[dragon2knight]

Hi all I dont post too much on here, but do read the posts on full sized headphones religiously. I was given a pre production pair of Brainwavz HM3's for review and here are the results: 
 
After spending over a full week plus with the HM3's, this is my full review. As I like to do with my headphone reviews, I will include which types of music work best with the HM3's, as well as a full unbiased opinion of what I think of them as mp4nations first full sized headset.

After first receiving these over 12 days or so ago(now over two full weeks as of this posting), I have made the HM3's my main headphones for the duration of this test. Over 180 hours have been put on them to date, and I love the way they have matured over the course of this useage. Burn in is a definate plus for these, as the sound got fuller and more defined the more that I used them.

As I have a massive music collection, mostly in flac, I had the opportunity to really put these new headphones through their paces. Everything from Rock to Opera has been pumped through these cans, and nothing really sounded at all bad here. It should be noted I used my Vibrant phone for most of the testing here, but switched to my Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ towards the end. Also used is my Nationite N2, and they all worked very well for me.

I'll start with Rock, both heavy and soft. Rush was the predominant band played here, and boy do the HM3's like that progressive power trio from Canada 

 Everything from Geddy's soaring vocals to Neil's powerful percussion sounded just perfect here. Standard Rock from the 70's also shined here, with the likes of Mott The Hoople and David Bowie (in his Ziggy persona) sounding true to form here. I cant more highly recommend them to anyone liking this era to try these on for size 

 

As a strong supporter of Jazz in all its forms, I am very hard on a pair of headphones if they dont work well here. Not to worry, the HM3's were up to the task very well! Everyone from Al DiMeola to Jeff Beck just sounded great here. While they have a penchant for being a bit more bassy than trembly (more low end happy), after break in they filled out alot more in the upper registers. This helped them play back the hard to reproduce Jazz signature very well. Again, I recommend these if this is your music of choice 

As for HipHop/House and most modern pop music, which tends to like the lower end of the spectrum, these are your perfect choice. They arent so bass heavy that you dont enjoy the computer perfect auto tuned beltings of, say, Justin Beiber or Ms. GaGa...and I guess thats a good thing, lol. But seriously, the HM3's are a great choice if this is your type of tunage, for the price they are some of the better ones here.

I love 60's psycodelic music as well, and the heavy use of distortion sounds great here, with everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Iron Butterfly sounding awesome. In fact, all the music from this era sounds good here, take your pick. Everyone from The Doors to the Beatles simply sound in tune and well reproduced.

As you can tell by now, I'm very impressed with the sound quality of the HM3's. They have a full sound, from strong bass to decent highs, and everything in between sounds great! It should be noted that I have these fitting tightly around my ears, not on them, so this is how they sound that way. You may have these sitting on your ears, and the sound signature will be different. Such is the way it is with full sized headphones. In my case the sound isolation was great, I heard very little noise trying to spoil my listening pleasure, and many around me commented on how little they heard from my end as well. Perfect for crowded subway's 

 One thing I have to say, though, the HM3's need a bit of amplifying to achieve their best sound. I used an old Fiio E3 as well as a FiiO E5 to get just the right amount of volume, but just pumping up the eq setting on most phones or dedicated music players does almost as well.

I find the quality to be very good here, with fine quality plastics and a strong cord, and the ear pads(which are replaceable, nice), are very comfortable for long useage...I averaged over 8 plus hours a day with the HM3's, and nothing short of a little sweatiness after the fourth hour or so was present. The lightness of the HM3's contributed to this comfort very much. As everyone will want to know which IEM's these sound most like to me, I will have to say the Brainwavz M2's are the closest match, but not quite the same sound. The HM3's have a sound all their own, and its a good one. As always with the Brainwavz series, the value here is outstanding. I have $300.00-$500.00 plus dollar cans from Senny's on up and I truly think these compare with ones in the lower $100.00 range effortlesly. You owe it to yourself to try these out, its a great deal for a great pair of cans 

 My thanks to Raz  from mp4nation for the option to try these out! 
 
They can be bought here: http://www.mp4nation.net

I now have a VIDEO REVIEW up, I prefer these instead of pictures,it gets my point accross better 

 The video has the production versions of the HM3's in it

 

[IMAWolf]

KInda looks like a TMA-1 

 

[dragon2knight]

Just because mp4nation uses alot of the same suppliers as say, Fischer, dosen't mean that they are the SAME as them sound wise or build wise. Because they LOOK like the TMA-1's dosent mean thats the way they sound. I'm finding on here that alot of folks think that if something looks like another pair of cans/iems, that's they MUST be re badged. I think the Brainwavz B2's should have put that to rest by looking like another popular pair, but being completely different, using different cables and drivers. Sorry if I'm being harsh here,but I don't want folks to think that what Mp4nation does is sell re badged versions of someone else's products. They dont, end of story.
Quote:

KInda looks like a TMA-1 

 

 

[david1978jp]

Quote:

Just because mp4nation uses alot of the same suppliers as say, Fischer, dosen't mean that they are the SAME as them sound wise or build wise. Because they LOOK like the TMA-1's dosent mean thats the way they sound. I'm finding on here that alot of folks think that if something looks like another pair of cans/iems, that's they MUST be re badged. I think the Brainwavz B2's should have put that to rest by looking like another popular pair, but being completely different, using different cables and drivers. Sorry if I'm being harsh here,but I don't want folks to think that what Mp4nation does is sell re badged versions of someone else's products. They dont, end of story.


 

So, what is the final word between TMA-1 and HM3? Have you compared them? Thank you.
 
 

 

[dragon2knight]

If you have a pair of TMA-1's to lend me,I will do a detailed comparison  I don't have tons of pairs of headphones to compare to others,sorry. I'm not a professional reviewer of headphones, either. What I am is an avid audiophile who is also a musician with his own studio for over 20 years. I have used tons of monitoring headphones over the years,and currently am using HD-600's,but I always look out for better ones if I can find them If you want a true comparison of similar looking headphones,go to a local place to compare them yourself if you can. Brainwavz's are sold in some shops in China, so if someone on here is from there,maybe they can do a comparison for you.Its the only way,i'm afraid.
Quote:

So, what is the final word between TMA-1 and HM3? Have you compared them? Thank you.
 
 

 

 

[dragon2knight]

We just had a forum member over on mp4nation.net do a head to head comparison in his local store in Australia that had both the TMA-1's and the HM3's in,among others. His feeling was that the TMA-1's were less comfortable than the HM3's. I'm asking him if he can do a more thorough comparison for me and I will post it here.

 

[dragon2knight]

Either you guys were pulling my leg,or you have no idea what you are talking about...the TMA-1's are supra aural cans,while the HM3's are circum aural...and they almost look nothing like each other...not to mention the TMA-1's cost almost three times as much as the HM3's. They honestly have not one thing to do with each other,and comparing them is a waste of time.

 

[ironstar]

Hello dragon2knight,
 
I just bought this at Digital Walker here at the Philippines because I was so curious about the sound. Am I correct that this is Brainwavz first headphone? Because they sell more on iems here.
 
I don't care about physical similarities on other headphones like they say there were...but for the price tag this headphone's a steal. Better than my modified Panasonic RP-HTX7.

 

[atomikn00b]

i'm not dragon but i'll answer.
yes, it's their first.
the second one is the brainwavz hm5, which just arrived in stock and is just now getting shipped to those who pre-ordered.
dragon2knight did a review on those too
and you said you didn't care about similarities but people are saying the hm5 is like the fa-003.
nobody knows for sure though.

 

[ironstar]

Thanks atomikn00b. Sorry we don't have fa-003 here in the Philippines. I just hope they sell the hm5 here.

 

[kingpage]

If you're not uncomfortable buying headphones online, you can go back to where you got your HM3s and ask when they will stock those HM5s.

 

[ironstar]

Oh okay. Thanks kingpage.

 

[dragon2knight]

Sorry,havent been on here for a bit As it was kindly answered already all I'll add is that the HM3's are a great set of low cost headphones that benefit more with the use of some form of amplification,even just pumping up the EQ on whatever sound source you have helps alot here.

 

[SteveSatch]

I can't decide if I should snag a pair of these or keep saving for HM5.

 

[potatoos]

Have you listened to the Panasonic RP-HTF600? I have been looking for a more bass centric pair of cans, and the HTF600 has been getting quite a lot of good reviews lately. I think that the HM3 will end up being my next buy though.

Edit: How do they fair with games/movies?