[tkdk01]

I recently got a pair xiaomi pistons as a gift. These are my second pair, but I noticed the pair I recently got has a few differences when it comes to the driver housings. The new pair has air vents that point out to the side instead of downwards like everyone else's and my old pair. Also the new pair has the MI logo on the stems. Is this possibly a newer version?

 

[luberconn]

i imagine it's just a slight revision.  as far as where the pinhole port is pointing, i don't think it would matter much so long as it's still letting out/in the same amount of air flow

 

[B9Scrambler]

I recently got a pair xiaomi pistons as a gift. These are my second pair, but I noticed the pair I recently got has a few differences when it comes to the driver housings. The new pair has air vents that point out to the side instead of downwards like everyone else's and my old pair. Also the new pair has the MI logo on the stems. Is this possibly a newer version?

My silver ones match everything you mentioned. Must be a newer revision of the brass version that you received.

 

[tkdk01]

That was what I was thinking. Sweet haha. Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[DJScope]

The bass port location only differs with the orientation of the nozzle part of the housing when the 2 pieces are glued together. So it's actually different on each unit. You might notice that the left isn't in the same location as the right.
 
But the MI logo is a nice touch. This will make it much harder for fakes to be copied.

 

[Rush-n-crush]

So guys I finally got my pistons and I have bad news..  As I'm one that doesn't succumb to hype I'm just going to have to say it as it is....
 
These things are AMAZING. haha seriously I wanted to not believe the hype I wanted to think it couldn't be THAT good. To put it simply I was wrong.. So whats the catch? how long should I really expect these things to last? build quality looks decent but so did my VSD1s and those barley made it past burn in time

 

[julian67]

Build Quality:

I have both the metal and the plastic Pistons. I use the plastic ones more as the headset controller is a little easier for me. I often sleep with them in. I have snagged the cable so many times I could not honestly make a warranty claim if they stopped working. But they don't stop working The construction and materials even of these $12 items seems perfectly good: not fancy or elaborate or pretty but very well suited to the budget IEM life of being used a normal item that lives unregarded and uncared for in pockets, bags etc. The metal ones seem equally fine though I haven't used them nearly so much.

By comparison last year I bought a very nice sounding Samsung Headset (HS3303). It failed, I got a warranty replacement and also bought two spare pairs as they were a good price. One of the spares was faulty from new. I got a replacement. It failed....etc etc, long story but in the end I've had seven(!) pairs of these Samsungs pass through my hands, one turned out to be a fake (fulfilled by amazon) and three failed. They sound fabulous but I'm never buying another.

I had two pairs of RHA fail within a few weeks (one new, one warranty replacement).

I'm not a total psycho IEM destroyer - I have some very well used Sennheiser CX95 I bought in 2009 and they still work great (but no headset control so a bit less useful these days).

The Pistons were so cheap that I actually bought an extra pair of each, asuming they will probably break and this has to be cheaper than shipping them back to China if they break. But they don't break, so I have one each of gold Pistons and plastic Pistons, still boxed and new, just gathering dust.

btw vsonics breaking is no surprise. One of the best thing about amazon reviews of IEMs is when there are many tens or even hundreds of reviews you can easily learn what to avoid. Check out some popular Hifiman, Vsonic or RHA and note that the very high numbers of 3, 2 and 1 star reviews are almost all complaints about product failure and not fit, comfort, sound etc.

 

[avianator]

Has anyone gotten the golden ones from ibuygou? Are they 2.0 (no clip) or 2.1(metal clip)?

http://www.ibuygou.com/p-original-xiaomi-piston-earphone-updated-version-brown-5708.html

 

[Drinkyoghurt]

Has anyone gotten the golden ones from ibuygou? Are they 2.0 (no clip) or 2.1(metal clip)?

http://www.ibuygou.com/p-original-xiaomi-piston-earphone-updated-version-brown-5708.html

Strange coincidence, I just ordered another pair a few mins ago after having lost mine for over 2 months. 
 
The last pair I had I bought almost 6 months back and they are the 2.1 with metal clip (metal clip itself isn't a dealbreaker for me). iBuygou says that it's the updated version still so I suppose it's the 2.1 since they don't make the 2.0 for a long time now.
 
I bought my brother the silver ones and they also came with the clip IIRC

 

[Drinkyoghurt]

  So guys I finally got my pistons and I have bad news..  As I'm one that doesn't succumb to hype I'm just going to have to say it as it is....
 
These things are AMAZING. haha seriously I wanted to not believe the hype I wanted to think it couldn't be THAT good. To put it simply I was wrong.. So whats the catch? how long should I really expect these things to last? build quality looks decent but so did my VSD1s and those barley made it past burn in time

Build quality is incredible. I tossed these around, didn't manage cables at all and snagged them at least 20x a day. Most of my earphones don't make it past 1~2 months tops no matter what. These lasted so long without any signs of failure, just a shame I lost them.

 

[lfcrd]

I recently got this pair too (my second pair) but I was wondering whether they were legit. 
 
The box writing on the back of the box is different to the old ones. For instance, there is a '2' after the Chinese text at the top of the label on the back on the old ones, but it is missing on the new ones. There's also some other differences and the label is a different colour. 
 
Also. the 'R' and 'L are not clear text but molded into the plastic. And as you said, there is a Xiaomi logo on the back.
 
Is it confirmed that these are legit? I didn't know that Xiaomi changes design. 
 
Edit: meant to quote tkdk01
 
Also, forgot to mention - the new ones don't smell of chocolate! 

 

[Ira Delphic]

  I recently got this pair too (my second pair) but I was wondering whether they were legit. 
 
The box writing on the back of the box is different to the old ones. For instance, there is a '2' after the Chinese text at the top of the label on the back on the old ones, but it is missing on the new ones. There's also some other differences and the label is a different colour. 
 
Also. the 'R' and 'L are not clear text but molded into the plastic. And as you said, there is a Xiaomi logo on the back.
 
Is it confirmed that these are legit? I didn't know that Xiaomi changes design. 
 
Edit: meant to quote tkdk01
 
Also, forgot to mention - the new ones don't smell of chocolate! 

 
Where did you buy them and what did you pay? Likely this is all we need to know to answer your question.

 

[lfcrd]

   
Where did you buy them and what did you pay? Likely this is all we need to know to answer your question.

They were from Merimobiles. I see that they're included as a genuine seller in the first post but it wouldn't be the first time I've received a fake item from them. They cost £12 (about $21). 

 

[lbartik]

I bought fakes from Amazon seller GMatrix.  Mine appear to be a flatteringly faithful mashup of v1.0-v2.1 design judging the mythology documented throughout this and other Piston threads.  Aurally, in rough terms, they sound more like $10 perhaps, better than $5, to be certain, but not nearly satisfying my $25 expectations.
 
Forgoing remarks on the nuances of the packaging or other impertinence, I'll offer a few comments on the physical details of the business end:
 

Tapered/sharply chamfered nozzle tip per 1.0 Piston?
5.57mm OD, (4.63mm at neck-down)
~4.15mm ID front port
No cross-drilled relief
Diminutive "R" molded into strain relief in the spirit of V2.1 piston
3mm ID rear port per V2.X piston (not visible in photo)
 
DC impedance measures ~30ohm L&R, 1284ohm MIC.  Anybody else have measurements of the real V2.x or vs other fakes?  Seems like that might go a little further toward confirming fakes than the smell of the cans.  I'm no audio engineer or EE though.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

Yep, definitely a fake, from the looks of it. I will update the OP accordingly. Thanks.
 
EDIT: @lbartik, could you provide a link to the Amazon page where you bought the Pistons? Thanks.