Specs: Driver: Dynamic | Imp: 32Ω | Sens: 98 dB | Freq: 20-20k Hz | Cable: 4.1′ I-plug w/mic & 3-button Android remote Accessories (3/5) – Single-flange silicone tips (4 sizes); plastic box doubles as storage case with integrated cable wrap
The cable is similar to that of the older model – rubbery above the y-split and sheathed in nylon below to provide some resistance to tangling. Sound (8.2/10) – The Xiaomi Piston 2 quickly became one of my favorite budget in-ears thanks to its ability to deliver good clarity, soundstaging, and overall refinement despite its plentiful bass.
Combined with an extensive feature set (especially for Android users) and a very low price, this made the previous-gen Piston an unbeatable value. Mid-bass impact is slightly lower than with some of the other not-quite-reference-flat earphones such as the VSonic VSD3S and Ostry KC06, but enhanced compared to flatter-sounding sets like the HiFiMan RE-400 and Etymotic MC5.
Bass depth is pretty good as well, though sub-bass reach and presence lag a bit behind the VSD3S and VSonic’s higher-end GR07. The Piston 3 is also less sensitive than the older model, which fits with its less consumer-oriented sound because a non-audiophile listener is more prone to put value in both emphasized bass and the ability reach higher volumes more easily.
The Piston 2 is warmer and boasts bass that is deeper and more powerful which, admittedly, also helps it sound very dynamic and delivers a “wow” factor. Now, the Piston 3 offers the same level of performance – albeit with a slightly brighter tonal tilt – for 1/3 of that, with better build quality and a 3-button remote to boot. Especially for those in search of balanced sound, the Havi is better than the Piston 3, but its low sensitivity and lack of bass enhancement limit its appeal in the mainstream. It is also fairly similar to the Piston in how it fits in the ear, albeit with a slimmer profile and longer nozzles providing slightly better noise isolation.
In terms of sound, the Momentum has a more colored, arguably more “fun” tuning than the Piston 3 but isn’t too far ahead in technical ability. Both earphones have sound signatures on the v-shaped side of “flat” but the Momentum In-Ear unit offers up a warmer tone with better bass. Value (10/10) – The latest evolution of Xiaomi’s venerable Piston line once again succeeds in delivering outstanding sound quality with a solid construction and 3-button Android remote, all at a very low price.
Xiaomi Pistons 3.0 in-ear headphones – Reviews
The 3.0’s radical redesign gave it a fresh, sleek look and a much more robust build, making it one of its more noticeable and significant improvements. The 3.0’s sound signature is quite accommodating for media beyond music, but their isolation prevents them from doing much good as an in-flight movie kind of IEM. Please note that I am neither affiliated with Gearbest or any of its staff, nor am I being paid for writing this review. Unless otherwise specified, everything you see written in this review are my own honest opinion, so please take that with a grain of salt. Since that Christmas of 2012 the demand for the Pistons 2.0 exploded into a massive craze that lasted a bit over a whole year. The sands of time have swept across the budget IEM market, with it bringing fierce new contenders.
Let’s find out after the jump.The packaging of the Pistons 3.0 is, well, just like its predecessor – sleek, sharp, and with as small a footprint as ever. The silicone carry case is similar, the accessories are similar…absolutely nothing has changed in the packaging.
The strain reliefs have been reinforced and integrated into the main housing, the Android-compatible 3-button remote has been redesigned, and the Kevlar-reinforced cable remains.The 3.0 still employs metal throughout its build, with the gold-plated 3.5mm connector, the Y-split, and the housing of its Android-compatible 3-button remote.
And unlike the 2.1 (a minor revision of the original 2.0), the Pistons 3.0 does not include a shirt clip, so you’re going to have to find a different solution to the cable noise problem.The new design of the Pistons 3.0 really helped to improve its fit and overall comfort. Their angled, ergonomic housings easily make them one of the most comfortable IEMs I’ve tried. Oh yeah, and before you start worrying, they also stay quite securely in your ears as well – even though it does feel like they’re about to fall off at any given moment.According to the official page of the Pistons 3.0 , they still employ a dual dampening system similar to that used in its predecessor.
As such, the Pistons 3.0 doesn’t really isolate as much as your typical IEMs such as the MEE Audio M9 Classic and the Brainwavz Jive. The Pistons 3.0 has trouble drowning out the sounds of the city streets and the interiors of loud malls. Though this isolation (or lack thereof) can be a bit of a nuisance, I personally found them pretty useful as they do give you much better aural awareness when you’re out and about.The source equipment used in this review is a fifth-generation iPod Touch and an iPad 3 directly running the Pistons 3.0, and a PC running iTunes 12 and Foobar2k powering the Jive through a Schiit Fulla DAC/Amp. The EQ apps used in their respective test is TuneShell on iOS and Electri-Q on the PC.
Anyways, that’s about as far as I could write about everything else; now let’s get to the real reason you guys are here – the sound!Coming from the Pistons 2 – an IEM I hold inhigh regard – I had high expectations for its successor. The Pistons 2.0 had this big, impactful low-end which became one of its main selling points for a lot of non-audiophiles.The 3.0…well, it’s different.
Extension is also pretty good, with the 3.0’s driver capable of reaching down and digging up some of the deeper, more obscure bass notes that are often lost in IEMs in this price range (Spag Heddy -). Vocals and instruments alike are given a bit of weight and thickness in the lower registers, but it’s far from excessive. However, I did find them to lose their composure in some busier recordings, sounding rather muddled and cloudy to the ears (Adele –). Quantity-wise, it did not disappoint, with the treble having enough sparkle to be heard clearly, but is far from being fatiguing to my ears. Instrument separation is good, but as I stated earlier, they do tend to sound rather clouded in busier recordings. It isn’t too bad, though, and again, it’s nothing to complain about.The Pistons 3.0’s smooth, V-shaped sound signature (bass and treble emphasis) allows it to perform decently with just about any genre.
Its thumping low-end really fleshes out the bass-heavy beats of EDM, while its surprising midrange clarity grants the 3.0 a level of versatility not many IEMs in this price range offer.The Pistons 3.0 is an amazing, capable of performing just about every genre I’ve thrown at it without ever sounding…well, bad. But otherwise, no, the Pistons’ smooth sound and impressively versatile sound signature is something I find incredibly addicting, and incredible at this price point.One can’t really complain much when you’re using an IEM at the very bottom of the price ladder as a gaming tool. I found their imaging abilities to be acceptable for gaming purposes, and though the bass does tend to obscure some of the minor details, again, if you want better performance, you might as well shell out a little extra cash.Okay, I’ll be honest here, the Pistons 3.0 sound great, but they aren’t exactly one of my top picks for watching movies. And the Pistons’ mediocre isolation has a very hard time drowning out the sounds of airplanes or most loud, droning noises in general. The rest of the sound signature doesn’t seem to be affected, though, so that’s all I can say about that here.The Pistons 3.0 are also pretty responsive to EQ, making them quite easy to tweak to one’s tastes. Being an IEM that already sounds good from the get-go, I can’t really suggest any tweaks to improve them further, so I’ll just leave it at that.The Pistons 3.0 can be acquired from a sea of third-party sellers online, but by far the most reliable source is from Xiaomi themselves , selling it at its retail price of 99 Yuan, or about 16 dollars. If you have the Pistons 2.0 and loved it, you might be pretty disappointed with the sound signature of this new version, mostly in the bass. As with all reviews, whether I like it or not, that doesn’t really matter to you, the reader, if you happen to take interest in buying either.The Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 has always been a consumer-oriented IEM – one of the main reasons a number of audiophile Head-Fi’ers spew hate on them while ironically hyping other products.
(The reason why I sayHead-Fi’ers is because not all of the people on Head-Fi are middle-class elitists with three amps and at least twice that many headphones.) They don’t really have the sound characteristics that could completely outclass that of IEMs within and above its price point.But all in all, the Pistons 3.0 is an excellent IEM in my opinion, featuring robust construction, a comfortable fit, and a versatile sound signature that bridges the gap between consumer and audiophile.
You could check out the rest of the images I took during the shoot(link currently unavailable), and you could check out some more of my reviewsThis has been thatBeatsguy of DB Headphones; thanks for reading!Xiaomi is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer founded around the year 2009, with their products all offering high performance at a low price. This brought the company to be massively popular in China, eventually overtaking both Samsung and Apple in market share in just four short years.Company website: http://www.mi.com
Xiaomi Piston 3 Review: Impressive In-Ear Headphones
The Xiaomi Piston 3 in-ear headphones offer incredible value at a budget price. Undoing the box’s seal, the packaging unfolds, revealing the protective case.
Inside the box, you get a the Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones, protective case and 3 sets of rubber earbuds (XS to L). The Piston 3 features a more “traditional” shape, with a gentle curve guiding the earpiece into your ear.
The main body is made of black plastic with a charcoal backing that features a cool-looking brushed metal effect. I’m glad that Xiaomi abandoned the gold color of its predecessor, as the black looks far sleeker and blends in better.
A circular disk at the rear of the headphones feature a ribbed texture that looks awesome when the light hits it. Another cylinder joins the earbud wires together and the cable transitions to a braided design which offers improved strength and flexibility.
An unanticipated bonus was that the braided cable doesn’t stick to fabric like rubber does. This means the headphones didn’t get pulled out of my ears when my messenger bag strap brushed over it. Thankfully, the connector housing is compact so I didn’t have any issues inserting it into any of my devices, even those in bulkier cases. As a metalhead however, there’s nothing worse than having amazing vocals drowned out by thumping bass, leading to muddy sounding music.
I listened to a variety of music genres including death metal, acoustic, rap and electronica and the headphones performed well across the board. Electronic tracks sounded great, with bass maintaining “punch” but vocal elements were still audible.
For under $25, you get a stylish and well-made set of headphones that have equally impressive audio quality. My only real criticism would be that the volume controls didn’t work on iOS, but I think this is pretty trivial.
Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition
With so many Xiaomi Mi Piston earphones models being sold their naming becomes quite confusing and the fact that the brand designs them very aesthetically similar many people feel overwhelmed or totally lost regarding to which model they are actually buying. Despite the budget price, the Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition have very solidly constructed aluminum housings with a very nice finish and a front plastic section, cable is more on the basic side if doing a Xiaomi Mi Piston 3 vs Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition comparison, but once again the price of the Fresh Ed. Cable is rounded and rubberized to help with tangling issues and there is also an inline microphone with a 1-button control that lets you play/pause, skip tracks, answer/reject calls. You can buy the Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition in a large variety of colors: black, blue, pink, purple or silver (as the unit that we own and are reviewing now).
Bass coming from the Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition is powerfully punchy and very deep. Fun and energy do not lack with these earphones, bass will cover even the more demanding music genres without any issues.
Running the Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition through our extreme bass tests they were able to manage up to 50% of a Fiio E12 portable amplifier maximum power while setting it to high gain and bass boost turned on (a custom basshead EQ was applied too). Results were an insane enhancement of sub-bass and mid-bass achieving even a basshead impact and rumble above the Xiaomi Mi Pro HD, slightly above the KZ ATE and below the Best Basshead Earphones such as the Xiaomi Mi Quantie Pro Hybrid, KZ ZST, KZ ZS2, Senfer 4in1, Elecom EHP-CA3580, Plextone X41M, Puma Bulldogs or the amazing Sony MDR-7550/800st and the unique Pioneer SE-CX8. With an EQ, lower mids sound clearer, less recessed but still midbass takes a lot of space. Highs of the Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition are able to resolve slight detail and have a darkish signature but still some brightness is perceived and is not horrendous; overall they result in pleasant non fatiguing highs that are not piercing but it is important to notice that a bit of sibilance may appear at times. Using an EQ there was a great increase of brightness and some more detail was revealed, piercing highs were still not a problem nor strong sibilance. The Xiaomi’s sound isolation is excellent, able of reducing ambient noise extraordinarily even while using moderate volume levels.
Comfort, fit and worry-free usage are aspects that the Xiaomi Mi Fresh Edition succeed with perfection, they can be fit in the ears with ease and quickness and at the same time they can be used for very long listening sessions without any type of pain or discomfort. Applying custom EQs, the Xiaomi’s showed remarkable response; bass importantly increased its sub-bass and mid-bass response; mids were able to clear up noticeably on the lower section but still mid-bass bleed was stepping over; highs gained significant more detail and mostly brightness while conserving under control piercing and sibilant highs. Great fun and energetic bass with excellent punch and depth Value for money is outstanding and super budget friendly Value for money is outstanding and super budget friendly Comfort, housings construction quality and design are great
Comfort, housings construction quality and design are great Very effective noise isolation Cons Lower vocals could be felt somewhat distant Lower vocals could be felt somewhat distant Highs may sound dark and lack brightness for some unless an EQ is used Conclusion The Xiaomi Mi Piston Fresh Edition are ultra budget earphones that despite the very low price were able to provide an outstanding bass and good to acceptable mids and highs (will depend on how demanding each listener is), they are not audiophile earphones and makes sense as these are the most budget earphones from Xiaomi and they have specific products in their catalog that are more premium/audiophile orientated.
DISCLAIMER We highly discourage anyone from trying to apply our testings to your own earphones, the risk of damaging or permanently breaking your iems is absolutely probable to happen.
Be First to Comment