Before writing this review, I would like to thank Mr. Joe Daileda, VP, Sales & Marketing of MEElectronics for choosing me as one of the reviewers to review their new IEM line-up thus making me as a serious audiophile! 
Introduction:
MEElectronics already established their name among audiophiles with their flagship product M9. To suit the taste of various audiophiles scattered all over the world, MEE introduced a lot of products like M16, M21, CX-21, CW-31, etc this year. And I’ve been lucky enough to get a chance for reviewing the IEM CW-31. Serious audiophiles forgive me if you find any mistakes in the review. (Only brickbats allowed here. for bouquets use PM/email!)
Specifications of CW-31: (Copied from the official website)
Cable length: 135cm (53 in, with attached shirt clip)
Driver size: 9.0 mm dynamic drivers
Frequency response: 20Hz-20 KHz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Packaging:
CW-31 ships in a rectangular plastic box. As usual most of the MEE products, the earphones and the case are resting inside a tray.
The design of package is similar to all other models of MEE. The front of the package contains the close up view of CW-31 with various taglines and on the back, the feature set & specifications were printed in short. The printing of warning messages in the bottom is a much needed information, which I feel most of the users will always ignore it, because it has become a fashion for everyone to wear an earphone and roam around. (And I’m also not an exception!) Anyways, for the sake of public, it’s a welcome addition.
Accessories:
CW-31 ships with 5 sets of eartips and a clamshell carrying case. Glad to see that this has been made mandatory by MEE to include in most of their models. Other accessories like cable winder, airplane adapter are not necessary and just for namesake, which I feel that most of the users are not using the same. (Except a very few people) For a casual listener, the range of eartips, and the protective pouch/case are important, which is adequately fulfilled by MEE.
After opening the box, you are greeted with the earphones and its case. Inside the case, a quick start guide is included for starters on how to wear the earphones to get much comfort, eliminate isolation, etc. There is one glitch though. The clamshell case was very small in size. In fact, I have to struggle a lot to put the earphones inside. The cases provided with M9, M6, M11 were big enough to store the earphones and the entire eartips. But this case is good enough to store the earphones only.
Build quality:
Being touted as the successor of MEElectronics R1, CW-31 was built with wooden housing in order to give a “natural sound†to the users. This is a simple model, one has to wear it straight, as simple as 1-2-3! Both the nozzles are oval shaped, which was built in a way to insert into the ear easily without any hiccups. The left side nozzle was built on the extreme left, ditto with right to provide maximum comfort to the users in order to wear it for a long time. You can view the same in the picture.
The plug is a right-angled gold plated one, which will fit into a standard 3.5mm jack.
Sound quality:
A burn-in process with the help of pink noise for a period of 60 hours was done. I’ve ripped some regional language tracks (Hindi, Tamil & Telugu) and some English tracks. All the songs were ripped into 320KBPS MP3 format. The EQ was set to “Flat†while listening.
Being made of “Samak†wood, the CW-31 belongs to the MEE range of Clarity series, which obviously meant that it will give a detailed sound. So I thought that the bass will not be sufficient. But surprisingly, the bass was quite good. My all time favourite track “Monalisa†sounded flawlessly while hearing with CW-31. The soundstage is decent enough for an IEM. While amping with Fiio E1, there’s a “little-bit†improvement on the overall sound quality. So, like all MEE models, no amping is necessary.
No issues on microphonics, as usual with all MEE IEM’s. As far as isolation is concerned, I always prefer wearing bi-flange tips in order to get a proper seal. The normal tips won’t provide such a comfortable feel for me. But surprisingly for CW-31, the single flange tips are enough to give such a seal and the isolation was quite good. However, it depends upon the user’s taste (like me, accustomed to use only bi-flange tips!)
Conclusion:
Like all MEE products, CW-31 is priced nominally, which gives bang for the buck! CW-31 retails at $49.99 and the mic variant CW-31P retails at $54.99, with $7 shipping all over the world via USPS. So, grab these and join the MEE bandwagon! Have fun, enjoy music with MEE You won’t regret for SURE.
Contenders:
At this price point, the contenders to CW-31 are
As usual, I leave this to you, what to choose as each and everyone are having a different taste.
A WORD OF CAUTION: Always hear at 50%-60% volume while using earphones as continuous use at a high volume may cause severe damage to your ears. For more etiquette's of how to use IEM's,
please refer: Basic Guide to IEM's
Finally we arrive at the climax! I'm thankful to all people who helped to do this review. Thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart.
Introduction:
MEElectronics already established their name among audiophiles with their flagship product M9. To suit the taste of various audiophiles scattered all over the world, MEE introduced a lot of products like M16, M21, CX-21, CW-31, etc this year. And I’ve been lucky enough to get a chance for reviewing the IEM CW-31. Serious audiophiles forgive me if you find any mistakes in the review. (Only brickbats allowed here. for bouquets use PM/email!
)Specifications of CW-31: (Copied from the official website)
Cable length: 135cm (53 in, with attached shirt clip)
Driver size: 9.0 mm dynamic drivers
Frequency response: 20Hz-20 KHz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Packaging:
CW-31 ships in a rectangular plastic box. As usual most of the MEE products, the earphones and the case are resting inside a tray.
The design of package is similar to all other models of MEE. The front of the package contains the close up view of CW-31 with various taglines and on the back, the feature set & specifications were printed in short. The printing of warning messages in the bottom is a much needed information, which I feel most of the users will always ignore it, because it has become a fashion for everyone to wear an earphone and roam around. (And I’m also not an exception!) Anyways, for the sake of public, it’s a welcome addition.
Accessories:
CW-31 ships with 5 sets of eartips and a clamshell carrying case. Glad to see that this has been made mandatory by MEE to include in most of their models. Other accessories like cable winder, airplane adapter are not necessary and just for namesake, which I feel that most of the users are not using the same. (Except a very few people) For a casual listener, the range of eartips, and the protective pouch/case are important, which is adequately fulfilled by MEE.
After opening the box, you are greeted with the earphones and its case. Inside the case, a quick start guide is included for starters on how to wear the earphones to get much comfort, eliminate isolation, etc. There is one glitch though. The clamshell case was very small in size. In fact, I have to struggle a lot to put the earphones inside. The cases provided with M9, M6, M11 were big enough to store the earphones and the entire eartips. But this case is good enough to store the earphones only.
Build quality:
Being touted as the successor of MEElectronics R1, CW-31 was built with wooden housing in order to give a “natural sound†to the users. This is a simple model, one has to wear it straight, as simple as 1-2-3! Both the nozzles are oval shaped, which was built in a way to insert into the ear easily without any hiccups. The left side nozzle was built on the extreme left, ditto with right to provide maximum comfort to the users in order to wear it for a long time. You can view the same in the picture.
The plug is a right-angled gold plated one, which will fit into a standard 3.5mm jack.
Sound quality:
A burn-in process with the help of pink noise for a period of 60 hours was done. I’ve ripped some regional language tracks (Hindi, Tamil & Telugu) and some English tracks. All the songs were ripped into 320KBPS MP3 format. The EQ was set to “Flat†while listening.
Being made of “Samak†wood, the CW-31 belongs to the MEE range of Clarity series, which obviously meant that it will give a detailed sound. So I thought that the bass will not be sufficient. But surprisingly, the bass was quite good. My all time favourite track “Monalisa†sounded flawlessly while hearing with CW-31. The soundstage is decent enough for an IEM. While amping with Fiio E1, there’s a “little-bit†improvement on the overall sound quality. So, like all MEE models, no amping is necessary.
No issues on microphonics, as usual with all MEE IEM’s. As far as isolation is concerned, I always prefer wearing bi-flange tips in order to get a proper seal. The normal tips won’t provide such a comfortable feel for me. But surprisingly for CW-31, the single flange tips are enough to give such a seal and the isolation was quite good. However, it depends upon the user’s taste (like me, accustomed to use only bi-flange tips!)
Conclusion:
Like all MEE products, CW-31 is priced nominally, which gives bang for the buck! CW-31 retails at $49.99 and the mic variant CW-31P retails at $54.99, with $7 shipping all over the world via USPS. So, grab these and join the MEE bandwagon! Have fun, enjoy music with MEE
You won’t regret for SURE.Contenders:
At this price point, the contenders to CW-31 are
- NuForce NE-7M
- MP4Nation Brainwavz M2
- SoundMAGIC PL-50
As usual, I leave this to you, what to choose as each and everyone are having a different taste.
A WORD OF CAUTION: Always hear at 50%-60% volume while using earphones as continuous use at a high volume may cause severe damage to your ears. For more etiquette's of how to use IEM's,
please refer: Basic Guide to IEM's
Finally we arrive at the climax! I'm thankful to all people who helped to do this review. Thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart.
