The Hidizs EX-01 Is a Good Value for a Dark-Sounding IEM
There’s a lot of companies out there that westerners like myself haven’t heard of. It’s not that they aren’t worthy of the attention, but more that they are drowned out by the aggressive marketing tactics of companies that have home-court advantage. Hidizs is one such company. Based in China and founded in 2009 , Hidizs has been in the mobile-audio game for a while. However, they went silent a little while back. Then, one day, emerging from the dark came the Hidizs EX-01, and the Hidizs AP100, a mobile audio player. However, this review’s focus will be solely on the EX-01, their new affordable IEM.
You can find the Hidizs EX-01 for sale here on Penon Audio for $39.
Disclaimer: This review is based upon a sample unit provided to me by a manufacturer in exchange for my honest opinion and un-edited words. I do not profit in any way from the writing of the review. I would like to thank Hidizs and Penon Audio for providing me with this unit.
Preference and Bias: Before reading a review, it is worth mentioning that there is no way for a reviewer to objectively pass judgment on the enjoy-ability of a product: such a thing is inherently subjective. Therefore, I find it necessary for you to read and understand what I take a natural liking to and how that might affect my rating of a product.
My ideal sound signature would be an extended sub-bass with a leveled, but textured, bass. The mids should be slightly less pronounced than the treble, but still ahead of the bass. I prefer a more bright upper range.
Source: The EX-01 was powered off of a Nexus 6P -> Creative Sound Blaster E3. All music was served as FLAC, ALAC, or as 320Kbps Mp3. I found the standard DAC/Amp inside my phone and PC to not be adequate to drive the EX-01 at near-peak levels of quality.
Tech Specs
- The driver: 8mm Dynamic
- Frequency range: 20–20000HZ
- Impedance: 16ohm
- Sensitivity: 102db
- Maximum power: 20mw
- Cable length: 1.2M
- Wire core material: TPE Kevlar core package
- Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated plug (headphone and microphone)
- Net weight: 16 g
Sound Signature
Initial Impressions: These impressions were taken before I’d seen any FR response graphs or measurements.
Bass response is good, but leans towards the boomy side. There is some decent extension into the upper-treble, and retrieval is surprisingly good. Mids are recessed, and in certain songs, such as those by Shinedown, can sound flat. Furthermore, I noticed an extremely good sound-stage for a $40 headphone. It actually beats many much more expensive earphones I’ve tested.
Treble: Songs used: White Flag, Arise, Outlands
Treble is present. It’s not bright per-say, and leans more towards a neutral tone. In White Flag, its balance is notable. The upper extensions of the treble aren’t forgotten, but are pushed into the background. I didn’t notice any lost detail. In fact, I did hear an new echo effect on the vocals around the middle of the song.
The guitars of Arise flow effortlessly in the background during the chorus’ intro, and play nicely in the background. Unfortunately, during the close of the song, the electric guitars did get a little overwhelmed by the din. High-hats are also present, and are much better positioned than I remember them being on IEMs such as the Advanced Sound M4 and Accutone Pavo.
In Outlands, I missed much of the aggressive edge the violins take on with brighter IEMs. I found the tonality to merely be “okay”. Listeners who want darker sound signatures from their IEMs should be pleased by the EX-01.
Mids: Songs used: The Drift, Jars, I Am The Highway
Mids are alright, but aren’t anything to write home about. The Drift was generally mediocre. I found the lower-mids to be impacted by the mid-bass, and generally unable to perform as well as more balanced IEMs.
Jars, a song that it composed very differently from The Drift, had much better imaging. The electric guitars sounded electric, and were toned very well. Vocals were placed well, but were slightly less clear than I would have liked.
I Am The Highway was a pleasant listening experience. The vocals were not as forward as I would have liked, but weren’t receded too far into the mix. Guitars were placed well and in general had a good timbre to them. I did not notice any lost clarity, though some small were missing.
Bass: Songs used: Lights, Kyoto, 99 Problems (Hugo Cover), Leave Me
I liked the bass impact of Lights. It wasn’t too harsh and dry, but at the same time, wasn’t too wet and loose. However, I did think that there was a little too much general bass presence. It can busy-up some otherwise somber verses.
Kyoto was a better experience, being that the EX-01 is tuned to excel in electric and hip-hop songs. The sub-bass was rumbly, but not excessively. The mid-bass was present and forwards, but didn’t kill the rest of the song. The bass is shaped moderately, but is nothing special in that respect. It does, however, outperform the Accutone Pavo and Gemini, and gives the MEE Audio M6 Pro a run for its money.
Leave Me gives the EX-01 a good chance to showcase what it can do when only reproducing bass frequencies. To be honest, it’s pretty impressive. The EX-01 is capable of exceptional texturing when it wants to, and has a very good sub-bass balance.
Clarity: Songs used: Throne, Map of The Problimatique, I’m Not Alright
Clarity is average on Throne. Due to the tonality and tuning of the EX-01, busy songs like Throne don’t get blown out and jagged; instead they simply loose some details — a preferable experience for me. All in all, Throne was definitely palatable.
I’m Not Alright was fairly well imaged and separated. I did not ever notice the background violins fade out or become drowned. Vocals were toned well throughout the song, although I did notice they became a little smudged during the chorus.
Map Of The Problimatique also faired pretty well. My only complaint is that the electronic background effects during the chorus transition became a little crowded. Opening up the treble frequencies a little bit more should help resolve this.
Male Vocals: Song used: Hotel California, Ashes of Eden, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Male vocals are decent. I didn’t notice any coloring or biased imaging. My only concern is that very busy rock songs can cause the vocals to sink backwards into the mix. This rarely causes the song to become unlistenable, but does bother me a bit.
Female Vocals: Songs used: Stupid Girl, Sweet Escape, Need Your Heart,CrushCrushCrush
Female vocals are average. I wish there was more of aggressive edge to them, as I find most female vocalists to be too soft against the rest of the song. CrushCrushCrush is a good example of what I am talking about. However, it’s not an isolated issue. Stupid Girl, while not as affected, does exhibit some softness.
Strangely, Need Your Heart and Sweet Escape were not affected in any significant way. I suspect that the differences in mixing and production may be the root of the discrepancy.
Sound Stage
Sound staging, as I mentioned earlier, is definitely my favorite part of the EX-01. It’s wide, and has a good amount of depth. Additionally, I found the EX-01 to scale well with higher bit-rates in terms of staging. I can’t say for sure, but it feels to me like there is some form of electrical trickery being used to magnify the effects of hard-panned sounds, increasing the perceived 3D sound space. Be aware though, the EX-01 has almost no hight.
Comparisons
EX-01 v.s Accutone Pavo($51)
The EX-01 is much more warm than the Pavo. That being said, I do find Pavo to be more “reference friendly”, with a balanced upper, middle, and lower register. On a personal level, due to the more dynamic feeling of the EX-01’s sound signature, and the included Comply eartips, I give the win to the EX-01. Sorry Pavo.
EX-01 v.s Rock Jaw Alfa Genus V2, neutral filter($60)
Even when using the neutral filter, the Alfa Genus V2 almost matches the EX-01’s sub-bass quantity. However, the EX-01 edges forwards in mid-bass quantity. Due to this, the lower-mids tend to be less prominent. With better mids and treble resolution, I think I’ll give the Alfa Genus V2 the win here.
EX-01 v.s Advanced Sound M4 ($40)
The most immediately noticeable difference is the EX-01’s comparatively full sounding bass. The EX-01’s treble is also much more relaxed than the M4’s. In fact, when switching between the two, it’s easy to call the M4’s sound signature anemic. Positioning and imaging is a tie. However, due to the more predictable and less aggressive nature of the EX-01’s sound signature, I’ll give it the win over the M4. Funny how quickly the M4 was dethroned as my favorite sub-$50 IEM.
Packaging / Unboxing
Build
Construction Quality
The EX-01’s driver housings are built from ceramic, the same kind as the Ghostek Turbines. In fact, it appears that the materials are identical. However, I do like the shaping of the housing more on the EX-01. It fits perfectly between two fingers, making it extremely easy to grasp.
However, I’m not too big of a fan of the cable. It’s basic, and has too much body to it, making it easy to tangle. I understand that some compromises need to be made in order to bring us the EX-01 at a mere $40, but I am disappointed nonetheless.
However, I am glad to report that the stress relief systems in place are decent, and definitely adequate for an IEM of the EX-01’s weight.
Notice how the cable “remembers” the bend right before the Y-splitter.
The cable terminates in a right-angled 3.5mm jack.
Comfort
The EX-01 is very comfortable. There’s not a whole lot of eartips to choose from, but there are memory foam eartips included. Isolation is easy to get, as the driver housings aren’t too heavy. It blocks out the sound of my noisy mechanical keyboard quite easily, and scoffs at the noise I make while washing the dishes.
Controls
The EX-01 comes equipped with a very basic set of controls. Featuring one button and a microphone, the EX-01’s control unit works on both Android and iOS systems. Single, double, and triple press functionality is supported. The mic’s quality isn’t too good, so don’t expect to record your next platinum hit on these earphones.
Accessories
Unfortunately, we don’t get a very complete stock of accessories with the EX-01. Two sets of standard silicone eartips, and one set of memory eartips are included, and come packaged within the carrying case.
Fortunately, the case seems high quality, and has a small net on the inside to hold any odds-and-ends that you might want to keep with the EX-01.
Summary
The EX-01 is a worth considering if you are in the market for a pair of $40 IEMs and don’t want a bright sound signature. With a spacious sound-stage and a good amount of upper retrieval, the EX-01 is a good value, and a worthy addition to any collection.
