[gisxer]

I'm thinking of contributing to this fundraising but I don't' have the technical knowledge evaluate the electronics.  I check this forum for all things headphone related before making any purchases.  I realize that no wireless phones will ever be as good as wired, but I do like wireless for some applications.  anyway I think they look pretty slick and in general looks like a great product.  Obviously the proof will be in the sound quality of course but i'm wondering what you guys think of at first blush.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1629248706/earin-the-worlds-smallest-wireless-earbuds
 
Edit: I changed the name of the post to make it more descriptive as per tomscy2000's recomendation.
 
 

 

[tomscy2000]

You might want to change the title of the thread so that it's more informative to more people, like "Earin --- Bluetooth IEMs on Kickstarter". I'm sure many people have the same questions you do.
 
In terms of Bluetooth audio support, it supports A2DP Apt-X, so it will do lossless CD audio.
 
Is it going to delivery really good sound quality? Who knows. The electronics are tiny, and so the D/A conversion will have its limitations --- I'm going to guess it'll do a maximum of CD quality dynamic range, but it'll probably be worse.
 
In terms of the sound itself, they are using Knowles SR drivers. Products in the past have used the SR, and they sounded okay, not great, not terrible (referring to the first generation SR6438NWS). However, there is a second generation SR driver, the SR-31843-000:
 

This one has a balanced sound profile, and doesn't sound too terrible.
 
All SR drivers tend to sound a little warm, a little indistinct.
 
However, it's up to them to figure out how to best use the driver.
 
The curve you see there is idealized by Knowles themselves.
 
From photos I've seen on earin's Facebook page, they seem to be getting technical support from Knowles, so sound quality-wise they shouldn't be too shabby.
 
I don't think this should be about sound quality, however. It should be about the ease of not needing any wires when moving around and listening to music.
 
There's an ergonomic hurdle to the earin, however. It looks a little fat, and unless you have large ears, they actually seem like they might fall out easily.
 
Yes, they have a concha lock thing to help keep things in place, but I don't think people want to have to deal with that.
 
They could've made the structure a little thinner and made it insert into the ears better, but I guess they wanted a more traditional structure so that the mainstream would be more receptive to it. After all, a lot of people are still wary of sticking IEMs deep into their ears, and not used to the "invasiveness".

 

[heatofamatch]

I'm warming up to the idea of BT but really require at least 6-hour battery life from the device itself, that's the bare minimum I need to justify the device, as I'm not just listening during commutes.
 
I also can't help but wonder if a major brand, or a major OEM like Foster, isn't a year or two away from delivering a highly similar product. They've probably all got access to the same chips and drivers, if not better, so the technology may be less proprietary than people would like to think. once the chips involved come to the "right" level of integration and power draw, there can be a reference design from an OEM, and lookalike products will flood out the gate before BGR can think of an inflammatory title. Even on Kickstarter the Earin is neither alone nor the first of its kind... and the "concha lock" will be very familiar-looking to anyone who's used Bose or Jawbone or so many other products.
 
I've come to realize that the human obsession with going wireless is no less intense than the obsession with power, sex and money...so I'll be following this with as much interest as I did the Ubuntu Edge campaign.

 

[davidcotton]

There's also "The Dash" coming out soon enough.  Built in 4 gig mp3 player, bluetooth, app etc.

 

[Nuvole]

I've contributed to "The Dash" then this one came up. I manage to squeeze in the very last as early bird.
While I'm not expecting high quality sound nor long battery from both, they(especially Earin) seems to have high potential to be my sleep phone

 

[ClieOS]

  In terms of the sound itself, they are using Knowles SR drivers. Products in the past have used the SR, and they sounded okay, not great, not terrible (referring to the first generation SR6438NWS). However, there is a second generation SR driver, the SR-31843-000:

 
Almost what to contribute and get a pair of them till I saw the same thing you saw. The few pair of SR based IEM I have are lower mid to mid end stuff, and I just can't bring my heart to pay $170 for that kind of SQ. I hope whatever they used, it will be better than what we have heard before, as I have some terrific sounding BT headset with me that cost much less.

 

[Ivabign]

Interesting - 2.5 hours is reasonable for a commuter earbud...
 
Since it doesn't have a microphone, it would be nice if it had someway to alert you when your phone rings.. (if it mentions that in the Kickstarter page already, I apologize for my sloth)

 

[mrwagga]

I have backed this. Saw the Dash as well, but it appears too bulky in comparison, and they also appear to be promising the moon in terms of features and sensors. Most of which are nice-to-haves and not really what i imagine i would use them for. I fear they risk over-promising and disappointing everyone in the end.

Much rather have a compact set that is ergonomic and sound good. But of course, that remains to be seen until we get the product.

 

[heatofamatch]

The main thing that overcomes all my excitement is the battery life. Lithium-based rechargeable batteries can deteriorate, what does 2.5 turn into after a few months' use? But that's just my concern, I'm always listening. No such thing as oh I only do it while I commute...

Looks like funding way over their goal though, so I look forward to the final product shipping.

 

[oMalakai]

I would be a bit scared to use them, since if they accidentally fell of your ears, you are going to have a hard time finding it, if you aren't at home. But, it looks great, neat concept.

 

[friedrice2307]

Has anyone tested these bt headphones?

 

[ClieOS]

Has anyone tested these bt headphones?

 
No one has received it - that's over a year after it was successfully funded.

 

[friedrice2307]

Yeah i figured they had a demo or something for someone to review.

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[Alpha & Delta]

spoke to an industry insider. he mentioned that earin and other similar BT earphones with similiar concept are incredibly hard to achieve. essentially, you are trying to pair 2 bluetooth devices and get them to perform in a synchronous manner. 

 

[friedrice2307]

Thats exactly what i was thinking also. How would they get 2 bt to work in a synchronized manner but i also remember that with Ue boom you can do that but i never tried it.

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