Hello!
China, as the world's factory for everything, never ceases to amaze. We have all heard more than once or twice about an amazing Chinese company, whose devices are now considered 'better' than everything else put together. This is, of course, about Xiaomi. And today I have on review one of the brightest products of this company, once again for Xiaomi, violating, or rather changing the established rules of the audio electronics market – the headset Xiaomi Circle Iron (QTER01JY) .
The headset is notable for the presence of two types of radiators at once: a membrane for low frequencies (speaker), and a balanced armature for mid and high frequencies ('armature'). You can read more about the differences between technologies at the beginning of this article.
Xiaomi Circle Iron, this is the ideological successor and natural development of the Mi In-Ear Headphones (Piston) line. If initially the company talked about focusing on sound, and not only on design and appearance, while sometimes releasing accessories of dubious quality (Piston 3), then in Iron these words, apparently, found their material embodiment. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. About the sound, as always, at the end.
Specifications
- Emitters: 1 × dynamic + 1 × reinforcing
- Frequency range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Impedance: 32Ω
- Sensitivity: 101 dB / mW
- Rated power: 5mW
- Cable: 1.25 m, balanced, with three-button headset
- Plug: 3.5mm TRRS
- Weight: 20g
Bearing in mind the article by Evgeny Vildyaev in the framework of the Friday column, in the comments to which many argued about the need or unnecessaryness of a detailed description of the sound quality, those who will be told more words by graphs and diagrams, I invite you to follow this link.
Contents of delivery
Unlike the Piston 3, the Iron bundle is austere. Inside the small white box you will find the headset itself, a set of three pairs of interchangeable ear pads in a separate box, and a small booklet. There are no cases or bags for carrying here. Apparently, this is due to the need to save money to maintain an attractive price.
Appearance and materials
The headset uses several materials at once – plastic, metal, kevlar and rubber.
The headphone case has an unusual shape in the form of a metal bell, to the base of which a hard plastic leg is attached, which, as it were, holds the case. The sound guide and its base, covering the body bell, are also made of plastic.
The aluminum of the case is quite soft, as a result of which the surface gets damaged very easily (the scratch on the case appeared unexpectedly).
But the situation with the cable is not entirely clear. The section from the plug to the branch is covered with a Kevlar braid, and after branching it is just plastic, similar to rubber, already without a braid.
The meaning of such 'saving on matches' is not clear. Despite this annoying nuance, the cable looks and feels reliable and sturdy, especially the area covered with Kevlar.
Straight plug, gold-plated. In the place where the cable comes out, a rubber cuff is made to protect the cable from kinks.
The remote is made in the form of an aluminum cylinder, with plastic buttons and a microphone slot on the opposite side.
All metal surfaces have an annular notch that can be seen on close inspection.
An interesting element in terms of design, however, completely impractical in terms of use. Thanks to this structure, the remote control and the plug body get dirty very quickly – dirt (grease from hands and sweat) gets into the grooves. It all does not look very neat. Fortunately, aluminum is quite easy to clean.
Ergonomics and ease of use
At first glance, the headphones seem to be quite large, and it seems that they should certainly bulge out and stick out of the ears. In fact, it only seems. The earbuds look very neat and almost invisible in the ears.
I liked the fit in the ear. The headphones fit snugly and comfortably, and do not pop out of your ears when walking or running. I recommend taking a few minutes to select the size of the ear cushions. The cable practically does not get tangled and does not dawn in the cold, but it has a microphone effect. Moreover, to all appearances, it is the part devoid of the Kevlar braid that “microfit”. Once again, I want to express my bewilderment about this – why was it so?
Another controversial element of ergonomics is the remote control. It is a sharp-edged aluminum cylinder with a cable sleeve only at the bottom. Because of this, the remote control often clings to the collar with the top edge, which is annoying. It is unclear what prevented the cuff or narrowing from being made in the upper part.
The buttons on the remote control are flat, rectangular. There are sharp edges at the junction of the buttons, which help to understand where which button is without looking at the remote control.
With this design, you often want to press the side itself. I believe that it was better to make these bumpers not at the junction of the buttons, but in the center of them. There would be more information.
Full control of playback and volume is supported on almost all devices based on Android. With devices Apple, as expected, only the central key for answering / rejecting a call, as well as starting / stopping playback, works. Volume buttons don't work.
At the same time, the quality of the microphone is beyond praise. During the use, there were never any complaints from interlocutors about poor audibility. Also, none of the interlocutors ever guessed what I was talking through the headset. The headset microphones effectively reduce noise and cut off the wind. This is definitely a plus.
The ear pads are quite thin, but despite this, the noise isolation is good. Unfortunately, there is no way to test this parameter in the metro due to the lack of it in my city. ? However, on a busy avenue with heavy traffic, the sound of the street is practically inaudible and does not interfere with enjoying your favorite songs. I think if you use foam ear cushions or 'Christmas trees', the sound insulation will be excellent.
The cable is quite stiff and elastic, and also has a memory effect, which is why it was rather reluctant to straighten after the box and, for the first time, when wearing it, strove to turn the headphones out of the ears with sharp turns of the head. Over time, of course, he will straighten, but it is only when this time will come is unknown.
It's too early to talk about the strength of the plug, but it makes a good impression, and it seems reliable, but still, it would be better if it was L-shaped.
Sound
If you try to get by with one or two phrases, as some readers often ask in the comments to smartphone reviews, then the sound is clearly worth its money, or even more.
But we will go our own way and talk about sound in more detail.
To begin with, I will say that I have given up the practice of testing inexpensive headphones, and especially headsets, in conjunction with expensive specialized players and amplifiers, since it is unlikely that such a scenario of use will be possible in life. Therefore, testing will be as close as possible to real operating conditions that are typical for products in this price category.
As a source smartphones (LG G2 with custom sound drivers installed, as well as a completely stock Samsung Galaxy Note 3).
As content – sound in mp3 (320) converted from a good source, as well as streaming services (Spotify).
So, the results of such testing.
Overall, I liked the sound. The headphones have a pronounced low-frequency, gloomy bias.
Low frequencies.
There is a lot of bass here and it is quite good. In some moments I lacked elasticity and pressure, but overall it was very, very good. In fact, there is so much bass that it eats away part of the mid frequencies, runs over them, which is why I personally did not have enough of these mid frequencies. There is a slight dip in the middle range.
High frequencies.
There are many of them and they are shrill, sonorous. At high volume the headset starts to 'cycle', but it only gets to the sand at maximum volume, and that is insignificant. Apparently, due to the presence of a reinforcing radiator, high frequencies, along with low ones, dominate over the middle ones. Moreover, they are somehow artificial, synthetic. I don’t know what this is about, perhaps in the design features – the anchor is located in the sound guide, and possibly in the manufacturer's settings. But the fact remains that high frequencies lack colors and volume.
The detail is good. You can clearly hear various details that could be missed with simpler headphones.
For example, the peculiarity of sound settings is such that if a musical group has a tambourine, you will hear it. Required. ?
But with the attack of the headset, everything is not as good as with the detail. In complex compositions, the sound can merge into a mess.
Perfect for listening to electronic music and, oddly enough, jazz. Classics in general, yes, but depending on the richness of the instruments and the complexity of the composition. But if you are a connoisseur of hard rock and metal, then you should look for another option. Not that bad, just worse than other genres.
As a result, I would describe the sound as follows – clear, sonorous, piercing with a lot of bass, but giving in to complex compositions, saturated with a large number of instruments and with a large amplitude.
When playing on the Galaxy S7, the volume headroom is very small. With LG G2 this is not the case.
conclusions
Despite the flaws in the reproduction of some genres, the headset pleasantly surprised and pleased with the overall sound quality. At the same time, one should not forget about the price. According to this parameter Xiaomi it continues to amaze, having released a very good quality hybrid headset for ridiculous money – on average, the headset is sold for 1300-1600 rubles.
Among other things, there was one oddity when buying this headset – the seller put two copies in the box for the price of one. I don’t know what it was, an act of unprecedented generosity, or a mistake, but the seller's answer pleased – yes, everything is correct, there should have been two. To a reasonable question about the reasons for such generosity, the seller answered with a smiley. ?
On the whole, at the moment I seriously consider this headset as the main one.