Just testing Piston 2 with Mi3. Damn disappointed.

There's no word to express it.

Nothing wrong.

Expectation shattered. Just a very normal IEM. Beat RM200 IEM??? RM200 junk from Sony perhaps.

Tried with Note2. Better but still not quite what I would say good enough to beat RM200 headphone.

Wont work with Nokia 808 at all.

Anyway, Mi3 didnt sound good, as I had confirmed it myself when I got mine during the first batch. I never knew it will sound so horrible with Xiaomi own product. Moreover, some who has gotten it say how good it was with the MiSoundEnhancer. I knew it was over-hyped but never did I thought by so much.

Even my very old Mylar 1B which didnt have great vocals, seem to have better vocal clarity than Piston2.

Waiting for NudeAudio Super-M then. Super disappointed... thought this was going to help me overcome the wait for Super-M.

It sound very digital with MiSoundEnhancer but without it, some songs sound even worse. Cant even hear the vocals.

Well, your expectation is low...

I did not say its not worth RM50.

All Im saying its a waste of time, given how people rated it. Moreover, it sounded the worst when being used with Mi3.

I didnt say its overpriced, just over-rated. Thats all.

Would I buy again? No... its just a very average IEM. Having said so, I kinda expected the hype people given to Piston2, but would like to hear how good it could be. Definitely not good at all. Maybe you bought it because its only RM50, but I bought it because people say it could sound as good as RM200-300 IEM. I wanna hear it myself if there's any truth to that.

Haha... Butthurt? Probably not.

Well, if you want to argue, they are all using the same dynamic driver design. Of course, there will still be audible differences, otherwise there would just be one brand all over the world.

Hmm... How should I said it?

It's not like I did not expect the hype thing. I just never imagine it would be so bad. I haven't bought any headphone in the last few years. I had no idea what and how a RM 200-300 headphone sounds today.

What I had for comparison was a RM15 Altec Lansing UHP336 iem I bought from a warehouse sale and a RM120 Mylar 1B that I bought 5 years ago. It didn't beat either one. So I was wondering what kind of junk you bought for RM200-300 nowadays that the Piston2 beat. It didn't beat the Philips HP890 that I bought for RM120 as well (sold it to a cousin)

If you want to downgrade, download v14 fastboot rom and then flash with MiFlash on your pc.

Safer this way.

Well, Mi3 headphone out really sounds terrible. Without a doubt.

Yeah, not bad, but not good either. Tried with several other gadgets, N10, Note2, iPhone5. Other device yield better sound, but not spectacular.

Update:

Since I already given up on piston 2, went ahead with filter mod and true enough it sounded better. However it also change the IEM sound altogether. The bloated bass is lesser now. Remember how I said the vocal were bad? It is clearer now. The veil is taken off. It did sound much brighter now.

The bad? Remember the instrument separation which is quite good? It's totally gone now.

This post has been edited by andrekua2: Aug 24 2014, 10:50 AM


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Do the mod. It's pretty good.

Mi3 headphone out is not as good as some other phone. Not to mention output power is low.

Buy a new one more worth. Even the outer plastic already damaged.

I feel it's OK, but ultimately choice is yours to make.

If like Samsung, 600 vs 1800, then I will change screen only.

I have been throwing Mi3 onto tables, chairs. Its pretty durable. Drop it once too. I can see some dents here and there. Nice to use phone naked after a long time.

This post has been edited by andrekua2: Aug 24 2014, 04:31 PM

IEM burn in? LoL...

More like getting used to it after playing so many hours with it.

Dont use any MiSoundEnhancer is the best.

But Mi3 headphone out is really a bit below average.

Today I dropped my Mi3 from car roof height and it survived. One really bad chip at the back top left, and some smaller chips here and there on the back cover. Really not bad...

On a sidenote, my bro's wife dropped hers and didnt fare well. Shattered screen...

I got one at RM15 but you won't be able to buy it.

It's not that hard to find an iem which may well sound better than Piston2 if you look around for bargain. But for lazy people, probably Piston2 is as good as it gets for RM50 I suppose.

I guessed the drop angle helps.




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It has more bass, not much better bass. In fact, it has too much, 50% of the time. Drown everything else out, unless you mod it. The clarity also improved with the mod.

I dont want to end up repeating the same thing over and over again. Fanboys are the most annoying bunch. For RM50, its definitely not over paying, like I mentioned earlier, but this is definitely not in the same league if you can spent 3-4 times the money. Its not the price. I wont even buy for RM20 if I had the chance to listen to it. To me, its not the price, but the sound. I dont pay a lot for most of my stuffs that I bought at bargain price from warehouse sales or online sales. If you are comparing to the overpriced branded junk that you bought at full retail price, then the Piston2 is like an angel falling from sky.

On top of that, I dont like EQ at all. It may not sound natural out of box, I accept it as it is instead of tweaking the EQ to play the sound that you want to hear.

I like my cheapo RM15 BA the best. I think BA really excel at vocals, clarity without all those annoying fake bass. I think Piston2 is trying to create a listening environment, much like when using LME49720 opamp. It gets a wide soundstage, with good instrument separation which offers a live-like experience, but if you are aiming for just enjoying pure music, then it really lacks the refinement.

I dont mind paying 3-4 times the price of Piston2 for that. Piston2 didnt deliver my expectation.