audiophile headphones for 662 rubles?

Hello everyone

Besides engineering, I also have a few other passions, such as music. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved listening to something on my home deck. When I grew up, love was added to the technical part of sound reproduction. Here I am 5-6 years old, I enjoy the miracle of Soviet audio engineering, I don’t remember the soundboard model.

I won’t call myself an audiophile, but N-th amount of audio equipment passed through my hands. Even a 1962 gramophone made its way into the company for a vinyl player and a cassette deck, although I mostly listen to music with headphones.

When choosing new “ears”, you can spend 4-5 hours studying reviews, opinions and, as a result, stop at nothing. Recently, a colleague showed his in-ear headphones (IEM) from aliexpress for 7-8 thousand rubles! I freaked out a little from this situation. Words didn’t fit in my head aliexpress = audiophilia… An inquisitive mind demanded to figure out what is inside and why they are so expensive – since we have our tabletop microtomograph (here I wrote about him). It was too lazy to do a full tomogram for each “ears” – that’s why the article contains mostly a video with a rotation of 360 degrees.

And yes, I could not resist and bought another Chinese miracle ears “for audiophiles” for 662 rubles (KZ EDX 1DD). 662 rubles Karl!

For the purity of the experiment, we typed not only alik, but also everything that was at hand, including ordinary in-ear headphones of popular brands. I myself go with Marshall Major BT and Huawei FreeBuds 3i. You can disassemble the Marshal yourself, it is not very interesting there, but the hand will hardly rise on the IEM / liner, the disassembly process is usually one-time.

I advise you to first look at an excellent article on the design of in-ear ears. This will help you better understand the terminology. The attachment / ear cushion of the earphone is hardly visible, as it is almost transparent in the X-ray spectrum.

Naturally, we have not forgotten about Apple products, we will probably start with them. We took off some of the headphones right in the charging case (because they could;)

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Apple AirPods (1st generation)(~ 20,000 r, overview, dismembered)

Apple AirPods (1st generation)

It is seen: Headphone and case battery, wireless charging coil, magnetic mounts, control boards and connectors. One magnet in the case fell off. On the headphones themselves, you can clearly see the abundance of microelectronics. The layout case could be made smaller or add battery capacity (IMHO). And yes, the case is not original. Hence the wireless charging on this model.

Huawei FreeBuds 3i (~ 9000 r, overview)

Huawei FreeBuds 3i

It is seen: successful line-up of the case, tightly packed. There is something strange in the top of the case. This is usually what the cable / antenna looks like, but the trajectory is unusual. I had to do a tomography in order to figure it out.

What does it look like? Located in top the lid of the charging case, there is no power and any connectors / buttons, only a bed in the shape of headphones. I couldn’t guess and raked the case, but I calmed my mind. It turned out to be a glue-sealant holding the headphone base and the top cover together. Apparently the glue was applied by hand, which is why it turned out to be such a strange tractor.

KZ EDX 1DD (~ 600 r, overview)

KZ EDX 1DD

It is seen: Nothing extra. Connectors, cable, dynamic converter, plastic. Neat assembly. I would like to find some joint here (600 rubles), but I can’t.

KZ AST, 24 BA HIFI (~ 9000 r, overview)

KZ AST, 24 BA HIFI

It is seen: Bigger brother of previous headphones. Everything is plump, without a screen from the manufacturer and you can’t figure out where something is. The number of drivers corresponds to that declared by the manufacturer, visually, they did not save on anything. Again, there is nothing to complain about.

Dunu DM-380 (~ 3300 r, overview)

Dunu DM-380

It is seen: The wire from the driver has fallen off. Finita la comedia. Normal ears.

Xiaomi Mi Pro HD (~ 1500 r, overview)

Xiaomi Mi Pro HD

It is seen: it is not very clear why there is a screw in the design, usually everything is put on glue. Not very neat cable routing inside the headphone.

ZMI Purepods Pro (~ 6000 r, overview)

ZMI Purepods Pro

It is seen: Nice and dense layout of both case and earphone.

Samsung Buds Pro (~ 10000 r, overview)

Samsung Buds Pro

It is seen: Also good layout, battery is angled. Unusual attachment of the ear cushions. The earbuds themselves are stuffed to the eyeballs.

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Epilogue

Now you can start flooding, discuss prices / quality, what is the difference between “smoker’s audiophilia” from “WASP audiophilia”. In my opinion, nothing – these are the same electronic components and blocks. The Chinese KZ and Galaxy Buds seemed to me the most interesting, purely constructive.

All the best, oxygen-free copper and the ability to hear 16 kHz and above.