Reviewed: http://www.head-fi.org/products/3-14-mr3-music-headphones-ba-balanced-armature-headphones-with-3-moving-iron-units/reviews/14042
Pros: very neutral to bright-ish, great soundstage, MMCX connectors, resolution, audio quality beyond the price
Cons: cable not completely tangle-free, no hard case/zippered case, fit could be problematic for very small ears, no chin slider
Introduction:
Disclaimer: I got the MR3 myself directly from PaiAudio for the full retail price of $136. I am not affiliated to the company in any way and this review represents my honest opinion. Meanwhile, the price has been increased, but is (in my opinion) still very fair given the sound performance.
PaiAudio is a rather young company founded in 2014 and based in Shenzhen, China and has specialised in manufacturing In-Ear monitors. According to their information, the company that consists of totally 13 people has got national elite audio developers in their team.
The yet young company has currently four earphones in their product range, of these one is an earbud, one a dynamic In-Ear and two are Balanced Armature-based In-Ear Monitors, whereby all models except for the earbuds feature replaceable cables.
The company backs on direct distribution through ebay (
http://stores.ebay.com/paiaudio), Amazon (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main/ref=olp_merch_name_1?ie=UTF8&asin=B00ZU89S6E&isAmazonFulfilled=0&seller=A4X08XUDEJ1P3) and AliExpress (
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1738335).
In my review below, you can read how their flagship model, the MR3, sounds for the comparatively low price.
Make sure you also check out the PaiAudio thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/781399/audio-pai-audio#post_11926956
Technical Specifications:
Transducer Type: Balanced Armature, Knowles
Transducers per Side: 3
Acoustic Ways: 2
Sensitivity: 120 dB
Frequency Range: 20 – 20000 kHz
Impedance: 32 Ohms
Cable: 120 cm; L-shaped 3.5 mm connector
Colours:
red,
blue or
tan
Delivery Content:
The triple-driver MR3 comes in a plain black packing with a paper sleeve that has got a huge white “π” on top, which is PaiAudio’s signature feature. The actual packing underneath the paper sleeve is just entirely black and has got a magnetic flap that unveils the In-Ear monitors when one opens it. Apart from the In-Ears, a user manual, three pairs of white silicone eartips in different sizes (S/M/L) and a velvet travel pouch are included. I’d preferred to see a sturdy hard case or zipper case instead, but regarding the price for a triple-driver IEM, the velvet pouch is okay and aftermarket cases aren't expensive at all.
Looks, Feels, Build Quality:
The IEMs’ shells are relatively big and ergonomically shaped, but it generally doesn’t matter for me as my ears’ conchas are pretty big either.
Build quality is flawless as it seems and both halves of the shells are glued together very sturdily and pristine. Overall, the IEMs’ bodies seem valuable and convey the impression of being very sturdy.
For this price range rather unusual, the MR3 uses an MMCX coaxial connectors system for its detachable cables, just as Shure does for example.
The flexible cable is greyish, semi-transparent and seems thick, sturdy and very durable, although it doesn’t have strain reliefs. The only thing I’m missing is a chin slider, but as the cable is replaceable, it isn’t a real flaw at all.
The blue-coloured shells are translucent and one can see the three Balanced Armature transducers with their crossover and internal wiring, what I personally really like.
Taking a closer look at the cable, I noticed that the cables were swapped (left cable on the right shell and vice versa), but it seems to be a singular instance and is easily and quickly solvable.
Comfort, Isolation:
As I already mentioned, the IEMs bodies kind of resemble the size of the ears’ conchas and are rather big, which is not a problem for my large outer ears, but it may be too big for people with very small ears.
In the beginning, I couldn’t manage to get a good seal with the MR3, but it changed with time, as I found out that I have to gently turn the IEMs forwards, which is due to a rather unconventional angle of the rather short nozzle. Then, seal is pretty decent for me.
Comfort-wise, I find the MR3 to be very pleasant, and the cable has got close to zero microphonics, which is very nice.
As the shells are closed, which is typical for Balanced Armature earphones, isolation is on a high level, though of slightly lesser amount than extremely noise-isolating earphones like the models from Shure or Westone, but it’s still very high and on the same level as the UE900.
Sound:
Before I started critical listening, the MR3 got at least 50 hours of burn-in (just in case).
Listening tests mainly took place with my iBasso DX90 as source device and with FLACs (44.1 kHz, 16 bit) and MP3s (320 kbps cbr) as music files.
Tonality:
As there are no reviews or impressions of these In-Ear Monitors yet, I was eager for getting to find out MR3’s tonality myself and had different assumptions on how it could be. The result then hit me in a very positive way:
The IEMs are tuned to be very neutral sounding, with a moderate slope towards the bright side. Who’s looking for a warm or even nuancedly bassy sound is in the wrong thread.
Lows are very even and flat, only subbass gently rolls off in its lowest registers below 30 Hz. It could probably be that there is a very slight “emphasis” in the upper bass and lower fundamental tone area, but it is so minor and lows are extremely flat, so that it doesn’t matter at all.
Fundamental tone area is free of any emphasis, wherefore there is not even a slight sign of warmness – yeah, baby!
Mids are present (and probably even just a tad in the background) and in my ears tonally surprisingly correct, without any dark or bright tendency, which is an indicative of very clean and accurate tuning and adjustment work in the middle frequencies.
As lower treble and presence area aren’t recessed at all unlike many other In-Ears, the MR3 has an analytical character and reveals bad recordings almost like the Etymotic ER-4S or UERM.
Except for two emphasises at 4 and 6.6 kHz and a small dip at 8 kHz, highs are very even and have got a good extension of ca. 15 kHz, which is a good acoustic value for BA earphones.
Some would probably say the MR3 lacks bass, but it isn’t true, as the PaiAudio’s sound is very neutral with a bright tendency, but oh well, some people also find the ER-4S and UERM to lack bass, which just isn’t true.
Resolution:
Typically for In-Ears with Balanced Armature transducers, resolution is on a very high level.
Micro details are revealed very well, bass is arid, solid and fast, voices have got a very high level of details, although they slightly lack body and fleshiness. Treble is very detailed and clean, but has a very slight tendency to sounding metallic, although that is criticism on a very high level and often due to the recording, as in most cases treble is present, but lacks any sharpness.
Acoustic instruments’ and cymbals’ decay as well as trumpets sound very realistic and precise, although they have a minorly artificial attack due to the 4 kHz peak.
Regarding resolution, one doesn’t think that this is a sub $140 IEM that even features replaceable cables with MMCX connectors. Sound is very harmonic, coherent and overall natural with a neutral tonality.
Soundstage:
The next positive surprise for me was the MR3’s spatial presentation which is very spacious and airy.
Expansion to the sides is somewhat wider than at the Logitech UE 900, but in contrast to it the MR3 has got a nice and well-marked spatial depth. Take the UE900’s width, stretch it a little to the sides, add the Shure SE425’s spatial depth and voilà, you’ve got the MR3’s excellent soundstage. Brilliant!
Instrument placement and separation are on a very high level and even exceed the Shure SE425’s; overall soundstage is very harmonic, plastic and is almost as good as the Etymotic ER-4S’, which has got the slightly better instrument separation.
Conclusion:
At first listening, the PaiAudio MR3 might sound boring and unspectacular to some, just like neutral In-Ears typically do. As I’m a fan of neutral and bright sound, there was not much brain-adjusting time needed and I got used to the neutral/bright signature very quick.
Detail resolution and soundstage reproduction are far above what one could expect for the price and there is not really anything to complain about in terms of sound, probably except for the slightly subbass roll-off and the minimally metallic Hi-Hats attack, which however have got an excellent and realistic decay.
That PaiAudio uses high quality In-Ear bodies and MMCX connectors is another highlight of the great overall package.
My only real criticism is concerning the lack of a chin slider and a hard-case or zipper case, but that was basically it.
Therefore, the MR3 is a “neutralo’s and treble-head’s delight” with a very well price-to-performance ratio and an IEM I personally really like myself.
- Editor's note -
I want to slightly adjust my tonal description of the MR3. While it still sounds very balanced overall, I was facing some minor issues that led to a not entirely ideal insertion angle. Now knowing what the best insertion method is in my ears, the MR3 gains a little more bass and root while still remaining balanced (not unlike the UE900 and InEar Stage-Diver SD-2). Compared to the all-time neutrality reference, the Etymotic ER-4S, the MR3 has got 4.5 dB more bass and lower fundamental range. Compared to the UERM that is also considered as very neutral, the Pai has got 1.5 dB more bass and fundamental tone, wherefore its amount of bass is 100% identical to the InEar StageDiver SD-2 (the Westone W2(0) and Audio Technica ATH-IM02 feature similar sound as the more expensive SD-2) which is also considered as subjectively quite balanced sounding (and remember, neutrality in the bass with in-ears/headphones in general is still an individual thing and even some experts have deviant opinions on that).
So while the MR3 doesn't sound as neutral according to Etymotic Research's diffuse-field compensation target, it just features a little more impact than the UERM and is an overall still very balanced and natural but not boring sounding in-ear (people who like a bit more bass impact might still find the Pai too lean) with really quick, arid and controlled bass response. And its resolution is excellent for the price (other sub $300 BA in-ears don't deliver the same amount of resolution, naturalness and imaging precision).