QCY M1 Pro

First of all, shoutout to Ash from QCY for offering me the opportunity to try out some earphones from this unfamiliar brand straight out of China. I really wanted to try out the E1 but it was out of stock so he was only able to send me the M1 Pro. Here goes my opinion after testing them for a while.


Packaging and Build Quality

The packaging is actually pretty straightforward. Open the box and you’ll see two booklets, one charging cable, 4 pair of additional silicone ear tips, and the earphones themselves. There is no carrying case whatsoever, but I would probably store them inside my pocket anyway.

They don’t look particularly cheap as a whole, but they don’t really look like a high end product either. Okay, maybe the control buttons look kinda cheap and I do find the charging port cover a little bit weird-looking, but not many should complain about the earphones themselves. Unless you care so much about branding.

Put them on, and I already noticed two things (other than the fact that it turns on automatically). One, the cable felt too short. Second, consequently, mic placement felt a little bit awkward. They could learn a bit from V-MODA here, but if they did that many would complain of the cable being too long and goofy-looking. I’ll let them decide. Anyhow, they don’t feel like breaking soon.


Sound

First time listening to these, wow, just wow for the bass. The bass was so clean, yet so rumbly. Do note that the lows are really heavy. It feels like having a separate subwoofer next to the drivers in your ears. Not a bad thing when I said that, because the bass never really dominates over other frequencies. It’s relatively “balanced”, if you will.

Mid is powerful and warm. Perhaps a little too warm on some songs, but so perfect for something like Adam Levine’s vocal on Maroon 5’s newest single “Wait”.

Treble is almost perfect for me. It never gets painfully sharp, and on non-EDM songs, it never leaves me wanting for more. Although, at some EDM songs I wished it had just a little more high.

Soundstage is intimate but instrument separation is really good. There are some better ones out there, but it’s definitely higher than average. Details are never drowned in the music; these are listening tools that absolutely qualify for the term “Listen to details you never knew were there before.”

In my bedroom with a Dyson air purifier running at 4/10 fan speed, I only needed about 25% to 30% from my iPhone listening through Apple Music and that is honestly more than enough. The amplifier in these must be really strong just because at my listening volumes they’re loud as a V-MODA Crossfade II Wireless. 50% is definitely as loud, but I don’t dare go past that to find out more.


Other Words

They are surprisingly pretty light and comfortable. However, after a few minutes wearing them I felt some heat inside my ear canals. Not sure if it’s a radiation emitted by the QCY earphones themselves or if it’s an issue with the ear tips. It’s usually not a problem with most Bluetooth earphones.

Before I wrap up, I‘d like to make note of some other things. These can perform basic functions like skipping track forward/backward, adjusting volume, answering call, ignoring call, but there are some controls that I found weird. First, to skip tracks, you actually have to hold one of the volume buttons (in respect to which direction you want to go). To adjust volume, you need to click one by one. Usually to skip forward you just double click, but with these, it takes you to redial. Come on. I found that to be potentially embarrassing. I don’t wanna accidentally call a friend late at night! Besides, who doesn’t have their phones at all times in front of them now? Also, to activate Siri it might take some getting use-to as well. You have to hold it for one second. Yeah, a very specific instruction indeed. Siri didn’t sound clear through them (not like it is in other Bluetooth earphones), but hey, apparently my voice sounded pretty clear to Siri, at least. When you’re done with them, turning off is as simple as connecting the magnetic earbuds together.


Conclusion

Overall, it’s a very powerful warm-sounding pair of earphones. The QCY is quite contrary to my other earphones like the V-MODA Forza Metallo Wireless that sounds rather bright. I really am in no position to say which is better, because this is preference based on your familiarity and depends on which sound profile you usually listen more. What I do find is that the M1 Pro’s sound profile is rather similar to Focal Spark Wireless, but heck, I’m just gonna straight out admit that the M1 Pro has more clarity. Yeah, this claim will surely spark some controversy, but it really is how I felt about the two. Can they perform against high-end offerings from company like V-MODA, Beoplay, Focal, and RHA? In terms of sound quality, heck yeah! They are at least better in clarity and instrument separation than your AirPods or BeatsX. Can they compete as whole? Uh, maybe, considering they’re waterproof (more so than most). But then again, some things could be improved.


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