IREALIST Earphones

First and foremost, this rating score is based on the headphones (which are the bulk of the purchase). They are amazing. I am convinced you cannot get anything better without resorting to custom fit IEMs. I cannot gloat enough about how much better they sound compared with every IEM.However, the customer support (for English, I assume) is lacking. I had a problem with the cord cutting in and out within a few weeks. Since the cord is replaceable for this reason, I figured they'd give me a new one out of sympathy for part of their product. However, they never replied. So I tried again, and still nothing. I still have the faulty cord and am going to try one more time before just buying one myself, but I don't really want to spend $60 if I don't have to.

Someone posted that this blew away the Westone W40 and I don't agree. I ordered these as a replacement and they do sound great but are a bit base heavy for my tastes. I was able to adjust this with a preamp. Also they are a bit larger than the Westones. I ended up getting the W60s which I prefer the Westone sound signature but with all of that said these are a tremendous value at their price point

These IEMs are better than over 8 pairs of over ear headphones in the sub $500 range that I have spent a lot of time listening to which is astounding. 100% worth the money if you want to have an amazing experience every time you listen to music.

These are great monitors if you can still find them and if you're willing to spend a lot.

Amazing sound quality

This is the best all-around balanced armature I have used. I have owned at one point the entire westone line including the Westone 4, and currently own the Heir 4ai. As many know, it’s not the amount of Armature units, but how they are implemented. There’s a three-way cross-over here and it has proven for a very cohesive sound. Each frequency is smooth, yet detailed with a high amount of clarity. The bass is slightly impactful and full with a nice reverb quality that stays in it’s range.LOWS: No leakage into the mids, what-so-ever. I am used to slightly warmer sounding IEM’s like the Westone’s. There seems to be a very slight bump in the VERY low sub-bass frequencies that is very pleasing but once over 100 HZ it is very clean and flat. By personal preference I actually add a little in the EQ to the mid-bass to provide a slight amount of warmth.The bass quality is tight with a hint of loose warmth almost like the hifiman re262. The difference is that quality and quantity is better than re262. I really appreciate the fact that EarSonic’s made the bass sound a little more like a dynamic driver. It makes the sound slightly more analog which is to my liking. The control and separation of the bass is what makes this section special. It really does act like having a good sub-woofer in a full system. It interrupts when called upon in a charming and pleasing way, but when it needs to purr just to add to a vocal it does so. Very cohesive, very clean, a little dynamic.This isn’t a bass-head IEM. It won’t blast you away, but it will suit anything from EDM to bluegrass.

I've now had these earphones for a week and I remain breathless at how versatile and outstanding they are. The below list should give readers of this review a good idea of the kind of sound I have been used to in the past as I have owned the following;IEM's:- Westone W40- Shure 530/535 SE (Red)- Sennheiser IE8/IE80- Etymotic ER-6- B&W C5HEADPHONES:- Sennheiser HD 650- Sennheiser HD 580- Audio Technica ATH-W3000- Audio Technica M50Just prior to buying the SM64's, I had decided on the Westone W40's. I'd heard great things about them and got them from an online retailer at a reasonable discount with a money back guarantee if I wasn't happy with them. I decided on the W40's over the SM64's partly for price but mostly because of the fact they had 4 drivers, 1 more than the 64's which have a measly three. Four's gotta be better than 3 right? Well - I've discovered that's not always the case. It's got to be said that W40's are excellent earphones, and had I not owned the above mentioned earphones, would say they're the best I'd ever heard. The problem with the W40's is their almost complete lack of `fun sound'. They're very detailed, cover the audio spectrum really well, but ultimately, I just didn't enjoy them. I'd experience moments of "wow" but these were few and far between. So I sent them back and with the refund, bought the EarSonics which took a real leap of faith not having tested them. I was compelled by all the extraordinary reviews I had read - reviews that still didn't do them justice.The SM64's are never ever boring. Nor are they overly coloured. In fact I would describe the sound as detailed, fairly neutral - yet full, lush and way bigger than any IEM's should ever sound.BASSI said earlier that reviews I'd read about the 64's didn't do them justice, mostly because some of them said that the bass wasn't particularly prominent. This couldn't be further from the truth. The bass from these IEM's is something to behold. It's definitely not boomy however it is full and beautifully detailed/textured, something I did not experience with the W40's which had not one but TWO dedicated bass speakers in each ear! How EarSonics achieved this miracle is a true mystery, but they could have used sorcery for all I care - the bass is so fantastic that it's addictive, such is the detail contained within each bass note. Not only is the bass clear and balanced, it extends low - very low. I'm talking subwoofer low! When listening to the opening scene of The Dark Knight, I was treated to sound I'd only heard previously in the IMAX theatre I'd originally watched it in. You literally feel the rumble in your ears.MIDSNext is the mids which I can only describe as "buttery smooth" and just a delight to listen to. The mids are a little forward but have astounding quality. This is the key difference between the SM64's and their closest rivals, the Shure SE 535's - brilliant earphones that do a lot very well, but never quite come close to the class and "fun" of the 64's. To get the 535's to sound their best, amplification is required to get to that "wow" factor. This is not the case with the SM64's - all that's required for great sound is an iPhone. Anything above that (whether it be amplification or player with better phone-amp stage) will scale the sound up from friggin' awesome to whatever superlatives you wish to place above that.Yes, these earphones are seriously THAT good.HIGHSThis is where EarSonics truly excel. The highs are clear, detailed (really detailed) and much like the bass, also have that addictive quality where you want to listen to recordings just to hear what new details you had previously (but unknowingly) missed.All three frequency ranges sound brilliant alone but it's how they sound together that gives these earphones their magic. EarSonics obviously put a lot of effort into getting the `HQ crossover" on these earphones right, and they succeeded - spectacularly! It often feels like I have full sized headphones, not earphones on.SOUNDSTAGE & INSTRUMENT SEPARATIONLast but not least is the soundstage. Now THIS is where the SM64's come into their own. You would be forgiven for thinking they had 5 or even 6 drivers per ear instead of 3. Even with lower quality recordings, the instrument separation is excellent. But upgrade to higher or full bit-quality sound and the separation (and soundstage) really has to be heard to be believed. Not one of the competing IEM's I have listed above come close, and they even gave the full sized headphones a run for their money. A huge statement, I know. But one I stand by.Much has been said about the impedance (which is a high 98ohms, not the 112) but I had no trouble driving them from my iPhone 5S. I did have to turn the volume up louder and much older recordings couldn't be driven loud at all. But anything post about 1998 should be fine. With amplification, this is not at all an issue. The SM64's seem to have the right balance of impedance vs sensitivity resulting in great (though slightly reduced) volume.(NOTE: If you use iTunes and have older recordings that don't sound as loud, you can boost the volume in iTunes by right clicking on the album, choosing Get info > Options Tab then increasing the volume by about 50% or so).GRIPES?So it can't all be good news, right? Well in the interests of fairness, I do have some gripes. A minor one (that is now sorted) is the fit. The default eartips did not work for me. It took ages for me to get the right fit but even then, there was almost no bass. It wasn't until I changed to the slightly bigger ones that I almost instantly started experiencing audio nirvana! My main gripe though is the build quality, notably, the slightly cheap feel of the plastics used. For earphones that cost over $500, I expect better. That said, perhaps this is EarSonic's way of saying "hey look, we put all our effort into making these earphones sound great and skimped a bit on the shell casing".And maybe they're onto something as ultimately, I just don't care. It's not like they're falling apart. They're very sturdy indeed. They just don't look the million dollars I forked out for them which never matters anyway once I press that play button.FINAL WORDSIf you're after the ultimate in sub $1000 earphones, you would be hard pressed to find anything better than the EarSonics SM64's. They deliver brilliantly time and time again and outclass headphones that cost much more. The instrument separation and soundstage (for an IEM) is superb and all three drivers produce outstanding, beautifully balanced and addictive sound. They sound so good, I'll no longer be using my full sized earphones (out-performing even my Audio Technica ATH-W3000's which cost me $1,500). Finally, an IEM that rules them all! To get anything noticeably better, you would need to spend almost triple what these cost. So if you're tossing up between the SM64's and their competitors take it from me, sonically (and in terms of music versatility), the SM64's are king!