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78% would recommend to a friend 
Shuoer Tape Electrostatic IEM
01 / 05
Shuoer Tape Electrostatic IEM
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Product Description
A combination of cassette-like looks with cutting-edge electrostatic drivers, the Shuoer Tape electrostatic IEM delivers exceptional sound inside of a retro shell. Shuoer’s custom mini electrostatic drivers achieve ultra-low distortion with a quicker frequency response and smooth separation Read More
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Customer Reviews
4.0
(77 reviews)
5star(36)
4star(19)
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2star(9)
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keyboard_arrow_downcandygram4mongo
90
Jan 2, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
The Shuoer Tape and Tin HiFi P1 are the great at this price point
I can’t understand why no one else has left their impressions of the Shuoer Tape earphones. So here are my opinions for what they are worth.
A few words of explanation that should precede any individual’s review of sound quality; it’s a matter of personal taste. Asking “which is better?” is a lot like asking what is the best hammer or who is the most beautiful woman. There are people that love durian while I personally think it is akin to eating rotten garbage.
Build quality: The packing is befitting earphones of this price range. I found the cables a bit stiff and the right side mmcx fitting was a little snug for my tastes. The enclosed silicone eartips were passable, but I found them a bit flimsy. To be fair, I use foam tips for all my eartips because I just like the compromise of seal and comfort. I found the Comply T500 to be a good fit. Overall, they feel solid and comfortable.
Sound quality: I think the best features of the sound are the deep bass extension and the detailed treble. The bass is full without being muddy. The highs are detailed without being overly sibilant. By default, that means the mids are relatively recessed.
Everything else: I found these to be fairly easy to drive with mild amplification. They can even be driven straight off an iPhone. It makes these a good choice for people looking for a good portable set.
Comparisons: I can compare the sound signature to the Tin HiFi P1, the Blon BL-03, and the Shure SE535.
Tin HiFi P1: These are the only earphones at the same price point. I find I like the highs on these a little better. I can pick out the finer details of things like the initial impact of a drum or a cymbal crash. The bass is not as full. These require a lot more amp to make them shine. I prefer these when at home with a good powered amp.
Blon BL-03: Not a fair comparison because these are only $28, but were unusable for me without changing both the terrible cables and laughably bad enclosed tips. The ear tubes are fairly short so it takes all of the T400 eartip to keep these from falling out of my ears. The also seem to take more maneuvering to get these to sit right to get a good sound. For 28 bucks they are a bargain like the Tin HiFi T2’s. Very good for the price.
Shure SE535: Also not a very fair comparison since these retail for almost quadruple the price of the Shuoer. These are mid forward tuned and are warmer overall. They really shine on vocals and can be listened for hours without fatigue. Are they worth 4x the price of the Shuoer? Depends on your listening tastes and how much money you have to spend. I love these for mellow music and when I know I’m going to be listening for long periods (air travel, long hikes, etc.).
The Shuoer Tape earphones are my favorite for higher energy music or if I’m just in the mood for more bass. They do well when I’m on the move and can’t carry an amp bigger than an Audioquest Red. Exceptional value. I have no problem recommending these. You would probably have to spend in the $800 to $1K range to get something with more detailed base and mids.
g.todd
43
Jan 12, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Fantastic
I have a pair of Stax electrostatic headphones and love the clear crisp sound from them. I have listened to the Empire Ears IEMs with an electrostatic driver and they sound great, only problem is they are $3,500 here in Thailand. When I saw the Drop for the Shouer for barely over $100, I signed up, not expecting that much. When they arrived it was a wow moment, they sounded like my Stax but with better bass. A fantastic IEM sounding better that other IEMs several times their price.
Recommends this product? Yes
rval22
11
Jan 9, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Stellar Sound
It is a fast and clear iem. I thought this might be a bright set, but it is not. Good fast bass, not boomy, crystal clear highs, and solid meds. The metal case has its pros and cons. Its a sold build, not sharp edges so its fine to keep in your pocket. The con is that its too small to keep the iems connected to the wires. They are heavy, but overall good fit.
Recommends this product? Yes
Doggocopter
22
Jan 30, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Impressive Value
I've never been much of an IEM guy, I generally stick with cheap earbuds for travel and avoid them the rest of the time. Therefore, I can't really speak to the value these offer versus more expensive IEM's, but I will say that these exceeded my expectations in every way possible and I don't care to spend up for "better" performance. These might be the best $110 I've spent on an audio product, in terms of "wow factor per dollar".
I also own a pair of KZ-ZS10 Pros, which are a pretty nice IEM under $50 and the Shuoer Tape trounces them. Granted, they don't sit at the same price point, but the difference in sound quality and clarity was lot further away than $50+, too. The ZS10's push more bass, but everything else seems muddier compared to the Shuoer.
Recommends this product? Yes
GhostSkr34mer
34
Jan 10, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Crystal clear!
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Coltaine
8
Apr 18, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Died just outside the warranty period
The left earbud dropped in volume just after the warranty period had ended. With such a poor warranty system I would not recommend these under any circumstance.
Recommends this product? No
Dezkey
18
Apr 25, 2020
Yup. My right earbuds getting low volume while in my ear. I was frustrated at first but then for an unknown reason, I decide to heat my right earbuds for like 2 3 sec and it is back to normal. I was like WTF?
My guess is the wiring inside probably soldered badly or smth like that, i don't know.
I think the cracking sound probably is your cable. Just get a cheapo MMCX replacement.
All I can say, Shuoer Tape is hving bad QC...
Cloud9WonAMajor
5
Apr 29, 2020
ColtaineThe same happened to mine, but thankfully it was within the warranty period: I returned it to Drop and they gladly refunded it. The commonly accepted hypothesis is that any sort of moisture already in your ears will build up in the filters and cause volume to drop suddenly.
DrBiehl
11
Jul 17, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
EDIT 1: One day after posting this review the right channel has died. I have contacted support to see how this problem can be fixed.
EDIT 2: Drop support was amazing. They took care of everything and all is sorted. Would still recommend based on sound quality and experience with customer support.
This is my first review on drop, so do bear with me if I get off track for a bit. As a general background I use HD800 driven off a Chord Mojo as my main pair of headphones. I do switch for intimate vocals to my HD600. My everyday IEM is a KZ ZS10 Pro. My current speaker setup is a pair of vintage Mission bookshelf speakers driven by a Belcanto power amp, using the Mojo as the DAC. I mention this so you can have a better understanding as to how and against what I am going to be judging the tapes. As far as testing music, I range from classical to death metal and almost everything in between (pop shy though).
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
exsomnis
60
Apr 9, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
A good first attempt at low voltage electrostatics. Note to Shuoer: Iterate more please
I'm intrigued by the idea of low-voltage electrostatic drivers in any driver, let alone in IEMs, so I went ahead and made a punt on this one.
I've had quite a few mid-fi IEMs but have never brought myself to pay more for a pair than my Final E5000 and Sony WF1000XM3s. Which are unlike my frighteningly expensive headphones, speakers and gear, if I re-examine their cost. I don't, because through experience I've come to accept that the sound quality and resolution that I crave can only come at those price points.
As for IEMs, well, my needs are tempered. I've heard the $1000-$2000 monster IEMs and decided that I don't use my IEMs often enough to justify the cost of them and high end portable gear. (Looking at you LCDi4s). But I digress.
The Shuoer Tapes fit well enough into my ears and their ergonomics aren't a concern for me. And contrary to some opinions, I rather like the angular industrial look. This is what IMO the Campfire IEMs should aspire to look like.
What's most important though, is how they sound. And well, the short answer is that they sound like most every other $100-ish IEMs that I've sampled. They're good but not great and have some flaws. In other words, you can enjoy the sound that these IEMs provide but they're not going to hold up to scrutiny and comparison to better and higher priced IEMs.
One of the things that you associate with electrostatic drivers, particularly the high voltage drivers in specific Stax, Hifiman, Shure & Koss headphones is highly transparent and high resolution treble. They do treble very well and not in a so bright it hurts kind of way. The Shuoer Tapes seem to have a bit of that DNA. Treble details pop out without being unbearably bright. They make sure that you're aware of the presence of those cymbals and trumpet crackles and make sharp transients obvious immediately. There does seem to be bit of transparency in there too, somewhere, when coupled with the midrange.
Unfortunately, while the upper treble is vibrant, where treble starts to approach midrange is where there seems to be a problem. Imagine if you will, a drummer hitting a cymbal with a drumstick. Take note of the initial 'thwack' just as the drumstick touches the cymbal and before it starts reverberating and shimmering. There's a fair amount of lower treble to midrange involved in that thwack. The Shuoer Tapes, on the other hand, sound as if drummers are hitting the cymbals with drumsticks the width of matchsticks. And just to make it worse, there's also an overly metallic quality to some cymbals on some tracks.
It doesn't help that the midrange - mid to high - is also quite recessed and isn't full bodied, which is a particular peeve of mine. I like my sound reproduction balanced in the Harman frequency response way, and having a V or U sound signature is not what I strive for. So if you like your mids to have meat on the bone, these IEMs are not for you.
The bass is there, a bit exaggerated, bloomy and slow but still better than what some balanced armature drivers can do.
Not such a great review, by the sound of it. But at this price point, there really aren't that many other options that will give you a more balanced and more refined sound. At this price point, these IEMs are actually pretty good. The closest I think that you can get to a more coherent, more balanced and more refined sound are the Final E4000s at $150 or so. If you can get them at that price and if you can get them at all.
In spite of its flaws, Shuoer have done a good job producing what I assume to be the first low voltage electrostatic driver (I theorise that it's actually more of a hybrid electrostat + dynamic driver). It's certainly a better introduction and better IEM than the MEE Audio Planamics, that were also the 'first' of their kind.
I would encourage Shuoer to continue their iteration and development of these and pay a bit more attention to their tuning, in particular, incorporating the Harman frequency response curve. If they do, these will be a bona fide hit.
Instant
46
Aug 18, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Poor tonality, hard to listen to
These are bright earphones with enough missing frequencies to sound unnatural. Even at lower volume they become ear-splittingly "shouty" after 20 minutes. The best I can describe that effect is listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. If you want bright sound, TinHiFi T4 is much more bearable.
Recommends this product? No
BruceC
51
Jun 20, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
The best value in IEMs that I have tested
These outperform much more expensive IEMs and sound great. One of the best low cost IEMs available in my humble opinion. They are efficient and require little power to drive them. They have good tight bass, midrange is clear and well delivered and the highs are crystal clear with a lot of detail and a surprisingly good soundstage for IEMs. They are an excellent blend of dynamic driver for bass and electrostatic driver for the rest.
Two things are important.
1) As usual with an IEM you must achieve a good seal. For me that was achieved with JVC spiral dot tips.
2) They need some burn in time to smooth them out. 80-100 hours seems plenty.
This was my second pair that I bought for a friend.
I have compared them to the following IEMs and for my ears they are the best overall balance of all of these.
Gold Planer GL20
Audeze Isine 10 and 20
Tin HiFi P1
Tin HiFi T4
Toneking BL1
FiiO FH5
FiiO F9 Pro
Monoprice Monolith M300
And a few others.
Recommends this product? Yes
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