Head-Direct RE2 Earphones

[Frederik S]

Head-Direct RE2 is the name of a completely new entry level pair of earphone. Head-Direct was until recently just a headphone and amplifier reseller, but that has changed with the arrival of the RE2s. their new earphones are among the best when it comes to price/performance, even rivaling some of the twice as expensive competition.

Show full review

 

[zeus_hunt]

Excellent post.

Just ordered it today
Hoping it is as good as u mentioned it to be
Unfortunately need to wait till 26th for it to be shipped.

Burn-in for about 50 hours... just play random music for 50 hours.. damm thats more than 2 days continuous...

And what are the advantages of doing so.... Burn-in

Also

quite demanding when it comes to sources

Plan to use it with LG KU990 mobile Phone .. do u think it would be fine ?

 

[Frederik S]

Burn-in helps to make the diaphragms settle into their ideal state. The theory is that the diaphragm loosens up and that should change the sound signature a bit.

I am sure they will sound fine with the source the question is will they sound great. I bet that you could get a budget DAP that sound a bit better.

 

[TRW]

Comparing the Head-Direct RE2 with the Yuin OK3

Frederik S,

After a little over a year of constant use I am looking for a durable upgrade for the stock earphones Apple supplied with my original Ipod purchase. I tend to be hard on equipment, so I'm looking for a "value for money" replacement. After reading several reviews I narrowed the search to the VSonic RO2-Pro's, the Head-Direct RE2's and have now included Yuin's OK3's (because the last is presently on-sale through Head-Direct for $59). As all of these fall within budget, I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest, but rather the best set given the associated price tag.

Head-Direct RE2 $99
VSonic RO2-Pro's $69
Yuin OK3's $59

My impression from reading all of your reviews on the previous earbuds is that the Head-Direct RE2's are by far the best of the lot (9.6 rating). And yet you wrote the review for the RE2's about two months before writing the review of the OK3's. Can you comment on which of these you'd choose in a value for money sense and what you see as the tradeoff's?

Thanks,

TRW

As a side note, I was surprised that you gave the Yuin's such a high rating (9.0) given the general complaints about the short cable, the lack of sufficient accessories to make a good fit for the canal-phones, etc.

 

[Frederik S]

TRW,
The reason why I rate the Yuins so highly is because their sound quality is incredibly good compared to the price. In ear bud mode they perform extremely good. The Head-Direct RE2s are the best compromise all around (noise attenuation, good sound, reasonable bundle, great fit).

The R02-PROs are also brilliant for the price, but sound quality wise the RE2s outperforms them on all accounts. Price / Performance as in-ears the RE2s are the best, if you do not need the isolation the OK3s will give you the best bang for the buck sound wise.

 

[TRW]

Frederik S, Thanks for the response. I appreciate both your insights and your candor. TRW

 

[deep7]

need help

hi... great review.. only problem is that i read an equally appealing review of the SoundMagic PL-50.. Since the price difference between the two isnt much where i'm buying it from, i'm really confused between the two...

One the one hand, I listen mostly to rock, but I like to have a V-eq most of the time for the nice lows and highs.. I dont have much experience in high-end audio and the best IEM's i've owned so far are the SoundMagic's Pl-21's, and I found them very good... I thought it was time for an upgrade and hence the purchase..

Please advise...

 

[Mussels]

skip on a few years and these babies are available for $40 USD shipped... so i ordered a pair.

 

[Mussels]

do these headphones need burn in?

so far, they sound quite inferior to my (now lost/MIA) sennheiser CX 300 II precision headphones.

 

[MT Alex]

Burn in never hurts, I haven't used the sennheisers, so I couldn't compare. Mine are definately "looser" than when they were new. I think they sound better with the traditional black inserts than the clear double flanges.

 

[Mussels]

Burn in never hurts, I haven't used the sennheisers, so I couldn't compare. Mine are definately "looser" than when they were new. I think they sound better with the traditional black inserts than the clear double flanges.

hmm good idea, i've got those huge clear ones on right now, will try the others.


edit: yep the medium black ones are a better fit so it does sound a little better. It still feels extremely light on the bass however - will burn in help there? i've used them less than an hour so far.


edit 2: mine came with some small rings with the different tips, any idea what they do?

 

[MT Alex]

They are replacements for when the ones on the buds get plugged with ear wax and dirt

Also, they do start out weak on bass, but do get a little heavier. They are more for accuracy than thumping.

And the clip is damn nice, I usually put it on my back collar, keeps everything from shifting towards the player while moving.

 

[Mussels]

thanks, that covers what i need to know.


i'm using them for music from my phones, and for LAN events where i need some sound isolation (that my senn 555's dont provide)

 

[Mussels]

i can confirm that after ~5 hours burn in, there is much more bass with these headphones. they really do need burn in to get the audio right, just as frederik S stated in his review.


still not as much as i'd like, but hey, i got a few more hours/days of burn in to go...

 

[Frederik S]

The CX300s are bass monsters and the RE2s are a little light on the bass. I think you can EQ them to some extent in the Clip without it hurting the sound quality too much.

If you want something more along the lines of the CX300s then the MP4Nation M2 Brainwavz are probably going to be more to your licking but they are over 2x the price of the RE2s.

 

[MT Alex]

I think he's taken a shine to them. Posted on Feb. 16 in the headset thread:

peeps here were right.

I upgraded from my sennheiser CX-II 300 precision (or whatever complicated name they had) to some RE2's.


first impressions were that the RE2's had less bass.
second impressions was that the senns sound like shit in comparison at anything that isnt bass.

opinion pretty much stuck with that.

 

[Mussels]

yeah thanks alex, saved me finding that post.