*Update: I initially gave the Mifo U5 Plus a 5-star review, but two weeks after publishing the cable has developed a short and besides sound cutting out on the left ear piece from time to time, sound quality seems to have also taken a hit. I have disliked the cable from the start but now I have a whole other reason to hate it. Au revoir 2 stars.

Nowadays I spend more time listening to podcasts and online news through headphones than I do listening to music. Considering that the highest frequencies are the most affected by the bandwidth limitations of Bluetooth and that the human voice resides primarily in the midrange, hi-fidelity is not of utmost concern.

The Mifo U5 Plus appears to be the latest iteration of a headphone design that stretches back a couple years. The U5 Plus has been branded and rebranded multiple times. You can find them under Morul, Lepfun, Photive, Axgio, Eanop and possibly other labels, some of which can go for exhorbitant amounts on Amazon, but as far as I can tell they are identical in features and accessories.

I purchased the Mifo U5 Plus from GearBest for $26.

Pics


The compact box contains a surprising amount of accessories, although their usefulness will vary from person to person. 3 pairs of different sized ear tips, 3 pairs of different sized shark fins, 2 cable cinches, an instruction manual, a certificate of authenticity, a warranty card and a micro USB cable.

Build and Functionality
They certainly look sturdy. The U5 Plus is a mix of soft-touch rubber and aluminum molded into an attractive, shiny cuboid. They are IPX7 waterproof and they have passed my shower+shampoo tests with superior shine and bounce. There's even a video demonstration of another iteration being submerge in water, cola and hot tea.



The outside of the driver housings are magnetic and feature a raised, flat surface so the two sides won't wobble when attached to each other. However, two issues arise from this design. First, the edge of the raised surface is unnecessarily sharp. Not razor-sharp, more like the inside lip on an open can of lager, which is sharp enough to cause concern and discomfort when inserting and adjusting them though they have been worn down over time. Second, the shiny finish of the aluminum is easily rubbed off by friction. After only 2 days of schlepping them around I've already rubbed away the centers of each earpiece.


Excuse the gnarly thumbnail. I clipped them in the dark.

The cable is a flat and stiff having more in common with a twist tie than an electrical cable. The kinks that were present when I unboxed the U5 are the kinks that will be present for eternity. The effect has lessened over time, but it will never escape its gnarly roots.



The microphone/control module is made of the same soft-touch rubber as the earpieces and has a simple, intuitive design with easy to navigate buttons that are well placed and spread out so there is no chance of pressing the wrong one. The small LED is a subdued white that is easy on the iris although it might be hard to see in daylight.

The voice prompts by default are set to Chinese. After turning the unit on you can switch it to English by holding both the Volume + and - buttons for 5 seconds and vice versa Charging takes about 1.5-2 hours and a full charge will last approximately 7-8 hours although I did not strictly time this.

Fit
The driver(and battery) housings are big and don't allow for too deep an insertion so finding the proper tips and shark fins is paramount.


You must use the shark fins. Look at that thing! It's huge!

I tried to avoid using the fins but the size and weight of these IEMs is too much for ear canal/rubber friction alone. One note about the shark fins is they had a tendency to fall off during insertion, more so on the right side where the charging port is hidden. I haven't lost any fins, but it's something to be aware of. I found the included ear tips serviceable but not ideal and have swapped them for some others I had on hand. Initially the large nozzle and shark fin caused discomfort after 30 or so minutes, but my ears have adapted to them over time and I can wear them for a couple hours without too much soreness. Once you have a good seal and get those shark fins in place these things are staying put.


Not a single exercise has dislodged the U5 Plus.

The cable cinches work well, but will require a bit of trial and error to get your desired result The stiff cable produces microphonics with collared shirts, but t-shirts and the like are microphonic free. Around the neck they function like an ugly, earwax strewn necklace which still looks better to me than a string of wooden beads.



Isolation
These are large, unvented IEMs made of aluminum and rubber. Isolation is superb.

Sound
Basshead smooth. While not technically proficient in any area, these sound good and inoffensive unless heavy bass offends you.

Bass:
Yep. And lots of it to get that heart pumping! It's boomy, but not overly so, and a bit wooly and slow. There's some decent impact and rumble although they don't go super deep, but any missing sub bass would probably be obscured by external noise anyway. Remember, these are for working out and they do their job of keeping you on beat.

Mids:
A bit recessed and dry, but still musical due to the weight of the mid bass creeping into the lower mids. This is a warmish and darker signature for sue. They are not the most detailed and can get overshadowed by bass bleed, but bleed is how I like my workouts to end!

Treble:
Sparkly, without being strident, sibilance free and even a little airy. Treble heads will be best served looking elsewhere for their workout fix, like the 1More EB100 or Macaw T60 which push treble like Pfizer pushes ED pills. My sore muscles need not be joined by sore eardrums as well. If there is sound fatigue to be had it will surely be from the low-end.

Soundstage:
About average. There is more depth than width with a bit of air to grasp at. The elevated bass gives a sensation of listening inside a brick-walled chamber or a small club filled with dire wolves.

Imaging:
Not great. These have more of an in-your-head, blob of sound presentation, but if precise imaging is what's on your mind while using these, you need to up the intensity of your workout.

Conclusion
*5-stars? Really? Yes, really. Not for sound, not for comfort, not for aesthetics. This is a rating for pure utility. Imagine buying a water bottle that isn't too heavy, holds the right amount of water, keeps liquid cool, is easy to open and clean and becomes an indispensable part of your daily life. What would you rate it? The Mifo U5 Plus is my perfect water bottle. It's the only IEM/headphone I own that can travel with me from bed to shower to subway and back and it does it all while sounding good.

Review Contents

1. Preamble
2. Photos
3. Design and Function
4. Fit
5. Sound
6. Conclusion

Preamble - The Skippable Rubbish
I bought the 1More EB100 as a gift but decided to review it first since no in-depth reviews exist. It can currently be found on AliExpress, GearBest and Newegg.

For most of my audiophile journey I, like many others, scoffed at Bluetooth headphones citing the typical tropes we’re all guilty of spewing. Loss of fidelity, lack of extension, blah, blah, phooey, phooey all the while with a half-pound fusion of phone and DAC tugging at the pant waist as a cable snatches a passing stranger’s purse yanking out my IEMs a I try to transition from subway car to station platform. For the athletes out there, especially martial artists, parkour enthusiasts, dancers and the like, even sports oriented, cabled headphones are susceptible to being tugged and pulled with the added bulk of an armband or pocketed device constantly reminding you that a fall may both harm you and your expensive smartphone/DAP. The new wave of Apple and Android Pay users will appreciate the absence of a cable interfering during a simple transaction.

I’m not an easy chair recliner, tube-amplifier strapped, sit back and zone out listener. I’m an active, city faring, urbanite who kicks Tae Kwon Do paddles and does muscle ups in his free time. Dropping $200+ headphones on the ground due to cable snags or scratching an ear cup after whacking myself in the head with a bamboo pole was just an unfortunate part of my active, audiophile life. Now that I’ve experience la vida wireless I regret not making the jump sooner.

Sights:

Box.


Insides.


1More EB100

Insights:
The 1More EB100 is built for the active. They can be inserted and removed at a moment’s notice, keep you pumped through a strenuous workout, take phone calls, and continue to provide emotional enrichment even when caught in a downpour without an umbrella or waterproof sombrero.

The housings are made of plastic but do a wonderful job imitating brushed aluminum. The ear hooks have a soft silicone texture and are moldable to better fit your ear. The cable is soft and pliable with smooth texture that resists sticking to your skin and the included cable clip lets you cinch up excess slack.

The battery is claimed to last 10 hours and while I haven’t timed my usage the EB100 gets me through a day of listening with energy to spare. Charging takes around 2 hours or less with a red light = charging/no light = charged design. A blue LED lets you know when the unit is turned on, in pairing mode, or connected to a source. Most other information is provided via voice prompts. “Battery High. Pairing. Connected.” The Bluetooth Lady knows things and speaks with a pleasant, kind of British accent that atones for the jarring, metallic, baby demon “One Mooooore!” that greets you when powering on. Is it possible to have vocal samples recorded in hell and rendered in 4-bit/8khz?

They are waterproof rated IPX4 meaning splash, but not spurt, resistant and dropping them into the toilet is a no-no, which should be the case with everything. Unfortunately I haven’t been caught in any recent rainstorms but I did take a few showers while wearing them and they still work. How else does one get through a 6-hour podcast? Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, anyone? Anyone?

The control module/microphone, while perfectly functional, is awkward. The buttons are stacked together with volume+ on top, multi-function in the middle and volume- on the bottom, but they are small making the middle button hard to distinguish. I’ve gotten better with practice, but it’s a high learning curve for something that should be intuitive. Weirdly, long pressing volume+ goes to the previous track while long pressing volume- goes to the next track. I think it’s the work of the demon baby.

Wireless range is decent outdoors allowing me to step 30-40 feet away from my phone before losing signal. Indoors the range is cut in half by home necessities we all have like walls, furniture, WiFi signals and a massive collection of other headphones that fill a shelf or corner somewhere. I also experience cut outs when I have the phone in my front pocket, either one, and place my hand in the same pocket over the phone. This problem is not unique to the EB100 since I get the same issue with the Mifo U5 Plus. Maybe it’s unique to my phone.

The EB100 supports multi-point pairing allowing for connection to 2 devices simultaneously. Playback is determined by whichever device is played first. When you want to switch devices then you stop playback on the current device and start playback on the other and for the most part this feature works but it is not without flaws. For instance, if I start playing music on my smartphone doing anything on the laptop, like web browsing or opening apps and documents can cause cut outs and interference. Halting my activity on the laptop stops the cut outs. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does I just unpair the headphones from the laptop.

Phone calls ring clear, although the mic is susceptible to wind noise.

Ergonomics:
I like my IEMs deep. I insert until I feel my eyeballs move and then I pinch my nose and blow. 1More has different ideas about this. The 1More Triple Driver also has a relatively shallow fit but I don’t mind because even with the stock tips it sits well and seals without issue. The EB100 however is a rude, picky person. Whether it’s silicon, rubber, foam or hybrid any form of activity will eventually destroy the seal. I thought it was my glasses, but taking them off worsened the issue. It is nearly impossible for me to get a consistent seal using any kind of tip because of how shallow they linger the canals which is strange considering their sporty inclinations.

The fix came from cutting the bores out of some unused silicon tips to make a spacer/o-ring around the EB100’s nozzle. Once the extra 2mm of headway were in place I could seal like Jiraiya and had no further issues even when engaged in intense martial arts debauchery. The adjustable ear hooks do a good job of keeping the headphones on your ears.

.gif images. Click to play.

The short cable is meant to be worn behind the neck lest you prefer it dipping in your afternoon tea. The control module tends to shift the cable weight to the right, but using the included cable clip addresses this.

Isolation:
Below average for an IEM and disappointing depending on usage. A jogger, whether it be on the city streets or a desolate woodland, might appreciate the environmental awareness. A person in a crowded dining hall, a jam-packed gym or a public transport vehicle will find the isolation lacking. One could always just turn up the volume to compensate, right? Keep reading.

Sounds:
Uncharacteristic for a sports headphone the 1More EB100 has a bright, treble and mid focused tuning. While they share a physical resemblance to Apple’s Powerbeats, their sonic abilities are more akin to the Grado Labs sound.

Treble:
I hope you like some music with your treble. It’s emphasized and at times can sound peaky. Snare drums like to take center stage here. You must feed these headphones well-recorded music because poor recordings can sound harsh. Ironically using a non apt-X source can help here since the Bluetooth compression keeps the higher octaves at bay. Foam tips tame the treble somewhat, but even heavy EQ isn’t enough to dull the sharpened edge of these blades. Burn in has helped, but this is definitely not for the sensitive.

Mids:
The mids sit behind the treble and slightly in front of the bass. There is an upper-mid bias that that is a bit aggressive. Sibilance comes out to party with Nate Reuss’ vocals in the poorly mastered album Some Nights and even pops in for a quick drink with Diana Krall in the well mastered album Turn Up the Quiet. Dan Carlin’s excellent retellings of famous battles in history slice with the same sharp, steely iciness of the swords and spears he describes. The EB100 is not forgiving, but good recordings will reward you with a hyper-detailed, engaging listen. Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Muse’s The 2nd Law, and twenty one pilots’ Blurryface all sound superb.

Bass:
The bass is slightly recessed and doesn’t extend very deep. It may sound lacking in finer texture and detail, but that may be due it being overshadowed by the higher frequencies. Louder environments can easily drown out the bass and increasing the volume to compensate elevates the piercing highs. I would have liked just a bit more here.

Sound stage:
Despite the peaky treble, which can give the illusion of airiness, the sound stage is narrow in both width and depth and stays well within the bounds of your head. Stereo separation is of the 3 blob variety with distinct left, right, and center clusters without much happening in between.

Imaging:
This is very much a 2D listen that can sound congested when there is a lot going on at once. The music is right in your face and it likes to stay there.

Conclusion:
For my first Bluetooth headphone the 1More EB100 surpassed expectations. The convenience and usage scenarios it opens up, like exercising, doing housework, taking phone calls in the shower, have allowed me to have longer, more productive listening sessions. They sound good, are well-built and are comfortable to wear for extended periods. My only gripes come from the shallow fit that took some tooling to fix, the strange connection issue when I put my hand in my pocket and the brighter, bass-light tuning. In the end, the EB100 signature is not for me. I have since purchased two more Bluetooth headphones and have been pleasantly surprised with the sound quality of both. Perhaps the Bluetooth paradigm has changed since the early days when their poor reputation was earned. If you haven’t tried any recent Bluetooth offerings I encourage you to do so, especially if you’re the type to take your Grado SR60’s with you on a morning jog.

Pictures (and videos) are worth more than words. Sometimes.
 
 

Here is my video review of the JDS Labs cMoyBB v2.03.

I was one of the lucky few who received the M-100 back in September as part of a Head-Fi.org promotion, so I've had ample time listening, wandering, traveling, subwaying and airplaning these heaphones. I've also had some time to compare the M-100 to my other pair of V-MODA headphones, the V-80, as well as to other headphones I've managed to play with at various retailers in New York City such as the Apple Store and B&H Photo.
 
My video review is located at the bottom of this text.
 
Form and Function:[size=small]
The photos of the M-100, especially the one gracing the front of its box, are misleading. It is indeed as aesthetically pleasing in person as the pictures suggest (and possibly more so) but is surprisingly much smaller than it appears. On my head, which is medium/large, it is form fitting and doesn't protrude out on the sides unlike other headphones I've tried, such as the V-MODA V-80, or the ubiquitous Beats by Dre Studio. Folded up it is about the size of a grapefruit.[size=small][/size]
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Also included is an amazingly well thought out case that is as beautiful as it is utilitarian. Besides protecting your headphones in snug, rubberized shell, the case also contains straps to hold your audio cables, a 1/4-inch headphone adapter, a memory stick and even a pair of V-MODA Faders(earplugs).[size=small][/size]
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The M-100, like the V-80, is mostly made of metal and feels solid. Solid enough to break you out of a rickety building should that situation arise. There are many plastic based headphones out there, Bose, Beats, Skullcandy, Sony, that feel as though an accidental meeting with one's posterior would result in a snapped headband. Not so with these. I have sat on them, dropped them onto hard tile, walked through the rain and had my audio cable snag and get ripped out of the port. All is in working order with nary a scratch to show for it.[size=small][/size]
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The hinge is a patented V-MODA design and it has a satisfying "click" upon opening and closing and I have yet to see any wear and tear on the joints.[size=small][/size]
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My one complaint about build quality is the audio cables which tend to kink or get twisted when wandering about. They're also prone to fraying. I use mine nearly everyday on the streets of New York City and the cables are starting to resemble the fingertips on wool gloves. They also cause some unavoidable microphonics which was a problem I didn't notice as much with the red, one-button cable that came with my V-80s. The red V-80 cable also didn't fray as much.[size=small][/size]
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Build: 5/5[size=small][/size]
Portability: 4.75/5[size=small][/size]
Case: 5/5[size=small][/size]
Cables: 4/5[size=small][/size]
Weather the Weather: 4.5/5[size=small][/size]
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Comfort:[size=small][/size]
First off, I must mention that I wear glasses and that these do pinch my earhooks slightly. It's not bothersome, but it's noticeable and requires adjustments every now and then. The earcups fit around my entire ear and the soft pleather pads feel plush against my head without putting too much pressure on any one area. The same goes for the headband. I've been able to wear these for 3-hour stretches before feeling the need to take them off. When worn around-the-neck, either for bling-ability or during a performance of the National Anthem or whatever, the earcups are a little too big and end up limiting head movement. Since it's wintertime they double as fantastic earmuffs, but I think summertime use will be a sweaty, steamy affair.[size=small][/size]
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Cranial Embrace: 4.25/5[size=small][/size]
Necking: 3/5[size=small][/size]
Earmuffiness: 4.5/5[size=small][/size]
Heat Retention: 4/5[size=small][/size]
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Isolation:[size=small][/size]
I have used these on flights and they block out the ambient noise pretty well, although not as well in in-ear monitors or noise-cancelling headphones. I also use these daily on the subway and they are fine in most situations. Random events, such as breakdancers, crazy preachers, panhandlers, and just plain obnoxious people still manage to seep into your sound space, but I find it beneficial to be aware of these people for safety concerns. At really high volumes these do leak a good amount of sound, although you shouldn't be listening to it that loudly. At normal listening volumes, leakage isn't a problem.[size=small][/size]
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"Excuse me? Can you hear me? Hello?": 4/5[size=small][/size]
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!": 3/5[size=small][/size]
"While I like 'Mambo No.5' I'm trying to study here.": 3.5/5[size=small][/size]
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Sound:[size=small][/size]
The most prominent frequency of the M-100 is its punchy, deep, and sometimes rumbling bass. Val Kolton, V-MODA's CEO calls this deep rumble "purring." On certain songs, if you turn up the music loud enough and hold the M-100 with both the earcups aligned and touching each other, you can feel the entire headphone vibrate in your hand. The sub-bass on the M-100 is among the best I've heard(felt) and shows up in songs where lesser headphones often fail. For those of you who are into dubstep, EDM, and hip hop these will give you all the bass punch you need to groove to your music. But none of this lower-end oomph is at the expense of the other frequencies. The bass is there when it's called for, but backs off when the song doesn't require it.[size=small][/size]
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Vocals on the M-100 are intimate, clear and lively. They are a small step behind the V-80 in terms of mid-range presence. The V-80 provides a more forward mid-range, but the M-100 provides more clarity and detail retrieval than its smaller sibling despite its more laid-back nature. A better way to illustrate what I'm saying is that the M-100 sounds like you're sitting near the stage at a concert while the V-80 is more like sitting on stage directly in front of the singer.[size=small][/size]
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Part of Val Kolton's sound philosophy involves the reduction and prevention of hearing loss. Hearing loss is one of the fastest growing problems among young people in this post-iPod era and, because of the low isolation and low sound quality of pack-in earbuds, most people listen to their music at dangerously loud volumes. Out of all the sound frequencies treble is the most damaging especially when you're exposed to it at high volumes for prolonged periods of time. Therefore, the treble on the M-100, while greatly improved over the V-80 in terms of extension and sparkle, is still slightly rolled off. For treble heads, this may not provide enough sparkle or crunch, especially if you have experience with Sennheiser or Grado headphones. However, the benefit of the M-100's treble is that there is little to no sibilance and the sound signature is less fatiguing during marathon listening sessions.[size=small][/size]
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The soundstage has both good depth and width, though not quite on par with open headphones, and you genuinely get a 3D effect of being in a club with speakers pumping sound all around you. Action movies also sound very immersive especially during actions scenes involving shoot outs and explosions. They are relatively easy to drive and can provide plenty of volume straight out of a laptop or a cell phone/MP3 player, and they respond extremely well to eq'ing. Although an amp isn't necessary, they do benefit from amping and, when paired with my cMoyBB v.2.03 with bass boost turned on, can provide face melting levels of thump.[size=small][/size]
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Bass: 5/5[size=small][/size]
Mids: 4.5/5[size=small][/size]
Highs: 4.25/5[size=small][/size]
Soundstage: 3.75[size=small][/size]
Instrument Separation: 4.25[size=small][/size]
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Music I used to compare include:[size=small][/size]
Adele - Rolling in the Deep, Set Fire to the Rain[size=small][/size]
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe[size=small][/size]
Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow[size=small][/size]
Girls' Generation - Genie (Tell Me Your Wish), Gee, Run Devil Run[size=small][/size]
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue[size=small][/size]
Fun - Some Nights[size=small][/size]
Shinee - Lucifer, Juliette[size=small][/size]
Maroon 5 - This Love, Misery, Payphone[size=small][/size]
Skrillex - Bangarang[size=small][/size]
Bassnectar - Ping Pong[/size]