I bought this Onkyo E700M during 11.11 sale on Aliexpress for 48USD. Maybe no big money for many people but for me anything above 40USD can be considered fairly expensive. It only came with M size ear tip and hard case with Rillipac brand (Aliexpress seller).
The cable is the most striking feature for this earphone. It looks good but unfortunately there is no strain reliever on housing or on jack. So have to really careful when storing the earphone inside the case. Or perhaps I will put some silicone on my own as a DIY strain reliever. Both housing and earphone jack are made of metal while Y splitter, remote/mic and chin slider are made of plastic. The cable itself looks fairly tough but I still wish that both black/ clear cable will have another outer covering probably a clear plastic /silicone. Otherwise the cable is a bit long for me but taller user more than 6 feet might find the cable is just the length for them.
The housing is made of metal up until the oval shaped nozzle. I used spinfit L size for perfect fit. I tried foam tip but it make the sound muffled, so in the end I settled with spinfit. The nozzle is perfectly angled and fit nicely into my war canal. The design is half in ear so there is no way the nozzle can be pushed deep in ear canal. The metal housing does not feel really heavy inside the ear. Listening to music for many hour is fairly comfortable just avoid doing a lot of walking with it. It not really that secure like sport orientated Audio-technica CKX9.
The single remote button is functioning well to play/ pause and forward the music play. Microphone worked well too. The other side of conversation can hear me talking clearly. Just wish volume button or slider on their succesor.
The competitors ; Audio-technica CKR9Ltd and Audio-technica CKX9
Sound;
Out of the box E700M sound harsh and piercing, with good amount of details and non impacful bass. It sound slightly worse than Audio-technica CKX9. Now it already has about 40hours of burn in period and the sound has significantly improved. The bass amount at 7/10, has medium impact but adequate for most song even for bass heavy songs from NWA. Not as impactful as proper bass oriented earphone like Audio-technica CKS990 but good enough for most genre. Vocal is loud and clear, no issue about that. Treble amount 8/10 with some colouration and thankfully no significant sibilance after 40hours burn in period. The details is excellent and music instruments can be heard playing separately but harmoniously. Background vocal can be heard clearly not just some distant sound. Generally it sound nicely balanced and highly detailed with just enough bass impact. Just wish it has better treble, well just personal preference as a treblehead.
Comparison with Audio-technica IM50 ;
The reference earphone since I bought it BNIB at full 60USD almost 2 years ago. Unfortunately against E700M this IM50 sound so hollow with more emphasise on bass. The details is minimal and all the background vocal and extra instruments just playing distantly. Not that IM50 is totally bad sounding earphone, just that E700M sound far better.
Comparison with Audio-technica CKX9.
This has very similar sound signature with E700M initially, with low impact bass and piercing sibilance. However after burn in the E700M bass became more impactful than CKX9 and the treble has tame down and the colouration has become less noticeable. I still like the treble and coloration from CKX9 though, but overall E700M still sound slightly better and more balanced than CKX9.
Comparison with Audio-technica CKR9Ltd ;
This is really tough battle as the king of my current earphone. None is really superior than the other. Both sound very balanced with CKR9Ltd has more impactful bass and E700M has more details. However E700M is more comfortable for long listening.
Conclusion :
Excellent sounding earphone with flamboyant design. If you need something that can stand out among the crowd this is the one you want. Not really the ultimate in sound quality but good enough for now as part of my earphone rotation. Just my wish for next models, successors ; volume controller and proper strain reliever please.
