[Zenbun]

Yes, the shape, weight and general size of the housing is hard on the ears. The fit is shallow so it is literally resting on your ear cartilage. The sound is a little fatiquing too, but I'm quite treble sensitive too so take that into the equation.

I have actually not tried any other tips yet, but I doubt it will help with the pain issue.

I don't think the shape and design allow for a practical cable-over-the-ear wearing situation.

I'm also treble sensitive.
Damn, I had high hopes this could be the one.
Is there any other IEMs that you like and are not ear piercing?

 

[dweaver]

I wear my pair cable over ear with stem up 75% of the time. For me they are very comfy in that configuration.

The Quad is brighter than the Nighthawk but I haven't found it to so excessive as to be fatiguing. But I would imagine it would have seemed that way id direct comparison to my (dead) Z5 which like the Nighthawk is a darker sounding headphone.

If brightness is an issue and you want 3D sound the Z5 is a wonderful sounding IEM. Just be aware that is needs a lot of support such as a Pono in balanced mode to reach its full potential and the MMCX connectors are prone to failure which is horrible considering its price point.

 

[Bitsir]

I'm also treble sensitive.
Damn, I had high hopes this could be the one.
Is there any other IEMs that you like and are not ear piercing?

Don't get me wrong, these aren't piercing in the slightest, just a bit shouty as they have got an adequate amount of energy in the treble and upper midrange. Couple that with the fact that they are a tad bass light, they come across as a little too bright for most.

I am actually very impressed by this IEM DESPITE not having my favourite sound signature. It's leagues above any other IEM I have heard and it EASILY compares to Nighthawk and HD650 and even bests those two in many... hrm, some areas. The Nighthawk retails for $699 for **** sake haha. The Quad is basically a steal.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Does the depth become an issue? The stock foams are REALLY shallow, but I'm tempted to snag some foams for mine.

Wel I'm actually back on the silicone bandwagon currently. I use the 13mm stock tips. The comply isolate really well and sound great but I lose the 3D Sound stage and the air gets lost. The bass is more full but perhaps bloated sounding?

At this moment, I'm thinking I'd rather go with better SQ from silicon even though I sicrifice some isolation. Maybe Spinfits can offer best of both qualities but for now I'm back to stock 13mm silicone.

 

[pavankona]

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 .

 

[Bitsir]

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 .

Wow, thanks for your impressions.

It's funny how I am missing bass impact while also being on the edge of thinking the earphone is too bright for me ^^.
I have no problem with the highs, they're pretty smooth and complements the whole sound well but the overall brighter tone is what bugs me

If the Quad had more mid-bass and more lower midrange body, that would take care of the issue of not being able to sense the weight and expression of the singer.

I agree on the nozzle thing, it's huge and it hurts the ear after a short while which is super disappointing.

The remote should always be located BELOW the Y splitter, IMO. Not only would it look neater but also distribute the weight evenly between both earpieces.

 

[Bitsir]

I wish the Quad was more liquid and droopy, with each note lingering and blending into the next one for even just a few millisec. It would make it sound more coherent and make for a more organic listening. I guess what I am trying to say is that I find the Quad a bit too clinical. I wouldn't mind some dirt.

Maybe I should invest in a tube amp that works with IEMs? I'm kind of scared of hiss and intermodulation distortion though...

(Nighthawk I need you)

 

[808Ronin]

I don't find the weight to be uncomfortable at all. I regularly wear the quads through out the day and never experience any pain or uncomfort. Must be my ears are toughened from years of inserting different iem. I do have larger than average ears, that probably helps to support the weight better, lol. As for the remote, i believe its location is a attempt to place the microphone as close to the mouth area as to pick up voice better and clearer during calls, if the remote is located lower, the balance would be better, but it would be farther away and have a greater chance of picking up external noises or muted from contact with clothing.

 

[dweaver]

The Mic on the Quad is tuned enough that when I wear the IEM over ear my voice is muffled and I have to switch to wearing them down so people hear me better so I agree the mic is located for best reception.

I find the weight of the cable problematic when I run with the Quads so have to resort to cable management but walking and sitting is just fine.

As for the signature I get why both bass lovers and mid/treble heads would struggle with the Quad initially as it simply straddles both worlds. In my case I was originally a Mid/treble head who went to the dark side (MDR Z7 and XBA-Z5) due to ear fatigue issues from my AKG 7.. headphones and a couple similar sounding IEM's. So for me the Quad sort of gives me the best of both worlds especially with its 3D presentation. But I also had the good/bad fortune to not be able to use my XBA-Z5 when I got the Quad so was not influenced by the darker signature of the Z5. If I had my Z5 at the same time I am sure I would have been more sensitive to the Quad signature. My suggestion to people in either camp is to put away your existing headphone/IEM for 2-3 days and just use the Quad and then do some A/B testing. If the original signature really is your favorite you will immediately appreciate it during the testing. On the other hand if your just mentally used to your original equipment the A/B test will reveal you appreciate the signature change more or that you like both equally for different reasons.

 

[808Ronin]

I personally do not feel the quads are lite in the bass area more they are on the heavy side if anything. Maybe it comes down to different fit for different people along with tip selection, size and seal i guess. It's kind of amazing how people can have totally opposite hearing experiances using the same product.

 

[dweaver]

I personally do not feel the quads are lite in the bass area more they are on the heavy side if anything. Maybe it comes down to different fit for different people along with tip selection, size and seal i guess. It's kind of amazing how people can have totally opposite hearing experiances using the same product.

I think it boils down to preference and what your used to. Bitsir mentions his Nighthawk's which are a darker bassier headphone and finds the Quad lacking in bass impact and lower midrange warmth, both areas prominent on the Nighthawk. Others will come from either a very neutral signature or a midrange/treble centric signature and find the Quad has to much bass or isn't sharp enough based on their current favorite signature.

But fit also will play a massive role as any IEM that does not seal properly will suffer from incorrect bass and potentially unpleasant treble as well.

 

[Jack Taylor]

I would also suggest giving these a burn in period before judging bass or treble. I have never intentionally burned in any set and didn't with these either. I wasn't specifically listening to any changes, but I do think some of the 'edges' smoothed out a bit after a few days of heavy use. It could all be psychological, but I think mine improved after some time.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I am seriously befuddled at the talk of missing bass on these. When I first bought them I thought the bass was, if anything, too bloated. I swear they've significantly calmed down since then and now I'd call them pretty much a perfectly warm experience.

It definitely takes some work to get the right tip/placement combo going. They ARE shallow fit, but if you're putting them so shallow that they're falling out I think you need to try a wee bit deeper.

 

[AlwaysForward]

I mean, the bass is definitely less than the iSine but is sounds really great. Very fast and fits quite a few genres. The signature is pretty flat with a little exra pop here and there to make it "fun enough" that it's not clinical. I've heard bass heavy gear and generally dislike it unless it was designed as flat and then frequency boosted like the Audeze EQ in the Cipher or MoFi's ON+ mode. Both fit my tastes very well but I guess I trend toward neutral.

 

[sunneebear]

I am seriously befuddled at the talk of missing bass on these. When I first bought them I thought the bass was, if anything, too bloated. I swear they've significantly calmed down since then and now I'd call them pretty much a perfectly warm experience.

It definitely takes some work to get the right tip/placement combo going. They ARE shallow fit, but if you're putting them so shallow that they're falling out I think you need to try a wee bit deeper.

There is no need for befuddlement. Most head-fiers are not strict esoteric audiophiles or recording engineers. Most are closeted bass heads or bass heads in denial.