[hsshin0130]

Hello, everyone.
 
I've owned the HiFiMAN RE0's for about 4 months and it seems like the left cable near the can is somehow defected. The sound would be on and off on the left side when I adjust the cable. I was really sad because these were one of my favorite IEM's to date. I don't consider myself an audiophile and I personally don't believe in burning-in period and such. However, I do spend quite some time listening to music daily (1-2 hours). 
 
I've done some research and it seems like a lot of people are having same problems with the RE0's (or Head-Direct's 'phones in general). I took a decent care of my RE0's but I guess I can say I could've done better.
 
I also have (or had) Sennheiser CX300, Monster Cable Turbine, Shure SE530, and of course, the broken RE0's. I listened to other cheap and expensive 'phones as well, but none of them really stood out for me. I have Sansa e280 8G, iPod Nano 4th Gen 16G, and the iPhone 4 32G with cMoyBB v2.02 and the iDevice LOD cable. Genre of my choice is usually Alternative. 
 
The reason why I liked the RE0's so much was because of its clarity and detail. I'm a bassist myself and of course, I'd like to listen to  pumping and boomy bass in general but these delivered the bass notes very clearly. That being said, I used the cMoyBB v2.02 for its bass boost and it was perfect! Don't get me wrong, I can listen to the RE0's directly connected to my iPod Nano or iPhone and it would still sound amazing. Yes, I am aware that these have higher impedance than the usual IEM's. Maybe that's why I like them so much. 
 
Oh, one more thing. I really like how these don't have any sibilance in my music. I honestly didn't like the SE530's because of their harshness in [ss] sound. It was very fatiguing in my ears. Although the RE0's sound sharp in my ears (not at all bad thing), they still would give me the most pleasure when listening to music. 
 
So I was going to get them fixed or whatnot but I couldn't wait. I ordered a new pair of RE-ZERO's after reading some reviews. I am aware of the adapter and everything (not exactly) about the ZERO's, and you probably could tell already.. I'm very excited!
 
How do you guys like your ZERO's??

 

[EnterSandman]

Hy,
 
Unfortunately i am facing the same problem.
 
I truly love my RE0, and the left earphone has stopped working. The thing is that i am not going to buy another Head Direct sample, i think that the build quality is just not enough. (my only have 2 years)
 
Therefore i am in the process of buying another IEM,  this time giving more atention to the build quality. 

 

[urpoxi]

Welcome to the "I love RE0s, but the build quality sucks" -club. My favourite sounding IEMs so far. Just like EnterSandman I won't be wasting any more money in Hifiman's iems, because of the horrible build quality. (They do all share the same lousy cable, don't they?)

 

[hsshin0130]

I'm going to give one more shot and actually take a good care of them this time (talking about the RE-ZERO). I guess God is fair.. My favorite sounding IEM's that have poor build quality..

 

[Torontoraccoon]

Awww thats so sad to hear. Waddle fantastically. Waddle waddle. Hope a cute Raccoon will make you feel better!
 

 

[Teraflame]

Man don't put up with that crap. I had some re-zeros: adapter cable broke and casing went apart because of bad quality glue. I don't care how good they may sound, this is unacceptable build quality and you shouldn't support them.
 
 
Quote:

I'm going to give one more shot and actually take a good care of them this time (talking about the RE-ZERO). I guess God is fair.. My favorite sounding IEM's that have poor build quality..

 
 

 

[aashisht07]

Another unhappy member of the "Fantastic but rubbish build quality RE0".. I've repaired them about 7-8 times in roughly 1 and a half year..Changed the jack, soldered it a dozen times..the cable quality is simply rubbish..and this after never putting them in the jeans pocket!
yet their my favorite sounding IEM's

 

[pufftissue]

The RE0s to my ear are among the finest sounding out there. I've owned the Shure E530 and so forth.
My stupid right side now has no sound as well.  My $20 earphones lasted longer than these.
I'm bummed, and I'm not mailing them back to China for repair.
 
However, I like the RE0s so much that if someone can tell me if the build quality problems in the latest batch have been fixed, I'd plop down another $79.
 

 

[Stay808]

 
Quote:

The RE0s to my ear are among the finest sounding out there. I've owned the Shure E530 and so forth.
My stupid right side now has no sound as well.  My $20 earphones lasted longer than these.
I'm bummed, and I'm not mailing them back to China for repair.
 
However, I like the RE0s so much that if someone can tell me if the build quality problems in the latest batch have been fixed, I'd plop down another $79.
 

You mean "plop" down another 59.99?
 

 

[Gozzer]

My left side died in less than 24 hour after receiving them. Took a month to get the replacement set. I like the sound be too too scared to use them.
Got a set of HF-5's for when I'm out and about. I beat them up fairly good and they seem to take it.
Would like to get RE-262 if they are more durable.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[kalbee]

Hm.. I have received mines a bit over a week ago and have listened to them for few occasions (although extensively whenever I pick them up)... sound great.
Though oddly enough, after wearing them to and fro school, came back and plugged them in the laptop at volume 6%. An hour or two later suddenly I noticed the volume on both sides drop!
VERY odd. I can still listen to them with higher volume output but definitely feels like the SQ degraded a bit. Now it's a little veiled... I tried on another system and the same result.
 
Though maybe it's just my ears but unplugging my earphones from both my ears and the laptop I noticed that the speaker volume is normal.
I did wonder why I was able to listen to the same music at the same volumes I otherwise would have used on my phone (my portable source) with 32ohms headphones or 16ohms IEMs... but I don't think going from 6% volume to 42% on my laptop for the same audible volume is normal :S too big of a raise even for 64ohm.
 
Going to email them in case, hoping anyone has any suggestions as of what the problem may be. Fiddling with the cables don't give any improvements; I guess something happened to the drivers....
P.S. these are from the latest batch!
 
*EDIT* actually it does kind of sound a little like the way it does when cables die out... echo-ey and hollow and overall muddier.
 
**EDIT** Well whatdya know. Filter is the culprit in my case... I don't understand it.

 

[urpoxi]

RE0s are commonly known for their strange behaviour during the first 100 hours or so. Could be normal, yet strange burn in progress or could be that something has broken.

 

[kalbee]

Well, maybe I wrote too quick because I did try changing the filters right after...
Tried doing it while still plugged and my reaction is this:
"holy... What?!"
The amount of sound that starts flowing out right when one side starts to get peeled off was ridiculous. The funny thing is that the old filters weren't even dirty...
 
Glad mine hasn't died a premature one, but this filter business is crazy. Why would sound suddenly just die off within a ~3 second span...

 

[urpoxi]

I'm going to change my filters now. I haven't done that before.
 
*Done* My filters didn't seem dirty until I removed them. Sound got little bit cleaner. Not much, but certainly audible.
 
Edit: Sound quality is heaps and bounds better. I fell in love with these, again. Maybe it's placebo effect or then it is not. I don't really care. I'm just so wowed by these, again.

 

[newdm]

Same here, my RE0 broke very fast. Two times I had problems with the plug, therefore I got replacements. The third RE0 finally broke, since the left casing went apart because of the glue-quality. The wires to the driver wrenched. That was only several months after I got it. Sadly, I had no warranty anymore, as it happend about 14 month after the initial buy of the first RE0. 
 
I think, a product with such poor build quality should have at least two years warranty. Even my cheap plastic Panasonic RP-HJE120 for 8 bucks is definitly more durable.