[Review] Xiaomi Piston Earphones v2.1

Xiaomi – a company that came from custom ROMs have been making multiple dents around the universe ever since its inception as a company in China. They created a lot of other products besides mobile phones – but today, we’re going to look at their Xiaomi Piston Earphones v2.1, the latest and only Piston model available to Malaysians.

Without further ado, this is the Xiaomi earphones.

Xiaomi’s method of packaging the earphones is something to be given attention to, as they are generous enough to give you more than is required in a packaging.

Opening up the piece of plastic on the top reveals the a piece of silicon mold that is made to hold the entire earphone itself – as you can coil the wires around the mold and put the button controls, the jack, and also the earbuds themselves on the mold.

 

The mold has a very soft silicon feel to it, and you will never have to worry about damaging your earphones at all. You can even coil back the earphones back into the mold if you plan to take it with your travels too, It can be a makeshift case, if you wish it to be so.

After removing the silicon mold we have the eartip sizes arranged very neatly (though I have misarranged them), and there is another cable holder in the middle, though I forgot to put it back while photographing.

There are a total of 4 sizes of eartips, the S M L as depicted above and also another one that the earphones came along with. I have no idea what is the size of the eartips that it came along with, but all I can say is that 4 eartips sizes are sway beyond sufficiency.

Packaging gets an A+ here. Xiaomi thought of the after-unboxing user experience too, and I really appreciate that.

[nextpage title=”Build quality and ports”]When it comes to earphones, build quality is still as important as ever – especially when storing it into pockets or having it yanked by the phone or some random objects all day long.

Xiaomi opted for a very eccentric design language, using circular brushes of metal finish all around the in-line controls, the earbuds themselves, and also the 3.5mm audio jack. In case you are grabbing the in-line control and fiddling the buttons with slippery fingers, you won’t have to worry as the grip provided is overkill.

Onwards to the design though, I do find the writings to separate both L and R a little bit disappointingly small. I thought that the right side will be easily identified with the in-line controls are probably built into the right side anyway, but I was wrong. The in-line controls serve as the separator between the two earbuds and the 3.5mm audio jack. Bummer.

The design on the eartips again shines as the circular brushed metal comes back again.

Hats off to Xiaomi as they never did cut any corners in terms of the design as the housing at the bottom of those eartips are still with the circular brushed metal finish, though no one will ever peek there anyway.

[nextpage title=”Performance and comfort”]This is the part where everyone has been asking me for months – is it good or not. I know that Xiaomi did make Malaysian shudder and excited as the earphones are inexpensive, but then again most inexpensive things have very poor performance and build quality anyway.

Weighing in at only 12 grams, it doesn’t feel like I’m wearing anything at all since the entire earphone itself is very light to be noticeable.

Xiaomi is kind enough to provide a frequency response graph for the Piston Earphones v2.1 that has a sensitivity of 93dB and with impedance of 16 ohms – making it perfect for mobile devices. Analyzing the frequency response graph a little, it can be seen that Xiaomi made the response of about 1kHz to 5kHz a little softer compared to its neighbours as the human ears are more sensitive to that frequency range.

This is Xiaomi trying to create an overall equal perceptual volume throughout the entire frequency range. Further explanation on this will require the knowledge of psychoacoustics, which we will not touch on here today.

The listening test is again with my usual list of songs, listening testing them on multiple devices, but this time however I’m using a OnePlus One instead of my Nexus 4, as my Nexus 4 has retired.

Adventure Time – Rogue (Monster 010 – Conquest) [FLAC]

• Lows : Bass is punchy
• Mids : Distinct from the lows and highs
• Highs : A little underwhelming

Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper (Bioshock Infinite Soundtrack) [320kbps MP3]

• Lows : Bass strings are heard
• Mids : Too overwhelming
• Highs : Covered by mids

Orpheus Of The Underworld – Adya (Adya Classic 2) [215 kbps MP3]

• Lows : Bass reverb is  excellent
• Mids : Great mids
• Highs : Highs are okay

Rosen aus dem Suden, op. 388 – Orchestra Of The Viennese Volksoper (Great Strauss Waltz, Polkas & Marches) [320kbps MP3]

• Lows : Each note played by the tuba is heard
• Mids : Clear and crisp
• Highs : Can’t achieve a satisfying high

Salome – The Johann Strauss Orchestra & Andre Rieu (Andre Rieu In Wonderland) [320kbps MP3]

• Lows : Bass is excellent
• Mids : Mids are a little too heavy
• Highs : Muffled

The Entertainer – Scott Joplin (The Entertainer – The Very Best of Scott Joplin) [320kbps MP3]

• Lows : Too overwhelming
• Mids : Decently distinctive, doesn’t get overwhelmed by lows and highs
• Highs : Generally decent

Skyliner – The BBC Big Band (The Age Of Swing, Volume 1) [FLAC]

• Lows : Each note of the bass string is heard
• Mids : The saxophone solo part is great
• Highs : Can be improved

The Ballad Of Mr Steak – Kishi Bashi (Lighght) [FLAC]

• Lows : Drum beats are too strong
• Mids : Vocals are extremely clear
• Highs : Generally okay

In The Mood – The BBC Big Band (The Age Of Swing, Volume 1) [FLAC]

• Lows : Not intrusive at all
• Mids : Sounds excellent
• Highs : Excellent overall, especially at the finale

All in all about the performance, it is generally a little too heavy on the bass side. Soundstage is however is unexpectedly excellent. Surely it’s not as great as some high end ones, but it is definitely competitive with some budget to mid-range pair of earphones such as the Beyerdynamic XP2 and comparable with the Beyerdynamic DX 120 iE.

Highs are decent, though I expect that they will improve in the highs for the next revision of the Xiaomi Piston Earphones. Maybe tune down a little on the bass too. Hundaes’s Bit Different is causing a terrible headache from those excessive bass.

Then comes the in-line controls – specifically on the OnePlus One. I never expect them to work so well on on the One that all 3 buttons worked right out of the box without any tinkering with apps or whatsoever. The two side buttons work as volume – just as intended, and the middle one controls music. Tap once to play, tap again to pause. Double tap to go to the next track. Going previous however is a little funny, as you’ll have to hold the volume down button to do so – but doesn’t work for all apps. I personally use Poweramp, and I use triple tap for the center button to go to the previous track.

Cable friction and movement will still produce some noticeable amount of noise, though is negligible since the earphones doesn’t move a lot anyway.

Which leads us to the comfort and here is what I have to say about it – they are extremely light. It doesn’t feel feel like I’m wearing anything at all, and it most definitely doesn’t move even when shaking heads or walking around.

[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]

I can’t wait to tell you the price – it’s only RM50 without shipping.

With the price out of the way, I guess it all comes down to this – an excellent piece of hardware with all the features that you’ll only find on certain earphones, and has quality comparable to some earphone that costs about 4 to 6 times higher than the Xiaomi Piston Earphones v2.1. It really does feel like I’m paying RM50 for something that costs RM200 or more – especially with that silicon mold and that packaging.

If you are using a Xiaomi smartphone yourself, those in-line buttons can even be programmed!

I will recommend the Xiaomi Piston Earphones v2.1 to anyone who’s looking for a functional piece of earphones that has excellent audio quality for its unbelievably low price over anything out there in the market. Plus, the in-line controls are compatible with Apple’s devices too.

If you want to buy one of this, head on over to Xiaomi’s website to get one. They don’t seem to be out of stock at all, so go get it!

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