CustomArt Review Part One – Pro330v2, M1, M2
Playing with the demo kit for a week now, I thought it was time to do an initial review to start this tour. First I will talk about general observations I found in playing with the lineup. Next I will discuss each individually. Finally, I will talk a little about sources and make conclusions.
General Observations:
- Silicone Build: Wow, I really like silicone shells. This is the first one I have seen and now I want one. I wasn’t expecting the shells to be solid, but it gives them good weight for a quality feel. Even more importantly, I feel like the solid shells are assisting the clarity by getting rid of unwanted resonances in the typically hollow acrylic shells. According to Peter, it is not my imagination, but works a little different than my guess. Peter says that silicone dampens the 5kHz peak that's related to piercing or sibilance. Well that explains it.
- High Quality, but Permanently Attached Cables: These cables are great and smell of high quality, especially the M2 and 330 cables. However, I am a little concerned that they are not detachable since the cable always seems to be the first thing to go which in this case would render the custom useless. I am sure that Peter offers fixes, but it would be nicer to be able to play with custom cables and quickly make switches if one breaks rather than having to pay to get it fixed.
- Vented Drivers: The typical venting is usually in the shell, letting in outside noise. But there are no holes in this solid shell and isolation is superb. The vented drivers are internal in the design and do provide noticeable higher impact and tighter bass than I am used to hearing at this price range.
- Clarity: Again, I am guessing that the solid shells are creating a unique clarity and natural sound – plus Peter’s expert tuning. I am not used to hearing such performance from such few drivers. No, I have not heard the 1P2 or Ref1.
- Natural Sound: I cannot typically say natural when describing a HP as they typically have some sort of tuning – warm, cold, analytical, fun – but I can say that these three CIEMs sound very natural. I feel the M1 and M2 are more natural as the 330 has a touch of brightness, but they all are very natural sounding in comparison to the competition. This is probably where the silicone 5kHz dampening effect comes to play.
- Seal: I have a hard time getting a solid consistent seal from universal IEMs – hence my move to customs - so please take my observations with a grain of salt. I have developed ways to contort to get a good seal, but it is difficult to hold for long periods of time. Some days I cannot get them to seal at all. Therefore, I have to redo my auditioning several times to make sure that I get an overall average feeling.
CIEMs:
- Music One: This is my new value favorite – bumping the 1964ears quads to second – and are likely going to be a gift for my wife at some point. The solid silicone and quality build are outstanding at this price point and the performance is stellar. The bass hits hard and deep while keeping a very balanced presentation. But while having the weight to handle my bassiest of genres, it does so in a very natural way that is hard to describe until you have heard it. The clarity is outstanding making you wonder – how did Peter get this kind of sound out of a single BA? This is the closest I have heard to the clarity of my NT6pro and even has a more natural tone when they are compared directly. I will not say that the M1 beats my NT6pro, but it keeps the signature and boasts a high percentage of its performance at a fraction of its price. With clarity, people think treble which the M1 does exceedingly good. The treble is natural and detailed without the typical shhhhh or sibilance associated with treble. Again, probably due to the silicone 5kHz dampening effect plus Peter’s expert tuning. I don’t want to call the treble smoothed because that implies that it sounds lacking in detail, but it is smooth and non-fatiguing none the less. At $235, this CIEM is a steal with the only downside being the fixed cable and the fact that the M2 is better at only $200 more.
- Music Two: The M2 is a M1, only better. The cable is better IMO with better ergonomics and designed not to tangle. The sound is everything that the M1 is, but more – more 3D, more sound stage, more impact/bass/clarity/etc. However, there are certain songs that I like better on the M1. To compare the two, I love my music videos playing my favorite music in 5.1 – but some songs sound better in stereo. The M2 3D sound is like going to 5.1 which in most cases is a huge boost in musicality, but the same songs in stereo rock as well. If money was no issue, I would take the M2 because it is better. However, with fixed cables, I might take the M1 as it is awesome as well for almost half as much. For my wife, she is hard on her stuff and loses things often, so the M1 may be better as I could buy two for the price of the M2. Decisions, decisions.
- Pro 330v2: This is a harder call for me as I was having more issues getting a good seal. At first it sounded bass light, but then I would get a good seal and had to revise my opinion. In the end, while I think that the performance is higher with the 330, it has a touch of brightness for an analytical sound that is not my preferred signature so I liked the Music series better. But there was definitely an increase in resolution. The bass was more refined when I could get a seal while retaining close to the same impact as the music series. This is an outstanding CIEM and very polished in silicone, but at $625 it has more competition in the market that have my preferred signature. While I would love to own one, I would have to choose one of the Music series when spending my own dollars.
Sources:
Clarity and natural sound is the common theme with all three demos regardless of the tuning. So they seemed to react similarly to my various sources preferring my warmer setups. Being very balanced in tuning, they did play well with all of them. For DAPs I listened with my X5 and AK100 II which both sounded great. The X5 had better textures and the AK100 II had better sound stage and imaging. Moving up to my basic desktop rigs, they scaled well and opened up in terms of sound stage as well as resolution. For this review, I only listen to my Beresford Caiman which was outstanding, but it was my Geek Out 720 where I thought they excelled. The GO720 has a tube like warmth to it that really brought out the musicality to bring these CIEMs to life. To tell you the truth, after hearing the GO720 with them, most of my audition stayed here as it sounded spectacular with the highest SQ.
Conclusions:
I come away from the review with a new respect for silicone and the quality job Peter does with his build quality and expert tuning. Originally, I was only interested in the H8P, but now I have a new value favorite and a desire to get silicone CIEMs. I didn’t even know that these were silicone until I received the demo kit. But the star of the show is the sound quality that can be summarized as extraordinarily natural, clear, and non-fatiguing. This is not to forget solid bass and 3d sound stage. These really sound different – in a good way – than I am used to hearing with IEMs.
When my wife is ready, I think that she will end up with the M1. However, for myself, I am having trouble deciding as I need a backup for my NT6pro which either will do fine, but I am pickier than my wife. I will have to wait to hear the H8P to make any final decisions, but unfortunately, with a recent rash of spending, it will be a while before I can buy anything for myself without risking my marriage – maybe my next birthday.
