1MORE Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones with In-line Microphone and Remote

Link to my review and measurement index thread where one can also find a full review overview, more information about myself as well as my general-ish audio and review manifesto: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/956208/

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I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:

5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.

4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.

3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]

2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]

1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]

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1More E1001


Source:

Review sample.


Miscellaneous:

Also commonly known just as “1More Triple-Driver”.

Luxurious unboxing experience.
I especially like the “1More” tie pin that comes included.
Nice selection of ear tips.

Shells fully made of aluminium. Unusual but nice colour scheme with rose gold and the darker of the two colours reminding me on Mercedes-Benz’ “Bornite Metallic 481”.
Build quality seems to be good.

While the included carrying case looks and feels nice, what I don’t like about it is that it isn’t designed to be fully sealed and will therefore let dust and dirt in.

Cable non-removable. Coated with woven fabric below the cable divider. Looks and feels nice and has even got some subtle blue accents incorporated, but is highly likely to fray over time and more prone to soaking fluids than regular cables.
No chin-slider.
The remote control (three buttons, located on the right hand side) feels of high quality.

Designed to be worn with the cable down. Due to this and the lack of a chin-slider, microphonics are unfortunately strong.

Three drivers per side; hybrid construction (1x dynamic driver, 2x BA).




Sound:

Largest included silicone ear tips.

Tonality:

Clearly consumer-oriented (sub-) bass-focused L- to w-shape.

As it is the case with pretty much all in-ears that house a dynamic driver and are vented, the amount by how much the E1001s’ inner vents are blocked also affects their (especially sub-) bass output. In my ears, the vents are closer to being blocked than free, and as a result the sound is even somewhat more sub-bass-oriented than if the vents remained completely free.

The bass starts to climb around 900 Hz and reaches its climax around 40 Hz to my ears, with a quantity of around 16 dB compared to diffuse-field flatness, but is already very present around 90 Hz wherefore the sound, while ultimately still focused on the true sub-bass and lower midbass, does carry some strong and noticeably punch and is also heading undeniably into the warmer direction in the lower fundamental range and lower midrange but without overshadowing the mids.

The mids seem to be neither intimate nor distant in the mix; there is small climb towards 4 kHz in the middle treble wherefore bright voices’ overtones carry a bit of added brightness to compensate for the lower midrange warmth. While this also affects instruments’ timbre (such as trumpets and pianos) negatively and colours them to a brighter pitch, I personally think that this elevation is necessary as a counterweight to the warmth in order to make voices not appear too muffled.

Around 6 kHz, I can hear a rather narrow dip that adds headroom for the former as well as the next elevation that starts around 8 kHz and peaks in the super treble around 12 kHz.
Ultimately, while neither sharp nor annoying (but sometimes just somewhat too “sizzling”) thanks to being placed quite high, the latter of the two elevations, combined with the 6 kHz drop, results in the treble to not sound natural but artificial while it sounds overall inoffensive yet bright at the same time.

Frequency Response:


ER-4S-Compensation (blocked inner Vents)

My ears block the inner vents slightly less than completely, so the actually perceived sub-bass elevation is just a little bit less strong to me but comes very close. Otherwise, that’s also the tonal tendency that I actually hear when performing sine sweeps, although I perceive the lower/mid-treble elevation as just a bit milder, with a slightly less steep 6 kHz dip.

I haven’t saved the FR measurement with un-blocked vents.


ProPhile 8-Compensation (blocked inner Vents)

Resolution:

When it comes to resolution, the E1001 are merely “okay” at best in their price range and outperformed by a good number of other competing single-driver and some multi-driver in-ears.
That said, apart from some metallicness and perceived short decay in the upper highs, the two BA drivers don’t really shine through when it comes to details and separation; the treble just lacks some details.

Overall, the midrange and treble details and separation are just acceptable for the price, and as mentioned, more or less clearly outperformed by other single- and multi-driver in-ears in all areas or certain ones of the frequency spectrum (iBasso IT01, AAW Nebula One, Moondrop Starfield, FiiO FH1, Shure SE215m+SPE, Fidue A65 – just to name a few). Generally, it just sounds as if the dynamic driver were handling most (if not even all) of the frequency spectrum and the BA drivers were just integrated to incorporate some upper treble sparkle.

The lows are neither the tightest nor fastest and come close to the point of being spongy and undefined; solely their more or less controlled decay saves them from notes and bass lines not being perceptible anymore. As for quality, the dynamic driver implementation in the E1001 is clearly on the lower side, with only my Sennheiser IE 80, Trinity Audio Engineering Delta V-II, the NuForce NE800M and Chord & Major’s in-ears managing to deliver even less quality in the bass.
Apart from the lack of tightness and speed, I also perceive the lows’ details as less than average.

Soundstage:

The perceived soundstage is overall fairly average to me as well – neither narrow nor especially wide expanding, however with rather decent although less-than-wide front projection.

Imaging precision is okay as well – not especially blurry or diffuse, but not precise and well-separated either.

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Comparisons:

Fidue A73:

The Fidue are less bassy than the 1More but still clearly elevated and warm, although a bit less warm in the mids.
In the upper mids and lower treble, the A73 are brighter.
Both are comparably bright in the upper highs, with the Fidue peaking somewhat lower.

The A73 decay a bit slower in the lows compared to the 1More but have the better defined, tighter attack as well as more detailed bass.
Both are comparably detailed in the mids and treble, with a slight advantage for the Fidue which separate single notes better and more precisely.

The A73s’ soundstage is larger and also somewhat more precise to my ears.

AAW Nebula 2:

The Nebula 2 are comparable in the sub- and midbass as for quantity, but with even more upper bass punch. The E1001 are warmer in the root, though.
The AAWs’ mids are flatter.
The E1001s’ highs appear darker due to their 6 kHz recession even though their upper treble carries more brightness.

The AAW are superior when it comes to bass speed and tightness, and also feature a more detailed midrange and treble.

Soundstage size and imaging precision are about comparable.




Conclusion:

While it lacks realism in the treble reproduction when it comes to real instruments, the E1001s’ consumer-oriented fun tuning is overall okay and does not offend. When it comes to technicalities, though, these in-ears fall rather short and deliver a performance that can be described as merely “acceptable” in this price range where several better performing single-driver models exist.


Photos:

Video review:







INTRODUCTION

1More is a company that has glowing reputation for making best bang for the buck products. With many requests for this review, I contacted 1More myself many time but received no response so I am going to give it a terrible review ! Jokes aside, I was fortunate enough to have one of my dear friend in the audio industry lend me their pair for the purpose of this review. I am skeptical of these cheaply priced multiple driver iems or headphones as much as I am skeptical of the expensive ones. With that being said, I did not expect much going into this, given that these were only $99 with triple drivers inside. I mean, imagine the corners they had to cut to bring the price down that much and still make profit. Short story shorter… they did not cut that many corners.

DISCLAIMER

This unit was lent to me by a friend in the audio industry for this review. I will be crying when I return them.

ABOUT 1MORE

from their website:

1MORE is a premiere consumer electronics audio company headquartered in San Diego, California. Our mission is to deliver superior quality headphones at an amazing value to customers, disrupting an industry where price hiking and design shortcuts are the norm.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

TECHNICAL DETAILS

• Frequency Range: 20-40,000 Hz
• Plug: 3.5 mm Gold Plated
• Color: Black With Brushed Gold
• Triple driver: 2 balanced armature & 1 Dynamic

WHERE DO I BUY IT?

buy from here for best price



BUILD QUALITY

*Note: I was not provided with the full packaging and therefore do not know what else is included*

Pros: Aluminum housing with angled tips that feels premium in your ears.

Best carrying case for practicality and durability.





Cons: Tip may not fit for small ears, but if noble x or lz a4 fit you, it will be fine. nondetachable cable.



For $99, best build quality I’ve seen, period.

PRACTIALLY

THE FIT: Fits perfectly for my ears and I have average ears. Very comfortable in your ears, does not penetrate deep into your ears but stay in its place without falling off or being unstable

SOUND ISOLATION: Sound isolation is as good as the fit. If you can a good fit, these will isolate great. Outside noise isolates well too.

PAIRING: These are not hard to drive, they are driven well with a phone or a digital audio player, with latter being preferred due to better sound quality.

SUGGESTED USE: You can use these anywhere as you please, just not anywhere near your mom when she’s talking to you as you will get smacked for not answering.

SOUND QUALITY

LOWS – punchy and well extended. Clean and fast. Does not extend as much as the LZ A4 but goes head to head with the punchy and clean bass that the noble x has.

MIDS – Present but not midcentric like the noble x or lz a4 (with certain filters)

HIGHS – Well extended with a sparkle and airiness. Not the best treble by any means but first in this price range to give that wow factor.

SOUNDSTAGE/IMAGING/SEPARATION:

• Sound stage is inmate but imaging and separation is excellent and excels at this price range.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For what you pay for, you are getting a well rounded iem that does not excel in particular areas comp

Aesthetics: 
The box with its engineering drawings, beautiful graphics, and presentation of the product leaves a great first impression. Included are ample sizes of silicon earpieces to choose from, the leather carrying case is surprisingly nice, and the build quality of the product itself is outstanding. The aluminum finish is impressive, as well as the cable (particularly the section before the wire splits into two), and the inline mic. 
 
Comfort:
Personally, I had no problems with the comfort and fit of this model. While they are not the most comfortable in-ear's I've used, I was satisfied. Other reviews point out that they can be uncomfortable for some over long periods of use, which I can imagine though I didn't have a problem. 
 
Audio Quality:
This is why my review is only 3.5 stars - the lowest review these have received so far (as of 2/25/17). I really was not impressed by the sound quality. Maybe its because I had high expectations about the sound quality based on other reviews, or maybe my favorite music isn't what these do best, or it could be because I'm spoiled by my other headphones and speaker systems. Listening to my preferred types of music (acoustic instrumental stuff, classic rock, and some newer alternative stuff), I found that some of the detail of the the music was present, but it was delivered poorly. I'll elaborate: 
 
-Sound stage: The sound stage on these is quite small, and unlike anything else I've heard (and not in a good way either). On this model, the larger drivers are mounted in the back of the unit while the smaller one is much further forward, and this has a poor affect on the sound stage. It almost sounds like the highs, mids, and lows each have a different sound stage. It made the 1MORE sound really weird and over focused on the highs. 
 
-Highs: I didn't prefer the sound of the highs on these. The treble has a tinny sound that is somewhat muffled. The affect I noticed is almost like having really nice headphones or in-ear's that you know have great highs and treble, and plugging them into a crappy low quality source. Like I said, the highs are too prominent and out of balance.
 
-Mids & lows: The lower mids were ok once I moved past the highs. The sound was accurate and acceptable. The lows were also accurate, but I would have liked just a little more bass. I mean, I don't like excessive bass in headphones or IEMs, but the 1MORE's bass was bit quiet. 
 
However, there is a redeeming feature with respect to audio quality: because there are three drivers, there is little to no distortion of highs or mids when you listen to something with a lot of bass. Specifically heavy metal songs with a lot of bass guitar and fast drum parts that might cause distortion or other inaccuracies on most in-ear's of this price range, sound great on the 1MORE's. 
 
Conclusion:
The 1MORE Triple Driver was really nothing special as far as audio quality. While the average user who just wants something better than the earbuds included with their smartphone will be satisfied with this product, those of us concerned about audio quality will find these in-ear's have some weird traits. The sound wasn't even close to mediocre, and many people will like the way they sound. I tend to be very picky about sound quality, and their characteristics are just too odd for me compared to what I'm used to. While these in-ear's are marketed very well, are nice to look at, durable, and stylish, it seems the trade-off here is their lack of a smooth and accurate sound, which is the most important thing when buying any headphone or IEM in my opinion. If you agree, you can probably find something that sounds better for $99.