My never ending search for that IEM with a mid forward sound signature with other frequencies in a spatial soundstage, ended me up on this product. Was really excited to listen to my favorite tracks with this highly praised IEM with whopping four drivers in each unit. After a two day listening, it was a disappointment and I had to return this, thanks to the amazon's return policy.
Having spent quite sometime into the headphone/earphone space, one thing I realized for sure is, sound is something very subjective and what sounds awesome for me, may be sounding boring or bright for others. So, buying earphones based on user/media reviews is not advisable. One has to listen to the phones oneself to check if the sound is really as per his taste/liking. This is one such great example. If you see the product reviews for this item on amazon.com, it is all 5 star rating by 29 out of 30 people, and 1 person gave 4/5 for some other issue not related to sound signature. In today's world of online shopping, user reviews have become an indispensable factor for choosing a product. But this does not stand true in case of some products, earphones in particular where sound signature, bass depth, proper fit etc are key factors which vary from person to person. With sites like amazon, where they have a buyer friendly return policy it is still possible to buy and try, considering the fact that many of these products will not be available in offline stores in India. Amazon should be thanked for providing such an opportunity.
OK..coming to these jet engine shaped beauties...these have a fantastic build quality and design. They come in an exorbitant gift box kind of packaging, where the unboxing itself is an experience. Nice set of accessories - a leather carry case, an assortment of ear tips. The cable is strong and tangle resistant. The triple driver from 1more, which is the predecessor of these quads, while appreciated by one and all for it's sound quality and the value for money at it's price point, suffered from quality issues in terms of cable breakage at the jack, electric shock (!!) and few other issues related to durability. It seems 1more has fixed the design and quality issues in the quads and these should last for long time.
Now the sound quality. While the sound is so clear and smooth across the audio spectrum, these are specific observations -
1. Bass is slightly accentuated. The diamond like carbon driver (a dynamic driver) caters the low and mid frequencies. While there is quality and depth in the bass it is a few degrees north of a balanced sound in terms of bass. This gives an impression that 1more had the large mass of bass lovers in mind while tuning these.
2. The mids/vocals were sounding airy. It is like the instruments taking the center stage with prominent placement and the vocals sounding in the airy space. This was where I was grossly disappointed. While I could appreciate the clarity and separation with which each instrument could be recognized, the vocals were missing that expression of the singer. They were lifeless. They lacked that reproduction of depth in artist's expressions and were sounding very flat.
3. As per the website of 1more, all the three balanced armature drivers take care of highs. While two BAs take care of the highs up to 20000hz, the third one is dedicated for those ultra high frequencies beyond the range of audible frequencies of humans, i.e. from 20000hz to 40000hz. While it is supposed to add to the sonic signature of the sound, I somehow felt that the highs were missing that bright expression that is expected of a BA driver, especially when there are 3 BAs to take care of the highs. This makes the sound signature of the quads warm and dark. While warm sound is mostly acceptable for fatigue free listening, they are too dark sounding to me.
4. The soundstage is good, where you can clearly visualize the sound with the airy vocals in the top space almost in the top of your head (may be due to the distant placement of the dynamic driver) and the prominent instruments sounding in the bottom of the soundstage. Within the instruments again, there is clear separation with bass being boosted slightly and the high strings rolled off. To explain the placement of sounds, it is like artist singing in the first floor and instruments playing in the groundfloor. Such is the vertical separation.
Tried to sell these to myself for a couple of days, by trying different tips and different sources - my FiiO X1, Note4, Soundblaster...but finally I could not buy in the sound of these guys and had to return them. Not sure if I should have given some more time for burn in, but these were not as convincing as the all star reviews suggest.
Few other negatives I noticed -
1. The bore (nozzle) of the earphones is very big in diameter, infact the biggest I have everseen. For people with small ears it may not fit or cause pain, in spite of the fact that these are not deep inserts. The sheer size of the nozzle may hurt the ears after sometime.
2. The remote on these quads, while it is smart that it can work with both apple and android alike, is quite heavy having been made up of metal and creates some pulling force on the right ear. You can feel that pull in the ear and that difference of comfort in wearing, between left and right ears.
3. The cables are not detachable. Most of the time, earphones become non-functional because of cable damage/wear and tear. For anyone who spends good 15000 bucks and fall in love with how these sound, it would be painful to throw these because of cable damage. 1more should have thought of incorporating detachable cable design.
Overall $200 is substantial ask for an earphone and one would not expect any compromises to be had at this price point. So, you may consider these aspects before buying. Sound signature anyways remains one's personal preference and one should be safe in purchasing these on sites like amazon, where it is possible to buy and try, rather than buy and cry
.