MEElectronics M9 Hi-Fi user reviews (Black)

Pros Considering these may be the lowest price OEM replacement buds you can buy, they kick butt over my $50 Skulls. So if you are not requiring audiophile quality (like at the gym), save your coins and buy these!

Cons Well, they are $20. So there are some bass and noise cancelling features that are not there. I do enjoy having these features.

Summary Fact: Best I have heard for OEM replacement and the price is the best also. Since I am tired of losing $80-150 buds monthly, I use these for all activities (gym, snowboarding etc.). Gifts - even better, I know my friends and family will like the sound and it does not break the bank.

Pros cables, price, sound quality

Cons microphonics

Summary M9 has a solid feel and an impressive sound. this is great considering it is a $20++ earphones. The cables are very durable and the design is also good. The unpleasant thing about M9 is the micro phonics but as long as you are not always on the move it will be okay.
These earphones are good substitute for free earphones included in most cellphones and music players. It dominates the $20 price level. If you want cheap good quality earphones, this is for you.

Pros Pretty much everything, for the price. They have a V-curve, which most consumers love nowadays.

Cons Because of the V-curve, the mids are a bit recessed. Bass a bit loose and flabby, but that's in comparison to top tier IEM's

Summary This is an excerpt from my review posted at MEElectronic's website: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/508061/my-late-review-of-the-meelectronics-m9#post_6866541

Review:

I'll be using my Sony A726 as a source, unamped. I talked to Joe about amping and he said it tended to add more bass, which I didn't really want. I'll try to make the review short and sweet by merely outlining the sound instead of specific albums. It was just too time consuming and probably didn't really help too much. If you have any questions, just ask me. I'd be glad to help.

Albums used (average of 256kbps):
Resistance - Muse
Falling Into Infinity - Dream Theater
He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace The Corners of Our Rooms - A Silver Mt. Zion (long album name ftw!)
Shudder - Bayside (had to do some kind of tween band!)
Fever - Bullet For My Valentine
The Eventually Home - Right Away Great Captain!
Hope - Non Prophets
Monkeys For Nothing and Chimps For Free - Reel Big Fish
Hot - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Somethin' Else - Cannonball Adderley
The Fall - Norah Jones (Ick. Clippy, but that's why I chose this album)
Lateralus - Tool
Discovery - Daft Punk
Catch 33 - Meshuggah
From the Yellow Room - Yiruma

Mkay, so a lot of albums right? Onto the review!

Bass: Okay, I'll do this section first. If you're looking at these, you like bass. Not really any way around that. Bass on these is pretty substantial. It does have good detail and decent depth though. Decay is decent too. It doesn't have the boomboom "3P1K" bass that just gives you headaches. In Discovery's Something About Us, there is a nice amount of impact, not too much, not too little, and decay was quick. It went as deep as the bass went without faltering. In Falling Into Infinity's Lines in the Sand, the low end rumble is pretty prominent--almost headache inducing. Non-Prophets' Hope's Any Port's (triple possessives!!!!) bass was pretty overpowering and overshadowed a bit of the mids. The bass in Somethin' Else is rather subdued and blurred. Lateralus's Schism's bassline is rather subdued and faded too, yet prominent. Yeah, basically, these are more bass-centric than anything else. Although they don't really take control of the rest of the spectrum. It's good bassy bass.

Highs: They are, put simply, kinda harsh, yet smooth. They're also detailed. I've never been great at describing treble, so I'm gonna spitball stuff. The Fall's Light as a Feather shows, beneath all that clipping, a smooth voice, but at times, sounds a bit peaky and harsh. From the Yellow Room's Kiss the Rain beautifully conveys the high notes of the piano, but seem somewhat veiled. Very pleasing to listen to though. Somethin' Else's One for Daddy-O features Cannonball's wonderful alto (A King Super 20 with a Meyer 5?) playing. The highest notes seem to have a bit of grain in them, and sound a teeny bit off in general. Still pretty impressive. Basically, pretty good treble, especially at the price. It can be harsh at times, but never upsettingly so. To my ears.

Mids: Why did I put the highs before mids? No clue. Too lazy to move this though. The mids here are a bit too subdued to my liking, but this is a tradeoff for having bass as big and meaty as the M9 has. I hesitate to call it recessed. They certainly aren't recessed (to a huge extent.), but they're a tiny bit overpowered by the bass and treble. If anything, they have a very slight V curve. In certain songs, well a lot of metal (BFMV, Meshuggah, Tool, NIN (Yes, they aren't in the list of albums. I cheated. Sawwie) for example, sound congested and slow. The more complex, the more congested, obviously. Not really a metal IEM in my view. Ska performs a bit better. Brass sounds decent on the M9s. Not really "realistic" to a T, but acceptable. They retain nice tone and have nice bite. Strings also sound pretty decent. Sound real enough, and retain emotion. You can't really complain about the sound at all for the amazing price that these sell for.

Conclusion:

Put simply, these are pretty amazing for $30. They do most genres (metal's a tossup.) really well, have a fun and somewhat engaging sound signature. Bass is big and rather enveloping, while staying in its place more often than not. Mids are a tiny bit turned down, but that's a consequence of the big bass. Treble is smooth for most songs. Rarely harsh. Detail is very impressive for the price. Soundstage is pretty (have you noticed I like the word pretty?) big for an IEM. Yup. I think that's pretty much it. BUY ONE. NOW. Seriously, it's common to find these for under $20, and I think it's insane how that's possible. These should be on everyone's shortlist for a gateway to this hobby, and a cheap gift to corrupt friends with. If it were $50, I'd be more hesitant with so much new competition, but these aren't anywhere near it. Yeah. Thanks for reading! Baiiiizzz!

Updated on Jan 14, 2011

Hey, I accidentally clicked 4 stars. Can you guys change that to 5? 4 stars doesn't really do them justice and kinda unjustly lowers their rating.

Pros Great bass and these don't lack treble like so many ear buds at this price. They are sturdy and have lasted longer than 4 pairs of Skullcandy earphones (I hate those things). Great clamshell case that also fits my Clip.

Cons The treble was a little harsh out of the box but settled in after some time. Really, nothing else for the price!

Summary I hadn't heard of this company but found them in a google search and they had a lot of great reviews. I am glad spent the time.