I received the AIWA Prodigy-1 IEMs in the mail today. Here's my quick impressions
Purchase Experience / Shipping / Packaging:
The Prodigy-1 were purchased for $49 inclusive of standard USA shipping on their website and arrived at my house in about a week. They were put in a hard pleather case a la Meelectronics P1, along with some tips, and put into a bubble mailer. No retail display box to speak of. Inside the bubble mailer was also a letter requesting me to literally "break these headphones" as a dare of sorts for them to honor their 3-year no-questions-asked warranty. I like their boldness in making it clear that you can treat them like any other pair of headphones and they'll honor their warranty. Of course, since I don't plan on breaking them soon, I'll just have to take their word for it for now.
Fit / Build / Accessories:
All rubberized plastic housing. FLAT linguine-style cable which (non-detachable), while being completely tangle-free, is not my favorite as it doesn't tent to sit right down the ears, nor wrap up neatly when storing. At least it's not a flat J-cable like the Sony MH1C had. Cable seems to be of good quality. Straight 4-pole plug. Shells are medium size, should fit in all sizes of ears without impinging on the outer ear. The included tips are very basic, just injected pieces of silicone. The texture of the tips are not great, kind of flimsy, and they are difficult to get on to the nozzles when changing tip size. I was able to get a good seal after a bit of fiddling around with tip size and insertion position. I would still tip-roll and use some Complys or Spin-Fits or something similar. No other accessories are included, just the hard pleather case, tips, and the earphones. One issue that came up with build quality while using in just the first few minutes was that the thin plastic filter mesh over the nozzle (to keep out debris) partially fell unglued while changing tips. I was able to reseat the mesh but... that shouldn't have happened. Surprised not to see a sturdier metallized mesh when $10 IEMs from China can have them.
Sound Signature and Quality:
Overall they have a sound signature gently tilted upwards with forward upper mids and slightly rolled off lower bass. Most other BA/DD hybrids I own have a more mids-foward signature with slightly stronger bass. Treble heads would enjoy them, while bass heads may find them a little lacking. However, the bass still reaches down to 30-40hz without issue, it's just in the background of the presentation. Definitely not muddy in any way at all, while also not being dry/weak in bass. The treble can get a little too strong and sibilant on poorly-mastered (hot) tracks, but otherwise isn't sibilant, although I did find a couple of my favorite songs, albeit not perfectly mastered, became displeasing to listen to with the strong treble tilt of the Prodigy-1. They are very, very easy to drive. They have excellent dynamic range and easily go from quiet to loud without sounding lazy or slow, better than many other IEMs I've heard.
The overall presentation has a lot of energy and really gives a good upper-bass and midrange slam. Background details are fairly easy to pick out. They have a nice organic tone that doesn't sound metallic or artificial like a lot of treble-tilted IEMs do. I wouldn't call them warm, but I certainly wouldn't call them cold. They're luke-warm / neutral in tone. The sound stage is a bit wider and taller than average compared to some of the other 1 BA / 1 DD hybrid IEMs I own. Vocals sound realistic although they are hidden a little behind the upper mid/treble area of reproduction.
The general theme I get when I listen to the Prodigy-1 is sizzling and exciting brightness and a lot of energy across the spectrum. Agile, lithe, even if not a heavyweight. Organic sound and a wide stage. Not the flattest response, but fun. A full size headphone they remind me a bit of is the HiFiMan HE-400i. I think if you loved those HE-400i you would die for these, and vice versa if you didn't like them. An IEM from yesteryear they remind me of is the Brainwavz B2, with actually better bass and less harsh treble, though overall similar presentation.
Should You Buy Them?
Why should you buy the Prodigy-1 for $49 when there are dozens of other 1DD+1BA hybrids around ranging in cost from $20 to $100? KZ just released a $17 BA+DD hybrid that I haven't heard yet but is probably of good KZ quality like most of their past products. What makes the Prodigy-1 special?
Well the first thing that stands out to me is their hyper confidence in their warranty. You don't get something like "we dare you to break these and we'll replace them no questions asked for 3 years" from ANY purchase you make from China (unless you live in China I imagine), and you don't usually get it with USA marketed IEMs unless there's a really obvious reason like with Skullcandy where IMO they're selling $2 sounding IEMs for $40 with "lifetime no questions asked warranties". The AIWA Prodigy-1 is certainly a much, much better deal than that at $49. The sound quality actually warrants their $49 price tag, even factoring in diamonds in the rough you can get from China. I wouldn't hesitate to say they punch above the $49 price point.
Second to mind on why you should consider the Prodigy-1 is the sound quality. It's not my preferred signature being treble-tilted, but in that respect them actually make a nice contrast to most of the other IEMs I've kept in my collection. The details are definitely there in spades in the way other treble-y IEMs I've had aren't. It's easy to smear the upper range if you just overexert a tweeter armature to be louder instead of source a nice full-range armature driver. But again, the Prodigy-1 just sounds agile and organic in presentation of the entire upper mid range to treble range. They also have wider and taller sound stage than other BA+DD hybrids I own which makes them a more likely choice when I want to be immersed in atmospheric music.
I think if you're interested in a treble-tilted IEM with a killer warranty and don't have issues with minor sibilance, you could do a LOT worse than the AIWA Prodigy-1. They seem to have done a good job sourcing a competent dynamic and BA driver and the R&D in how to pair them together. I wish the tips were better and I wish they had maybe experimented with the filter mesh to tame some slight harshness that's possible in the treble range, but overall, job well done by the current owners of AIWA. At $49 they definitely get a recommendation.
Thanks for reading
