These R4YS earbuds reviewed here is of the dark brown cable. They have a few months of use and has been adequtely burn in. The sound is just right with a mixture of warm and cold tonality. Warm + sweet sound signature.The sound has interesting "flavours" in treble, mid-bass and bass at different times in a a song or movie.There is decent attack and spaciousness in the sound with the right translucency , clarity fluidity and layering. They can described as being somtimes analytical with a natural, organic accurate sound imaging and wide soundstage with decent to excellent layering and resolution. There is little distortion and noise and rather clean. Overall the R4YS is fantastic value for money. Review is based on the comparison to the Monks VE and Blue Graphene.
Sound Signature:
Airy - Spacious. Open. Instruments sound like they are surrounded by a large reflective space full of air. Good reproduction of high frequency reflections. High frequency response extends to 15 or 20 kHz.
Ambience - Impression of an acoustic space, such as the performing hall in which a recording was made.
Articulate - Intelligibility of voice(s) and instruments and the interactions between them.
Boomy - Excessive bass around 125 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies or low frequency resonances.
Bright - A sound that emphasizes the upper midrange/lower treble. Harmonics are strong relative to fundamentals.
Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.
Detailed - Easy to hear tiny details in the music; articulate. Adequate high frequency response, sharp transient response.
Decay - The fadeout of a note, it follows the attack.
Definition (or resolution) - The ability of a component to reveal the subtle information that is fundamental to high fidelity sound.
Delicate - High frequencies extending to 15 or 20 kHz without peaks.
Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.
Focus - A strong, precise sense of image projection.
Timbre - The tonal character of an instrument
Sub-Bass - The audio frequencies between about 20Hz and 80Hz.
Texture - A perceptible pattern or structure in reproduced sound.
Good to excellent and movement of sound from top to mid and bottom are present. Treble , mid and sub bass are clearly separated and can be felt and heard .The Monks and Graphene are somewhat lacking in these aspects as they present a one whoel sound signature at the expense of articulation.
Treble: Mainly textured. A decent amount of sparkle, detail and and crispness. A somewhat analytical, non sibilant, but defined in nature. Clear, decent amount of transparency and resolution and weight and presence. There is a certain amount of wetness to the lower treble. A impression of grainy signature but with no harshness or sibilance. This is where these earbuds trash the monks. As compared to the Graphenes, the graphenes have a sweet but clear and smooth treble signature without texturing. But details are better on the R4YS than th emonks or Graphene.
Mids: Neither recessed or too forward but maintains a good sense of presence with a cold tonality.A good amount of detail and smoothness. The lower mids are where the mids excel in detail.Vocals are clear with a certain upper mid emphasis to them for some detail and clarity.Compared to the monks which have a very forward full bodied mid,there is no harshness or fatigue while vocals is still relatively forward. There is a good sense of attack and accuracy to the mids. They are transparent with high quality sources. Vocals have decent sense of presence and body.
Bass: A good amount sub bass , but with more mid bass. Smooth and accurate. There is little distortion with a emphasis on the lower mids to sub bass. there is cold tonality/timbre to the sub bass while the monks have a warm upper bass with sub bass lacking. Bass strong but not overwhelming. the intersting part of this earbuds bass sound signature. The elevated mid bass gives an impression of reverberating throughout the soundstage and giving a sense of depth of field, in other words the bass seems transparent. Bass overall is not in anyway lacking a this price point and earbud standard. On the contary it seems to be fantastic as compared to the monks and graphenes
Soundstage: The soundstage is surprising after burn in. The signature is forward ( a sense of instruments ,vocal playing as if one is sitted at the front row of a concert) ; but a good background surround/ aural sound is present to add to mood and ambience, all clearly separated. In my opinion , this is the ideal signature . A musical nature. Slightly forward sound signature ( the stage in front of u) , with excellent background aural characteristics and depth. They have a wide soundstage comparable to the monks but detail , depth imaging horizontal, vertical depth and clarity is 2x better. Positioning and accuracy is better than the monks but the rhythm and attack and resolving ( movement of sound) in the monks is better. But there is better articulation between high, mids and low compared to the monks which are rather flat.Much lesser noise and distortion than the monks.The soundstage is less articulated thant the graphene which has a lot of depth in terms of forward mid articulation.However the soundstage is better in background surround than the graphenes.
Conclusion : Excellent value for money earbuds and they seem to perform at 2-3 times their price point. Works well with all sources. Clearly impressive finished sound. Has everything , sparkle, sub bass , depth and soundstage.It is hard to find fault or have a feeling of the sound lacking in some aspect in any way. On the contrary , these earbuds will be the best value for money one can have in the below $20 price point
