MEElec M6 Earphones

While MEElec is a relatively unknown company (at least outside of the die-hard headphones community), they have produced quite a lineup of budget-priced earphones ranging from $9.99 to $49.99. Today we take a look at one of their higher-end offerings, the MEElectronics M6, which retails at $49.99. With an average online price of $40, they are billed as a lightweight, in-ear model with clear and accurate sound quality along with the capability of external noise attenuation. They have a lot to live up to with those claims – so let’s take a listen to see how well the MEElec M6 performs.

Design

The M6 earphones are an over-the-ear design, with a stiff “memory wire” used to wrap around your ear for extra support to keep the earphones firmly in place during physical activity. The angled ear tip is designed to fit tightly into your ear canal to form a tight seal, with the main benefit of blocking out external noise. Included with the M6 are 4 sets of rubber ear tips – Small/Med/Large/Tri-flange.

The M6 utilizes 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets, and are available in three color choices (black, clear and maroon). Our review unit featured the clear color scheme, which made the white lettering of the ‘L’ and ‘R’ indicators a bit hard to read. The internals of the earphones are also visible on the clear color model, which may or may not be to your liking. The M6 certainly sports a distinctive design and most people will either love it, or simply hate it.

The 1.2m (4 ft.) cord length is sufficient for using the earphones with any portable music player, but is a tad too short to use as headphones for listening to music on a PC. Also included with the M6 is a clip attached to the cable wire, and a sliding cable fastener. Both are used to position the cable wire so that it does not make noise heard through the earphones while moving around.

Specifications

• Drivers: 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets
• Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz
• Impedance: 16 ohms
• Cable Length: 1.2m
• Warranty: 1 year manufacture
• Color(s): Black, clear, maroon
• Dimension: 0.65 in. H x 0.75 in. W x 1 in. L
• Compatible: All devices using standard 3.5mm jack

In the Box

The test unit came in the clear color and included the following:

• M6 clear color earphones
• Soft Carry Pouch
• 4 sets of rubber silicon ear tips (Triple/S/M/L sizes)
• User guide
• Airplane adapter
• Wire organizer

Sound Quality Performance Testing

The sound quality performance evaluation of the MEElec M6 earphones was performed exclusively by listening to MP3s and FLAC music stored on my Sansa Fuze MP3 player. I listened to a number MP3s with bit rates of 128kbps and 320kbps, as well as lossless audio tracks in FLAC format. A wide selection of classical, rock, alternative and hip-hop music was used in the evaluation.

Breaking down my listening impressions, the M6 testing started off poorly due to the difficulty I had with getting a good seal with the included tri-flange ear tips. They did not fit my ears well and the loose fit resulted in weak bass along with overstated highs. I spent a few more minutes fiddling with the tri-flange tips and then finally gave up using them.

I replaced them with the medium sized ear tips, and spent a few minutes making sure the memory wire was shaped correctly around the top of my ears, and the result was a much better seal. With a tighter seal, I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the M6’s sounded. The bass extension was very impressive – digging down low without getting muddy sounding, and without drowning out the mids and highs. Speaking of the mids and highs, they were also very enjoyable. The mids were coherent and mixed well into the highs, with a fluid sound that I would not have expected in such budget priced earphones. The highs were not quite as silky-smooth sounding as other headphones I have listened to, but they were generally likeable with various types of music.

Moving on to the overall soundstage, I felt that it sounded wide and well-dispersed. I especially liked listening to techno music, as the solid-sounding bass reverberated in my head without masking the faster, punchier notes of the songs.

After a burn-in period of around 25 hours, I continued to be impressed by the M6’s. Clear instrumentation as well as smooth vocals poured out from the earphones no matter what type of music I had playing. The versatility of these earphones is really a strong point, as I didn’t feel that they suffered from any glaring deficiencies while listening to various genres of music. Not nearly as warm sounding as other IEMs, they would probably not be the best choice for jazz lovers, but any listener who appreciates detail and great low-end extension will be pleased with the MEElec M6 earphones.

Portability

The M6 earbuds are extremely lightweight (0.5 oz.) and can easily be carried along with an MP3 player. The included soft carry pouch is a nice accessory, although I would have preferred a hard cover case with the M6’s to eliminate the possibility that the memory wire is inadvertently bent during transport. I stored these in my gym bag while on the way to exercising, and I suspect that the memory wire may have been slightly bent while bouncing around in my bag.

Comfort

Comfort-wise, the M6 earphones excelled once I fitted the medium sized ear tips. The four included sets of ear tips provide a wide variety of choices to try out in order to find the best fit for your ears. I disliked the tri-flange eartips, but they could very well fit your ears to a tee.

During multiple hours of exercise they proved to be rock solid and never dislodged out of my ear canals. Maintaining a tight seal is imperative to achieving the best sound quality, and the M6’s never lost their seal while I was exercising. My only complaint is that the memory wire did require multiple adjustments to achieve the right balance between tight-fitting and still remaining comfortable.

The cable wire clip and sliding cable fastener were welcome accessories that made it easy to keep the cable from bouncing around during workouts. They also worked wonderfully in eliminating any and all cable noise.

MEElectronics M6 Earphones

At a budget-friendly price of around $40 online, the MEElec M6 is simply an outstanding value. This set of earphones provides the level of sound quality, comfort and included accessories of earphones costing twice as much.

While the memory wire, tri-flanges and cable clip do take some time and attention to get aligned just right, the effort is well worth the results. If you are shopping for a sub-$50 pair of earphones to use while traveling, exercising or just for day-to-day listening, the MEElec M6 is a superb choice.

Pros: Outstanding sound quality, inexpensive price, fits well with some effort, cable accessories eliminate cable noise.

Cons: Difficult to get fitted properly, hard cover case would be a better choice than soft cover case.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

www.meelec.com