EDIT 2023-08-25: If you are not aware, I am selling my own Earbuds, called RikuBuds: https://rikubuds.com/
Disclaimer: I bought this at my own expense from the NiceHCK official store on AliExpress.
Price: 11,47 usd
Specifications:
Impedance: 16Ω
Earphone sensitivity: 106dB/mW
Frequency range: 22-22000Hz
Interface: 3.5mm
Cable Length: 1.2m±5cm
Weight: 15g
Color: Black, Blue, Transparent
Whether with mic: No
Drive unit: Dynamic unit drive
Accessories:
KZ carry case
1 pair of red full foams
3 pairs of black full foams
1 clip
Cable: Very good 4 core cable, looks very similar to those KZ upgrade cables (that costs around 10 usd alone). The splitter and plug at the 3,5 jack are both made out of metal with some texture on it that increases friction (better grip). No chin-slider though (not a problem for me).
Build: The build itself is made entirely out of plastic but it does not feel like “cheap” plastic. Non-detachable cable so that is a con for me.
Fit: It fits me good, not too big or too small for me.
Comfort: Being an earbud it doesn’t go into your ear canal so that means that there is less physical contact between the bud and your ears. So, there is not much heat generated and comfort is very good.
Isolation: None, it is an earbud after all.
Setup: Fiio M11 (Low gain, volume around 55), stock cable, stock full foams
Lows: Very impressive actually, there is some rumble and you can feel the punches. It is also very tight, fast and pretty good texture too. A clean and also enough quantity for it to be useable for a lot of genres (even bass focused songs), but also not too much that it colors the sound.
Mid-bass: Fast and clean, no problem with a song like Metallica – fight fire with fire (01:26-01:37) bass stays clean and controlled so there is absolutely no bleed into the mids. Although I would like a bit more quantity so with a song like Hiroyuki Sawano – Pretenders (0:00-0:55) becomes more fun.
Sub-bass: The sub-bass is usually where earbuds fails quite miserably, but the MX500 actually has some rumble that you can hear, for example on Djuro – Drop that bass (01:15-01:30). It is definitely not enough rumble for a basshead or for someone that wants rumble, but it is enough for you to be able to hear that the song is supposed to rumble.
A side effect of that is that the sound overall stays very clean. As for the tight kind of bass, it has good quantity for it to be fun and enjoyable, well textured, tight and fast, for example on Will Spark – sick like that (03:08-03:22).
Mids: Really good vocals with both female and male, although female vocals are a bit more forward. Instruments sounds very natural, especially acoustic ones very lifelike.
Female-vocals: Incredible female vocals, really beautiful and natural. Not even the tinniest of sharpness, as shown in Evanescence – Bring me to life the entire song didn’t have any sharpness at all.
And in a song like Hiroyuki Sawano – OldToday her voice is angelic and sounds very good (with the bass it actually sounds alive, unlike with some other earbuds).
Male-vocals: Very good male vocals but just a step behind the female vocals (in quality and quantity). It has some of the necessary warmth and thickness to make it sound lifelike, but not 100% enough so it is missing a bit warmth. Probably would have helped to have a bit more mid-bass.
You can hear that it needs a bit more warmth on a song like Hiroyuki Sawano – Call your name (0:41-01:05). This isn’t entirely bad though as it makes male singers that have a higher pitch (higher frequency) be more natural like with Skillet – Monster.
Highs: Natural and no sharpness at all. On Hiroyuki Sawano – Call of Silence (02:20-02:47) the violin in the background is very beautiful and not sharp. Very airy treble too, without being a bright iem
Soundstage: Extremely big
Tonality: Very close to neutral, only needs some more sub-bass extension and rumble for it to be “true” neutral. Timbre is excellent across the range.
Details: Very high detail reproduction and extremely impressive especially at this price.
Instrument Separation: Very good instrument separation.
Songs that highlight the IEM:
Good genres: Acoustic songs, OSTs, Rock, metal, J-pop
Bad genres: Bass focused (EDM, Trance, Hip-Hop), it can play them but the bass extension needs to be better and with more rumble for it to sound accurate and fun.
Comparisons:
Moondrop VX Classic: Treble quantity is a bit lower on the VX and a bit better in quality.
Female vocals are a bit more forward on the MX500, while male vocals are very similar. Quality with the female vocals are a bit better on the VX but the male vocals have some more added warmth in the MX500 so it is a bit better there.
Sub-bass rumble is almost non-existent on the VX, the MX500 has much better extension and rumble. Quantity and quality are much better with the MX500 on both sub and mid-bass. No contest here
Soundstage, details and instrument separation are better on the VX (due to cleaner sound since the bass is much lower). But Timbre is better on the MX500 and sounds more natural due to the bass.
Can’t recommend the VX Classic when the MX500 does the bass much better and the rest of the range is quite close too, and especially at 6 times cheaper…
NiceHCK Traceless: They are very similar in profile, but the SQ on the MX500 is just better in every way. Especially the sub-bass, since the extension and rumble are lower on the Traceless. I believe it is worth to get the MX500 over the Traceless since it is better in all aspects of the sound and also the cable too.
VE Monk Lite (40-ohm version): The MX500 is decimating the Monk in all aspects even the sub-bass. Going from the Monk to the MX500 is like removing a blanket…
Conclusion: This sound quality at this price range is just insane and it clearly punches way above it´s price range. Do I recommend it? YES absolutely, it is also a very good starter earbud from someone that is only using iems since you don’t lose much sub-bass compared to iems (and other buds).
