When In Manila and you want to go beyond from “good” sound quality earphones, to “better” quality without breaking the bank? SoundMagic has once again brought a deadly qualifier into the pool of mid-fi earphones. The SoundMagic E10M. The SoundMagic E10M also has the standard E10 version without the mic and button controls for Apple products.
Sturdy metal body. Cable restrain is scary though.
Build/Packaging: The packaging of the SoundMagic E10M is exactly similar to what the SoundMagic PL11 comes with. You get a nice set of the usual tips and also flanges with a shirt clip and the oh so lovable pouch. I would’ve preferred a hard case or clam case, but the leather pouch also gives a more comfortable and flexible pocket-able ally.
Moving to the build of the SoundMagic E10M, the main housing of the earphones are in all metal glory. Although, my concern with the SoundMagic E10M is the cable restrain on the earphones themselves. They are very small and looks like a hard tug would disconnect the cable from the earphone. The SoundMagic E10M somehow have a similar cable restrain design with the Monster Turbine earphones line-up which were plagued by cable restrain problems. This is not a deal breaker though, take note, the Monster Turbines are around 5 times the price of the SoundMagic E10M. A little care on tugging the cables of the SoundMagic E10M should be noted just to be sure. But overall, the 3.5mm cable restrain and main earphone housings are built well enough. They’re not built extremely well or polished, they have some imperfections here and there, so they would probably be on average on overall build quality.
Apple device controls with microphone.
Sound Quality: When I got the SoundMagic E10M, I had no idea of the price and even any idea on the sound quality and standing of the product. I’m a huge audiophile and is always up-to-date with products, but for some reason, I just had no idea of SoundMagic’s E10M. It made the whole review and unboxing of the SoundMagic E10M much more exciting to me. I had no view of what quality this product was aiming for, low-tier/mid-tier/top-tier, none at all. So I just had to try them out for myself and see what I get from them. And wow, I wasn’t expecting the SoundMagic E10M to be THIS good!
Flashy looks for flashy sound.
Initially, I had them play on my iPhone and the first thing that came to my mind upon initial impressions was “this is not low-tier at all”. Unlike low-tiers which mostly had bass on emphasis, the SoundMagic E10M had details! Don’t let looks fool you, they sound detailed and don’t just focus on bass alone. Honestly, I was slightly fooled by the looks of the SoundMagic E10M. They shadow the designs of old V-Moda in-ear models that were only flashy and just had bass wrecking chaos everywhere.
I had the SoundMagic E10M burn-in for 2 days just to bring out their maximum performance. I had them play on my top-class DAC and amplifier just to have a laught at it, and the detail boasted a little more. But it was definitely an overkill to pair my top-class DAC and amplifier for the SoundMagic E10M which was such a small fraction of the price of the DAC and amp. A budget amp in the mix with the SoundMagic E10M would probably be more than enough already just to push the SoundMagic E10M a little more beyond its limits. After initial burn-in, I found that the slight veil on the highs had disappeared and the bass had gone less muddy. These have good bass impact and control. The bass might be leaking a little to the mid-range, but it’s not that disturbing at all. The SoundMagic E10M also has good textured mids pushing the vocals a bit more forward and the highs have ample extension, although they are a little pulled back in presentation. The detail on these are just really good paired with the slight bump to the mids. I swear, the SoundMagic E10M can compete on its own against earphones priced double of these. The SoundMagic E10M may just be encroaching the mid-tier class. The SoundMagic E10M retails for P2,100. Grab ’em while they’re hot! This is another bang for the buck product once again from SoundMagic! If you want a significant upgrade without pushing your wallet, grab the SoundMagic E10M!
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SoundMagic E10M earphones: mid-fi qualifier sound for an entry price tag
