[Colors]

The more I listen to it and burn it in, the more I argue it's a warm + sweet sound = bass is most noticeable, then some clear vocals and rolled off treble.

 

[sponsor]

Well, it's been more than a week since I got these, and had been 150+ hours play on them.
I had been using them mostly on my laptop, foobar2000 with flac/320kbps mp3 rips, and my FiiO X1II, eartips being used Comply Comfort, medium.
My impressions on these are exactly what @SMRDcompany described in his post:

Well, after listening some more, changing tips and doing a bit of cleaning, I think this is just how they're supposed to sound as opposed to me having a problem, since, other than in the case with Owner of a Lonely Heart, it's quite subtle. I'll just assume that they have a spike somewhere that reveals some harshness I'm pretty sensitive to to spare my mind, since I don't think this warrants an RMA in either case, not that I'd want to go through that logistics nightmare with a Hong-Kong based retailer, as good as they are.

I'm overall really satisfied with them, although I'm really, really missing a solid soundstage to complete the sound. Too often these seem shy to really go wide, and as a result, in most cases where previously I had an out-of-head sound experience, now I'm definitely aware that the sound is coming from a speaker glued to my outer ear. It's terribly disappointing since in a lot of songs they start out sounding rather wide with basic instrumentation, and then when the chorus hits and it's supposed to add all these extra elements that widen the sound tremendously, it ends up sounding just as wide as before, only louder.

The instrument separation is hit and miss; in some songs that sounded congested on some of my older IEMs, they do a really great job, and in some they just pour out this homogeneous (but still pleasant) sound. I suspect it has a lot to do with not giving various instruments the width in the soundstage they need to really separate.

They definitely sound natural enough for me not to consider the sound artificial, and as I found a great fit in terms of sound, what I'm most satisfied with is the low end. I'd appreciate more sub focus and less mid-bass, but the mid-bass is so nice that I'm not even that bothered. It has a lovely texture and decay, and it trades blows with the MA750 which I owned a while ago and had on-hand to compare. In a lot of cases, the MA750 just brings out the more controlled, textured bass, but the IT01 cuts through difficult sections better and maintains bass quality better when a ton of instruments are laid over it. They have a very commanding snare sound and it easily cuts through the rest of the sound, I assume this has to do with that spike that also adds occasional unpleasant grain to me.

The mids are more laid back and vocals suffer as a result. They are just fine though, if only unable to follow along with the top notch low and high end of the IT01. The sound is rather neutral, I'd say it's brighter than it is warm, but just a touch. There's still a lot of bass on display here.

In terms of comparisons, I can only realistically compare it with the two pairs I've heard very recently to be accurate enough. Compared to the RHA MA750, it's less warm and a lot more congested in terms of soundstage width (although this isn't exactly the right word since on its own it sounds decently wide; I wouldn't call it wide though, just wide enough). The bass is similar in quality, although it is presented rather differently. The IT01's is a tad smoother while the MA750's has nicer decay and is a just a tad faster. Compared to the Musicmaker TK12 I've had before, the sound is infinitely more natural, with cymbals sounding like cymbals rather than shakers, and snares having a nice kick but at a much lower frequency spike, thus not sounding tinny. The TK12 have a far wider sound, and have a nicer 3D effect in terms of depth, as well. The TK12 have better instrument separation to my ears, in part thanks to the width, and the vocals appear to be more forward.

And lastly, to address the harsh grainy "blown out speaker" sound, it's incredibly distracting at first and pretty unpleasant. If you're sensitive to certain frequency spikes around the 10khz mark, just keep this in mind, perhaps. It doesn't really take over the experience, it is very clear whenever this happens and it doesn't color the sound altogether. On a frequency test/sweep I haven't been able to reproduce it, so I don't think my unit is faulty. Just a friendly heads up!

And...that's about it hope this didn't sound too silly or was too long, I should have maybe written a full review, but oh well I'm listening to them as I'm writing and they do sound lovely overall. I can definitely understand why so many proclaim these to be the unanimous $100 champions, but as someone who chases great bass AND soundstage, they don't impress me quite as much in the end. I also had to experiment with tips quite a bit to even let a bit of width out of them since stock tips are really close to the nozzle and it sounds actually congested then. Ended up using small foam tips included with the IT01, and they are decently spaced out from the nozzle at the ends. The bass is actually a lot nicer now as well, when I first tried them I could hear it but I wasn't much impressed by it. It sounded like the high end was covering up the low end way too much. Now it's just right If only it weren't for that occasional grain, eh? I'd say these are a notch above the MA750, probably overall the best I've owned yet, despite my personal preference not exactly matching their sound

These have a very hit and miss performance in many of the songs. My previous MA750 consistently had one signature in any genre of music: spacious, laid back vocals, good bass.

IT01 in comparison, performs better in genres like EDM, Pop where bass is emphasized, as these have much better attack and decay on the bass, and sounds to have better control on these songs. Watching youtube videos on these is a bliss, as the vocals are much more clear and forward than MA750.
Soundstage is a hit and miss as well. Some songs that don't have much instruments and are recorded to have wider soundstage sounds just as good on IT01 as they did on MA750, even better.
But the genres that I mostly listened to, old rock, seems to be way worse on these. It's like whenever there's a difficult section in a rock song, these tend to muffle the sound very much, and the soundstage in those sections just sort of vanishes. It's like all of the instruments are kept just adjacent to each other and then played. Journey's Don't Stop Believin, Metallica's Wherever I may roam, led zep's kashmir, queen's Bohemian Rhapsody Live 1981, all lack that "holographic" 3D sound that I used to hear in MA750.
Drums in these songs I believe used to sound much better on MA750s. The snare hits have a bassy note on IT01, that make them sound not so clear, and muffled. Rush's YYZ, Tom Sawyer have excellent drum sections, where I think MA750s used to sound more natural for a drum than IT01s.
Female vocals are much more clearer on IT01, and male vocals, though slightly laid back, still better than MA750s.

Overall, I'd say they are sort of better than MA750s, but are pretty inconsistent. Sort of depends on the songs/genres and how it was recorded. MA750s used to give very consistent results with it's sound, IT01, changes with the genre, and could sound better, equal or worse.

 

[Mindspin311]

Ok help the noob, what do all these different tips do? Some smaller than others, thats for fit obviously. But what are the 3 different sets for. It appears one has a larger opening than the others, but is also shorter in height.

 

[CoiL]

Overall, I'd say they are sort of better than MA750s, but are pretty inconsistent. Sort of depends on the songs/genres and how it was recorded. MA750s used to give very consistent results with it's sound, IT01, changes with the genre, and could sound better, equal or worse.

hmm... I also listen very much different rock genres and haven`t noticed issues with "inconsistency". IT01 are quite revealing to bad/old records and bring out all that has been done with record (soundstage effects, decay, reverbs etc.). When I go through my prog-rock archive - excellent results with all great masterings. I usually go for Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson or The MArs Volta for complex tracks with great masterings, but many others too. I haven`t yet found issue with IT01 with all the music I have.
Well, maybe only one which comes from IT01 signature - sometimes tad too much bass (but it does it great!).
Maybe it`s about tip selection and gear match, idk.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Well, it's been more than a week since I got these, and had been 150+ hours play on them.
I had been using them mostly on my laptop, foobar2000 with flac/320kbps mp3 rips, and my FiiO X1II, eartips being used Comply Comfort, medium.
My impressions on these are exactly what @SMRDcompany described in his post:


These have a very hit and miss performance in many of the songs. My previous MA750 consistently had one signature in any genre of music: spacious, laid back vocals, good bass.

IT01 in comparison, performs better in genres like EDM, Pop where bass is emphasized, as these have much better attack and decay on the bass, and sounds to have better control on these songs. Watching youtube videos on these is a bliss, as the vocals are much more clear and forward than MA750.
Soundstage is a hit and miss as well. Some songs that don't have much instruments and are recorded to have wider soundstage sounds just as good on IT01 as they did on MA750, even better.
But the genres that I mostly listened to, old rock, seems to be way worse on these. It's like whenever there's a difficult section in a rock song, these tend to muffle the sound very much, and the soundstage in those sections just sort of vanishes. It's like all of the instruments are kept just adjacent to each other and then played. Journey's Don't Stop Believin, Metallica's Wherever I may roam, led zep's kashmir, queen's Bohemian Rhapsody Live 1981, all lack that "holographic" 3D sound that I used to hear in MA750.
Drums in these songs I believe used to sound much better on MA750s. The snare hits have a bassy note on IT01, that make them sound not so clear, and muffled. Rush's YYZ, Tom Sawyer have excellent drum sections, where I think MA750s used to sound more natural for a drum than IT01s.
Female vocals are much more clearer on IT01, and male vocals, though slightly laid back, still better than MA750s.

Overall, I'd say they are sort of better than MA750s, but are pretty inconsistent. Sort of depends on the songs/genres and how it was recorded. MA750s used to give very consistent results with it's sound, IT01, changes with the genre, and could sound better, equal or worse.

Or more like, certain recordings were not so good and it reveals why they were ot so good

I listen to a ton of ill-recorded and mastered music, and learned to love it like that

Try this for a change. Probably the brightest and harshest recording from Protest the hero, but I like it like that

 

[BlueWindNoise]

Ok help the noob, what do all these different tips do? Some smaller than others, thats for fit obviously. But what are the 3 different sets for. It appears one has a larger opening than the others, but is also shorter in height.

The different sizes allow for the different shapes of ear canals as well as preferences in fit and comfort. Some folks prefer a shallow insertion and some don't. The different shapes and sizes will also impact sound isolation, as well as sound quality or quantity. A wider or narrower bore may accentuate the lows or the highs. There are also different materials involved which also affect isolation, comfort, and sound. Isolation can also have a pretty significant impact on bass response.

I'd suggest finding a quiet place and spending some time changing out the tips to see what you notice in terms of fit, comfort (short term and for longer sessions), isolation and sound. It can be quite a revealing (and maddening) experience.

 

[George Taylor]

The different sizes allow for the different shapes of ear canals as well as preferences in fit and comfort. Some folks prefer a shallow insertion and some don't. The different shapes and sizes will also impact sound isolation, as well as sound quality or quantity. A wider or narrower bore may accentuate the lows or the highs. There are also different materials involved which also affect isolation, comfort, and sound. Isolation can also have a pretty significant impact on bass response.

I'd suggest finding a quiet place and spending some time changing out the tips to see what you notice in terms of fit, comfort (short term and for longer sessions), isolation and sound. It can be quite a revealing (and maddening) experience.

You may also discover that your ear canals are different sizes. Like I did.

 

[sponsor]

hmm... I also listen very much different rock genres and haven`t noticed issues with "inconsistency". IT01 are quite revealing to bad/old records and bring out all that has been done with record (soundstage effects, decay, reverbs etc.). When I go through my prog-rock archive - excellent results with all great masterings. I usually go for Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson or The MArs Volta for complex tracks with great masterings, but many others too. I haven`t yet found issue with IT01 with all the music I have.
Well, maybe only one which comes from IT01 signature - sometimes tad too much bass (but it does it great!).
Maybe it`s about tip selection and gear match, idk.

Those tracks you mentioned do sound great on spotify, good recordings.
I am not saying that they have a bad soundstage, but they seem to miss that 3Dness when compared to my previous IEMs MA750, possibly that these reveal bad recordings. It's weird that these have really good soundstage in some songs, and very bad in others. Imaging though, is good across the range. I tried every tip provided, only to be settled on the complys as they provided best experience to me. Sad that these sound better in most of the genres than the RHAs, but fails to provide the "concerty" experience when comes to the genre that I mostly listen to.
I think @SMRDcompany put it in best words when compared to MA750.

Too often these seem shy to really go wide, and as a result, in most cases where previously I had an out-of-head sound experience, now I'm definitely aware that the sound is coming from a speaker glued to my outer ear.

.

 

[CoiL]

I tried every tip provided, only to be settled on the complys as they provided best experience to me.
.

That` s the thing - use only wide-bore tips and deep fit if possible! Auvio S size and JVC Spiral Dot tips have been recommended most.

 

[SMRDcompany]

Thought I'd return and pitch in a few more impressions since I've written that post a few weeks back; I think these definitely require a fair amount of mental burn-in, since aside from the initial 100+ hour burn-in period, I've come to terms with their sound a lot more by active listening, I doubt the actual sound itself changed that much. I also switched from foams (which kind of made the bass sound a tad bloated at times) to a medium set of included smokey wide-bore tips (those ones that have a ridiculously small pair as well). The soundstage is still hit and miss - I wouldn't say that these are revealing in the way that they show worse recordings' flaws more than something like MA750; they lack the soundstage I talked about in many excellent prog rock recordings and re-releases, and a lot of Steve Wilson's recent anniversary masters, which CoiL mentioned in his post. Some of them sound absolutely great and in very rare occasions they do go quite wide, but in most cases they are kind of timid in terms of soundstage width. Like I said, the basic instrumentation sounds spacious enough, but when pushing microdetails out, especially on the high end, they tend to stay safely closer to intimate than out-of-head.

One of the nicer "improvements" in sound as I've gotten used to them for me is the high end; I believe these have way better high-end than the MA750, much cleaner, completely natural, super-extended. MA750 sound somewhat harsh and dull compared to these (not to mention Musicmaker TK12 which sound artificial and downright fake their high-end with a lot of sibilance). Unfortunately, I primarily look for great bass and a great soundstage in headphones, so this doesn't suit my personal sound signature preference, although I have to give credit where credit is due - I wouldn't buy a pair because of the high-end but it is so good that I just enjoy listening to songs with a new experience. As I've said, while fantastic, high-end elements are the biggest culprits in not going wide. For example, acoustic guitars and most other stringed instruments sound absolutely orgasmic on these to me, but they play it close rather than really going super wide when you get to something like a stereo recording with delay on one channel, two recordings of the same guitar part panned hard left and hard right for more stereo separation, really wide analog keyboard synth sounds, stuff like that. I get used to it not being as wide quickly as I re-listen to stuff, but every time I stumble upon something I haven't heard on the IT01 yet (and have heard on the MA750), I am reminded that the track doesn't go as wide as before. I can give some specific examples I guess, although I had some in mind earlier I forgot, I'll just quickly conjure some up (some are specifically timestamped):

I love using this passage to test audio equipment, there's a lot going on here and covers a lot of range -

In this track, the bass doesn't extend as far as on the MA750, the hard-left panned instrumentation is extremely clear though and all instruments are natural. The shakers that come after that also do not extend as wide as on the MA750, just kind of wide enough. (Note: I am posting first youtube links I can find, an actual quality recording will demonstrate this far better).

Here's an example of a part which the IT01 does great in terms of width, but not AS great as the MA750:

The differences are slim here, and the IT01 extends very nicely. All instruments are placed very nicely, the guitar on the left is super clear, no sibilance or harshness. The bass is well-controlled and extends nicely.

Now here's a very clear example, I feel:

As soon as the drums kick in, the MA750 go wide, whereas IT01 goes mild. The bass is more present on the IT01, although I've noticed that, while IT01 extends perhaps even deeper, when it gets to the very low register, it sounds kind of mild and warm unlike the MA750 which sounds really nicely textured all the way down.

Another popular tune for testing for me, on one of the nicest recordings and mixes of all time:

Immediately, the MA750 go much wider and deeper while the IT01 goes more intimate and commanding with the really cutting snare. The guitars especially are way wider on the MA750, the rhythm on the right channel in particular.

Now here's an example where, for some reason, the IT01 does go as wide as the MA750 without problem:

In general, I find that the IT01 do better with the kind of Phil Collins-esque gated reverb sound and compressed things, while the MA750 goes wider in almost everything and represents bass guitar more faithfully (Squire's tone in Yes songs is rendered great on both, as is Lee's bass in Rush, but for a lot of other prog such as Gentle Giant, Genesis, Tull, etc, the texture is just a tad milder on the IT01 - once again, the subtler things in recording are not IT01's forte, in my experience I haven't found that these are revealing in a way that make 'bad' recordings not sound as good, just that they like more emphasized stuff).

I could find some more examples, sure, but I think these should be alright for now. As for synergy, I have noticed a slight change in sound as I tried the IT01 on my PC (with a somewhat older Creative X-Fi Titanium soundcard), but nothing drastic - certainly didn't superextend the soundstage. I haven't found tips so far that helped me much with it, like I said I'm back to stock silicone. Spiral dots opened them up quite a bit but they kind of muddied that super crisp guitar sound, so I went back. Hope this kind of helps illustrate the sonic differences I find between these two pairs. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, like I said I do think the overall sound of the IT01 is a notch above the MA750, although they don't fit my personal preference as much. Cheers!

 

[sponsor]

That` s the thing - use only wide-bore tips and deep fit if possible! Auvio S size and JVC Spiral Dot tips have been recommended most.

Don't have those tips right now, will order them though, have heard good things about Spiral dots.

Thought I'd return and pitch in a few more impressions since I've written that post a few weeks back; I think these definitely require a fair amount of mental burn-in, since aside from the initial 100+ hour burn-in period, I've come to terms with their sound a lot more by active listening, I doubt the actual sound itself changed that much. I also switched from foams (which kind of made the bass sound a tad bloated at times) to a medium set of included smokey wide-bore tips (those ones that have a ridiculously small pair as well). The soundstage is still hit and miss - I wouldn't say that these are revealing in the way that they show worse recordings' flaws more than something like MA750; they lack the soundstage I talked about in many excellent prog rock recordings and re-releases, and a lot of Steve Wilson's recent anniversary masters, which CoiL mentioned in his post. Some of them sound absolutely great and in very rare occasions they do go quite wide, but in most cases they are kind of timid in terms of soundstage width. Like I said, the basic instrumentation sounds spacious enough, but when pushing microdetails out, especially on the high end, they tend to stay safely closer to intimate than out-of-head.

One of the nicer "improvements" in sound as I've gotten used to them for me is the high end; I believe these have way better high-end than the MA750, much cleaner, completely natural, super-extended. MA750 sound somewhat harsh and dull compared to these (not to mention Musicmaker TK12 which sound artificial and downright fake their high-end with a lot of sibilance). Unfortunately, I primarily look for great bass and a great soundstage in headphones, so this doesn't suit my personal sound signature preference, although I have to give credit where credit is due - I wouldn't buy a pair because of the high-end but it is so good that I just enjoy listening to songs with a new experience. As I've said, while fantastic, high-end elements are the biggest culprits in not going wide. For example, acoustic guitars and most other stringed instruments sound absolutely orgasmic on these to me, but they play it close rather than really going super wide when you get to something like a stereo recording with delay on one channel, two recordings of the same guitar part panned hard left and hard right for more stereo separation, really wide analog keyboard synth sounds, stuff like that. I get used to it not being as wide quickly as I re-listen to stuff, but every time I stumble upon something I haven't heard on the IT01 yet (and have heard on the MA750), I am reminded that the track doesn't go as wide as before. I can give some specific examples I guess, although I had some in mind earlier I forgot, I'll just quickly conjure some up (some are specifically timestamped):

I love using this passage to test audio equipment, there's a lot going on here and covers a lot of range -

In this track, the bass doesn't extend as far as on the MA750, the hard-left panned instrumentation is extremely clear though and all instruments are natural. The shakers that come after that also do not extend as wide as on the MA750, just kind of wide enough. (Note: I am posting first youtube links I can find, an actual quality recording will demonstrate this far better).

Here's an example of a part which the IT01 does great in terms of width, but not AS great as the MA750:

The differences are slim here, and the IT01 extends very nicely. All instruments are placed very nicely, the guitar on the left is super clear, no sibilance or harshness. The bass is well-controlled and extends nicely.

Now here's a very clear example, I feel:

As soon as the drums kick in, the MA750 go wide, whereas IT01 goes mild. The bass is more present on the IT01, although I've noticed that, while IT01 extends perhaps even deeper, when it gets to the very low register, it sounds kind of mild and warm unlike the MA750 which sounds really nicely textured all the way down.

Another popular tune for testing for me, on one of the nicest recordings and mixes of all time:

Immediately, the MA750 go much wider and deeper while the IT01 goes more intimate and commanding with the really cutting snare. The guitars especially are way wider on the MA750, the rhythm on the right channel in particular.

Now here's an example where, for some reason, the IT01 does go as wide as the MA750 without problem:

In general, I find that the IT01 do better with the kind of Phil Collins-esque gated reverb sound and compressed things, while the MA750 goes wider in almost everything and represents bass guitar more faithfully (Squire's tone in Yes songs is rendered great on both, as is Lee's bass in Rush, but for a lot of other prog such as Gentle Giant, Genesis, Tull, etc, the texture is just a tad milder on the IT01 - once again, the subtler things in recording are not IT01's forte, in my experience I haven't found that these are revealing in a way that make 'bad' recordings not sound as good, just that they like more emphasized stuff).

I could find some more examples, sure, but I think these should be alright for now. As for synergy, I have noticed a slight change in sound as I tried the IT01 on my PC (with a somewhat older Creative X-Fi Titanium soundcard), but nothing drastic - certainly didn't superextend the soundstage. I haven't found tips so far that helped me much with it, like I said I'm back to stock silicone. Spiral dots opened them up quite a bit but they kind of muddied that super crisp guitar sound, so I went back. Hope this kind of helps illustrate the sonic differences I find between these two pairs. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, like I said I do think the overall sound of the IT01 is a notch above the MA750, although they don't fit my personal preference as much. Cheers!

I only have the Sultans of Swing flac from these, and I 100% agree from what you have described for that song.
Weird thing is that when I had my MA750s, I really used to miss the intimate vocals and better sounding guitars, and now, I miss the wide soundstage that I got used to with them.
Apart from the soundstage and bassy drums on these, they are much better than MA750. I would try some other tips to see if I can get atleast the drums to sound better.

 

[SMRDcompany]

Give those wide-bored smokey stock tips a go, preferably the smallest that fit you. They open up the soundstage somewhat and still keep that brilliant guitar sound. Spiral Dots for me also open the soundstage but the sound loses a touch of its crispness in my experience. The spiral dots for me were very similar to those stocks, and I prefer the stock ones in fact. The bore size is about the same on those and the dots

 

[mbwilson111]

Give those wide-bored smokey stock tips a go, preferably the smallest that fit you.

I am using the tips that were on them when they arrived with good results. Very satisfied with mine.

 

[handwander]

Get. Didn't know the black was a bit translucent. Not visible in this photo (or any photo really, hence why I didn't know) but kind of a cool look.
Not a fan of any of the stock tips though, so will wait to give these a good listen. Will buy some final e types this week.

 

[Lunatics]

Hey guys, looking for some advice on a pair of IEMs. Budget is in the $100 range and was really looking at the IT01s. I plan on ordering an iBasso DX150 next week and am looking for a good pair of IEMs that are affordable to pair with the DAP. I plan on using these for listening to music on the go, as well as connecting to the DAP as a USB DAC for my PC and playing games with. The IT01s seem to have pretty good reviews and is right in my price range. One thing is I would like a pair of IEMs with a balanced cable, do these come with one or is there one that is affordable? When I googled it the first thing that came up was a $89 cable so I kind of stopped there. Would these be a good affordable fit for what I am looking for, or are there any other options that would be worth looking into? I also was reading a little about the Fiio f9 pro which is a little more but I saw comes with 2 cables and one is balanced. Both these and those seem to get different reviews but this would be my first "real" pair of IEMs and not too sure where to start.