[inline79]

I've got a surprise for fellow Canadians - you can spend $4.97+tax and get AWESOME IEMs.  Wow!  $4.97!
 
I spotted some TDK IEMs in the weekly XSCargo flyer while looking for other junk so I thought I'd head on down and try a pair - they sounded great out of the box so I went back in and stocked up for Christmas.  Supposedly with an MSRP of $30, I've never seen them on any shelves anywhere, but even at $30, they should be on the Head-Fi radar.
 

 
Practicalities
These come with three sizes of tips, but I found that the middle size is actually a little smaller than most Mediums, maybe a Small/Medium so most people may find that they fit a bit loose and they are lacking in bass.  The Large tips are actually really large, but will do if the Meds fall out.
 
The cord is a nice rubbery cord with a cinch which is somewhat tangle-resistant though quite thin.  Microphonics are extremely well controlled for a $5 IEM, being virtually non-existant.  This is a huge achievement for anything under $30.
 
Insertion depth is average and thus so is isolation, though they are quite low profile so they don't stick out - you can put your head against something (a pillow, seat, etc).
 
The aluminum housings are a very nice touch.  You get a feeling of quality when you hear a metallic clink when you put your IEMs away and the housings touch each other.
 
Sound
Wow.  These were $4.97?  These are $4.97 of awesomeness.  With the right tips, they are some of the most natural sounding IEMs I have heard in the <$50 category.  What really wins me over is something I can't put my finger on - presentation I think.  These really put you in the room with the band, but the right tips make a big difference.  Sealing it up with a bi-flange boosts the bass to sometimes unbearable levels, while a looser comply foam let a bit of bass leak and balanced things out (TDK's own webpage photos show foam tips) .  I settled on a Monster SuperTip foamie as a middle-road because I like some thump.

The bass is well extended into the sub but not too over-boosted in the mid-bass and well controlled.  I'd almost say it is pretty flat.  You get just enough rumble in the bottom end without it being annoying like on the SHE3580 but without leaving you lacking a bit like on the MH1C.
 
The mids are surprisingly not that recessed unlike many of its competitors and has pretty good clarity.  I think the MH1C has better clarity, but I need more time to be sure.
 
Treble has excellent sparkle, maybe even leaning towards being bright and leading to a very gentle "u" profile.  The SHE3580 rolls off in the treble while I feel the MH1C is noticeably smoother.  However, even after tax, the MH1C is at least 4x the price!
 
Generally these are fun to listen to, very practical, and definitely grow on you.  They remind me of the XB500's signature, so if you like XB500s you might just like these too.
 
 
The Challenge
I'm no expert, in fact I know my hearing is a bit off, so I'm challenging other Canadian Head-Fiers to get to your XSCargo and let me know if we have a winner here - something we can wave at our southern neighbours.  Looking forward to hearing the replies!

I still can't believe these are $4.97!
 
PS. They've also got some $4.77 10' auto jumper cables if you wanted to re-cable some headphones with some 12AWG wire...
 
 
Index to other awesome posts in this thread:
I have a few other budget IEMs I'll compare with, including
Philips SHE3580 ($8) - Post #5
Monoprice 8320 ($8) - Post #27
Panasonic RP-HJE120 ($6) - Post #80
Meelectronics M2/M2P ($10) - Post #80
JVC HA-FX40 ($22) - Post #138
Meelectronics M6/M6P ($20) - Post #157
Philips Citiscape Underground ($20) - Post #221
Sony MH1C ($22)
Brainwavz Beta ($17)
 
and maybe some heavy-hitters like:
Sony XBA-3 ($130)
Etymotics HF5 ($100)
 
Other thoughts and impressions:
nick n "going gaga" - Post #3
vs Etymotic ER-4P (w/ EQ) by kmhaynes - Post #79
General impression by kalbee - Post #96
Sub-bass tests by WAYNENUMM - Post #131
An Orthonaut's assessment by khbaur330162 - Post #141
Fight with FXD70 at WAYNENUMM's - Post #153
Discovery by devouringone3 - Post #213
atomikn00b remembers his MH1C - Post #252
Quick compare with GR02BE by xprovidence - Post #254
 
 
edit: added index, added prices

 

[inline79]

edit: cut videos to save space for later.

 

[nick n]

Oh no question GET SOME!
These are worthy damn fun IEMs. ACTUALLY I have to change FUN to Enjoyable because fun is too fleeting and temporary

whereas these simply keep getting better.
Trying to put this into words, never did like descriptions much.
 
Funny enough I was looking at the flyer the day before i came in to check through the deals thread and went to XScargo ASAP. Almost thought it was a typo in the ad. What. TDK...aluminum housings, how much , huh?

( Non-stock tips on )
 
Price aside and taking them on sound alone:
 
The bass reaches very deep without being sloppy or loose. From what I can tell they have an interesting signature that has some depth to it, what I mean by that is there is some space and certain aspects are trailing off enough to be noticably doing that.. A perfect amount for their style. I would consider these a basshead friendly IEM. I never did like that sort of thing, until now.
 
 The overall signature has a warmness but not so much as to ruin them. This is noticeable as well with the vocals. An effortlessness to them but still detailed enough to hit up the little subtleties.   The bass is simply big and quality, tight, hits hard,  sometimes it's a solid tactile force of nature lol ( but not obscuring the mids and highs ).  I can feel the small thumps in my ears also, this is the rumble and tactile aspect. As well it's not a one note bass type of thing it manages very well without getting occluded and scrambling all the bass notes together, similar to tight deep drum I guess i could say. I can hear the defined individual bass notes as they go through their paces.
 
Basically it's like a bass emphasis without destroying  the mids and highs because it is a clean solid tactile bass.  The aluminum housing must be contributing to what I am hearing with this, and possibly the space and floating highs. Highs without any overt sibilance or peakiness but excellently portrayed.           
 
Mids are maybe slightly a bit less(?) Nothing that affects vocals much.
 
In no way will these need any sort of Bass EQ. I'm running them off the Colorfly C3 on Normal EQ setting, anything else might be too much.( for my tastes )
There seems to be a little ( slight ) less detail than the MH1C ( since it was mentioned above ), but it's nothing that is a problem. I like these better FWIW.
 
Sorry about he lackluster description, trying to tell people what they are like is hard. Hope i got it across, sort of.
I have gotten stuck listening to the music and forgetting i am supposed to be analyzing them.  ooops keeps happening. I need to try out other genres I do listen to everything.
 
I'll just say there's a reason these are still on my head, I get lost in the tunes without analyzing, and made %100 sure i have some spares
 
BTW I am using aftermarket tips as i found the included ones don't manage top seal up as I would have liked. The ones i have on now are the Nuforce NE-7M ones with a slightly larger if not similar opening as the Comply TX500 foamies. I had been using the Comply foamies also to great effect. Try to stick to tips that aren't too small ( no smaller an opening than the stock ones )so you don't focus the bass, this will greatly improve your space.
I would recommend trying different tips!
 
Hey I'm definitely more than happy here. Will try out some more genres and report back.
 
 
And this is a no-brainer. Get some. Even at the actual recommended retail I would buy these, knowing what i do now after having them. All you can do is live vicariously and get some impressions, I've got the actual experience I did my best to describe it but firsthand, well , you know.
 
Unfortunately it seems there's a real lack of any western reviews around, mainly stuff in the eastern countries. These are also possibly a slightly older model (?) , who cares!
The more i think about it, definitely awesome stuff ! and for the price of a cup o coffee or two. Ridiculous.
going to go get a few more if they are still there tomorrow.

 

[nick n]

Lots still there today but they jumped up to $10.
 
Still a screaming deal really what can you get for that which is any good, let alone excellent.
 
I'm sure the place will have another sale again next week. I'm watching like a hawk.

 

[inline79]

Still a great deal at $9.99, and now we know they might discount it back to $4.97 again some day.
 
So I can make some comparisons with other under $10 champions I have in my collection:
 
vs. Philips SHE3580
To add to what I said above, not only is highest treble rolled off, there's a definite canyon in the mids.  It makes the SHE3580 sound very bass heavy and almost causes the bass to be distracting as you're trying to pick out all the details in the mids and looking for your top end.  While in both IEMs the bass is fairly well controlled, I got the impression that on the SHE3580 the bass actually is even more boosted the lower you go, rather than being relatively flat like on the MT300.  The SHE3580 profile feels like a very steep "V", with the treble side of the V a bit lower, while the MT300 sounds much more balanced.
 
So while the SHE3580 gives a great first impression of being "fun" because you get hit with lowest lows, and some highs, it can quickly get tiring compared to the MT300 which is a better all-rounder.  In fact, the MT300 is a breath of fresh air after time with the SHE3580.  Suddenly you can hear vocals effortlessly and the bass is no longer beating up your ear drums.  They can almost sound bright, but they're not - it's the mids, the bulk of the instruments, coming out of hiding.  I don't want to go back to the SHE3580s!
 
Microphonics is also no where near as well controlled as on the MT300, this could also be because there's no cinch or clip.  I don't know why on head-fi this isn't a bigger factor - does nobody around here move while wearing IEMs?
 
 
edit: moved links to other posts up to post #1

 

[TwinQY]

Subbed. Looking forward to getting these tomorrow!

 

[nick n]

Did you get a chance to grab some yet?
 
Break them in for a few hours, I would say 10 or more,  then see what you think. I find that as soon as they are on my head for any longer than 15 minutes, it's like they graft to me symbiotically and stay on for hours on end ( as in 3 - 4+ ), I like them that much.
 
Also noticed that listening at moderate levels is best, but if you really want a bass experience give them some more juice. You should see what i mean.
 
 
Someone in another thread was referencing sub-bass and well, unless I am braindead, these things seem to have it in spades. It's sort of like the in-the-floor type of subbass too. If the track has got it these will throw it down. So i thought I would post this up. Still loving these. They have been on my head tonight for ~ 4 hours straight ( and still ongoing ), again.

 
I keep looking over at the rest of my fullsized stuff sitting there all quiet. Waiting for their turn.
 They look sad.
 
EDIT:  I just swapped out the silicone tips from the Nuforce NE-7M for some Comply TX500 's and there's something nicer about the sound I can't place, maybe a tiny bit dryer or cleaner (?)
 
Definitely better with the Comply tips they will be staying on for now. Gives a better quality of thump and response to the notes. I guess that's why at TDK 's site listing for these they show foams installed on them.

 

[Comply]

If you ever need a Comply coupon code, drop me a pm.
 

 

[waynes world]

Nick was kind enough to give me one of his spare pairs. What can I say except that it was a very nice thing to do. Thanks Nick!

I have only burned them in for approximately 4 hours, so I wont say anything more about them right now except that they are somewhat blowing me away! Fyi, I am using the mid sized mh1c tips at the moment.

 

[nick n]

Quote:

If you ever need a Comply coupon code, drop me a pm.
 

wow thank you I am sure I will do so in the near future!
 
WAYNENUMM you'll see, just wait.

 

[inline79]

Quote:

Nick was kind enough to give me one of his spare pairs. What can I say except that it was a very nice thing to do. Thanks Nick!
I have only burned them in for approximately 4 hours, so I wont say anything more about them right now except that they are somewhat blowing me away! Fyi, I am using the mid sized mh1c tips at the moment.

 
Awesome, look forward to seeing your comparison with the MH1Cs also.  Right now I'm A-Bing with 8320s.  So far it's a totally different signature of course, these having bass to really floor you, but it's the mids that I need to spend more time with.
 
I also have a few spare pairs I'd like to send out.  If anyone down south there wants to give these a go, fire me PM.

 

[kalbee]

Don't know about using 12awg for recalling headphones lol but up till now these are sounding great...
Just got them today in the post, courtesy of nick, and I'll be burning them in (while using!)

I'll write short impressions once ready

I lost my MH1C somewhere so I can't make clear comparisons. Probably would be pointless to compare them to my JBLs since those are long discontinued.

 

[waynes world]

Quote:

Don't know about using 12awg for recalling headphones lol but up till now these are sounding great...
Just got them today in the post, courtesy of nick, and I'll be burning them in (while using!)
I'll write short impressions once ready

I lost my MH1C somewhere so I can't make clear comparisons. Probably would be pointless to compare them to my JBLs since those are long discontinued.

 
I haven't compared them yet to my other iem's. But I won't be surprised if I like them a lot more than my R1's and mh1c's. And I wouldn't be surprised if I don't like them as much or maybe even more than my fxd70's. I might even end up liking them as much as my xba3's

 
I will report back once I do some ab'ing, but obviously I am liking what I am hearing out of these cheapies!

 

[Dsnuts]

Oh I gotta hear these now.

 

[waynes world]

Quote:

Oh I gotta hear these now.

 
Ooops! I'm not quite sure that I was ready for you to read that yet lol! I really gotta get some ab'ing done - but I've just been enjoying listening to these too much. Nick sent me a pair basically because he wanted confirmation that he wasn't crazy for liking them so much (they cost $5 for crying out loud). I have confirmed that either he is not crazy, or else we are both crazy