Willsound MK3

WillSound MK3 is the third earbud in the popular WillSound MK series that is quite popular on Head-fi and on Earbuds Anonymous group in Facebook. These earbuds retail on Rholupat.com with 2.5mm and 3.5mm connectors and ship internationally. I have included the link below:

http://www.rholupat.com/custom-earphone/willsound-mk3.html



Build, fit and packaging

The earbuds have a nice, branded, zippered case and come with 4 pairs of dense, colorful foams – mine were black and green. The foams are of good quality.



The housing is the usual MX500 shell, which fits me perfectly, but those with smaller ears may find it uncomfortable. The shell material is of good quality. The MK3 housing, cable and connectors are entirely black in color and have a nice, premium feel. The wire splitter and 3.5 mm jack are of great quality; the jack is particularly heavy and looks premium.



While the rest of MK3 looks built to last, the cable feel quite dainty and not so robust like the rest of the WillSound lineup. The wires are on the thinner side, especially after the wire splitter. While they offer no microphonics, they can get tangled easily, if not stored properly. Once tangled, you need to be really patient to separate them out.





Foam Matching

The MK3 is neutral to warm sounding without a lot of extension at the higher frequencies. I find foams – dense, thing or donut drastically changing the sound signature and this makes a significant impact on the higher frequencies. Hence, I recommend the use of MK3 sans foams and this is how this review has been compiled.


So how does it sound?

Here's the setup for my evaluation - FLACs (16/44.1, 24/48 and 24/96) on my LG G6 with ES9218p DAC SOC or Tidal Hi-Fi played bit perfect through the UAPP player.

I write this in most of my reviews - the key factor that is to be considered while reading my opinion below is that earbuds may sound different to different individuals based on the shape and size of your ears and how the earbuds fit and how they are positioned and your hearing sensitivity itself. So while I may be able to hear a good amount of sub-bass, others may not; while I may find the highs perfect for longer sessions, others may find it fatiguing during a long session.

So, with all that said, let's get into the actual performance of the MK3.



The MK3 is a bit of a dark horse when compared to the rest of the WillSound lineup (no reference to its black colour intended). While the other buds in the WillSound lineup each have a unique, musical sound signature, the MK3 is more analytical in its sound signature – no frequency range has an emphasis and has a clean, neutral to warm signature. That said, the MK3 has the most powerful magnet in the entire MK series and this influences the sound by a good margin – the super-fast bass response, for starters.

Billie Jean by Michael Jackson has quite natural sounding snare drums, accompanied by a nice bass riff that shows enough texture characterized by a fast response. The response at the top is also quite clean and fast and a very realistic sounding treble. The extension at the higher frequencies is unlike other Willsound buds – on tracks like Anonymous Club by Courtney Barnett, there is a faint, distant ride cymbal playing that is quite faint on the MK3 while on the MK2 it is easy to notice that instrument in the scheme of things. This is not necessarily bad; on the contrary, listening for longer duration is aided by the natural sounding treble response and it spares you hearing fatigue.

Get Lucky by Daft Punk has enough micro details on offer and the MK3 brings them out quite well, I just wish that there was a little more airiness and sparkle on offer to make the micro details stand out. What stands out though is the fast attack and decay of the bass notes accompanied with the great texture. In fact, bass quality is exceptional on the MK3. On a track like Madness by Muse where various bass frequencies are served on a platter, the MK3 delivers them quite well with ample texture and speed on display.

Mid-range frequencies have always been done quite well on all WillSound earbuds and the MK3 is no different. On Madness, with all the bass dynamism on display, there is still no hint any bass bleed to the mids; Matt Belamy’s vocals are perfectly centered and sound quite intimate and realistic, even with all the layering in play after the 3-minute mark. Layering is done well, but not ‘MK2’ well – the lack or airiness and sparkle at the highs does weigh down a bit here. Thought Contagion by Muse is another track where the bass quality is highlighted quite well.

The MK3 is in fact a perfect bud to enjoy most Steely Dan tracks – Two against nature with its fast, textured bass and quick, holographic cymbals and multiple layers of sounds, are handled with much aplomb by the MK3 while displaying sufficient width and an excellent separation of instruments; Hey Nineteen with reference quality mastering, sounds reference quality on the MK3.

Agnes Obel's September Song, is an acid test for most earbuds - the track demands a reasonably fast bass response to handle the reverb of the lower octave piano notes, while demanding enough airiness for the notes in the higher octave. While the rest of the WillSound lineup, including the better reviewed MK2 does not deliver this track well, the MK3 gets it right and to be honest, I had immense satisfaction on the track with these buds.

One track which was more enjoyable on the MK3 than any other WillSound earbud is the History Song by The good, the bad and the Queen. Perfect weight on the bass notes, well separated vocals, nice instrument separation and a decent depth of sound stage on offer. In fact, depth on offer is almost as good as the MK2. Even on complex tracks like The National Anthem by Radiohead, the MK3 does everything right, well almost, the lack of sufficient airiness at the highs does impact the separation, just a bit, on complex tracks like this one, nothing that would worry you on 95 of the 100 tracks that we listen on a regular basis. Shibuya by Covet is another track where this is noticeable – this track has cymbals that decay slower than most tracks and at around the 2-minute mark and the 5-minute mark where consecutive slow-decay cymbals are presented, the lack of airiness impact the separation between the two notes a bit. The same track on the MK2 clearly sounds a notch better.

What is just above average though is the sound stage width on offer – quite similar to the MK2. A little bit more width on offer would have made these one of my favorite buds. This is quite noticeable on tracks like Decks Dark by Radiohead; while the width is sufficient to make the sounds seemingly originate from outside the perimeter of your skull on this track, at the 3:30 mark when the bass guitar plays on the left and bass note of the piano in the center, there is just enough space to differentiate the two instruments, while on earbuds like the HiFi Boy Dream, the amount of space between these two instruments is quite vast. Honestly, I am being quite demanding here – on most budget buds, you can’t even differentiate that there are two instruments in play, while on the MK3 I’m complaining that I need some more space between them J. Well, that in itself should say lots about what the WillSound range of buds have to offer at around $30.

Conclusion
The MK3 is a remarkable earbud in the WillSound lineup – more analytical than musical sounding, unlike its siblings. While it has a whole lot going for it – exceptional bass quality, lustrous mids and natural sounding highs, the lack of sufficient airiness and sparkle at the highs does have a small impact on the layering and separation and it loses a star for that. The MK3 once again emphasizes the fact that price is not something that defines a great quality earbud.