Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
DrMephisto
12
Sep 29, 2016
Personally, I think these are pretty fantastic bang-for-buck IEMs. Granted, they are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I've found they've opened up considerably after 20 ish hours of music. The sound signature is right in-line with every HiFiMan headphone I've heard/owned. (RE-0, RE-Zero, HE-400, HE-400i, HE-560) Their "house signature" tends to be fairly neutral with some strong treble extension with an eye towards clarity, separation, and resolution. To me, these hit all those points. They're hungry little IEMs, and definitely require some amping, but their clarity and resolution is pretty fantastic - especially at this price point. In short, if you're looking for a bass-heavy 'phones, most assuredly look elsewhere. Additionally, as with most (if not all) resolute headphones, they're pretty picky as far as source files go. Feed 'em some juice and higher-resolution tracks and they're pretty quality.
master_sifu
37
Sep 30, 2016
DrMephistoI have to agree. I haven't had as much experience as you have with audio but I'm listening to Uncharted Worlds from the Mass Effect soundtrack on my Macbook Pro and it is worlds better than on my LG G4. Granted the G4 doesn't have the best audio quality from the headphone jack, being slightly worse and quieter than even the G2, but I wasn't expecting that much of an increase in audio quality. Gotta give these earphones enough juice and have good quality files and they'll amaze.
minotmatt
11
Oct 3, 2016
DrMephistoA wild voice of reason appears!
minotmatt
11
Oct 3, 2016
master_sifumaster_sifu:
Do you like to have you mind blown? If so, I implore you to save up for a USB DAC/Amp for your MacBook. I have a FiiO X3, which works as both a USB DAC/Amp and portable music player. I can't recommend it highly enough if you'd like a device that'll greatly improve your sound quality at home and on-the-go. Head to Amazon-dot-com and search for "B00VR5JHVK". But blah blah blah, any USB DAC/Amp will do—there are lots of affordable options that will all make you a very happy camper.
A simple explanation of how it works: It bypasses your laptop's inferior digital-to-analog (DAC) converter via a USB cable, runs your audio file through a much better digital-to-analog conversion, adds some juice to the analog signal (amplification), and then this impressively decoded and amped signal arrives in your earholes, which will finally understand just how capable your new IEMs are. Basically it makes your music sound way better and is totally worth the price of admission. Just plugging nice headphones into a laptop's audio-out is sort of like trying to rally a Subaru WRX with some $50 tires you got at Walmart.
And a recommendation, specifically for your MacBook: Vox is a very simple program that plays lossless audio files. Try pairing your favorite tunes in a lossless format (.FLAC files being the most common) with the USB DAC/Amp that I just convinced you to buy and you'll seriously be like, "Oh god, I thought these sounded good from my laptop's headphone jack?!"
That's all. Cheers!
master_sifu
37
Oct 3, 2016
minotmattThanks! I've been meaning to get some sort of USB DAC/Amp for a while now and to be honest the X3 seems to be at a great price for what you get, especially considering the prices of other standalone DAC/Amps. And nice! I'll look into Vox. Thanks again!
master_sifu
37
Oct 4, 2016
minotmattI don't have a USB DAC/Amp yet but I do have a Fiio E6 and I downloaded Vox. Many thanks to you! Using the E6 with Vox is absolutely amazing! I love the Audio Units and using the graphic equalizer to dial in just a bit of low end while using the E6 to fully power the RE-00. I'm using WAV and FLAC files and things just sound amazing. It could be that I'm used to colored earphones and haven't really had a detail-oriented pair of IEMs but man...I absolutely love it. I can tell that there's room for improvement by getting a DAC/Amp and, of course, by getting better earphones, but honestly I'm quite happy with the small budget setup I have now. Will definitely look into getting an external DAC/Amp but for now I'm pretty satisfied.
For those who say that the RE-00 wasn't very good, I say give them a shot. Properly power them and use high quality files that were mixed well and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised as what they bring to the table for $35. I wasn't very impressed with them either until I got them burned in somewhat and played with equalizer settings to see what they're capable of.
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile