I've owned a few pair of canalphones in my time, my first pair back in highschool that was stock with a W800i, then moving onto the Sennheiser CX300-II before moving to AKG K321s. The problem with canalphones is finding the right tips, my ears are quite small and only ever had the CX300-II fit the best. The AKGs lasted me about 1 month since the jack cover is straight out and is not angled like most headphones, this was a major problem since the line would get damaged since my iPod/iPhone was in my pocket and the lead would get crushed. Also the banana shape of the earpiece made it difficult for the earphone to stay in my ear for longer than 10 minutes without fiddling with my ears pushing it in. Definitely a no-no. I'll stick to AKG's Hi-Fi range next time (Oh I do dream of owning a pair of K701/2s)
So why SoundMagic? The reviews said they were neutral, they're accurate and most of all cheap. So I thought why not? For $70AUD shipped in 10 days I thought why not. I'm more of a bass lover since I'm more rooted to Hip-Hop but I didn't mind that since I'm planning for a Fiio E7 for some EQ loving.
As soon as I got the box today, it wasn't really greatly presented, SoundMagic are known for quality earphones, not well-designed packaging. Inside were the IEMs, plenty of rubber tips and foam tips, a pleather bag, ear-clips and apparently a cord-clip... which was missing but I don't mind. So the first thing to do was to try it out and normally the stock-tip never fits me... but I was pleasantly surprised, the tip fit me perfectly. Snuggly fitting and it definitely lived up to it's claimed -20DB noise isolation, this is a must for when I'm travelling or commuting.
So I put them on into my iPhone + Fiio E1 and played my usual. Daft Punk's 'One More Time' and 'Aerodynamic' then Nosaj Thing's Drift album. The mids and highs are very crisp, bassline is so neutral it's kind of like distilled water, no more no less. I would like it a bit more bassy but then I'd be asking so much with short arms and deep pockets.
After this, I thought why not venture out and give them a slight drive-test. I put on the ear-clips (Something that needs to be tested by you to make sure the length of the cable fed into the ear-clips are correct so they clip on your ears well and also so slip out) and went for a run around the block for 30 minutes. I put the iPhone on shuffle and started running, not a single car was heard and only my panting was heard. The sound isolation is great and doesn't rape the ear canal like an Etym would (Those triple flanges look hella scary O_O)
I'm yet to really burn into these PL50s since I've only listened to them for about 3 hours, I don't have much to reference them to since I'm new to this whole thing, but these are definitely going to give my ears a good harmonic vacation after being deprived of sonic-gold for so long. Timbo recommends these if you're looking for a pair of Sub-$100 IEMs. 4/5
/timbo400
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