Optoma NuForce HEM Lineup - Killer Earphones? Or Ear Killers?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,581 words · ~7 min read
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so massdrop got their hands exclusively on a new product from new force or for
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products rather it's an entire lineup of balanced armature driver inar monitors
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or imem the HM 2 4 6 and 8 and they've
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got a rather unique drop running on them where you pay less than the retail price
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of the least expensive unit with a 50% chance of getting one of the higher tier
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ones they reached out to me to ask for a review of the lineup so this will be a
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couple of firsts for me I've never actually formally reviewed a multi-
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balanced armatur imem and at least I don't remember ever trying to make a
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video about four products in the same family all at the same time so wish me
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luck cooler Master's new master keys pro
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and pro s keyboards provide 16.7 million color RGB backlighting genuine cherry MX
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switches and an industry-leading ARM cortex processor learn more in the link
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in the video description let's begin with everything these four products have
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in common the accessory package is nearly identical across the board and
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pretty darn impressive I might add everything comes packed in an air and
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watertight polycarbonate case that while I personally wished was smaller to hold
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only the accessor I'm actually likely to carry around with me others will likely
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prefer the larger size so they can Chuck some other valuables in while they're
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kaying or whatever it is that cool people do on the weekends inside that is
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more goodies the smaller carrying case I asked for though not waterproof this
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time a full complement of ear tips small medium and large silicone and medium and
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large comply t00 foam ear tips I can't
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use them because my ear canals are too small but they're a nice bonus if yours
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aren't the last couple of accessories are a braided ofc copper apparently
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there's silver in it too or something like that uh cable without a microphone and a
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second cable with a microphone both
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offer decent if unexceptional tangle resistance and the braided one looks
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admittedly pretty cool one thing to watch out for here though is make sure
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you plug your cable into the IM really firmly to engage the lock I made that
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mistake a couple of times the last thing that's similar across the board is the
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outer design of the housing they get heavier As you move up to the more
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premium products but they feel very similar in the ear which is a really
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good thing because IMO new Force nailed
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the comfort of these they seal really well and offer noticeably better noise
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isolation than my daily driver ie80s although it should be noted that they
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don't transport you into a completely other world like the edotic er4 series
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and they were comfortable even while lying down on my side a critical Factor
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if you're like me and you sleep with your IM IMS in so with that out of the
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way let's start at the the bottom of the product stack the HM 2s with their
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single balanced armature design deliver a pretty clear analytical high-end with
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one-dimensional though thankfully fairly Punchy bass I did find them a little
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fatiguing to listen to as I prefer a more veiled high-end my closest point of
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comparison to these sorry my earphone stable is a little limited is my $100
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sure se215s by comparison those sounded boomy
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with uncontrolled Bass and made lyricists sound like they were singing
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through a blanket but at least they allowed me to
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hear the hum background vocalists in better when I'm dancing by Megan Trainer
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I could hardly even tell they were singing different notes with the HM tws
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at Double the price for improved Comfort a better accessory package and a pretty
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much a textbook comparison between the trade-offs that you make between Dynamic
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drivers and balanced armature drivers I guess the choice is yours but I
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personally go for the better sounding Dynamic drivers let's step up to the
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$300 dual balanced armature hm 4S these
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are very very dangerous Waters at the
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exact same price as my daily driver Sennheiser ie80s these had better
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deliver in Spades and while they carry
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forward the lyrical strength not to mention the sparkly and for me slightly
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fatiguing highs of their little brother and add a much more expressive if a
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touch loose low end where they fall flat for me is in anything anthemic Roar by
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ktie Perry and Marry You by Bruno Mars being solid examples they bring the
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vocalist forward in a way that makes it feel like the background music is
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deemphasize it's as though the singer is being beamed directly into my ear canals
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and it's I don't know like it's hard to put my finger on it it's like the background music is out of focus I mean
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don't get me wrong you want to listen to vocalists like Linda ronad all day the
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HM 4S will really impress you and I'll likely end up popping them in from time
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to time they just don't work as an allrounder for me which is not my final
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word on the HM lineup with the hm6 you move from a dual to a triple balanced
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armature design and a fuller more natural sound while I prefer the rumble
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of my ie80s in a song like zay's recent hit Pillow Talk the atm6 delivers
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controlled lows and Carries forward much
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of the vocal Clarity of the HM 4S and twos without the fatiguing sparkly highs
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and that uncanny Sensation that I got in some songs from the lower-end models
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they're actually very pleasing to listen to so while I don't think the HM 6s are
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going to rock the skulls of the EDM and Bas head folks out there for pop rock
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alternative and well I mean most of what the mainstream is going to be listening
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to these are tuned really well at the
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price if all I I was getting was the headphone and a cable I would still have
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a hard time recommending them but given that I caved a couple weeks ago and paid
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$70 with shipping for a first-party microphone cable for my ie80s after
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wasting $20 on a crappy thirdparty one that was obscenely
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uncomfortable boom there goes the pricing advantage and the two carrying
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cases are a much much better solution
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than the cumbersome one that Sennheiser includes with the ie80 I guess you could
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interpret that as a recommendation so then the hm8 should be a foregone
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conclusion right the8 out of eight rating joke is begging to be made here
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and I'd have done it for sure only the h8s really didn't impress me from the
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moment I put them in my ears vocals sounded obscured by a basier more Beat
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Generation sound signature that just wasn't present in any of the other SKS
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to be clear some people will really like them I'm just not one of them it was
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suggested to me by my mass drop contact that I might like them better after
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giving the whopping four balanced armateur drivers in the hm8 some time to
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burn in so I left them running in a corner of my office overnight and came
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back to them any difference the burin period might have made must have been
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too subtle for my ears to pick up on the Baseline in do I have to say the words
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by Brian Adams still dominates the song in a way that it doesn't with anything
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else in the testing lineup today given the choice between the HM 6 and the 8
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even at the same price I would take take the hm6 which I guess leads us then to
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the ultimate conclusion having never looked at anything from the new Force
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lineup before the package comfort and construction quality really impressed me
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and while I wish the sound signature was a little more unified across a product
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family that bears the same name I
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understand that from a one to a four balanced armature design that's a
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difficult thing to do and I think that the ATM 4 and the six are the strongest
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of the four offerings especially given their price points thanks for watching
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