Audio Performance

I have to admit that I'm generally not too fond of in-ear monitors (or earbuds, for that matter). I do own and actively use five different pairs of headphones, but all of them sport a traditional over-ear design. However, every now and then something like the 1MORE Quad Driver comes along and shows me that IEMs can both offer terrific acoustic performance and be comfortable to wear.

Everything that was good (great, actually) about the sound of the 1MORE Triple Driver is ever-so-slightly better with the 1MORE Quad Driver. The bass is even deeper, thicker, and punchier, with a slight bump that adds excitement and serves as an instant crowd-pleaser. The midrange is a bit richer, and the treble is noticeably smoother. The overall tonality of the 1MORE Quad Driver is quite natural. The sound signature leaves an impression of fullness and good balance across the frequency spectrum. In short, the 1MORE Quad Driver is a real joy to listen to.

Like any other well-tuned pair of headphones, the Quad Driver is perfectly capable of handling a wide variety of music genres. In fact, I wasn't able to find a single one where it sounded anything other than lovely. You like metal music, where you need your bass to be quick and accurate in order for the double bass pedal to be reproduced properly? No problem - the 1MORE Quad Driver will confidently handle every blast beat. At the same time, you'll get plenty of rumble in songs with a lot of sub-bass, such as The Knife's "Silent Shout", Infected Mushroom's "Mambacore", or BadBadNotGood's "Hedron" (I'm naming those mostly because they're considered somewhat of a reference for headphone testing).


Guitar and vocal-driven genres sound excellent as well. There's no chance in hell you'll resist the urge to play air drums along with The Who's "Who Are You", or to sing along with Roger Daltrey's powerful voice in "Baba O'Riley". Many headphones I test have trouble handling singers with exceptionally deep voices, especially when they're backed with a complex instrumental track. Not so with the 1MORE Quad Driver. The Handsome Family's "Far From Any Road", known by most as the title song of HBO's drama True Detective, sounds like someone's pouring honey into your ears - in the best possible sense of that metaphor. I could go on for days, but there's no point - in short, the 1MORE Quad Driver sounds rich, precise, detailed, and exciting regardless of your preferred genre of music.

Just make sure you find the ear tips that form a proper seal in your ear canal. This is essential to get the most out of these or any other IEMs. Try playing a song and snapping your fingers in front of your face; you'll know that the seal is good when you can no longer hear your fingers snapping and the IEMs still feel perfectly comfortable.

Since these are IEMs, driving them is not a difficult task even for average smartphones, not to mention ones equipped with higher quality DACs and amps. The sound quality doesn't deteriorate by a significant amount when the 1MORE Quad Driver is paired with a regular smartphone, but I do have to admit I liked them more when I plugged them into my iPod Touch, FiiO E10K, or Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS V2, compared to when I used them with my OnePlus 2. No surprise there - higher quality headphones like these benefit from a better DAC.