If I recall correctly, I am the first person to write an review of the original Hifiman RE0 way back in 2008. I was mightily impressed back then and the RE0 has served as my reference and benchmark ever since, and probably one of the most popular dynamic IEM among HF'er of its time. Even so, it was ultimately phased out by Hifiman a few years ago and eventually the more neutral and detailed sound signature that dominated Hifiman's line-up of the time is also slowly replaced by the current richer, slightly warmish sound of the RE400 / RE600 line-up. As a big RE0 fans, I am thrilled to learn that MassDrop has decided to partner up with Hifiman to bring back the RE0 in the form of RE00. I want to give a big thanks to @CEE TEE for giving me the chance to listen to the new RE00 before the (*first drop) shipping date in August so I'll have the chance to tell you guy this: Go to MassDrop and request it! It will definitely worth your while, especially consider the low price just under $40.
Here is the new RE00:
The cable is fabric sleeved from the Y-splitter and down with a fairly robust 3.5mm plug that resembles the newer RE400/RE600 line-up
RE0 on the left and RE00 on the right. Nozzle is slightly longer on the RE00 but otherwise very similar design between the two.
So how does the two stack up against each other? Here is the measurement:
Here you can see the two are not identical, but still very similar in FR curve. If you haven't listened to RE0 in a very long time, I'll bet you might not be able to tell the difference in brief listening. RE00, in all essence, has retained the original neutral and detailed sound signature of RE0. If anything, I'll say there is a very small hint of richness / thickness on RE00 that is not found on the original RE0. Perhaps there is a tiny bit of DNA from the RE400 / RE600 line-up getting into the new RE00 driver?
On the other hand, what you didn't see on this graph above is that I have re-centered the RE00's FR curve over RE0's FR curve at 1kHz in order to give you a more direct comparison between the two curves. The actual measurement shows that the RE00 is about 4dB louder overall, which means it has a more sensitive driver than the old RE0.
The impedance curves show that the new RE00 is also slightly higher in impedance than the old RE0, but not by much.
Here is the new RE00:
The cable is fabric sleeved from the Y-splitter and down with a fairly robust 3.5mm plug that resembles the newer RE400/RE600 line-up
RE0 on the left and RE00 on the right. Nozzle is slightly longer on the RE00 but otherwise very similar design between the two.
So how does the two stack up against each other? Here is the measurement:
Here you can see the two are not identical, but still very similar in FR curve. If you haven't listened to RE0 in a very long time, I'll bet you might not be able to tell the difference in brief listening. RE00, in all essence, has retained the original neutral and detailed sound signature of RE0. If anything, I'll say there is a very small hint of richness / thickness on RE00 that is not found on the original RE0. Perhaps there is a tiny bit of DNA from the RE400 / RE600 line-up getting into the new RE00 driver?
On the other hand, what you didn't see on this graph above is that I have re-centered the RE00's FR curve over RE0's FR curve at 1kHz in order to give you a more direct comparison between the two curves. The actual measurement shows that the RE00 is about 4dB louder overall, which means it has a more sensitive driver than the old RE0.
The impedance curves show that the new RE00 is also slightly higher in impedance than the old RE0, but not by much.
