MOXO, known for their X-1 levitating speaker, also offers a few earphones, which are barely known by anyone. So I decided to be one of those few to test MOXO's M-12 earphones. At first, I was quite confused by their unfamiliar sound signature and unusual frequency response. Overall, the sound focuses on the upper-lows and mids, with a sharp peak in the highs that is responsible for the detail. Initially, they might sound harsh and hollow, but when you get used to the sound signature, you also start noticing the warmth of the mid-lows (but there's no sub-bass). When I turned on the bass boost on my mobile phone, I was expecting a distorted mess, but instead I got a warmer and darker sound with a rapid bass response. These earphones aren't bad, yet their sound signature won't please everybody.
MOXO M-12
ø10.7mm Dynamic Driver
Pros
- This particular sound signature seems to be quite suitable for many styles of metal music.
- Impressively high volume levels, even on low powered sources.
- An attractive housing design.
Cons
- The highs are quite harsh and painfully loud.
- The vocals sound slightly hollow, like singing into a tube.
- The lows are lacking any sub-bass.
- Apart from the housings, the overall build quality is pretty cheap. The cable is generic and has no strain reliefs (except the plug), and the ear tips are generic wide-bore black tips.
- The package is unnecessarily large, while there is nothing inside it except the earphones and the ear tips.
Package & Accessories
Chipboard (textured)
S+M+L, black, ø6mm bores
Build & Materials
Metal, ø6mm nozzles, stiff strain reliefs
Plastic (glossy), single-button
TPE, no strain reliefs
TPE, 124cm, semi-soft, mildly bent
TPE, straight, short, soft strain relief
Comfort & Fit
The included tips are kind of generic, but I didn't have any comfort issues whatsoever. Still, you should consider using better tips (like ROCK Zircon's wide-bore tips).
Lows / Bass
By default, they are not equlized to be bassy, so if you want more bass you'll need a more powerful source, or at least a bass boost your source's equalizer. They can achieve quite punchy mid-bass. However, don't expect to hear much sub-bass, because there isn't any, and they didn't pass the bass shaker test.
Mids / Vocals
The mids are warm but are also very dark, there's just too much low-mids which makes the sound a bit hollow, and the sharp highs overwhelm the mids and push them to the background. However, they seem to be quite suitable for metal music, it just sounds right.
Highs / Treble
The highs are quite good but are significantly louder than the lows and the mids and are very piercing.
Frequency Response
