[mudo]

In defense of Yuin I must say that the buds are nice given the price: the plastic housing is hard, the cable doesn't tangle easily, it has zero memory effect and it feels nice with that rubbery finish. Anyway in my unit the connections inside the male audio may not be as bulletproof as the rest of the design. It could be bad luck, don't know.
 
We should see if others have the same problem before jumping to wrong conclusions.

 

[WC Annihilus]

I've had 3 pairs of Yuins (1 PK3, 2 OK3) go out on me, all at the connector.  Great sound, but I'm not going to deal with continuously replacing them anymore.  Moved on to the Sennheiser MX880 just recently, hopefully these will last.

 

[StevenBrouwer]

I am happy to announce that head direct allowed me now to return the out-of-warranty buds to them. That was after some more email contact, where I told about my feelings of the situation. So probably still getting a happy end!

 

[radu]

Nothing new to add other than more Yuin cable problems.  I have 3 pairs of pk3's, they kept breaking in the exact same place, right near the plug.  The first time was my fault, I did not have a case for my D2, and used the headphone cable to pull the D2 out of my pocket to pause/change songs (I know I know, I was young and stupid). 
 
The other pair of Pk3's broke after about a year of careful use (got a case with belt clip)... in the same place.  I have a current pair that seem to be working well (knock on wood), and I treat them with kid gloves.  Yes I like the sound so much that I bought a new pair each time they broke.  
 
I also have the Pk2's, which have the same problem.  They broke at the stereo plug end about 6 months after purchasing them, with sound only coming out the left speaker.  They sat in a box until I learned about re terminating.  I have no solder tools, but I was able to cut the Pk2 wires, and splice them into a radio shack gold stereo plug.  Then I filled the space with glue and sealed the whole thing up.  Works like a charm, cost less than 3 dollars, and took about 45 min to fix. 
 
Almost forgot, my Ok3's also broke, the right driver blew out on me about 2 months after I got them.  I was able to return them and get a new/refurbished pair which have worked fine so far.
 
I agree that these earbuds sound great, however the build quality is sub-par.  If you take very good care of them, they are a great sonic investment.

 

[kiteki]

 
Thankyou for creating this thread!  Now I will never buy Yuin.  :/
 
 
I'm attracted to earbuds because of the "open-air" sound they provide, and I trialed the PK2 and it sounds pretty good and enjoyable, but not much better than a ~$20 pair of legit sony earbuds, I still use a pair that I purchased 7 years ago, and I dropped them in my coffee once and they still work.
 
So, I've felt allured to the PK1 and OK1, but spending that much for something that will break?  What a joke.
 
Beware of SoundMagic as well, I bought the hyped PL50 last week for $80 SGD ($60 US) and there was a rattle inside one earphone in that I couldn't fix.
There's better IEM's at the same price in construction and sound.
 
 

 

[ClieOS]

If there is rattle inside your headphone, you should have sent it back for warranty or exchange one with the seller. If you are happy about the old earbud you current have, then it seems you are probably in the wrong forum. Staying here longer than you needed will probably land you on another 'hyped' headphone

 

[kiteki]

From Amazon:
 
 
"This review is from: Head-Direct RE1 In-ear Headphones

I absolutely agree with first review. I spend money after good review on head-fi (Wondering are they sponsored by head-direct)?
and they are definitely worst ear buds which I tried.
I own(ed) phonak audeo, SE4cl, UM2, metro-fi5, klipsch S$, Etymotic EP-4R, sennheiser CX300, and many others.
Do not buy Chinese junk! "
 
 
Yes you are right Clie, I've been attracted to Yuin, SoundMagic and now I want the HiFiMan/Head-Direct RE0, but my gut feeling is I will land on another 'hyped' headphone ://  and I'm quite skeptical when some reviews claim it costs $80 and perfoms equally well to $300 IEM's?, feels like they're just hyping to get free testers in future huh?
 
P.s. I can't send the PL50 back or exchange it with the seller, I sold it to a friend and it sounds fairly good paired with her iPhone 4.
 

 

[Vash-GR]

 
Quote:

From Amazon:
 
 
"This review is from: Head-Direct RE1 In-ear Headphones

I absolutely agree with first review. I spend money after good review on head-fi (Wondering are they sponsored by head-direct)?
and they are definitely worst ear buds which I tried.
I own(ed) phonak audeo, SE4cl, UM2, metro-fi5, klipsch S$, Etymotic EP-4R, sennheiser CX300, and many others.
Do not buy Chinese junk! "
 
 
Yes you are right Clie, I've been attracted to Yuin, SoundMagic and now I want the HiFiMan/Head-Direct RE0, but my gut feeling is I will land on another 'hyped' headphone ://  and I'm quite skeptical when some reviews claim it costs $80 and perfoms equally well to $300 IEM's?, feels like they're just hyping to get free testers in future huh?
 
P.s. I can't send the PL50 back or exchange it with the seller, I sold it to a friend and it sounds fairly good paired with her iPhone 4.
 

 
From the review I can tell that the person writing it is either a troll or stupid. Nobody legitimate (because face it or not, not all members are equal) has ever compared RE1 to any of the aforemetioned IEMs. Also the list of Head-Fi sponsors is in the first page of Head-Fi.org. Trying to find excuses to hate on a product and writing reviews on selling sites is quite a common practice it seems. I wonder if the poster of the review realizes that more than 80% of every electronic device he has in his house is chinese or korean. Does he know that Head-Direct is based on USA?
 
To my opinion there are no hyped headphones, only users with unrealistic expectations. It reminds me of the usual request threads that go like this: perfect deep and controll bass, lush midrange not laid back, good highs with no sibilance and endless extension, huge soundstage, really good isolation, best clarity cost under 50$. The fact is that one IEM does not sound the same to 2 people. What one finds preferable might be worthless to anyone else. That's why trying and buying and selling is encouraged so that you can find what you want from an IEM on your own.
 
Back on topic. Most of the times this has happened to me (breaking along the connector) I now realize it was probably my own fault. Yes the quality is not the same as a 500$ phone or even a phone from the same price range but from a giant colossus with huge resources, but especially when you have the same problem on different buds or the same bud returned, this points to a user misuse of sorts.
 

 

[ClieOS]

Most definitely, those shill want nothing but hug manufacturers' leg for free stuff. You should only read review from cnet, just to be safe. 
 
Quote:

.... feels like they're just hyping to get free testers in future huh?
 
P.s. I can't send the PL50 back or exchange it with the seller, I sold it to a friend and it sounds fairly good paired with her iPhone 4.
 

Wait, a friend?

 

 

[murano]

Quote:

 
Yes you are right Clie, I've been attracted to Yuin, SoundMagic and now I want the HiFiMan/Head-Direct RE0, but my gut feeling is I will land on another 'hyped' headphone ://  and I'm quite skeptical when some reviews claim it costs $80 and perfoms equally well to $300 IEM's?, feels like they're just hyping to get free testers in future huh?

 
One nice thing about the Head-direct RE0 is that even if you don't like them, used ones seem to be fairly easy to sell on the forum.

 

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

Most definitely, those shill want nothing but hug manufacturers' leg for free stuff. You should only read review from cnet, just to be safe. 
 

Wait, a friend?

 

 
Cnet?  Are you sure? 

 
 
Well I only used the PL50's for two hours on a plane without burn-in so I could be incorrect,  but I didn't like the sound of them at all.
 
yes, a friend

  for someone that's only used iPod earbuds, she got a good deal for new PL50's at less than half the retail price, that I had to fetch from singapore.

 
 
 
 

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

 
One nice thing about the Head-direct RE0 is that even if you don't like them, used ones seem to be fairly easy to sell on the forum.

 

 
Actually, I have to still my curiosity, there are too many rave reviews about them so I'll probably end up ordering the RE0's, and if I don't like them I'll give them to another poor soul that has only heard iPod earbuds.