heartyparty
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2010
- Posts
- 10
- Likes
- 10
Hi folks, just got some new wooden phones and thought I'd do a wee review here.....
Out of the box (better packaging than older ME models) and a pleasant surprise with a hard shell case rather than the draw-string bag of old – much better.
Lots of tips but to be honest after trying them out I couldn’t get that great a seal which left the sound bleeding out my ears so much that the sonics were really flat and it felt like I was listening to the tunes through a layer of water….
…. A quick change to some Shure e2c orange foamies and a completely different kettle of fish – it always surprises me how dramatic the change in sound on a pair of in-earphones is once you get the seal right.
I’ve NEVER been able to get silicon flanges to fit snug enough to give a good sound, apart from my old m11’s which fitted so deeply in my ear that the sound seemed to go right into my head – sadly though the cable has died on these and the sound comes and goes – but I think this was due to stresses on the odd J shaped jack. The R1’s have a better (IMO) shaped L style shaped jack.
Construction seems good – the lower part of the cable from the jack up is that nice shiny rubbery type plastic cable seen in other ME products which is amazingly tangle resistant. The plastic splitter seems pretty chunky and solid – I was surprised at the cable from this point upwards to the phones themselves though, as it is a more rubbery textured type of cable which I feel suffers more from microphonics. Now the R1’s do come with a shirt clip but first thing I do is take it off; I don’t like clipping my earphones to myself as the clip always ends up pinging off if I twist or move around anyway. To be honest though it is no more of an issue than any other pair of earphones, and at the price point the cabling does seem to be of a better quality than others I’ve seen.
The phones themselves seem nice enough, full wooden construction, unlike some wooden Kanen phones I have where the ‘nozzle’ is actually plastic.
As I said previously I switched to some foamies in the first 5 mins use and it made a hell of a difference, the bass is now really full and also tight. I listen to a lot of really bass driven stuff (Jungle, DnB, Dubstep, Hip Hop) and the signature of the R1’s suits these styles pretty well with good bright treble, tight & full bassy lows, only thing lacking a bit is the mids, but these are phones aimed at producing a good controlled and FUN bassy sound, NOT a sterile audiophile’s preference.
I also tried them with and without an earphone amp – I used my (nice and cheap) Fiio E5 (the source I was using is a Cowon D2). There was a definite difference in the sound again – a deal more separation in the frequencies giving a wider soundstage. The trebles actually really came alive with the Fiio and the bass gained became a touch ‘rounder’ which may be a bit more fatiguing, but again if you are really ticking the boxes for the core market for these phones then YOU WANT your bass to come at you hard, heavy and like a ton of (very well formed) bricks!
Just now listening to “Drop it down” by Calibre, and the vocals are hitting nice and smooth and wide, velveteen, with a beautiful rolling bass carrying the drums along in the background – just really effortless on the ears really!
I also tried out some other styles too – Jazz was nice with Art Blakey’s Moanin coming out well, Rock fared good too, as did some Acid and a bit of Gabba!
I personally always tweak the EQ on my players to give as much bass as they will without it distorting on whatever phones I’m using so really if this sounds like you, then I don’t think you can go wrong with these. I don’t go for the clinical unspoilt sounds I’m afraid!
To cap it all off then:
Good solid construction – minor concerns over top cabling material.
Foamies are recommended to get a tight seal so the bass can bounce around inside your head.
Not totally necessary, but I would recommend a cheap amp – the E5 has given great results across all my phones (and I was initially sceptical at first what odds an amp would make but it was so affordable I thought I’d give it a go).
Just to stress again that if you are looking for an in ear phone with good tight bass and a fun sound then check them out.
Good price.
Also worth checking our are the M6’s – I rate them too, maybe slightly less bass than the R1’s but slightly better balanced sound. Entirely depends on what you are after – wooden construction is nice and a bit unusual too though……….!
Hope you enjoyed it, cheers,
Heartyparty
Out of the box (better packaging than older ME models) and a pleasant surprise with a hard shell case rather than the draw-string bag of old – much better.
Lots of tips but to be honest after trying them out I couldn’t get that great a seal which left the sound bleeding out my ears so much that the sonics were really flat and it felt like I was listening to the tunes through a layer of water….
…. A quick change to some Shure e2c orange foamies and a completely different kettle of fish – it always surprises me how dramatic the change in sound on a pair of in-earphones is once you get the seal right.
I’ve NEVER been able to get silicon flanges to fit snug enough to give a good sound, apart from my old m11’s which fitted so deeply in my ear that the sound seemed to go right into my head – sadly though the cable has died on these and the sound comes and goes – but I think this was due to stresses on the odd J shaped jack. The R1’s have a better (IMO) shaped L style shaped jack.
Construction seems good – the lower part of the cable from the jack up is that nice shiny rubbery type plastic cable seen in other ME products which is amazingly tangle resistant. The plastic splitter seems pretty chunky and solid – I was surprised at the cable from this point upwards to the phones themselves though, as it is a more rubbery textured type of cable which I feel suffers more from microphonics. Now the R1’s do come with a shirt clip but first thing I do is take it off; I don’t like clipping my earphones to myself as the clip always ends up pinging off if I twist or move around anyway. To be honest though it is no more of an issue than any other pair of earphones, and at the price point the cabling does seem to be of a better quality than others I’ve seen.
The phones themselves seem nice enough, full wooden construction, unlike some wooden Kanen phones I have where the ‘nozzle’ is actually plastic.
As I said previously I switched to some foamies in the first 5 mins use and it made a hell of a difference, the bass is now really full and also tight. I listen to a lot of really bass driven stuff (Jungle, DnB, Dubstep, Hip Hop) and the signature of the R1’s suits these styles pretty well with good bright treble, tight & full bassy lows, only thing lacking a bit is the mids, but these are phones aimed at producing a good controlled and FUN bassy sound, NOT a sterile audiophile’s preference.
I also tried them with and without an earphone amp – I used my (nice and cheap) Fiio E5 (the source I was using is a Cowon D2). There was a definite difference in the sound again – a deal more separation in the frequencies giving a wider soundstage. The trebles actually really came alive with the Fiio and the bass gained became a touch ‘rounder’ which may be a bit more fatiguing, but again if you are really ticking the boxes for the core market for these phones then YOU WANT your bass to come at you hard, heavy and like a ton of (very well formed) bricks!
Just now listening to “Drop it down” by Calibre, and the vocals are hitting nice and smooth and wide, velveteen, with a beautiful rolling bass carrying the drums along in the background – just really effortless on the ears really!
I also tried out some other styles too – Jazz was nice with Art Blakey’s Moanin coming out well, Rock fared good too, as did some Acid and a bit of Gabba!
I personally always tweak the EQ on my players to give as much bass as they will without it distorting on whatever phones I’m using so really if this sounds like you, then I don’t think you can go wrong with these. I don’t go for the clinical unspoilt sounds I’m afraid!
To cap it all off then:
Good solid construction – minor concerns over top cabling material.
Foamies are recommended to get a tight seal so the bass can bounce around inside your head.
Not totally necessary, but I would recommend a cheap amp – the E5 has given great results across all my phones (and I was initially sceptical at first what odds an amp would make but it was so affordable I thought I’d give it a go).
Just to stress again that if you are looking for an in ear phone with good tight bass and a fun sound then check them out.
Good price.
Also worth checking our are the M6’s – I rate them too, maybe slightly less bass than the R1’s but slightly better balanced sound. Entirely depends on what you are after – wooden construction is nice and a bit unusual too though……….!
Hope you enjoyed it, cheers,
Heartyparty
