[rawrster]

As much as I love a great bang for your buck it has to have the complete package for me. I can handle skimping out on accessories but at the very least I want a set of single flange tips. I value great sound as well as great build quality at an affordable price. I think the M9 has good sound (for $20) and amazing build quality only surpassed by earphones well over 10x it's price. The Xears are an amazing value if you want to spend little but still have good sound. It also depends what you consider significant upgrade. I had the RE-Zero and the DBA-02 and I consider the difference between them to be not that significant but others will probably disagree.

 

[sunspot]

The bullets do come with a set of single flange + soft case.  I think it's actually better than the accessory pack for the TD100, which came with much crappier single flange tips, a crappy biflange, and unusable foamies that wouldn't hold on the nozzle and stuck in my ear.  At least the single flange on the bullets are decent...
 
As far as sound quality goes, maybe I'm hitting the law of diminishing return.  To me, significant was moving from the SoundMagic PL21 to the Xears.  The gain was mostly in clarity; they're both "smooth" earphones.  I may not feel like I have as much of an upgrade if I move "up", so to speak, because I may already be at the limit of what my ear can perceive.
 
I'll try to mooch off my friend and borrow his RE-0 for a bit and see how it goes, I suppose.

 

[FirsToStrike]

They M9's only look like they have an amazing build quality. I also thought so too, so i bought some for my dad, and they died after 4 months of use. My M9's died on me after about 6 months. Well they didn't exactly die, they still played sound but i have to play with the plug a lot to get them to sound normal, and from both sides- this usually happend to me only on stock earbuds.
I have a heavily used AKG k312p which suffered a lot more than the M9, they don't look like anything special, and they sound and feel just like you would think an average cheap aftermarket earbuds should sound like, yet they are still going strong 4 years now.
So this may just be bad luck, but from my experience you can't decide how long a product will last just by looking at it.
Also the fit of the XB120 is just superb, on the first try i got a perfect fit, something i had a lot of trouble getting from my pl50's for example, and the pl50's are described as incredibly comfortable by most people. I also feel like the pouch i got with them is superior in usability and is easier to carry around than any of all the bags and pouches i got from akg, sennheiser, soundmagic and meelec.

 

[esanthosh]

Quote:

As much as I love a great bang for your buck it has to have the complete package for me. I can handle skimping out on accessories but at the very least I want a set of single flange tips. I value great sound as well as great build quality at an affordable price. I think the M9 has good sound (for $20) and amazing build quality only surpassed by earphones well over 10x it's price. The Xears are an amazing value if you want to spend little but still have good sound. It also depends what you consider significant upgrade. I had the RE-Zero and the DBA-02 and I consider the difference between them to be not that significant but others will probably disagree.

The tips I received with the TD100-I were crap and the pouch was very rough on the surface. Between then and now (TD100-II), the tips have become usable and the pouch feels softer. Cable is still something I don't like with Xears. Among the Xears I own, only XT120 has a very slightly thicker cable. I agree that for a similar price, MEE's accessories are unbeatable. But, I don't give as much importance to other aspects than SQ. So, it sort of works out for me.
 
While I don't have RE-ZERO, I don't consider DBA-02 a 'significant' upgrade over the amplified RE0. But, adding up all the differences, for me at least, it's well worth the upgrade.

 

[NCT]

Thank you for your impression

 

[sunspot]

Well, sorry to resurrect that thread, but I figure it's better to do this than create a new one.
 
I've managed to steal borrow my friend's RE-0s to get some quick impressions of the sound vs. the bullets.  Note that those were just impressions and not an extended listening test.
 
First, I found I had no problems inserting those compared to other 5.5mm nozzle earphones, so I guess the other ones I had just had housings that were too big.  However, with medium tips, I get a seal, but it doesn't isolate quite as well as the bullets for some reason.
 
I didn't find them to have bad bass at all.  Less quantity, drier than the bullets, yes, but it's not as if it's a treble-fest either.
 
They have better sound than the bullets, no question about that.  But I'll echo rawrster's impressions: the bullets definitely hold their own and have nothing to be ashamed of if you get past the build/accessory issues.  The bass and mids overwhelm the treble a bit, but a bit of EQing fixes that to some degree; once brought forward, the treble are relatively detailed. It's not the near-infinite extension you get with the RE-0, but it's very acceptable. Those are definitely "fun" earphones but they are surprisingly articulate.
 
I didn't find the cable much better than the bullets, which surprised me given how much people are annoyed by the Xears cables.  Looks like it's not that bad, actually.  The RE-0 strain reliefs inspire quite a bit more confidence, though.
 
For the going price right now (15 EUR + 8 EUR shipping = 30 USD, or 12 EUR + 8.50 EUR shipping = 27 USD on ebay), they are very, very good, and are definitely worth a look if you can stand a J-cord.  They are also much easier to drive.  At the initial price we got them at (23 USD roughly), they are absolutely spectacular.  Now that I've listened to better earphones, I can say this without hesitation.
 
It's possible that with more extended listening I'd come to appreciate the RE-0 more in comparison.  I'll get my friend to steal borrow my own bullets this afternoon; I think I made him curious... and we'll see what he thinks.
 
As for myself, I learned that I like analytical sound signatures after all.  Who would've thunk it?  I was the guy always boosting the bass on the equalizer.  I guess it's because I had crappy equipment and the strong bass was drowning out the crappy midrange...
 
That is all.