sounds overall better and it's cheaper. there's no reason to go with R1 from now on.

visit my table for further comparisons:
http://www.head-fi.org/a/table-of-earphocalypse

i hate when they do that. i was using kdx100 & kdx200 for nearly 1 year and i did spent a stable $120 for the two. now i'm realizing actually the $15 ruk30 and $7 plug weren't much worse. kdx200 was a little different from ruk30 at least, but comparing plug to kdx100 just hurts... this was something i was expecting after ruk30 vs kdx200 comparison but god knows i wasn't expecting a totally identical sound.
 
any differences ? yes. plug lacks the triple flange tip and it's nozzle is built with a soft material which means lower build quality. who cares ? of course the prices i talked about are discounted prices but plug's original price is already $15 and it was for sale on amazon for as low as $10, i got it even for a low price during a special discount in turkey.
 
you know how things are going on sites like head-fi, you know the reviews and reviewers who always pumping you that weird chinese things but i'm not going to talk about them in this review because when i do that, my reviews are vanishing into thin air without any trace.
 
i was did a kdx100 review days before, now after experienced the plug i decided to rewrite that review and carry it to here, but this means a lot of work and i'm an extremely lazy turkish person so please just look at that review if you want to know more about this product.

here's my kdx100 review

i spent the year 2014 with testing budget earphones and koss company never disappointed me. buying kdx100 was undoubtedly my best decision. it was kind of unplanned because my intention was to find something better than ruk30; and kdx200 as the pricier one, was looking like a better target.
 
but i decided to give a chance to this one. because it was looking very different (open back, long nozzle), maybe i was on a wrong path after all ? it turned out so, koss knows how to deliver good bass and mids but their products performing a little low on the treble side and my biggest concern about the ruk30 and kdx200 was on that side. fortunately, kdx100 helped a little to this situation.
 
treble production of kdx100 still not the best. not lifelike as brainwavz r3 or detailed as ostry kc06a. but only this two can beat it (among the products i tried of course). and while this two have weaknesses involving bass or mids, kdx100 really shining with it's complete structure and lower price.
 
more about the treble: it's attack duration/detail level is still a little low compared to ruk30 and other devices on it's level. but clarity level is improved and it delivers itself more directly to your ear, sounds dedicated enough, like coming from another driver. listen to ruk30-kdx200 or alike for long hours and get back to kdx100, you'll notice the more clear treble production instantly.
 
the bass of kdx100 is still the strong kossbass but the upper range of it's bass frequencies (125-250-500hz) comes highly overamplified by default, i think koss wanted to deliver all they can by doing this but it affects very badly to the most songs which this frequencies are already amplified, the result is: painful distortions. it's 1khz frequency also comes amplified, which affects to some songs includes vocal peaks. if you hear weird vocal peaks causing you to remove the earphone from your ears with pain, just lower 1khz from your equalizer.
 
using kdx100 without the needed frequency decrements is suicide, don't say i didn't warned! you'll look like this hifihacks.com writer who suggests klipsch X1 istead: 
 

my first amp was the fiio e11. it was a high quality product but the bass effect wasn't enough for me. of course it was helping with the bass by reducing distortions on high volume levels but ap001 felt different to me. it's not a miracle device but you feel like you're getting all of the bass you can get from a little amplifier, undoubtfully (when used with a matching, easy to drive phones like koss kdx200).
 
i recently used fiio's e06, e11k & e12 but still couldn't able to get the same bass taste on the ap001. i don't know if my ears are fooled me but ap001's deep bass (30-60hz) was really felt a little fuller (especially when used with koss kdx200, the deep bass monster).
 
probably due to that dual output thing, it does not provides enough improvement to a single extremely power hungry devices like havi b3 pro I or brainwavz r3 or even devices like r1 (which has moderate needs). on the other hand, fiio e06 which is a similar small & cheap device, helps a lot to anything you throw on it. i tried to power both koss kdx200 and brainwavz s1 (this two are already very easy to drive earphones) with ap001 and that worked very well.
 
by the way, both e06 & ap001 produces a lot of signal noise when used while charging, but i think e06 is slightly worse because it ruined some songs i've tried. e11k is certainly better on this but pricier at the same time...
 
another concern of mine about the functionality of the device is, automatic on/off thing. it was opening itself when plugged into a powered sound source but not closing itself when there's was no song playing at all. for it to close itself, you need to shot down your sound source or unplug the cord. i was expecting something more complex. maybe i was expecting too much ?
 
here's the conclusion:
 
* it's not good for powering a single power hungry device, you should use e06 or something instead
* it's enough for powering 2 easy to drive devices simultaneously without showing any weakness
* it's deep bass boost is better than if not equal to what fiio offers
* i didn't felt any easy to notice difference in sound quality between ap001 & e06, e11, e11k and e12
 
note: this device carries a significant amount (~6 db) of ~125hz strong bass amplification by default (this has nothing to do with the 30-60hz deep bass feel i mentioned) i posted an explanation about this in the forum thread, here's the link: http://www.head-fi.org/t/735914/brainwavz-new-portable-headphone-amplifier-ap001/285#post_11088747
 
note 2: you do not need to worry and change your buying decision because of it's always on 125hz boost. if you do not want any bass boost, just use your equalizer setting and lower the frequency/frequencies near to ~125hz and you'll be fine.
 
note 3: i'm using old computer sound cards and especially audigy 2 zs when testing, which has a similar output power to the well known sansa clip series.

announced price of $60, discount price of $30-37, umm, classic pricing strategy from brainwavz-mp4nation...

let's take a look at what brainwavz says for it's own product, two words comes forward: "powerful bass" and "sweet vocals". we can pass the vocals part very quickly, there's nothing special about it's vocals. ifor the powerful bass, i can do nothing but to agree. it's bass performance is one of the top performers for the price. thanks to it's wide acoustic, the bass does not interferes with other frequencies (unlike the M5) and it's very good both with the punches and the total deep bass output. 
 
for the treble and mids... please kindly take a look at my S5 review. for me, 8khz reduction works well with treble performances, but unfortunately i forgot to try it with S1 and sold the device. but as i said in the S5 review, if it reacts the same, then we can say something good about it's treble performance. and for the mids, again as i said in the S5 review it does not incorporates the best soundstage ever, but it's better than M2-M4-M5 like circular shaped, congested acoustics.
 
my sold S1 reported dead after 2 months of use, mp4nation took care of that fortunately. despite the looks, it seems brainwavz still experiencing issues with producing durable products but at least their warranty services are fine. in conclusion, only for the discount price, S1 is ok. it offers good bass and treble performance for the expense of the acoustics. for me, i'll take the something with better acoustics but i can't say i'm not going to miss the clarity level of S1-S5's treble.
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations:
http://www.head-fi.org/a/table-of-earphocalypse

okay, it seems mp4nation & brainwavz have a habit of boosting their prices first, then offering the regular prices as discounts. this is probably not news for head-fiers though. $50 regular price for this ? come on... koss ruk30's original price is just $30 and it can be found around $20 and sounds slightly better imho (see my review for details). i cannot bear any earphone that has a lower quality than this level and i'll not welcome any earphone which costs more than koss and offer nothing more but i'm happy for the competition at least. 
 
compared to s1, there's some frequency balance adjustments. judging from other reviews, i guess people liked that. so what actually people liked ? changes made are on 125hz and mostly on 250hz frequencies. they're the strong bass frequencies which mainly controls drums (250hz especially). lowering these frequencies help earphone compatibility with wide range of song types, by absorbing some distortions in certain songs, while making drums more muffled. the point most people are missing is, this also easily doable with an equalizer setting on your device. but you know some people...
 
other than frequency balance, i think s1 is slightly superior than s0 (no surprise due to model numbering ?). i didn't read all the reviews yet but i guess most people choosing s0 over s1. i think s1 is slightly better in terms of distortion tolerance of bass & vocal positioning. on the soundstage size ? i think i felt something too, isn't s1's mids occurs a little more distant to ear ? maybe due to slightly bigger bass ? i don't know, but i know following things for sure:
 
* both s0 & s1 is similar, very similar, actually very very similar (except the frequency balance)
* they're pretty much alike to koss ruk30 (s1 is more comparible but the frequency balance again)
* they're bass earphones and you're going to forget there was a treble in songs sometimes
* their treble is not bright thus sound a little bit dark (s1 is the darkest i think)
* their mids are detailed due to properly incorporated mid layers (unlike m series)
* their bass doesn't interferes with other frequencies due to better seperation 
 
more about the bass: actually if we consider the total amount of bass power, m5 is slightly leading among others. but due to larger soundstage & better seperations, s series & koss earphones delivers more quality, more proper sounding bass and feels more satisfying both with the punches and the overall bass feeling but most importantly they don't interfere with mids (due to more seperation). and hey, these earphones are the most bassy earphones among i've tried yet (see the list on my profile).
 
i've to note that s0 has smaller case and better fitting but other reviewers probably already done that, no need for me to state the obvious both s1 & koss have more chance to fall down due to horizontally long case. only reason i cut some stars from these is the pricing, what can i do if koss offers better price ? they say hearing is believing. maybe brainwavz believe in pricing instead...

this one made me feel very sorry for giving ostry kc06a two stars. i'm really sorry if i hurt ostry's feelings with calling them bassweak. you can rediscover some of your treble activated songs with r3. but that songs must contain parts that really includes a lot of treble attacks. otherwise you're going to get an ordinary sound. and hey, this is nothing like R1, except the amplifier requirement. 
 
despite it's slightly more lifelike treble, it's overall treble performance still not aggressive/seperated enough to compete with Ostry KC06A. which means you can't hear the highs when other frequencies are stronger. i'll going to spend this kind of money and i'll get this ? no thanks. if you want to see something with interesting treble performance, you can give it a try but be ready to return it because it does not represents it's price level. i already returned to mp4nation and get my refund. i can only advice anyone to do that.
 
by the way, i wonder why there writes "BASS" on yourbrainwavz.com ??? and why there writes "Performance Bass Transducer" on the package ? if you ask me, it's more like "Absolute No Bass Transducer" or "Zero Bass For Sure Transducer".
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations

i'm not sure what brainwavz trying to do with their M series. if they already can do things like beta, R1 or S1 what they're trying to do with their M series ? are they trying to sell some cheap drivers to newbies ? if so, i'm not sure if this is a proper way to make money, really... whatever. i'm happy that mp4nation accepts used product returns. i'm still losing money for the shipping but at least that's something...
 
i don't know if they need an advice but here's my advice: wipe out your whole m series from the surface of the earth (but i must note that i still didn't tried m3 or m1 but honestly, i'm not dying to see them). it's quite funny sometimes to read other comments about a product that you just tried. did you read others ? "huge bass boost", "huge bass" and after that, "bass is very well controlled despite the amount". you can read similar comments on mp4nation too... god i must be an alien. really. if this is a bass earphone, what M5 or S series are ? and what the hell is "controlled bass" ? hey, even R1 (which is a pretty mid based earphone) has more bass than this.
 
don't even look at yourbrainwavz.com... "intense bass" huh ? and there was "performance bass" in R3 too (which was a bassweak device) and there was no mentions about the monster deep bass in M5's page ??? what's going on, seriously ? and returning to M2 again, the worst part is not the bass about M2. there's absolutely no acoustic for instrument reproduction in this earphone. every instrument comes from the same layer, What is this ?
 
M2 is even worse than already trash earphones, surely one of the worst earphones i've seen to date.
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations

Pros and Cons section pretty much explains everything. i advice you to read my updated ruk30 review first to get an idea about this earphone: http://www.head-fi.org/products/koss-ruk-30k-noise-isolating-in-ear-stereophone-black/reviews/11943
 
there is not much to talk specifically about kdx200 here. it shares nearly the same driver with ruk30 and costs 3 times more while offers less improvement than it's price difference suggests. however, it's not a complete step back or exactly the same device at least (unlike the brainwavz s1 vs s5 situation). but things are getting more complicated when we add kdx100 into the equation. i'll make a review of it soon.
 
koss advertises it's product kdx200 with the words "accurate acoustic reproduction" on koss.com. there was absolutely no information considering the sound in ruk30's description, so at least this is something... there's only a few reviews about this product. one of them belongs to head-fier james444. here's the parts i found accurate in his review:
 
"drums and bass are strong, but well controlled and without the common boominess" 
"Mids remain clear and seemingly unaffected by bass"
"Soundstaging is also very good, with realistic dimensions and forward projection"
"Vocals sound natural and slightly forward, without getting too close"
 
it seems james444 was very impressed from the treble performance of kdx200, maybe because he didn't used a better performer on the price range, e.g. ostry kc06a. i don't say kdx200 treble is bad but it has it's up and downsides. it's still a bass & mid performer after all and despite it's bright and refined treble, it just cannot represent a fully detailed, long enough high frequency attack. actually this situation also continues with kdx100 so it's a usual koss thing but kdx100 is still better overall. so yes, it has a quality, bright treble but it just not enough to compensate it's announced price and kdx100 doing better for lower price. this is my final conclusion about kdx200's treble.
 
on the other hand, most complaints from james444 were about the bass presence which actually could be solved with equalizer settings and i really don't understand such statements... how they're able to get so much bass from a flat earphone ? are they using a bass boosted sound source but they don't even aware ? this is a total mystery to me. i did searched about james444 on the forum and i reached to the information that he wasn't using any eq settings previously but later he decided to use equalization. whatever...
 
james444's review is also shows this device as a $50 earphone and his review is dated 2011. koss.com selling this product for $80 right now but it can be found as low as $65-70 on other sellers. interestingly, koss products were much cheaper in turkey for some time. i bought this device for $60 but later it's price fall down to $35-45 on some sellers. i don't know exactly what's going on and why they decided to do this after i bought it but with this kind of pricing, i've to say that koss is really crushing other companies. it's very sad that people are not even aware of it.

after M4 & Xiaomi Piston 2 (they were similar items), i see this one also following them. but with some bass & treble improvements added. that's okay, but unfortunately said improvements comes with an expensive price. mayday! we just lost vocals... in this small acoustic, with all the bass & treble attacks, where we were going to put our beautiful mids ? oh god, just forget about this...
 
it carries some 250hz amplification thus drums are very prominent. lowering them can reduce your headache. about the 30-60hz deep bass, yes it's improved but still sounds small due to low acoustics. just switch to an earphone with a wide acoustic and bigger sound size (and with a competing, powerful bass of course), you'll instantly feel the difference. so it's bass is not something that i can define as the "perfect bass" or game changer. same goes for the treble, yes you hear more details for shure but no one can say that it's successful on the quality side.
 
i'm not going to pass without mentioning the titles on yourbrainwavz.com. just look at that: "clear, balanced sound", "accurate sound". i can't help but wonder, who writes those titles ? no mention to deep bass ? no mention about treble attacks ? and with this small and limited acoustic reproduction, how can you call this "accurate" ?
 
i was writed my first review about this one based on my 2 day audition back in 2014. i took advantage of the discounts lately and ordered that 2 in 1 packages. one of them arrived already faulty and mp4nation sent a new one. it seems quality problems with M4-M5 is still active. but as i stated in the M4 review too, mp4nation has a great warranty service so if you really sure that this is your sound, what can i say... enjoy!
 
visit my table for further comparisons and informations

first of all, let me to say that this one is very much alike to gr02 (as expected). it's hard to notice any difference but the frequency balance. r02 is coming with 1-2khz amplified. i find 1khz amplification is ok but 2khz is overpowered for my taste. weirdly, it's 2khz amplification amount is exactly the same with brainwavz r1 (this two are the only ones which carries 2khz amplification between the ~25 models i've tried so far).
 
thank god this is easily correctable by the help of an equalizer. i always reduce their 2khz frequency by 4-6 db's, because it affects badly to the most songs i listen. 1khz amplification on the other hand, makes voices more forwarded & clear but you can do this in other earphones with the help of an equalizer so i don't count it as an unique feature.
 
i see a lot of sellers says r02 is good for female vocals. the product features 1khz amplification as i already said and it helps with both vocals as a result. i didn't felt anything special with females and yes, thanks to g/r02's wide soundstage & seperations, vocals sound clear & seperated enough and raised 1khz works great but they're certainly not the best earphones for vocals. because they're not sound big enough along with the mids. 
 
so in conclusion, just like the gr02 this one is also very good. i didn't felt any bass absence in r02. i didn't used the two on the same time but if there's a difference between gr02 bass edition and r02 silver, that must be very little (just like in the vsd3/s situation but the difference might even more small). because of the similarity of gr02 & r02, actually there's nothing to talk about r02 except that 1-2khz peak and the price difference. since there's vsd3/s on that price range ($40-50), i don't think just for a silver cable you should pay this price. i bought mine from lmue with the discounted price but gr02 or the version named "r02 professional edition" on penonaudio seemingly a better choice due to lower ordinary price.
 
g/r02's bass frequencies coming very flat, you need more amplification on 30hz deep bass (strong bass frequencies like 125hz also comes unamped but not as much as deep bass) than most of bassy models out there. be sure to feed it right to get more bass. 

coming from vsd3/s, i felt the same vsonic signature, not too far. it's soundstage offered slightly more depth to me somehow. vsd3/s are have big sounding mids which makes the soundstage more vertical, they certainly do not totally lack depth like the ostry kc06a but "feel" slightly more vertical. it's just a feel, not a day/night difference and nothing that will affect to a buying choice. i mean they're still superior.
 
at first gr02 really impressed me because i was expecting something much bad considering the $25 price paid (like xiaomi piston, oh i want to puke when i remember that item). but yes there's some differences which might affect to a buying choice if we compare against vsd3/s, especially with the $35 ordinary price tag. just for $5-10 more you're gonna get bigger mids with more bass acoustic & treble seperation. gr02 is rather a sneak peak to the vsonic products and for the discounted price, it's ok i think. if you're low on money i think you can live with it (i'm only saying this for the discounted $25 price).
 
i don't know how it'll stand against koss budget products however. i think koss can do some damage on this. koss products have more bass for shure. their mids are bigger than gr/r02 but vsonic still leads on mid layer seperation and their highs are more bright. i'll make my conclusion about koss vs vsonic when i get some ruk30/plug into my body again (i'll get a ruk30 again soon). same goes for the brainwavz r1, it's also something comparable to vsonic (with the discounted $20-$35 price especially) but i liked koss/vsonic more to r1, due to ease of driving & stable frequency balance, add build quality to that. r1 also has bigger mids & bass acoustic if i'm remembering right (my 2nd unit of r1 is also coming soon).
 
g/r02's bass frequencies coming very flat, you need more amplification on 30hz deep bass (strong bass frequencies like 125hz also comes unamped but not as much as deep bass) than most of bassy models out there. be sure to feed it right to get more bass. 

i took a quick look to the forum thread of this earphone. usually everyone talks about it's frequency balance (peaks etc.). i bought this, used this and i couldn't find anything to talk about.
 
nothing spectacular about it's acoustic, yes it sounds bigger than some already trash earphones but pretty bad frequency separations, everything placed too close to each other. the bass is not too weak but not the best bass for sure, it's too hard, not deep enough and of course it also gets affected by the small acoustic. same goes for the highs... highs are not detailless but not on a high quality too. power it and you'll lose yourself in the jungle of parasites.
 
i tried hard to understand why it's priced around $60 and took so much attention in head-fi. i spent nights and days, traveled far away to unknown places in order to find out the cause. but i failed. so good bye to you dear MOE with nano stereo cyber in carbon driver & things...
 
wanna try MOE SS01 for 3 times lesser price ? why don't you get yourself a TTPOD T1-E then ? it's not just the looks. they're the same. the only difference is, some TTPOD's doin' harakiri after a very short time (maybe because they're ashamed from bad acoustic performance, who knows ?).
 
oh, wait a minute... i've a second thought, why don't you get neither of them and buy yourself a true earphone from my table, how 'bout that ?
 
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bass is clearly behind a lot of models which costs times less. not a near-death experience like in the Brainwavz R3 or Havi B3 Pro I etc. but it's still too weak to be enjoyed. the bass just does not extends enough horizontally, possibly due to the vertically big acoustic it incorporates. but the real problem lying under the mids. while ostry incorporates really cool vocals, it lacks in the instrument separation side.
 
on the other side, yes it has incredible highs. treble attack duration is longer than anything i've tried in this price range. reminded me the stock earphones comes with samsung s3-s4 etc. treble separation is so good that you can clearly hear treble attacks even on the parts where vocals, bass & mids dominates the song. only brainwavz r3 is able to beat it in terms of treble lifelikeness but even r3 is not detailed as ostry. r3 also cannot match ostry's separation level.
 
returning to the bass, ostry's bass is pretty much 60-500hz oriented (mostly 250-500hz) and it's tuning is good, i have to admit. it sounds better than other earphones which also comes with these frequencies amplified, no one can argue about it's quality level. but this tuning brings some death to the 30-60hz deep bass which is a must in an earphone with bass. so this is very sad. that hard bass in ostry lacks deeper, softer feeling.
 
it seems they did a lot of work on the treble department for shure. that's unquestionable but the bass and acoustic of instruments are just weak. here's the conclusion: for me, good highs with weaky bass in the uncomplete acoustic didn't worked out. especially with that price. no reason to go with this while there is already some models which are able to deliver complete bass & acoustics with average highs (and for half of the price!).
 
so, please come to me again when you really accomplished a complete product (talking to ostry).
 
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first things first, let me inform you that ruk30 shares nearly the same driver with kdx200, for one third of the price. can you imagine that ? wow it has got nearly the same bass & acoustics...
 
the biggest difference is on the treble side, but it's really hard to decide which one is better. kdx200 of course sounds more refined overall but differences are very hard to notice. treble is definitely more bright, thus sounds more realistic but kdx200 was suffering a treble duration issue as i mentioned in my review. interestingly, ruk30 performs better on that.
 
thanks to it's big & good separated acoustics, details are not even a problem with koss. you'll get back every detail you lost on the models with congested acoustics. the bass type & power of koss is the best among the models i've tried so far. while the acoustic of it still one of the best. only weak side of koss is the treble performance but it's still better than a lot of models in sub $100 price range. which should be seen as a quite archivement.
 
koss ruk30 has very close characteristics to the vsonic vsd3/s and can be considered as an upgrade to them.
 
 
 
 
 
Acoustic:
separation of instruments and overall acoustic of mids are complete. it does not incorporates the best vocals but on par if not better than alternatives. the acoustic may not be the very best but does the job fine without showing a certain weakness.
 
Bass:
full body & punch. excellently separated from mids. on par if not better than brainwavz s1 which means it's certainly better than moxpad x3-x6 & vsonic vsd3/s. if you love bass, you'll love koss. that's a period. 
 
Treble:

quality of the treble is on par if not better than vsonic vsd3/s but detail level could still suffer a little bit, despite being better than kdx200. i'll prefer koss to vsonic again on this.
 
Amplification Requirements:
close to none. can easily reach to high volumes with minimal bass distortion. brainwavz ap001 will be more than enough for it.
 
Equalizer Corrections:
comes fairly flat. 250hz amplification will forward drums and 1khz amplification will forward vocals (if you find them recessed).
 
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i just can't believe how people like everything they buy. this thing incorporates one of the worse treble productions i've seen to date. do your ears a favor and keep out from this.
 
after tried some models from this company, i instantly get it. this company just shows you an attractive casing and puts crippled drivers in it to make your money go away. there's a lot better products, don't be fooled by the image.
 
note: don't worry i've used the original product. mine was bought from accessoryjack, it came with the box. i sold it to an audio-technica fan who used multiple ckm500's and other ath products from different sellers including cdjapan (and he verified it). i also tried the cks55x with another audio-technica fan who already got everything they offer.
 
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i was a little beginner at the time i used & reviewed this earphone but fortunately enough, i was a Koss user which helped me a lot on this road. i used a lot of earphones after M-Duo and i'm not sure where exactly it stands now, i mean among other similars. that's the reason why it's missing in my "table of earphocalypse".

but i'm very sure about my first impressions about it. acoustic performance of m-duo was problematic. it was only a compact, bass & treble earphone after all. but it's bass was surprisingly impressive and if i remember right, it's highs were very good on the quality side too.

don't get me wrong, by saying "surprisingly good bass" i'm not referring to that "subwoofer" advertisements. it's bass was still behind of koss earphones, mostly because of the small soundfield. so by "surprisingly" i'm rather referring to the treble performance because koss models were a little low on that side.

i'll include it in my list as soon as i get another pair. until then, do not buy this earphone! of course i was just kidding... buy whatever you want (except xiaomi piston 2).

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i was purchased this 6 months ago and published a review here. i decided to buy it again just to remember it's sound. after inspecting my new pairs for some time, none of my previous opinions changed and here's my second review (actually you're reading the third review because i revised the revised review):
 
first of all, the 2khz situation is still badly here. you need to lower 2khz at least 6-9 desibels from your equalizer to get a natural sound. need for an amplifier is also still here to annoy our unamplified fellas. after listening it for sometime with a powerful amplifier, returning to the unamplified source is just giving pain. of course it's not bad as havi b3 pro I or brainwavz r3 but still lose too much bass on high volume levels.
 
returning to the sound quality, the strongest point of the earphone is it's mids, as i also stated in my previous reviews. that mids are very big due to very wide acoustic & size of the soundfield. thanks for this, we're not losing any instrumental details for god sake. this is always good. thy bass is there too, maybe not breaking it but hitting the wall bad enough. treble is there too, ringing the bell well. but they're getting old & can't just compete with others.
 
my thoughts are still same about the build quality. the chassis and cord feels & smells very cheap (most likely because they're very cheap). definitely you shouldn't buy this, in the case you want some touchable quality. for the conclusion, if you've got an amplifier and a source with an equalizer function and at the same time R1 is on a very good discount, you can give it a try. but there's very powerful competitors in the jungle out there, it's very hard and actually impossible for R1 to survive.
 
poor R1 needs a good revision about it's bass & treble. looking forward for a R2 or R5. only then, vaziyetu will come again...
 
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