anilthomas26
Contributor
I have used PL30 brainwavz M1 before. I am interested in something better than M1 and price should be < 2.5 K. Are the above suggested ones better than PL50 ?
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]This may well be the best of the bunch. Similar to the MEElectronics SP51 and Hippo VB that came before it, the XePort 5010 incorporates a variable bass tuning system into its nearly identical housings. The 5010 comes with three sets of interchangeable tuning plates which screw on to the rear of the housings. Like the SP51, the bass plates are silver, gunmetal and black, offering incremental increases in bass. My listening impressions have been done using the gunmetal plate.[/font]
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The bass is unsurprisingly a strength of these earphones and not purely because you can control how much of it you get. No matter which plate is in place, the bass is well controlled, punchy and has nice texture and definition. Extension is rather impressive as well and is nicely balanced with no obnoxious mid-bass hump to worry about.[/font]
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The midrange is (mostly) free of bass bleed and is smooth but not lacking in detail. Warm, is the word I’d use to describe it but not so warm that the resolution is hurt but these aren’t the kind of IEMs you’ll go to for micro-detail retrieval. There’s a bit of grain throughout the midrange as well but nothing too detrimental to the sound quality overall. I know this comment sounds rather bad but when put into perspective of its price point, it’s not bad at all and I can say that these can easily punch above their $20 price.[/font]
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Treble is, once again, fairly laid back and even handed in its presentation. It never gets to the point of sibilance because it lacks that extra bit of sparkle and clarity of IEMs such as the RE0, but, again, for something that costs as little as these do, that’s to be expected.[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The soundstage created by the 5010 is actualy surprisingly deep, giving these an “out of the head†sound. Imaging is rather nice as well and I was pretty satisfied with the width and height of the stage as well.[/font]
If you preferred your mid range to be more forward than M1, while not minding the loss of some bass quantity, PL50 will work out fine.