HiFiMAN RE-300a and RE-300h Review
Thanks to HiFiMAN for the samples.
First impressions: The boxes are
looking nicely professional, simple but pleasant. Getting into the a
one first, err does it really only come with 2 pairs of tips? Yet it
does have a shirt clip. Seems an odd arrangement but hey ho. They look
quite nice, starting to look much more mainstream than say the slightly
flimsy looking 400. Nice wee mic too on them.
In the ears, well these are pretty warm for a HiFiMAN.
Hmm treble is quite dialled down, bass is dialled up. Gosh this is
like the total opposite of the old RE-0. Whoo the bass is pretty lively
stuff, gosh this is all so unexpected, oh my word it really is so
different. My god, could it be that HiFiMAN has made an IEM that could
be thought a generalist? Oh my they may have just shafted every other
IEM maker at this price. No, maybe it’s that I’ve only tried them out of
the E9 and it’s working magic on them. God this is just so not and yet
everything I expected all at once. Sometime I really do wonder if
HiFiMAN tune things with my preferences in mind. It’s just spooky. I
don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say I think this might be a
rather glowing review.
Source: FiiO E7/E9 combo, Hisoundaudio Studio V 3rd Anv., HiFiMAN HM-650, 1G Ipod Shuffle, Nexus 5.
Lows: Given this is a HiFiMAN
product there is a surprising amount of bass. It’s really somewhat
elevated. Of course it’s not what I’d say is over bassy, it’s no bass
cannon and I’d wager that some normal consumers would still find it a
bit light. It is sufficient that its going to make some purists
unhappy. It is clearly elevated above neutral, its clearly well above
the 400 too. Comparing it to the GR06 which is its natural rival, the
bass here feels so much thicker and more weighty. The 300 is far more
of an enclosed affair and so it should sound much more closed. It
doesn’t have the open lithe nature of the 6 but your trade-off is that
you get a much more robust low end. It’s not quite as agile as I might
hope but again it’s often the trade you make for weight. If I’m honest
though I’d stay away from really fast bass. The 300 would much more
enjoy a little Julie London or something similar. Mellow and sumptuous
is where its heart lies. It’s rich and smooth with a dark chocolaty
warmth to it.
If you do make it play fast thumpy bass it will do its best but its all about the solidity and richness, not agility.
If you force it, you will get a good hearty thump that feels over
weighty and lumbering. Then you remind yourself its price and then you
really can’t complain.
Mids: To continue with its rich
mellow nature. The 300 is not like its siblings in having more detail
than you can shake a stick at, the 300 knows it can’t show you
everything so it paints a softer, warmer picture. That same mellow,
chocolaty richness that so loves to ooze and flow. As you might expect,
melodic vocals work exceedingly well. Yes detail is gently obscured
but it’s all a smooth expanse of vocals, rising and falling. No
harshness, like a gentle wave upon the ocean, peaks and troughs come and
go smoothly, gently, carrying you along with it. It’s beautiful.
What it can’t do however is harshness or explicit detail.
Songs that want to be aggressive just aren’t quite. Likewise detail
that you know the 400 would show you, here it’s just not quite there.
The 300 is much more about painting the whole picture rather than
expressing any particular fine point.
Highs: Smooth once more. That is
exactly what they should have done too, the 400 is veering towards
abrasiveness in the highs and the lower you go in price the less capable
a driver gets. For me the best thing to do, if you’re not very high
end, is to gently mellow the highs and give a delicate rendition rather
than sound like a grater. The 300 does this ever so well. Metallic
twangs cut through and decay away, cymbals splash and shimmer too. It’s
all a smoothly delicate display of what the song has to offer and it’s
presented with reasonable detail. It is superbly easy on the ear. For
some I realise it will be too genteel but for my somewhat treble
sensitive ears this sound signature means I could with ease listen to
them all day, every day. It’s so kind to the ear and polite.
If you do throw more energising stuff its
way the 300 will become more lively but if you want abrasive metal it
really wont please you. The detail is good but it has no hard abrasive edge to it.
Soundstage: Gently wide and
enveloping. You do still feel rather enclosed as closed IEM’s tend to
do. Still it feels wide and a reasonable sense of depth. Just so long
as you’re not hoping for a big airy expanse, this is not airy at all.
Instrument separation as okay, somewhat distinct but placement is a bit
fuzzy. It’s that soft focus filter at work again. Vocals to tend to be
pretty upfront and intimate. Great for mellow and vocal centric stuff.
Fit: Well they look odd but I had
no issues. The first thing I did was swap them round and wore them up.
I’ve never been fussed about the left bud being in my right ear so I
was quite happy. Yes I know they look a bit of a funny shape,
especially compared to the 400 but I had no issues even with them being
rather sealed, zero driver flex or air pressure issues.
Comfort: Again despite their weird
shape they worked just fine in my ears. Honestly they were just
perfect, after 10 seconds in my ears they entirely disappeared. I
realise that can’t be the case for absolutely everyone but was perfect
here.
Microphonics: Wearing them down
not much on the h version. The a version with the attached mic did like
to hit my collars and make a bit of noise. Since I always advocate
wearing up anyway, once I did that there was zero issue. There is a
chin slider though if you insist on wearing down.
Amped/Unamped: Well first off,
let’s assume that if you’re buying the a or i version then you want for
use in a phone. With that in mind then you probably won’t be using an
amp because then you’d loose the mic use. So the h, well out of lower
power sources it got a bit lighter sounding. The great solidity of the
300 was traded for a slightly more sprightly sound. The bass
particularly diminished in its authority. That suited me fine but if
you want all you can extract from the bottom end then maybe a little
amping is what you want. Personally I think I preferred the
fractionally lighter sound out of a phone.
Isolation: Pretty good. Squarely
on the upper side of what you tend to get for a dynamic. Compared to
its prime competitor, the GR06 this is very much rather more isolating.
To the point it’s nearing usability for the odd short flight or two.
Easily fine for normal day to day usage. As ever not what I’d want for a
daily Tube commute but remember, if using look where your going lest
you get yourself run over.
Build Quality: This is an area
HiFiMAN hasn’t the best reputation in the world for but the 300 despite
being its cheapest offering it’s actually not bad. The little buds see
nicely constructed and the cable seems alright too. I means it’s no
MA750 clearly but it’s alright.
Model Variations: So the review is
titled the a and h reviews. Why you may ask or more likely you won’t.
You’ll just think, ah the a is the android one, the i is the apple one
and the h is the no mic one, simples. That is what I thought but I was
wrong. Do not ask me why for truly I do not know but there is more to
it than that. The i and a versions are the same essentially just with
different controls. The h though, you may see it’s the same price as
the mid’ed ones which is unusual. What HiFiMAN have done is upgrade the
cable on the h to an “advanced OCC cable” and it would seem from their
website and box that the frequency range is increased, though I’m told
that’s not correct. Now swapping back and forth I do hear a difference,
how much is down to the complys being warm or cold I don’t know but the
a one sounds a little less big in the bass and a tiny bit less twangy
in the mids. Honestly though I could be going mad but I do hear a bit
of a difference. I can only assume this comes from there being an
impedance difference which should be the same but I’ve seen said that
the h is 32 vs 16 for the a. The difference is slight and while if
forced I’d say the h is better, it’s a slight difference. If you get
the mic’ed one you aren’t missing out on much, frankly I’d expect it’ll
be the mic’ed ones that most go for anyway. The biggest difference is
that the h cable is rather softer and more flexible. The a one is a bit
more ridged.
Phone Use: Obviously I’m only
talking about the a version here. So I gave my sister a ring as I know
she won’t be too annoyed at my ringing just to ask how I sound down the
phone. Well normally all is great but I was told that it was not.
Normally I wear things up and get no issues despite the mic sitting
quite high but this time I was told differently. I could be heard okay
but I sounded like I was on speaker phone. That distant, slightly
echo’ey sound you get when someone is on speaker. Wearing them down was
a bit better but sadly not perfect.
Value: Well yeah, it’s pretty good
value. For what is almost £32 you get a pretty damn excellent sound.
No mistake it’s a beautiful offering but I’m not sure what its aimed
at. Sure its bass levels are veering towards “consumer” levels so
perhaps it’s to introduce the HiFiMAN brand to a more mainstream
audience? Its audio quality is nice for the money but it’s not in a
class of its own like the 400 is. I know I should be comparing it to
things at its own price but I just keep thinking the 300 is US$50 but
the 400 is only a tiny bit more at US$80. If it was my cash, I would
opt to go hungry for a few days and go for the 400 than buy the 300.
Regarding the a, i and h variations.
Well they all cost the same. The i and a versions you get a mic for
phone use which I know will matter for many. That the h version is not
identical but without mic is most unusual. While the sound differences
are slight the cable is a much nicer feel and more flexible. Unless you
really want that mic it take the nicer cable one.
Conclusion: Earlier I said these
were nothing like what I expected but everything I hoped for. That is
essentially true in the sense that these are tuned nothing like I
expected. These are much more bassy and rich than anything I’ve seen
from HiFiMAN. To date they have always gone for quite audiophile tuning
and they have tended to aim at the higher end. No one who ever heard
the RE-0 could ever criticise it for it detail retrieval. It is
unmatched still in its ability to extract detail and yet be so insanely
cheap. The RE-400 while not quite as amazing as the 0 still blows
everything at its price out of the water. There may be aspects HiFiMAN
fall down on but audio quality per currency unit it surpasses all. The
RE-300 then, well it’s different.
The 300 is very cheap at only US$50 and it does something unusual.
When I reviewed the 400 I did criticize its slight grittiness in the
highs that the 0 didn’t. It’s a basic fact that when you go down the
range that the first thing to go is the highs. It’s just the hardest
thing to nail and if it gets brittle and broken it is the most brutal on
the ear, in a way neither the mids nor bass are. So the wise thing to
do is accept that fact and dial down the highs, let them gently and
smoothly roll away and blend into the background. Let them be a gentle
framing sound that doesn’t dominate. Aim for a richer, smoother more
mellow sound and let the treble highlight what and where it needs to.
This is just what the 300 does.
The 300 is quite wonderfully lovely.
It still pulls up a good amount of detail but more importantly
everything is so effortlessly well integrated. Music flows into
creation and around your ears in a way that few others ever manage. The
bass while rather elevated, after a short time feels so serenely smooth
and effortless. If you make it play fast or slow it remains ever
effortless even when thundering out bass. It’s so organically flowing
and enveloping. It even does a very decent showing of more bassy pop
music. Its bass is too heavy and that slows it a bit but for the price
its coming it at, how many will consider that a problem.
For the money the RE-300 is nice but there is the RE-400 which on an entire other planet.
The 300 is very closed, deeply rich and molten chocolaty smooth. It’s a
rather flavoured sound which is unusual for the brand. For their play
at the cusp of consumerism these would be a deeply dark attractor for
those venturing into its chocolaty depths, showing them what a brand
like HiFiMAN can do. It’s lovely and its bassy and I’m sure consumers
will love it. Those of a more audiophile bent however, the 400 offers
just so spectacularly much more for very little extra money.
