Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsVery strong overall package but a perfect seal is everything
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 February 2021
I’d like to add some context before we get into the nitty gritty of my review. I am not an audiophile, I do not claim to be and do not know the technical ins and outs of a pair of earphones, or in this case in-ear monitors, and these are for personal use in listening to music on Spotify, YouTube, or podcasts, so I cannot provide any feedback on how they perform for live music etc.
Prior to buying these IEMs, I had owned a pair of CCA C10s for 10 months (the left in-ear just stopped playing music last week despite having a new cable). Those, despite their ‘Chi-Fi’ reputation, sounded pretty good for £40 IEMs. After the left earphone stopped working, I didn’t want to invest in another short-term purchase, so decided to invest in something that would last me for the foreseeable future, but wouldn’t hurt the bank balance too much. After doing a few days worth of research, reading reviews of the top selling budget IEMs on the web, I decided that I would take the plunge and give these a go.
Sound Quality:
Now this is subjective, you will see some people say that these IEMs lack the instrument separation that other IEMs do, and that to some extent is true. These IEMs, due to only having one driver, won’t have as wide a soundstage as other IEMs and won’t have incredibly clear instrument separation. These IEMs, as other reviews have said, are quite bass heavy. This is something that I found out of the box, and it wasn’t comfortable to listen to, to my ears at least, with the sound being quite ‘muddy’ on some tracks. However, if you also find this, then I would recommend, like I did, going into whatever music app you use and trying out the equalisers. I’ve managed to find one that reduces the emphasis on the bass and provides an overall more comfortable listening experience. The sound quality itself however is very, very good for such a small package. Vocals are clean, bass can be strong and sometimes a bit overpowering, but this can be rectified with an equaliser preset/setting your own settings and instruments are also crisp and clean.
Noise cancellation
This is where finding the right size ear tip (sleeve as Shure calls them). As the top line of the review says, a perfect seal is everything!!! These particular earphones come with six pairs of tips (3x foam and 3x silicone). Whereas EarPods sit at the entrance to your ear canal, these go into the ear canal itself. Choosing the right ear tip for you is a key part of the process of creating a seal that keeps the music in and the outside world ... well ... out. I would recommend that buyers try every set of ear tips that are provided and try to find ones that not only create a good-perfect seal, but also ones that are comfortable to you without the worry of being too loose or to far in your ear. Once this is achieved then the difference in sound levels from the outside world should be noticeable immediately. Luckily, my ears were a fit for the medium sized foam tips that come pre-installed, and they create an almost perfect seal in my ear canal and it feels and sounds like I’m wearing a pair of noise cancelling headphones without the characteristic hiss that accompanies ANC devices.
Comfort
This, like sound quality, will be subjective to each user. These in-ears are seemingly designed in a way that will allow the earphones themselves to fit the majority of ears. I will admit, I was sceptical as to how these would feel and fit in my ears. I’ve tried a number of different brands in my search to find a comfortable, affordable pair of in ears that also provide amazing sound quality and noise cancellation/isolation. The best example I can think of here is the AirPods Pro. These sounded great but sadly they fit so badly in my ear that it caused a cut to the inside of my ear due to the hard plastic rubbing against the ear itself. I feared that these would be the same, being made from plastic. Thankfully, my fears were not confirmed. These are a very, very comfortable pair of in-ears. They do not rub against the inside of my ear like the AirPods Pro and sit very nice inside my ear and ear canal. The cable itself can be a bit of a fiddle, especially if you are not used to wearing earphones where the cable goes up and behind the ear. However, once you get used to it after a few tries, it becomes natural to do when inserting them and the cable itself is very well made and is reinforced with Kevlar so it is guaranteed to be durable. This was a concern of mine before purchasing due to my cable failing on my previous pair of IEMs only after a few months of owning them, however this cable feels very well made and is sure to be durable for a long while yet.
Overall
Like I said at the beginning of this review, I am not an audiophile. I will have missed things in this review that others are more attuned to, especially with regards to sound quality when compared to similarly priced/more expensive IEMs. But this review is aimed at people like me, who do not have an audiophiles ear, but still want to extract the most out of their music listening experience without having to remortgage their house. These in-ear monitors, to me, provide that in spades. The sound quality, both for the size and price of this product is incredibly impressive. The noise cancellation, overall, is near enough faultless and you will be pleasantly surprised as to how much sound these little things can block out. And finally, these are a very comfortable pair of in-ears, especially with the foam tips that are a bit kinder on the ears than the silicone ones. If I was to advise someone who is new to the world of IEMs, I would personally avoid the emerging ‘Chi-Fi’ market of IEMs. You might get a pair of IEMs for less than this, but as I’ve found out, they can and do fail on you. I would advise buyers to spend the extra money and get a pair of in-ears that really are the perfect overall package from a very well known and respected brand in the music business.
