Keep reading to see if the 1More Design Super Bass meet the high standards of their Xiaomi counterparts.
Xiaomi’s Piston earphones have been received with applause and great reviews, but what about a pair of earphones from the company that makes Xiaomi’s audio products?
It’s easy to see Xiaomi as this huge powerhouse that can turn its hand at building and creating all types of great products, but in reality Xiaomi works with a lot of design houses or partners to bring us their excellent products.
The Xiaomi action camera is actually a Xiao Yi product. Xiao Yi might have had investment by Lei Jun, but the company is its own entity. A similar cooperation is how Xiaomi have managed to enter the audio hardware market with such great products from the start. Although they are marketed as Xiaomi Piston or Hybrid earphones, the brand that makes them, designs them and develops them is actually 1More Design.
Thanks to the Xiaomi connection 1More Design have seen more interest and have launched more earphones under their own name like the Super Bass we have on test here.
1More Design Super Bass Review – Design
The 1More Design Super Bass earphones tested here are the special edition Voice of China versions (Voice of China is similar to the X Factor and similar shake and bake singer shows), and comes with ‘Voice of China’ branded packaging and a small logo from the show on the left earphone.
1More Design have worked their design magic on the packaging with a nice box that includes the earphones wrapped up in the same plastic case (with rubber insert) as the Xiaomi Piston, with the addition of a stainless steel clip for keep loose wires tidy and a small micro fibre carry bag. Although the rubber ‘spindle’ in the main packaging is great for keeping the kevlar coated wires nice and tangle free, its not the easiest solution to work with so the inclusion of the bag is a god send.
The earphones come with a set of silicone tips fitted as standard which fitted my lobes perfectly, but there are also an additional 3 more pairs in different sizes so you can reach the most perfect fit for you out of the box.
Just as 1More Design have reused the Xiaomi packaging, they have also reused parts of the design of Xiaomi earphones with a few unique changes to keep their own brand earphones slightly different.
As mentioned above, the main cord from the 3.5mm headphone plug to the 3 button remote is kevlar coated. This helps to protect the internal wires from snags, allows the cables to flex freely and helps to prevent the wire tangling. We’ve seen the same solution on Xiaomi earphones, but for the ‘Voice of China’ edition Super Bass the wire is bright red.
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At the very far end of the cord is a 3.5mm headphone jack with gold plating. This has been lifted directly from Xiaomi and features the same grey finish and machined grip to aid grip when unplugging from your audio device.
Follow the kevlar cable and the wire splits in two (now with only rubber insulation) and we find a nicely proportioned 3 button remote on the right branch. The remote uses a central button for skip/pause and the upper and lower buttons to increase or decrease volume. I tested the control on both iOS (iPad Pro) and Android and found that the controls are compatible on both operating systems. The body of the control is plastic and the buttons are given a metal look finish. The size of the control is actually rather good and the larger than standard buttons are much easier to deal with when taking part in outdoor activities or when wearing gloves.
At the business end of the Super Bass the actually driver unit looks like a slightly modified Xiaomi Piston with mostly metal construction. Where audio exits the earphone and the semi transparent silicon tip sits is a red cone to tie the whole design together.
1More Design Super Bass Review – Gallery
1More Design Super Bass Review – Audio
Named the Super Bass I expected that the 1More Design earphone would thoroughly excel in the Lows and I was impressed from the get go. Of course my first port of call was some hip hop and a spot of drum and bass where the Super Bass clearly loves to be.
What really surprised though is how well the earphones also handle the mids and lows too. Listening to tracks from Bjork proved that the Super Bass can really handle a mix of Violin and Bass with stunning clarity. Vocals are beautifully clear to boot.
A great example of all elements working as one is Sugar Water by Cibo Mato. Just try listing to this track on the Super Bass without getting goosebumps! It’s pure audio joy!
1More Design Super Bass Review – Conclusion
Although the Super Bass name might imply that they are all boom, the 1More Design Super Bass have proven to be a superb set of earphones offering beautiful vocals and surprising Highs and Mids.
The 1more Design Super Bass are priced at $21, similar to the Xiaomi branded alternatives but you get a more unique red finish, plus a useful carry bag and stainless steel wire clip thrown in too! Well worth a look if you are in the market for earphones.
Great review! Audiowise, which ones do you prefer: these or the Xiaomi Hybrid Dual Drivers? Or any other option in this price range that you can recommend?
The Xiaomi Hybrid are nice also
Yeah, but do you like ’em?
yes
Compared to the hybrid?
This one vs piston 4,whats recommended?..As i think you have given 9/10 for both
For what I understood these ones are as good as the Hybrid which I love.
What I’d love to buy is a nice pair of Bluetooth earphones with the same quality of the wired ones.
I know that Xiaomi doesn’t have them yet, I wonder if 1More already makes such a product
But the hybrid one cheaper than this one.
same here…one i can use with my ipod nano 7 as the 3.5mm port has gone bad…anyone you could possibly recommend? well until Xiaomi throws one out to the market..
There is another potential option I discovered recently. I bought a Eachine bluetooth audio receiver for a friends car. But I was playing with it and using my piston 3 as bluetooth earphones :-). That was something I never considered before. @http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-3_5mm-BluetoothV3_0EDR-Music-Streaming-Stereo-Audio-Receiver-Adapter-Mic-p-952089.html
no these are tuned entirely differently , the xiaomi piston 2 made a gigantic impact in the budget Iem market and head fi was idolizing the sht out of it , then 3 appeared which was a audiophile on a budgets dream , (less bass more defined mids crisp highs and waaaay better soundstage) But for some average users it lacked bass i mean by no means the pistons 3 have bad bass , But these are all about that bass , and at 21 bucks , metal enclosure great audio ( i always have pairs of beats at our local warehouse so i can complain about how bad they sound) These also have great packaging , the only thing i dont like is the fking Voice of china logo
The audio quality of the Xiaomi Hybrid earphones (or Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro) is not going to be anywhere close to an UE900S or even a Shure SE535 for that matter. But based on my listening comparison, it does beat the Phiaton PS 210 and Sennheiser MX760 which is priced way higher. It has higher clarity of mids and higher frequencies that can’t be matched by pure dynamic IEMs, while having decent bass over pure armature IEMs.
One important thing to note is that Xiaomi IEMs are not factory burned-in like the more costly IEMs. So they could sound pretty crappy out of the box to trained ears, especially if you are using reference IEMs daily. From my observation, you may need to burn them in for at least 72-hours before doing any significant comparison or deciding whether they are worth the hype. There is an official Xiaomi app to help you to just do this, or you could just play music on it to burn it in.
Official Mi/1More Design Burn-in app:
http://app.mi.com/detail/93833
Alternatively, here is a manual burn-in guide:
http://en.miui.com/thread-41227-1-1.html
lol of course not , the ue900s are my favourite iems ever made , and they cost min 300 bucks , you cant compare them to 21 dollar iems but the hybrids can punch their value to like 50-60 bucks or even more
You should try the SE846 then. It’ll blow your mind. But you will require a decent amp+dac to get your money’s worth.
I own a pair of UE900S, they are one of the rare IEMs that work decently on my NWZ-A17 DAP without an added amp. Your next best alternative would be an Etymotic 4-PT. But that is a little to clean for me. 🙂
Like what has already been mentioned by Tremaine, you can get
Bluetooth receivers that allow you to plug in any headphones/IEMs for a
wireless solution. I have a pair of Xiaomi HD-Audio earphones hooked up
to a Samsung HS3000 Bluetooth module. The HS3000 module has Bluetooth
audio controls and a mic built-in. If you expect the highest audio
quality possible, make sure to check for APT-X support for loss-less
audio quality support on both the Bluetooth module and playback device.
The HS3000 has support for it, but overlooked on the playback device by
most inexperienced reviewers.
HS3000:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/accessories/audio/BHS3000UMECXEU
Thanks for the reply (to both).
I still didn’t understand how you make it work.
Do you plug the 3.5mm jack of the wired earphones into the Bluetooth receiver/transmitter ?
If so, where do you put the receiver?
I hope not in the pocket.
And where do you put the cord?
Yes, the HS3000 has a 3.5mm jack and a clip that you could use to clip it onto your shirt or jacket. If you look at the pics in the HS3000 product page referenced in my comment above, it’ll be quite obvious.
If earphone the cord is too long, you could use a cord winder to shorten it without cutting it and rewiring it to a custom plug. You should be able to grab a decent winder from Radioshack or a electronics store popular in your area.
Great review! Audiowise, which ones do you prefer: these or the Xiaomi Hybrid Dual Drivers? Or any other option in this price range that you can recommend?
The Xiaomi Hybrid are nice also
Yeah, but do you like ’em?
yes
Compared to the hybrid?
This one vs piston 4,whats recommended?..As i think you have given 9/10 for both
For what I understood these ones are as good as the Hybrid which I love.
What I’d love to buy is a nice pair of Bluetooth earphones with the same quality of the wired ones.
I know that Xiaomi doesn’t have them yet, I wonder if 1More already makes such a product
same here…one i can use with my ipod nano 7 as the 3.5mm port has gone bad…anyone you could possibly recommend? well until Xiaomi throws one out to the market..
There is another potential option I discovered recently. I bought a Eachine bluetooth audio receiver for a friends car. But I was playing with it and using my piston 3 as bluetooth earphones :-). That was something I never considered before. @http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-3_5mm-BluetoothV3_0EDR-Music-Streaming-Stereo-Audio-Receiver-Adapter-Mic-p-952089.html
no these are tuned entirely differently , the xiaomi piston 2 made a gigantic impact in the budget Iem market and head fi was idolizing the sht out of it , then 3 appeared which was a audiophile on a budgets dream , (less bass more defined mids crisp highs and waaaay better soundstage) But for some average users it lacked bass i mean by no means the pistons 3 have bad bass , But these are all about that bass , and at 21 bucks , metal enclosure great audio ( i always have pairs of beats at our local warehouse so i can complain about how bad they sound) These also have great packaging , the only thing i dont like is the fking Voice of china logo
Like what has already been mentioned by Tremaine, you can get
Bluetooth receivers that allow you to plug in any headphones/IEMs for a
wireless solution. I have a pair of Xiaomi Hybrid earphones hooked up
to a Samsung HS3000 Bluetooth module. The HS3000 module has Bluetooth
audio controls and a mic built-in. If you expect the highest audio
quality possible, make sure to check for APT-X support for loss-less
audio quality support on both the Bluetooth module and playback device.
The HS3000 has support for it, but overlooked on the playback device by
most inexperienced reviewers.
HS3000:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/accessories/audio/BHS3000UMECXEU
If you want a compete solution but no choice of mix and match, then there are these that are relatively good:
http://www.aptx.com/brand/audio-technica
http://www.phiaton.com/products/tag/bluetooth/
The audio quality of the Xiaomi Hybrid earphones (or Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro) is not going to be anywhere close to an UE900S or even a Shure SE535 for that matter. But based on my listening comparison, it does beat the Phiaton PS 210 and Sennheiser MX760 which is priced way higher. It has higher clarity of mids and higher frequencies that can’t be matched by pure dynamic IEMs, while having decent bass over pure armature IEMs.
One important thing to note is that Xiaomi IEMs are not factory burned-in like the more costly IEMs. So they could sound pretty crappy out of the box to trained ears, especially if you are using reference IEMs daily. From my observation, you may need to burn them in for at least 72-hours before doing any significant comparison or deciding whether they are worth the hype. There is an official Xiaomi app to help you to just do this, or you could just play music on it to burn it in.
Official Mi/1More Design Burn-in app:
http://app.mi.com/detail/93833
Alternatively, here is a manual burn-in guide:
http://en.miui.com/thread-41227-1-1.html
Thanks for the reply (to both).
I still didn’t understand how you make it work.
Do you plug the 3.5mm jack of the wired earphones into the Bluetooth receiver/transmitter ?
If so, where do you put the receiver?
I hope not in the pocket.
And where do you put the cord?
lol of course not , the ue900s are my favourite iems ever made , and they cost min 300 bucks , you cant compare them to 21 dollar iems but the hybrids can punch their value to like 50-60 bucks or even more
You should try the SE846 then. It’ll blow your mind. But you will require a decent amp+dac to get your money’s worth.
I own a pair of UE900S, they are one of the rare IEMs that work decently on my NWZ-A17 DAP without an added amp. Your next best alternative would be an Etymotic 4-PT. But that is a little to clean for me. 🙂
Yes, the HS3000 has a 3.5mm jack and a clip that you could use to clip it onto your shirt or jacket. If you look at the pics in the HS3000 product page referenced in my comment above, it’ll be quite obvious.
If the earphone cord is too long, you could use a cord winder to shorten it without cutting it and rewiring it to a custom plug. You should be able to grab a decent winder from Radioshack or a electronics store popular in your area.
Maybe i should get this. Sounds cool, hoping. When will you guys review the meizu HD50?
Maybe i should get this. Sounds cool
Great find and review, as always. Thanks @Gizchina:disqus .
Great find and review, as always. Thanks @Gizchina:disqus .
Specs?
Specs?
i’d like to see better quality head phones for UNDER $10 !
i’d like to see better quality head phones for UNDER $10 !