I was in the market for some IEMs for regular 'rough' use, a pair to throw in my pockets or my bag to take anywhere so after some consideration, I settled on the SoundMagic E10C purely because the E10 line was so well regarded. And the praise is definitely worth it.
The packaging is nothing extremely fancy but you do get a LOT of accessories. A pretty nifty lil carrying hard case, about 7 pairs of tips (including a double flanged one and ones with different sized bores), a splitter to plug into computers without a combo headphone/mic input, a lapel clip, a stereo to mono converter (???) and the earphones themselves.
On first impressions, the thing that struck me the most was the cable. It was brilliant blue, with a nice ridged plasticy texture that is probably to keep it relatively tangle free. There's a metal splitter in the middle leading up to the mic module with the remote. The C in the name stands for compatible as this remote is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones (a fact that I made sure to check). The only misgiving I have with them are the driver housings. They don't look very sturdy or premium but they seem to be well made.
I powered them through my Nextbit Robin with Foobar2k (with OpenSL) The first thing that anyone will notice is the presence of strong bass. I wouldn't call the E10C an overly bassy phone but it can definitely output some nice tight thumping and the best part is, it doesn't bleed into the mids. It's also quite bright, having a nice amount of sparkle without verging on unpleasant levels of sibilancy. The mids... are average really. Sometimes they get shouty if my volume is too high but generally they are nothing to write home about. I listen generally to Alt Rock, Pop and some House music and the E10C is a pretty good fit for them.
The absolute best part is their price. They go on sale for about 1300 INR or 20 USD and while I don't have experience with other popular Chi-Fi recommendations, I can definitely say it ranks up there as one of the best cheap IEM offerings. They are perfect for a pair to take while travelling or just general commutes/ going anywhere really, and not make you wince with terrible audio like some of the OEM earbuds that come with your phone. I've had them for a couple of months now and I've not found much to complain about. Definitely recommended. If the next version in the E10 series introduces better build quality and perhaps some more character into mids, they'll sell like hotcakes.
PS : Sorry for the terrible picture quality, was a rough shot just for this review
The packaging is nothing extremely fancy but you do get a LOT of accessories. A pretty nifty lil carrying hard case, about 7 pairs of tips (including a double flanged one and ones with different sized bores), a splitter to plug into computers without a combo headphone/mic input, a lapel clip, a stereo to mono converter (???) and the earphones themselves.
On first impressions, the thing that struck me the most was the cable. It was brilliant blue, with a nice ridged plasticy texture that is probably to keep it relatively tangle free. There's a metal splitter in the middle leading up to the mic module with the remote. The C in the name stands for compatible as this remote is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones (a fact that I made sure to check). The only misgiving I have with them are the driver housings. They don't look very sturdy or premium but they seem to be well made.
I powered them through my Nextbit Robin with Foobar2k (with OpenSL) The first thing that anyone will notice is the presence of strong bass. I wouldn't call the E10C an overly bassy phone but it can definitely output some nice tight thumping and the best part is, it doesn't bleed into the mids. It's also quite bright, having a nice amount of sparkle without verging on unpleasant levels of sibilancy. The mids... are average really. Sometimes they get shouty if my volume is too high but generally they are nothing to write home about. I listen generally to Alt Rock, Pop and some House music and the E10C is a pretty good fit for them.
The absolute best part is their price. They go on sale for about 1300 INR or 20 USD and while I don't have experience with other popular Chi-Fi recommendations, I can definitely say it ranks up there as one of the best cheap IEM offerings. They are perfect for a pair to take while travelling or just general commutes/ going anywhere really, and not make you wince with terrible audio like some of the OEM earbuds that come with your phone. I've had them for a couple of months now and I've not found much to complain about. Definitely recommended. If the next version in the E10 series introduces better build quality and perhaps some more character into mids, they'll sell like hotcakes.
PS : Sorry for the terrible picture quality, was a rough shot just for this review