FIX XE-701, balanced armature IEM

This is my first Balanced Armature IEM, FIX XE-701 is Korean made IEM, it is a single BA driver, the built quality is good, the cable is a little bit stiff but it may not be break easily.

When I received it, the sound quality is very bad, really bad, there is NO BASS at all, I made this decision to purchase this IEM based on the web advertisement which compare Sony XBA-10 with XE-701, the advertisement is actually a video about public poll somewhere in Seoul which shows that many Korean passer-by give thumb up to the XE-701 than XBA-10.

The high treble so airy, vocal seem quite distance like 3D surround effect. I thought maybe I got a defected product but I give some break-in a few days including some pink noise break-in.

After 2 weeks, I can hear the bass ONLY when I try hard to listen to it in the middle of the night when everyone already sleeping and very quiet. I tell myself that I am not a BA guy, but what I audition about other BA IEMs in headphoneshop.co.kr they sound quite pleasant and smooth, some of the multi BA drivers produce nice solid bass, so maybe I need to keep hunting for multi BA drivers.

The right side of the ear piece has a mic, hence the 4 sleeves audio connector, the cable is split to left and right with a simple Y splitter but the shape is a little bit strange because seem like inside the middle of the Y splitter there is a solder joint to combine 2 cables, the stamp "made in China" is all over the product .. :-(

I wish I can open the IEM behind-cap so I can replace the cable with a better quality, but I am afraid to break it too soon.

Falling in love with the world

Write : 2013-07-09 13:35:52

FIX XE-701, the packaging

It come with a large box and has 4 pairs of tips, one of the tip is a double-flange tip.

Falling in love with the world

Write : 2013-07-09 13:37:39

FIX XE-701, the tip size

I take a photo which compare the tip size of FIX XE-701 and Sony XB30EX, the FIX XE-701 tip is around 2x larger therefore their tips can not be exchanged which is too bad.

Falling in love with the world

Write : 2013-07-09 13:39:46

FIX XE-701, the bonus

When I received the FIX XE-701, I am surprised to see they give a bonus of FIX lower-end IEM which is the FIX XE-301 which using a normal dynamic driver.

I burn the FIX XE-301 with pink-noise in the office for around 50 hours non-stop on the weekend, I leave my notebook on just to burn it, the next monday when I listen to the FIX XE-301 I hear a quite pleasant sound of bass and high, so I dont feel too sad about purchasing the FIX XE-701.

Falling in love with the world

Write : 2013-07-09 13:43:58