As my title suggests, the Brainwavz M1's are a recent push by Brainwavz to show the world what they might have missed a few years back when they were originally introduced. These were the only Brainwavz IEM's that I never had the pleasure of owning, my thanks to to the Brainwavz team for sending me a pair to review.
The review unit I received was not the retail packaged one you folks should get, so I'll not add any pics here because of that. The mp4nation site has plenty of good pics(as do earlier reviews on here) so that's all you need to go to to see 'em in all their glory. My unit arrived in the great Brainwavz IEM case that came with Comply tips as well as an assortment of regular tips. Getting any Brainwavz IEM pretty much guarantees a fine selection of said tips included all of the time, though, so no worries here. I settled on the Comply tips as best fit for my ears, YMMV of course. For my source, I used my rockboxed Sansa Clip+ and my FiiO X1 as well as my Colorfly C3. I split it up pretty much evenly throughout the review for over 150 hours before doing this review playing back mostly Rock and Metal with some Jazz and Country thrown in for good measure.
Starting off, the M1's seem like a quality IEM on first inspection, with a good blend of materials used to make them seem more in line with much higher priced IEM's. The main case is comprised of both a metal nozzle and a plastic rear fitting(which is ported, nice). The cable is a braided silver cored affair, with a nice thickness to it, but it's also of the "memory" variety which makes it very stiff and not too pliable. If you tend to wind up your IEM's and place them in a case, this can cause the cables to kind of stick that way and be a pain to straighten out. This isn't the ideal cable for an IEM in my humble opinion. On the other hand, it is a strong cable, not likely to be easily broken over time, so at least it's got that going for it.
The sound quality, though, is the main reason for getting the M1's, especially if the sound your after is smooth and rich with no bad habits. There is no peakiness that I could hear, at either end of the spectrum, instead it's a full sounding IEM with a nice rounded sound to them. I especially like the high end, with no sibilance at all to be heard(yay!).The bass is good, with a strong presence without being too overbearing as many of it's like priced ilk tend to be. It does roll off a bit down low, but it doesn't ruin the effect one bit. The mids are strong, full and sweet, making the M1's a pleasure to listen to for long periods with little to no annoyance. I regularly use them for several hours at a time with no problems at all, very nice indeed.
The only other con I can think of besides the springy cable is the lack of stress relief for the buds, but so far they seem to be holding up well to my regular abuse I always subject my review units to(I'm here to see if they can take the abuse so you know what your getting into before you buy it, your welcome
). The non standard angled plug may also turn off some folks who like a straight or normal 90 degree angle, but it doesn't bother me too much after using it for awhile.
Summing up, the new old Brainwavz M1's are a great IEM for the price asked. The sound signature is indeed pleasing and fun, with none of the pounding bass nonsense that usually accompanies IEM's in it's price bracket. I'm glad I finally got the chance to try 'em out at last. Highly recommended!
