Quantcast
Channel: PC-Babble
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 12

Thinksound MS01 Headphone Review

0
0

Company Name: Thinksound

Company Website: http://www.thinksound.com/index.php

Headphone Model: MS01 Gunmetal Chocolate

Headphone Style (Open, Closed, On-Ear, Over-Ear, IEM, CIEM): IEM

Frequency Range: 18Hz-20Khz

Impedance: 16 ohms

Sensitivity: 96 ±3 dB @ 1KHz 1mW

Isolation: Not Listed

Material: Wooden housing with aluminum baffle

Warranty: 1 Year

Price: $119.99

Describing Sound: http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

Definitions: http://www.head-fi.org/a/glossary-of-terms

 

Pros: Accessories, headphones, and packaging are eco friendly. Nice build quality, aesthetically pleasing, nice and thick low end, well balanced.

Cons: May have too much low end for some listeners, microphonics due to cable material, isolation isn’t as good as other IEM’s due to the port.

 

Rating scale Breakdown (1-10)

1-2: Very Bad

3-4: Bad

5: Not Bad/Not Good/ Neutral

6-7: Good

8-9: Very Good

10: Excellent

 

Audio Quality: 7.5

Micro-phonics: 4

Comfort: 8

Design: 8

Isolation: 6

Value: 7.5

Accessories: 5

Overall Rating: 6.5

Rating Definitions

  • Audio Quality: How good a set of headphones sounds in relation to other headphones I’ve heard. This will be subjective with any set of headphones that are reviewed.
  • Micro-phonics: Noise that can be heard from the cable being moved around. The less noise the higher the value, the more noise the lower the value.
  • Comfort: How comfortable a set of headphones is over a prolonged period of time. 
  • Design: How well a set of headphones are designed. This includes cables, reinforcement points, jacks, and materials used.
  • Isolation: How well a set of headphones blocks outside noises and allows you to hear the music you’re listening to. This also includes sound leakage from the headphones to others around you.
  • Value: Performance to cost ratio. If performance exceeds cost this value will be high. If performance is on the low end for the cost the value will be low. This will be subjective based on audio quality. Everyone hears different things.
  • Accessories: How well the included accessories stack up compared to other headphones of similar style.
  • Overall Rating: This is the average of the other 7 criteria summed and divided by 7.

Accessories

  • 4 sets of silicone tips (All difference sizes)
  • Shirt clip
  • Recycled cotton carrying pouch
  • Active Lifestyle ear hooks

Build Quality

Start from the earbuds and moving down the silicone tips are very pliable and soft feeling. Just inside the tip is an aluminum bezel and nozzle. The nozzle has a nice finished mesh grill over it to prevent debris from getting into the housing. On the bottom of the bezel is a white letter that denotes the left and right sides. About half way through the IEM the metal is coupled with a wooden housing. On the end of the housing is a small port hole inside the center of a white Thinksound logo.

Exiting the bottom of the wooden housing is a nice rubber strain relief that turns into the cable. The cable seems to have a rubbery feeling to it. It’s a fairly thick cable and doesn’t seem to hold its shape so winding it up for storage shouldn’t be an issue.

As you move down to where the cables merge into one we have a nice aluminum cylinder with the Thinksound name and logo on it. Take note of the lack of a cable cinch like most IEM’s and CIEM’s offer. Exiting the relief at the bottom is more rubber strain relief for extra measure. From the strain relief down is about 3.5’ of cable. The cable is much thicker in this section and terminates with a nice strain relief with another Thinksound logo and a gold plated 3.5mm plug.

Images

MS01_Full MS01_IEM MS01_Plug MS01 Accessories

Images taken from http://www.thinksound.com/ms01.php

Listening Experience

I listened from my Samsung Galaxy S4 for this review and played music from the 32Gb internal storage. I didn’t select any specific songs, rather I used the shuffle feature from the default Samsung music app.

The first song that was selected was Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood by Volbeat. The intro to this song was immersive with a nice thick low end. Throughout the song there wasn’t any particular frequencies that were overpowering or lacking.

The second song that was selected was What Would You Do by City High. Again the main focus of this song seemed to be the low end. The high end had a little sparkle from the female vocalist in particular. It wasn’t over powering or enough to detract from the overall presentation.

The third song up was If You Could Only See by Tonic. The warm presentation of these IEM’s were noticeable in the intro of this song more so than the previous two. This was a great song for this particular set of IEM’s. They were immersive, neutral throughout, had just enough high end sparkle, and detailed enough to draw you into the music as any good set of headphones should do.

The fourth song was Baby Love by Diana Ross. This recording was taken from the original source. This set of IEM’s made it very apparent that this song was recorded properly. There was a very clear instrumental separation. I was able to pick out the claps and a saxophone to the left side of the sound stage without question while Diana Ross was clearly to the right of center.

The final song was Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. This song was also immersive and fun sounding with a bit of warmth. Again just enough top end sparkle to get the finer details out. Overall a very balanced and fun song for this set of IEM’s.

Comparisons

I have multiple sets of headphones that I have reviewed and at my disposal. The list of headphones that I have heard and reviewed are as follows: VMODA Crossfade LP, Grado Labs SR80i, Shure SRH750DJ, Brainwavz R1, Dunu Topsound I3CS, FocalPrice CK700, iPod ear buds, iPod ear pods, Heir Audio 3.Ai, Aurisonics ASG2.0, Hisound Audio PAA1-Pro earbuds, Thinksound MS01, and Gorilla Ears AT5.

Overall Experience

For this review I reached out directly to Thinksound. What I got in response was an email directly from Aaron Fournier. The item shipped promptly and packaged well. The headphones sound very good for the price bracket they are in.

My favorite thing about this particular set of headphones and the company is the eco friendliness. Electronics are the number one largest growing item in terms of waste and this company is leaving its mark and setting a standard for other headphone and electronic companies to follow.

Overall it was a great transaction from start to finish.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 12

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images