mrice-e300

Mrice E300 in-ear headphones is an affordable audio product with sound quality way beyond its price level. Priced under $20, these headphones are said to have sound quality that can outperform some products priced at $100-$150 range. I first read about these headphones from this article from Wired and quickly became curious. Reading this technical review helped me to decide that I want these headphones.

The history of E300 is linked to a legendary Baldoor E100 headphones (also available as Mrice E100; same product, different name). This is a $12 product that, according to some audiophile discussion “if you stick it in your ear sideways it will sound better than a professional IEM that costs over a thousand dollars.” Another audiophile agrees and claims that “it will sound even better if you pinch your ears together at three precise points simultaneously, while applying pressure to the bud at a slight angle.” Obviously these are not the most ergonomic way to listed to music through headphones, but the point is, somehow a super cheap product could produce a really surprising quality.

E300 sounded more interesting to me because of its form factor: in-ear (also available as Chintek E300; same product, different name). It promises to deliver sound quality close to E100 without the quirk of the special positioning on our ears. I searched some popular online stores and could not get it from any online stores that I usually buy from. So I decided to order from a store I’ve never used before. According to the original review that I read, E300 should costs $15 (USD), I bought these headphones for $18 (USD), slightly more expensive but that’s okay. Just as precaution, I used prepaid credit card to make sure that doing the transaction would not bring me to any problem with my main credit card.

After about a month of waiting, Mrice E300 finally made its way to my mailbox.

These headphones look alright. The build quality is not bad, but it’s nothing spectacular either. It comes with 3 pairs of earbuds: small, medium and large. I like the red color of its triangle-shaped cable. I find it unique to see triangle-shaped cable, along with triangle-shaped 3.5mm plug and triangle-shaped cable splitter. There are 2 colors available: black-red and white-red. I got myself the white-red version.

First thing I noticed when I plugged in these earphones to my iPhone 6 (without playing any song) was a very soft white noise. Not the kind of first impression that I usually get from my headphones, but I tried to kept myself objective.

Next, I tried the headphones to play few songs. And I was impressed. The sound quality is indeed far beyond its price level. Treble is good and detailed. Mid is clear and not overwhelming. Bass is solid and packs decent punch. The overall sound is a bit more towards “pure” experience, though its not a real pure flat experience. If an audio enthusiast tries these in-ear headphones without knowing its brand and price (blind testing), I would say he would predict the price in the $100ish range.

What I didn’t like from these headphones is the comfort. Well, simply put, I could not survive more than 15 minutes of these headphones inside my ears. It felt uncomfortable. To be fair, I had similar experience with most other in-ear headphones (with few exceptions like Sony XBA-2VP Balanced Armature).

Clearly, these headphones will not become my everyday headphones because of its comfort issue. However, $18 product that actually deliver sound quality of some $100+ products is still a very good deal. And I think spending that money is a good decision for a good experiment. If you are looking for good in-ear headphones on a budget (assuming your ears are usually okay with in-ear headphones), then I would not hesitate to recommend Mrice E300.