Introductions
First of all, apologies for using images from the internet. The featured image was taken directly from the company’s website. Due to time constraints, I had forgotten to take pictures of them for myself and had to take them from the internet. Without further ado, I present the 1More triple driver in-ear Headphones.
So, I’ve had the chance to try these headphones for a whole day as a chore of “breaking them in” because my mom wanted them to be broken, because I mentioned that they didn’t sound as good as I expected. Well, after trying them on for about more than 9 hours I’ll give a brief overview of how they sound like and what I think about them.
1More is a brand headquartered in San Diego, California, USA. They appear to make mostly in-ear headphones than any other except for what appears to be an over-ear or on-ear gaming headphone for VR that they have on pre-order right now. What I with me appears to be the second to highest model, with the flagship they have on sale currently as the Quad driver as the flagship. They have a dual driver that’s a step down from this as well, which is a surprise (given the progression it wasn’t really). These triple drivers retail at $99.99 but with Black Friday and deals that happened my mom got them for cheaper and was worth it enough for her to buy it. She isn’t into audio so she asked me for my opinion on these.
Out of the Box
The unboxing experience for the 1More triple Driver in-ear headphones is actually quite an experience. You get a rectangular box with the earphones themselves, a box for you to store them in and the whole selection of earbuds to choose from for the different ear sizes of different people. It’s a rather extensive selection. I’m not very knowledgeable the spectrum of the sizes, but the sizes seem extreme to me. Plus there seems to be two types with one being the standard, like the one that came on it, and the other being foam tips. I didn’t get to try to foam tips, but the standard fit me and was comfortable enough. The box itself is rather detailed and gives off a high-quality feel about them. It’s very impressive that it makes me think I’m paying partly for the box as well.
Background and Specs
These in-ear headphones (or earphones as they can be more commonly known), are bass emphasized, meaning they have a bias towards the lower end of the sound spectrum. Although they don’t actually specify it, based on listening to these and another headphone with bass emphasis, I’m certain it is so. I’ll get to more on that later. For now, here is the list of specs for these headphones:
- Color: Gold Black (Silver and Black is also available)
- Weight: 18g (0.04 pounds)
- Length: 1.25m (49 inches)
- Rated Power: 5mW
- Plug: 3.5mm
- Impedance: 32Ω
- Wire Material: Enameled Copper Wire
- Sensitivity: 99dB
- In-Line Control Box and Microphone
- Frequency range: 20-40,000Hz
- Driver: Two Balanced Amatures + One Dynamic Driver
Like other earphones, they are y-shaped wires going from the connectors to the drivers themselves. The bottom half of the wires are braided and the top half seems to be of high-quality rubber/plastic of a thinner diameter from the bottom half. The in-line control claims to work for both Android and iOS platforms, which I haven’t tried because I’ll be focusing on listening from my laptop to be most accurate to tell how they sound before and after the “break-in” I’ve done. Unlike some earphones on the market, the cables can create rustling sounds from rubbing on fabric or from moving around, and this doesn’t fortunately. The drivers are constructed from metal not specified, which feels solid sturdy and does feel premium as well.
What stands out for this headphones in terms of specs is the Balanced Armatures and the one dynamic driver fit into one enclosure to deliver the sound. That’s what makes this a triple driver headphone. Something rather different that I’ve never encountered before. I do think that having a max frequency 40 000 Hz is a bit excessive, but that’ll just mean it can effortlessly execute the max frequency that we humans can hear, 20 000 Hz. The box also claims that the earphones have been expertly tuned by Grammy Winning Sound Engineer Luca Bignardi. Never heard of this person though. I do know that in the advertisment for this, they do say these are THX certified. The real question with this is how it sounds which I’ll talk about below.
Impressions and opinions
I’ve been mainly listening to local music on my laptop, which comprises of Kpop, which has a decent amount of bass and contribution of other sounds from instruments, electronic sounds, and vocals. I streamed some music to listen to genres such as R&B, Pop, Hip Hop and Dance. Most of which have a bass element in them. I didn’t neglect the other ranges because they complete the package. I did this short evaluation with the price in consideration as well, because I’ve been listening to over-heard headphones that retailed at about $300 new, and $50 earphone (both also have bass emphasis). Both of which I will say feels more open this in comparison.
Wearing them for hours straight on end does end up feeling slightly uncomfortable, and you’ll need to take them off to relieve the pressure like any other earphones. Overall, these are worth the price you pay for them. They sound pretty realistic on the high end, with good realism for instruments and vocals but it does sound like everything is behind a veil before this “break-in” period. Afterward, it isn’t as bad but it still feels like everything is rather distant in comparison. Obviously the emphasis is with the Bass for this and they do a really, really good job. The bass is slightly warm and is very punchy. The emphasis does bring everything to the back and it’s like you’re listening to bass first and foremost. Picking up the details isn’t too hard though. I will complain that the cymbals from my tracks doesn’t sound as metallic and real, but that’s not why you buy this earphones. You buy them for the Bass. The bass that comes out of this is comparable to my V-Moda LP (old now I know), and they have 50 mm drivers compared to this, which isn’t specified but is definitely smaller. The added touch of more better higher-end spectrum of sound humans can hear would be nice, but as I’ve said over and over, that isn’t why you buy this. You buy this for the Bass.
In the short period I’ve had this, the break-in is not very apparent, but I can still tell the difference. The overall sound opens up, but still isn’t the most at this point and the bass just gets punchier, and rich, and slightly warmer. The imaging on the headphones seem slightly better, with a pretty decent size sound stage for earphones I’ve listened to. For vocals that fall in the rather mid-deep, that bass does feel a bit like it emphasizes the deepness a bit too much for my taste. Higher voices sound nice to listen to, and the hiss from vocals don’t sound too much, and is on the neutral-warm side. Instrumentals doesn’t sound balanced because of the bass emphasis such as a track called Test Drive from the Soundtrack of How to Train Your Dragon. Again, the emphasis is on the bass.
Explosions from the same soundtrack mentioned above does feel punchy, and definitely this isn’t for every genre out there. As I’ve said, everything about the sound coming out of this earphones has an emphasis on the bass first and foremost. You’ll love it if you are a “basshead” as my dad calls it and listen to songs from genres such as Pop, Hip Hop, Electronic and the like with a lot of bass. I do like bass, but not to that extent.
Conclusions
- Metal Construction
- Bass emphasis
- Rather detailed presentation
- Above average overall sound
- Quite comfortable to wear.
You’d really want to buy this earphones for the bass, because it’s really good at it. Everything else does kind of take to the background. But if you’re not really listening to the details it’s complete enough. That being said I think if you’re looking for a good bass emphasis headphone for everyday use, this is one you should short-list. It’s comfortable for rather long duration listening and you won’t be distracted by any rustling from the cables. They offer a variety of sizes for the earbuds included as well. Although I do say it in an otherwise manner about the other frequency ranges, they are slightly above average in my opinion, which makes this a pretty good sounding pair overall. In the short time I’ve had this for the “Break-in”, it was a pretty nice bass-y experience. I just don’t know if my mom will like it completely (*nervous laughter*).
HIFI Sound Enthusiast 