Ok final impressions of the Brainwavz M3. I purposefully delayed writing my impressions about them. I tend to be overwhelmed by any new IEM for the first few days. Then I begin to start picking up the flaws and end up wondering why I liked the sound in the first place !
It has been almost 3 months since I have got them, and I can safely say that I like them just as much as when I first got them.
Fit and build
Not the easiest IEMs to insert and it takes me a few tries to fit them in my ears. I prefer to wear them over the ear but they are fine when worn straight down. The housings are very light and so they are pretty comfortable to use.
Build quality seems to be very good like the Brainwavz M2s. The wire is nice as its tangle free and does not have a memory effect.
Sound Impressions
The bass and mids are the focus of this IEM. The bass is the stand out feature for me because it is present when needed and it is gone when its no longer needed. Some IEMs use a mid bass bump to compensate for the driver being unable to dish out those low notes that bass heads go gaga over ! The side effect of this strategy is that you can hear bass even in tracks which does not have much bass in the recording. However when called for the bass comes out of its hiding place and wows you with its impact and body. However its still a bit soft and lacks that extra bit of speed to fully engage the listener in very fast paced music. However for most music its more than sufficient and actually quite pleasing. Comparing to other IEMs I would say its got more quantity than IEMs like RE0, RE1, RE262 but less than IEMs like Hippo VB or Nuforce NE6.
Mids are also pretty good. They are neither recessed or forward as far as I can tell but just exactly where you expect them. Those who found mids in IEMs like RE0 too dry or the RE1 mids too wet and liquid will appreciate the neutral sounding mids on the M3. With the substantial bass, the mids sound a bit warm and smooth with good body. They are not as detailed or as lush as higher end IEMs like the RE262 but the RE262 is substantially more expensive. Mids are mostly neutral with a bit of pleasing warmth.
Treble is smooth and inoffensive. Those who dislike sibilance and harshness (like me !) will find the treble nicely done but those looking for sparkle and micro detailing should look elsewhere. That said the M3s have still plenty of detail but due to the smooth treble they dont jump out at you but if you listen closely enough you will realise that there is plenty of minor detailing that separate low end IEMs and higher end IEMs.
Soundstage is pretty spacious if you use biflange tips. It does not sound as spacious if you the bundled Sony hybrid tips. If you have biflange tips I implore you to try them out to see if you like the sound that way.
Imaging / Positioning is better than average even unamped and soundstage width is very good even for a soundstageaholic like me ! Depth and height is only about average unamped but both improves a bit on amping.
The M3s do respond a bit more than other IEMs to amping to eek out that extra 5%. Amping improves dynamics a bit and mids sound slightly more detailed and clearer and soundstage height and depth improve a bit as well.
IMO the difference is not worth fretting over and at times I am more than content to use them unamped. In fact everytime my amp's batteries run dead and I can't properly power my RE262s, I reach out to the M3s to be my travel companion to work without being disappointed at moving to a lower IEM.
In summary they are a warm sounding IEM with full bodied bass, good thick mids and a nice smooth sibilance free treble.
The M3s sound great with most type of music but I like them best with slightly slow paced music. Amping them helps improve dynamics a bit so that they sound better with faster paced music.
At their price point the M3s have some stiff competition in the Klipsch S4i, RE1, and RE0.
I have only heard the Klipsch S4 briefly and they had a somewhat similar sound signature with good amount of bass, nice mids and wide soundstage. However from memory the S4 has a bit too many peaks which led to sibilance and IMO a bit less detailing.
The RE0 has MUCH better treble and detailing compared to the M3. But the M3 doesn't sound as dry as the Re0 and offers MUCH more bass punch and impact.
The RE1 has better mids and a bit more soundstage width, depth and height but thats about it. The M3s have noticeably better bass impact and have similar amount of detailing.
Also both the RE0 and RE1 need an amp to sound their best while M3s are perfectly happy running unamped and you wont need to crank up the volume of your Mp3 player like you would have to do running the RE0 and RE1 unamped.
Unfortunately I missplaced my M2 sample so I cannot compare the two. From memory (which is not that good anymore !) the M2s had more mid bass and a more forward midrange. Also I could swear that treble had a bit more sparkle and bite compared to the M3s. However the M2s had a not so wide soundstage compared to the M3s and detailing seems to be a touch more on the M3s. For a full comparison between the M2s and M3s, you would have to wait for Faheems review.
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