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Magaosi K5 IEM
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Magaosi K5 IEM
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Product Description
The next tier in Magaosi’s excellent series of IEMs, the K5 features five balanced armature drivers per ear—an impressive number for the price. This IEM has been praised on Head-Fi for its clean, detailed, slightly V-shaped sound signature Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downSecushel
88
Mar 21, 2018
Hey guys I am a Chinese and I think I need to say something about this company…
First I never saw any reviews or anyone buy K5 in local Chinese forum.
And second this company had a notorious case of false advertising. They use fake 30017 balanced armatures for k3pro and promoted them as real ones. This case was greatly criticized by the famous Chinese electronic media Soomal.
There are some Chinese companies selling super cheap but at least usable stuff like KFZ or Venture Eletronics. But in my mind magaosi is not the case
Severinial
1
Apr 2, 2018
Ah no, they don't have English reviews, I'm just bilingual. My use of young was just a specific example. It could be said that my criticism is directed towards how the Chinese hifi community describe sound in general. I myself understand what they mean since I'm fluent in both languages and do occasionally visit the Chinese forums, but the point still stands. These descriptors are deliberately vague, abstract and obscure to even an enthusiast if they haven't been around. We're trying to walk a fine line between objectivity and subjectivity, but in my opinion this is really going down the deep end into so subjective that different people will have a different mental image of what's being described. I am particularly against the frequent use of poetic phrases, sometimes in reference to qualities of traditional instruments. Perhaps it's a personal preference, but I'm of the belief that it would add more credibility and reduce division.
As for issues with companies, you're absolutely right, many do have issues and ideally we'd look at companies individually and independently, instead of generalizing across a region. However, as a consumer, that's unfortunately not possible, especially when a market is flush with new brands making very competitively priced products that can sometimes punch well above their class. I know which brands I'd rather not risk it with because it's been well-documented, but such information isn't always available. The stereotype of poorly made goods from China doesn't apply to everything, but there's enough truth in it that it can be disheartening. Regardless of where they come from, I hold them all to a same standard, adjusted for price of course, and at the top for me is Sennheiser. I naturally don't expect their level of QC and service for everyone, but that doesn't diminish Hifiman's chronic, endemic issues that to me highlight a larger issue with the company as a whole.
Just to be clear, I'm certainly not advocating not to buy from any of these companies (with the exception of VE because of the unethical behavior), I'm saying customers should be aware of an added risk, and it broadly applies to many of these new, high-value brands that have enjoyed a lot of publicity. My apologies if it came out too targeted, I'd call out Audeze too for their driver inconsistency and manufacturing, but that's not exactly topical.
(By the way, where/when did you see the HE-400i as cheaper than the HD650? When I was buying mine, the Hifiman was three hundred RMB more expensive.)
Just to be clear, I'm certainly not advocating not to buy from any of these companies (with the exception of VE because of the unethical behavior), I'm saying customers should be aware of an added risk, and it broadly applies to many of these new, high-value brands that have enjoyed a lot of publicity. My apologies if it came out too targeted, I'd call out Audeze too for their driver inconsistency and manufacturing, but that's not exactly topical.
(By the way, where/when did you see the HE-400i as cheaper than the HD650? When I was buying mine, the Hifiman was three hundred RMB more expensive.)
Chaturanga
126
Apr 2, 2018
Ok, if it's not Knowles but Magaosi claims so that is a very wrong behaviour. For my side, I did not know what the driver was and I did not buy it because of the advertisement. To be honest, I don't care what Chinese brands on Aliexpress writing on paper, I always go with head-fi and some other forums to decide what to buy. I have read lots of good impressions on the sound and I decided to buy K3 Pro.
Did I regret? No! I am very happy with it's sound signature. I got it for 80 Dollars, at least I got what I have paid for (and I got more I think)
But again, dishonesty is not acceptable whoever does it.
Did I regret? No! I am very happy with it's sound signature. I got it for 80 Dollars, at least I got what I have paid for (and I got more I think)
But again, dishonesty is not acceptable whoever does it.
ccm220
197
Jun 22, 2018
As someone living in Shenzhen and gets regular access to Chifi IEMs, I wanted to give some insight to people still on the fence about these. I blindly bought them early this year as there's literally one vendor on Taobao and the closest place I could find a sample was in Hong Kong. I refunded them in the end as there was just too many things that ticked the wrong boxes for me.
Skip to bottom for tl;dr.
*The good: - There's an obsession with female vocals in Chinese and Japanese HiFI communities and the K5 is very much if not only specifically tuned with this in mind. This is a fairly neutral IEM on the brighter end that emphasizes mids and a bit of lower treble. When you get the right track, these can sound pretty nice.
- The build quality of the IEM units are pretty good, stock tips are comfortable, although after markets like Spinfits are still recommended.
*The neutral: - The stock cable on the V2 from what I read is a significant improvement over the V1's which must've been utterly disgraceful considering how average these are. The pictures make it look better than it is but this is a standard 4 core 4N silver-coated copper cable that simply works. I used it for about 30 mins before swapping in my Beyer Xelento cables. APT-X supported BT cable works and is a convenient inclusion.
- The K5 is slightly bright and ultra sensitive. Avoid brighter and high output impedance sources, driving this out of the Hiby R6 for example, produces a sound that I will politely describe as unpleasant. Use IEMatch if you want to use high OI hardware.
*The bad: - Soundstage of the K5 is weird, in a bad way. The vocals are so forward that the lows, particularly sub-bass sounds like its all the way in the back. This creates an illusion that the soundstage is wider and the separation is better than it really is. It actually sounds decent in vocal focused tracks or tracks with single sounds in a wider array of ranges but play something with multiple sounds in the same freq. range and it starts getting messy. Now, sound is always subjective and you might love it but to me, even with the right tracks the soundstage feels unrealistic.
- Chinese BA drivers. Chinese DDs have come a long way and are fairly reliable. Chinese BAs however, are not. There's a reason even DIY IEM makers on Taobao tend to use Knowles and Sonion. There are exceptions but too many times the extension, precision, speed are just not there. A good example would be the 5BA KZ ZS10. However, the ZS10 is also 5 times cheaper (in China) than the K5.
*The Ugly: - K5 is produced in a Chinese factory and sold under different brands. Internationally, you can more easily find it as the NiceHCK HC5. I could be wrong but given that they come with different accessories and different price points and that HCK and Magaosi don't share other products, I don't believe this is the same company. This and the tuning that fits only a specific music profile tells me very little effort actually went into properly tuning these.
*Tl;DR / Conclusion: - Despite an unrealistic soundstage, paired with the right source and the right tracks, the K5 can sound pretty good. However, the lack of proper tuning and/or driver quality means your listening experience will vary from good to harsh and unpleasant. If this was between $20-$40 like TRN V60 or KZ ZS10, it might be worth as a niche pair but at this price point, TFZ King Pro/Queen or QDC Neptune are the Chifi IEMs you're looking for.
Skip to bottom for tl;dr.
*The good: - There's an obsession with female vocals in Chinese and Japanese HiFI communities and the K5 is very much if not only specifically tuned with this in mind. This is a fairly neutral IEM on the brighter end that emphasizes mids and a bit of lower treble. When you get the right track, these can sound pretty nice.
- The build quality of the IEM units are pretty good, stock tips are comfortable, although after markets like Spinfits are still recommended.
*The neutral: - The stock cable on the V2 from what I read is a significant improvement over the V1's which must've been utterly disgraceful considering how average these are. The pictures make it look better than it is but this is a standard 4 core 4N silver-coated copper cable that simply works. I used it for about 30 mins before swapping in my Beyer Xelento cables. APT-X supported BT cable works and is a convenient inclusion.
- The K5 is slightly bright and ultra sensitive. Avoid brighter and high output impedance sources, driving this out of the Hiby R6 for example, produces a sound that I will politely describe as unpleasant. Use IEMatch if you want to use high OI hardware.
*The bad: - Soundstage of the K5 is weird, in a bad way. The vocals are so forward that the lows, particularly sub-bass sounds like its all the way in the back. This creates an illusion that the soundstage is wider and the separation is better than it really is. It actually sounds decent in vocal focused tracks or tracks with single sounds in a wider array of ranges but play something with multiple sounds in the same freq. range and it starts getting messy. Now, sound is always subjective and you might love it but to me, even with the right tracks the soundstage feels unrealistic.
- Chinese BA drivers. Chinese DDs have come a long way and are fairly reliable. Chinese BAs however, are not. There's a reason even DIY IEM makers on Taobao tend to use Knowles and Sonion. There are exceptions but too many times the extension, precision, speed are just not there. A good example would be the 5BA KZ ZS10. However, the ZS10 is also 5 times cheaper (in China) than the K5.
*The Ugly: - K5 is produced in a Chinese factory and sold under different brands. Internationally, you can more easily find it as the NiceHCK HC5. I could be wrong but given that they come with different accessories and different price points and that HCK and Magaosi don't share other products, I don't believe this is the same company. This and the tuning that fits only a specific music profile tells me very little effort actually went into properly tuning these.
*Tl;DR / Conclusion: - Despite an unrealistic soundstage, paired with the right source and the right tracks, the K5 can sound pretty good. However, the lack of proper tuning and/or driver quality means your listening experience will vary from good to harsh and unpleasant. If this was between $20-$40 like TRN V60 or KZ ZS10, it might be worth as a niche pair but at this price point, TFZ King Pro/Queen or QDC Neptune are the Chifi IEMs you're looking for.
RossH
0
Jul 17, 2018
I'm wearing mine with JVC Spiral Dots... I checked last night and Spinfit CP100s fit, as do 400 series Comply. All of those fit on the loose side - not loose like they are going to fall off, but loose enough so I don't have to struggle to get them on and off.
verlaine33
17
Jul 17, 2018
ccm220Its funny you say all that. I have some 5 driver Toneking that look identical and have a really weird tuning. I fixed it with the MSEB in the hiby r6 . still dissappointing though.
bluewrecK
17
May 30, 2018
OneLoveI really want these because of the 5 BA drivers and the transparent color, but I just joined the MD+ drop. Dammit! lol
legokangpalla
18
Apr 27, 2018
Just received mine today. Few things:
Low, mid, high individually sounds pretty good. Highs can sound little bit harsh, but that might be because I'm used to warmer sounding IEMs like Noble K10 and SE846.
Within hours of listening to this IEM: *Really doesn't like high impedance sources. The balanced output of FiiO X5 III is quite high in impedance and the sound became tinny very noticeably. Sound with my phone and unbalanced output from the FiiO is okay. Had best result with low impedance IEM DAC like C5S. *Sounds exceptional with less crowded songs. It may be due to the bad crossover, sync, I don't know, but the IEMs sound lot better when there is more separation of the sounds. For example, Lorn, Bradsucks, Daft Punk sounds great with this IEM. Pink Floyd, Imagine Dragons, Franz Ferdinand, RHCP sounded pretty mediocre to me. This is the part that confounds me the most, partly because certain songs sounds very different when listening with this IEM. * When it works, it has great spacious sound stage. Otherwise sounds really harsh and disjointed. *Bluetooth works, I guess as good as other lossy bluetooth devices. * The sound signature when it works is nice. Neutral but neither bass or the trebs are lacking. Vocals are very clear even when it's crowded, not sure what that means though.
There is no final verdict as it's only been hours since I received it. I don't believe in BA IEM burning in, but I will do more detailed review tomorrow.
Oh and mine came with broken cable(connection on the right side was very unstable). No reply from Massdrop yet.
Within hours of listening to this IEM: *Really doesn't like high impedance sources. The balanced output of FiiO X5 III is quite high in impedance and the sound became tinny very noticeably. Sound with my phone and unbalanced output from the FiiO is okay. Had best result with low impedance IEM DAC like C5S. *Sounds exceptional with less crowded songs. It may be due to the bad crossover, sync, I don't know, but the IEMs sound lot better when there is more separation of the sounds. For example, Lorn, Bradsucks, Daft Punk sounds great with this IEM. Pink Floyd, Imagine Dragons, Franz Ferdinand, RHCP sounded pretty mediocre to me. This is the part that confounds me the most, partly because certain songs sounds very different when listening with this IEM. * When it works, it has great spacious sound stage. Otherwise sounds really harsh and disjointed. *Bluetooth works, I guess as good as other lossy bluetooth devices. * The sound signature when it works is nice. Neutral but neither bass or the trebs are lacking. Vocals are very clear even when it's crowded, not sure what that means though.
There is no final verdict as it's only been hours since I received it. I don't believe in BA IEM burning in, but I will do more detailed review tomorrow.
Oh and mine came with broken cable(connection on the right side was very unstable). No reply from Massdrop yet.
OneLove
2962
Jun 20, 2018
legokangpallaNoble K10 is not warm. Not in my experience. The highs are painful and harsh. 64 Audio U8s are warm.
edoglas
16
Nov 16, 2018
I've only had these a week, and the bluetooth (so far) works surprisingly well (at shorter distances) compared to what most others have described... Perhaps the short battery time is due to not manually turning it off/on, because I'm pretty sure it will just stay on until it dies otherwise. However when it has any hiccups with the connection, it's typically a very large hiccup, and takes a solid few seconds to correct itself.
UnderTheHill
27
Apr 18, 2018
I just received my order, and I have to say, I am impressed. The fit is fantastic, easily better than any other IEM that I've owned. Sound-wise, I can't tell the difference between this and the NuForce HEM8, which is my current daily. I'll need burn-in time, which I will start tomorrow during my daily commute, but so far, this has been an excellent buy. I mainly listen to hard rock/metal, haven't heard any hissing, and the v2 are very beefy.
This is what I own/owned:
Magaosi K5 NuForce HEM8 NuForce Primo8 Westone 4R (which are now broken) UE 900S 1MORE Quad Noble X Kinera H3 TFZ Series 5S Etymotic ER-4S FutureSonics Atrio m6 FutureSonics Atrio m5 BrainWavz S5 Westone TS1 Klipsch X4i Blue Ever 328R NVX IE2GR NVX IE3RC NVX IEWR2
NuForce EDC3 are arriving on Friday, and have on order Noble Luxe. I've been waivering on the Noble K10, but still can't justify the cost.
This is what I own/owned:
Magaosi K5 NuForce HEM8 NuForce Primo8 Westone 4R (which are now broken) UE 900S 1MORE Quad Noble X Kinera H3 TFZ Series 5S Etymotic ER-4S FutureSonics Atrio m6 FutureSonics Atrio m5 BrainWavz S5 Westone TS1 Klipsch X4i Blue Ever 328R NVX IE2GR NVX IE3RC NVX IEWR2
NuForce EDC3 are arriving on Friday, and have on order Noble Luxe. I've been waivering on the Noble K10, but still can't justify the cost.
techmattr
39
Aug 9, 2018
UnderTheHillHow do you feel about the EDC3? In the past 6mo or so I've picked up
Massdrop x MEE Audio Pinnacle PX IEMs
Massdrop x NuForce EDC3 In-Ear Monitors
Massdrop x NuForce EDC In-Ear Monitors
Magaosi K5 IEM
Ostry KC09 IEM
SoundMAGIC E80S
Creative Outlier Sports
I was surprised how shitty the EDC and EDC3 were. They sound identical and they sound like $5 buds. My favorites so far are the Magaosi K5 and the Ostry KC09.
The Outlier Sports are my favorites for workouts due to their heavy bass (which is what I like when working out) and their fantastic bluetooth connectivity. They are the only bluetooth buds I've used that never loose connection when my phone is in my pocket.
I should add I returned the Jaybird X3 because of their terrible bluetooth connectivity and overall poor audio quality.
I was surprised how shitty the EDC and EDC3 were. They sound identical and they sound like $5 buds. My favorites so far are the Magaosi K5 and the Ostry KC09.
The Outlier Sports are my favorites for workouts due to their heavy bass (which is what I like when working out) and their fantastic bluetooth connectivity. They are the only bluetooth buds I've used that never loose connection when my phone is in my pocket.
I should add I returned the Jaybird X3 because of their terrible bluetooth connectivity and overall poor audio quality.
UnderTheHill
27
Aug 9, 2018
techmattrWith my limited use of the EDC3, they are OK. Still prefer HEM8 or Noble X over them. I'm not a basshead and prefer to listen to detail, more analytical. The 1More Quads are also good. Not having the EDC, can't compare that to the EDC3, but the EDC3 did sound similar to the Primo8.
The K5 are the best fit out of all of them.
The K5 are the best fit out of all of them.
jaydunndiddit
3262
Mar 20, 2018
LaBoomzThey really do. I'm a sucker for any IEM in a clear shell. The Shure 846 still has some of the best looking guts for an IEM.
COCustom
30
Mar 20, 2018
These look nice, but not much of a discount from the AliExpress and I can't find a lot of reviews for these. Anyone own these that can give some insight?
Oakbing
87
Mar 20, 2018
COCustomFrom the Chinese reviews it's divided between people who say that it sounds great, and people that says it has issues where the sound-stage is weird, vocal too forward instruments way in the back, the driver sounds are not well meshed, etc. Overall I can't tell if these are good or bad based on reviews alone, but I feel like those that say it's bad are a lot more specific in what was wrong with it than those that say it's good, and doesn't give much detail on why it's good.
Summary of this pair of iems is generally something like: Better bass than the K3 version, only slightly though. Better clarity than the K3 version, but only slightly. Soundstage is "wide" but some say it feels out of place. Some say the drivers aren't tuned well or at all. Others say the 5 drivers' sound are not meshed well.
Summary of this pair of iems is generally something like: Better bass than the K3 version, only slightly though. Better clarity than the K3 version, but only slightly. Soundstage is "wide" but some say it feels out of place. Some say the drivers aren't tuned well or at all. Others say the 5 drivers' sound are not meshed well.
Flurps
6
Mar 23, 2018
This is a v2 of Magaosi K5. The v1 has the pouch instead of hard case, also the mmcx wire from v1 is different from v2. The disadvantage of this IEM is that hissing sound. Some says it depend on the source and some are for wire. This is a flat sounding signature and not for a heavy bass lover. For me, the fit is very comfortable and also felt like CIEM ( lol ). Try to get one of this guys. Thumbs up for massdrop! :D
Tienbasse
132
Mar 21, 2018
This is definitely v2 version, this can be seen from the big copper+silver cable, which is different from v1. This cable is MUCH better quality than v1 cable, but the IEM themselves are the same than v1.
There is still some hiss from sources that are normally considered very black (Opus #1/#1S), but the level is not an issue to me, unless you're listening quiet classical music (piano). The thinner v1 cable was a disaster for hiss.
They have a relatively flat profile with a very slight boost in the vocals area, but it doesn't sound particularly unnatural to me, although I had to boost the bass to really enjoy them. Detail level is very good, because of the flat profile (if you're used to V shaped IEM, you're in for a shock). If you want more smoothness in the upper mid and treble area, replace the cable with a thick pure copper cable, the mmcx connectors make that easy.
The price is good versus Chinese merchants, and the overall built quality is very good.
Due to their flat signature, do not buy if you like strong bass unless you're ready to use the equalizer.
There is still some hiss from sources that are normally considered very black (Opus #1/#1S), but the level is not an issue to me, unless you're listening quiet classical music (piano). The thinner v1 cable was a disaster for hiss.
They have a relatively flat profile with a very slight boost in the vocals area, but it doesn't sound particularly unnatural to me, although I had to boost the bass to really enjoy them. Detail level is very good, because of the flat profile (if you're used to V shaped IEM, you're in for a shock). If you want more smoothness in the upper mid and treble area, replace the cable with a thick pure copper cable, the mmcx connectors make that easy.
The price is good versus Chinese merchants, and the overall built quality is very good.
Due to their flat signature, do not buy if you like strong bass unless you're ready to use the equalizer.
Christian.N
16
May 26, 2018
TienbasseTo see if they are the V2 you can only look at the color of the outside box. If it is the white one is the old version if it is the black one is the one with the upgraded cable.
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