[TwinACStacks]

I do notice in the "Review" there is NO MENTION of Source, (equipment), Music File Types or quality, (IE: 320kbps, Hi Res, Flac,  Et. Al.), OR whether these impressions are OTB or with the necessary --(IMHO), Burn In period before listening and evaluating this new Earphone.
 
Just curious. It makes no difference, mine will come when they are released. Hopefully.
 

TWIN

 

[Redcarmoose]

I'm going to speculate it's because many of the components (cable, mic/remote, 3.5mm jack) are identical to the ones also used on the Pistons 3.0. Since they're still manufacturing the same components, it does help to lower costs. That, and they're a massive company with factories all over China, so maybe they could pull the $16 price off without suffering too much financially. I can only wonder what compromises they made in the design, though, as from looking at the images, there deosn't seem to be much of a change in build quality from the 3.0. (EDIT: Apparently they dropped the fancy old case, instead going for a cheap cardboard box as packaging. Pretty sure that's how they managed to cut costs enough to not compromise the IEMs themselves.)

In other news, apparently someone managed to acquire a unit of the Hybrid long before any of us here on Head-Fi and has written a review about it here: http://www.neowin.net/news/review-of-the-xiaomi-hybrid-earphones-xiaomi-have-done-it-again

TBH there's nothing too fishy about the review -- it seems pretty legit as far as I can tell. His sound impressions seem to denote a similar sound signature to the 2.0 instead of the 3.0, so from what I'm seeing here, it's a little worrying. However, I'm a little appalled as to why he said that Xiaomi is "discontinuing the Pistons line" or something like that. As far as I know there is a
bsolutely no evidence supporting this fact, especially considering how the 3.0 is still being sold by Xiaomi.

Xiaomi is the largest phone manufacture in China. Their sales surpass both Samsung and Apple at home, as a result we may never see Apple controls.

I noticed the review had been out for a couple days before anyone on Head-Fi found it. We are getting slow!

 

[ezekiel77]

Review looks legit. But why is there a 1more label in their packaging? The earphone in their website also looks similar to the Xiaomi hybrid.

 

[eaglearrow]

Review looks legit. But why is there a 1more label in their packaging? The earphone in their website also looks similar to the Xiaomi hybrid.

I guess 1more has always been the oem of Pistons (correct me if i'm wrong). Even the Piston 2's had the 1more branding on the box.

 

[ezekiel77]

  I guess 1more has always been the oem of Pistons (correct me if i'm wrong). Even the Piston 2's had the 1more branding on the box.

 
Ah I get it now, thanks. Sorry haven't bought any Pistons before.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

 

Review looks legit. But why is there a 1more label in their packaging? The earphone in their website also looks similar to the Xiaomi hybrid.

I guess 1more has always been the oem of Pistons (correct me if i'm wrong). Even the Piston 2's had the 1more branding on the box.

To clarify, 1More designed all of the Pistons' iterations and this new Hybrid. However, Xiaomi handles the manufacturing themselves.

 

[U-3C]

Awww...Just ordered my Pistons 3, waiting for them to reach my mailbox.  o(;_o
 
Looking forward to these new IEMs. So far, they look sweet!

 

[Weithulu]

One of the benefits of living in China is that I managed to get these this morning (*slightly* makes up for breathing all that pollution)
 
Updated my post with initial impressions. 

 

[Ulti]

Shame the mids are average but I personally find a mild V shape really "fun" anyway. I wonder how it compares to one of my favourite sub $100 IEMs, the KC06A. 

 

[Deviltooth]

I'll be curious how it compares to the third generation Piston which is on it's way to me now.  It's fascinating how much more you get for your headphone bucks these days, in only a few years the rabid competition has forced countless companies to up their games.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

  One of the benefits of living in China is that I managed to get these this morning (*slightly* makes up for breathing all that pollution)
 
Updated my post with initial impressions. 

Already?!

 But it's still only the 10th.  

 

[RedJohn456]

  Intro
 
In November 2015 Mi announced a new flagship headphone which should be dubbed Xiaomi Hybrid IEM (They no longer carry the piston design are no longer single drivers). The aim of the thread is to provide information and news about new Pistons. The newest update of the xiaomi headphone have a whole new design (again), and now feature a full CNC milled casing. The drivers have also been completely changed (details below)
 
Full chinese descriptions of the new hybrids are available here: http://www.mi.com/quantie
 
Naming
As this product is not officially available in the global market, there is no official english name. The chinese name is "小米圈铁耳机" which would translate to Xiaomi Hybrid IEM. 
 
Background 
 
The Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 made quite a big splash in the community by providing affordable head phones at a reasonable price. They followed up with the Pistons 3.0 in March 2015, which featured an all new design. The IEMs were well received and received some pretty good reviews (check out the Pistons 3.0 Thread). 
 
 
Versions

 
 
Hybrid IEM (Klippel Drivers) - Released on 11th Nov 2015 
 
Pistons 3.0 (Spiral Drivers) - Release in March 2015, these pistons are only available in the black version. 
 
Pistons 2.1 & 2.0 (Beryllium Drivers)- This version of the pistons gained a high regard on Head-Fi for their budget price and their stand out sound quality. Check out this Head-Fi thread on these pistons for more information
 
Design 
 
Updated Drivers: These hybrids features a new set a drivers. This time they are using what they are calling "Klippel Drivers" and it appears that they are hybrid IEM drivers. This is advertised as a set of  "动圈 "-  dynamic driver and "动铁” - armature drivers. The schematics of the drivers are shown below:
 

 
Diagram Correction (Thanks ForgottenSpy) these are the correct translations for the two drivers. 
动圈 - dynamic driver
动铁 - armature driver
 
You can read more about hybrid drivers in the following thread "http://www.head-fi.org/t/615857/the-hybrid-iem-thread-the-best-of-both-worlds" by gnarlsagan. It seems pretty amazing how Xiaomi managed to produce a hybrid IEM and sell in the 16 USD price range instead of 199 USD. 
 
Sadly this time Xiaomi did not provide any frequency response curves. What they did promise is that these IEMs have been "professionally tuned" by Luca Bignardi - however without a full frequency response curve this is more or less fluff. 
 
The IEMs themselves have a CNC milled metal casing. Pistons 3.0 had a plastic casing which made it feel slightly cheaper and less premium. 
 
Remote - The remote supports android systems and has partial support for iOS. On android all 3 buttons work and can control the volume. On iOS only the middle Stop/ play button works (tested on iphone 6).
The remote is positioned on the cable for the right earphone, around 2 inches below the earphone itself. 
 
Pricing and Ordering info
Official retail pricing (Mi.com) is at 99 RMB (~ 16 USD), which is the same price as all the previous Pistons.
I'll post links of international resellers after they are verified. 
 
**Note: Due to shill marketers, forum admins have warned new members not to post links to resellers**
 
First Impressions:
 
Source:  FLAC, mp3, Tidal. Genres: Rock, Acoustic, Pop, Trance, Metal. Equipment PC - Aune T1 DAC, Samsung S4
Burn in time: 6 hours
 
Comfort: In terms of comfort, These IEMs are an iterative improvement on already quite comfortable spiral design of Piston 3.0. As you can see from the following image, the angle of the nozzle has been slightly adjusted to improve comfort – otherwise everything else is unchanged. The earpiece is is made out of CNC milled metal, hence making it feel much more expensive. 
 

Bass
When I first put on the new hybrid IEMs I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bass it provided. The bass was distinct and more rich than that of the Pistons 2.0 – in comparison it sounds less muffled and more detailed. The bass is definitely not overpowering and is nowhere near bass-head level. I found trance music most enjoyable with these IEMs, and spent more time listening to Infected Mushroom / AC/DC then I usually do. I would like to note with more chill/acoustic music I found that there was a bit too much bass leading to rhythm guitars / drum beats being more pronounced than they should be.
Mids
Mids are weakest part of these IEMs. They are definitely a step up from Pistons 2.0 (Could clearly hear the huskiness of Bryan Adams) but nowhere as detailed as 3.0. If you are used to listening to more balanced IEMs like the Vsonic GR07 (I know this is much more expensive), then you will definitely feel that something is missing. This is not surprising as this is a 1+1 hybrid and not a 1+2. I would like to note that this might be improved with a more extensive burn-in.
Highs
Vocals are clear and crisp – one of the benefits of having an armature driver. Both female and male vocals sound great. Cymbals are clear. Nothing too special here.
 
Conclusion:  In terms of sound signature, Xiaomi is definitely looking to improve upon the V-shaped legacy of Pistons 2.0. The hybrid drivers bring a lot to the table, and definitely give a sound that’s usually only found a much more expensive IEMs. 
 
Specs
Headphone Type: In-ear
Remote Control : Yes  (Android)
Color: Metallic Silver
Wire core material: enamelled copper wire
Speaker Impedance: 32Ω
Weight: 14g
Cable length: 1.25m
Headphone Sensitivity: 101dB
Plug Type: 3.5mm gold plated
Rated power: 5mW
Frequency range: 20-20,000Hz
 
Edit: Changed the naming of these from Pistons 4.0 to Hybrid IEMs following a correction from thatBeatsguy

hmm was hoping they would be performing at a higher level, guess I set my expectations too high 

 

[thatBeatsguy]

hmm was hoping they would be performing at a higher level, guess I set my expectations too high 

From the impressions on the Neowin review and Weithulu's I think we've reached a pretty definite overall impression of the Hybrid -- Better than the 2.0, worse than the 3.0. I guess the 3.0 set the bar too high for them. 

 

[leobigfield]

Don't think that review at Neowin told much about the sound. The only thing that he comments is that it's a mild V-Shape signature but he don't even comment on qualities like extension, separation, detail, etc. 

 

[thatBeatsguy]

  Don't think that review at Neowin told much about the sound. The only thing that he comments is that it's a mild V-Shape signature but he don't even comment on qualities like extension, separation, detail, etc. 

Well, you really can't expect much from a non-audiophile reviewer, can you? I'm pretty sure his lack of what to say stems from the fact that, as a non-audiophile, he doesn't know what to say in the first place.