Hidizs MP145 Review – An Essential Planar Side Grade – Pavan’s take

Hidizs MP145 Review – An Essential Planar Side Grade (Pavan’s take)

Introduction:

Hello everyone!!! This is a kind of long-term review – 3 months since I have received this IEM. For one or the other personal reasons the writing was postponed. However, I never stopped listening to them. The IEM was always in the rotation. It underwent around 450 to 500 hours of listening roughly at the time of this writing. I would like to thank the kind people at Hidizs for sending across the review sample basis my request and I highly appreciate the gesture. Chris Love and Pietro F. have already reviewed the IEM at MBA. You may check both their reviews here and here. And with the best of my abilities and intentions, I will be as honest as I can be. So, here we go:

The IEM comes with 3 set of filters – Bass (Red), Balanced (Rose Gold) and Treble (Silver) and 3 sets of tips – Bass, vocal and balanced. Bass and vocal tips appear a tad flimsy to me, and I did not find them comfortable for long listening. I used balanced tips more often along with Divinus Velvet Tips. I find both provide great comfort and isolation. Both are in rotation every now and then. The cable provided was a decent one with 4.4mm termination however, the chin slider does not stay in its place which was at times frustrating but is manageable. The IEMs are weighty and tend to come out of the ear especially while lying down. Right sized ear tips should hold the IEM in its place and this is crucial. Looks bulkier but not that bad when worn and at the rarest of the times, I felt uncomfortable. Regarding the sound, these have a warm neutral tonality with good emphasis on the mid-bass region.

Specifications:

• 14.5mm ultra large planar magnetic driver
• Whale tail & Rorqual Pleats Design Inspiration
• Hidizs Pneumatic Sound Tuning Filter
• Target H-2019 Curve & Hidizs Style Professional Tuning
• Fully Symmetrical Magnetic Circuit
• Hidden Bionic Breathing Holes
• 6N Silver-Plated Single-Crystal Copper Wire
• Sensitivity – 104dB
• Impedance – 30 ohms
• Frequency response – 20Hz – 40kHz 

Disclaimer:

• The review is my own based on extensive and critical listening and was not influenced by any written or a video review. 
• The review is subject to unit variance and my personal listening preferences.
• The review is subject to the gears I used for testing – DAC/ DAP/ Tips/ quality of the track 
• Last but not the least, I have no affiliation with the supplier of the IEM.  

Gears / Audio used for testing:

• Tempotec V6
• Cayin RU7
• Topping NX7 Amp paired with the above 2.
• Spotify premium
• Foobar 2000 + local FLAC files

Test Tracks:

This is a representative sample of the kind of music that I listen to most of my time – An inclusive list and not exhaustive. There are a lot more.

• Here we divide – Dead letters circus
• Landslide – Fleetwood Mac
• Make my move – Oliver Micheal
• Astronaut in the ocean – Alok remix
• Code name Vivaldi – The Piano Guys
• Shout – Tears for fears
• Sandusky – Uncle Tupelo
• Cornflake girl – Tori Amos
• Ice House – Ray Montford
• Dandelions – Ruth B
• Champion – Bishop Briggs
• Psychofreak – Camila Cabello
• Can you hear the music – Ludwig Goransson
• Beat – Tingvall Trio
• Strict Machine – Goldfrapp
• Fountain – iamamiwhoami
• You broke me first – Tate McRae
• Titanium – Sia
• You need to calm down – Taylor Swift
• Vachindha Megham – A R Rahman
• Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon
• Rihaayi De – A R Rahman
• Megham Karukatha – Anirudh Ravichandran
• Udi – Sanjay Leela Bhansali
• Danga Maari Oodhari – Harris Jayaraj
• Naatu Naatu (RRR) – Keeravani 
• Caribbean Blue – Enya
• Roygbiv – Boards of Canada
• Electric love – Borns
• Take Five – The Dave Brubeck Quartet
• Rapid as wildfire – Genshin Impact
• Battlefield 4 Warsaw theme – Rami
• At the speed of force – Junkie XL
• Back in black – AC/DC
• Becoming Insane – Infected mushroom
• Chain reaction – Cloud Cult
• Hot girl bummer – Blackbear
• Memories of Dust – Nier Automata
• Pan – Plini
• Stress – Pain of salvation
• Love is gone – Slander
• You don’t own me – Saygrace
• Angel of death – Slayer
• Sea of Suns – The Helix Nebula
• Unity – Royksopp
• Unfinished sympathy – Massive attack
  

Driveability/scalability

This is one of the efficient planars out there that can be driven easily with a decent dongle DAC like a RU7. I had a great time listening to them with just a dongle/ DAP – the same I cannot say for the S12 and P1 Max. These scale very well when NX7 comes into picture although for an average user I would not recommend investing in AMP for listening to these IEMs. Much of my listening has been through V6+NX7 and the pairing has been indeed great with lot of headroom leftover. 

Filters

Replaceable filters are the norm of the day and honestly, it’s a bane more than a boon for me. It is hard to distinguish them blindly as it does not completely turn around the overall sound quality. Of course, there are subtle differences among them which provide a choice to a wide range of users to get along with the filter they like. However, I am still old school here as I prefer to use the one that manufacturer intends the sound to be – be it good or bad. That’s just me. Anyways, I tried comparing them and here are the differences I have noticed:

Bass filter (Red):

This filter does not sound too bass heavy to me except on some bass heavy tracks. The instrumentation is not so crispy as well. Quite a warm sounding filter. There are good details present. The treble is the smoothest here with a spacious soundstage among all the filters. This filter can be preferred for a warm relaxed listening.

Balanced filter (Rose gold)

As the name suggests, it sounds quite balanced across the frequency spectrum. Bass is very good here with crisp instrumentation. Vocals are a bit forward compared to the bass filter. Not as warm sounding as the Bass filter and nice tonal balance is present. Treble is better sounding here than any of the filters. My favorite – especially for the treble performance.

Treble filter (Silver):

There is no offensive treble using any of the filters – Even with the treble filter. Treble is tamed down for the most part and I find the balanced filter presents the treble in a better way – kind of open and airy compared to both the other filters. Treble filter is great for bass and mids, but I didn’t find it great for the overall treble performance. Especially the ultra-highs that are rather tamed down and does not appear natural and open to me. Detail retrieval is pretty good with this filter. Except for the treble heavy tracks, this filter has been my favorite along with the balanced filter.

Overall, Bass sounds fantastic irrespective of the filter here. I enjoyed it more with both the balanced and treble filter. Vocals are slightly forward, and instrumentation is crispy on balanced and treble filters compared to the bass filter. Treble sounded the best with the balanced filter. Each filter has a subtle but distinctive sound characteristic from the rest. Unlike the MS3 where I was impressed with only the bass filter to be honest, here the filters have different use cases and none of them are offensive. And I believe Hidizs has achieved the purpose here by catering to a diverse audience.

Hidizs MP145 Sound Quality

The following sections are based on my impressions using the balanced filter only.

Bass

The bass here is big, denser, and probably the USP of this IEM – considering the planar IEMs. Goes reasonably deep with a satisfying rumble – Although slightly different and inferior from that of a proper DD sub bass impact (Final A5000, ZE3000). EDM, POP tracks truly shine here with solid mid bass body, thump, attack, and texture. The sub-bass texture is great and is better compared to the Hidizs MS3 I have reviewed. Speedy decays expected of a Planar and is especially great with the jazz tracks. Overall, the bass is very authoritative here without being loose or bloated. It just plays within its respective domain and the bass line separation from the rest of the frequencies is commendable. Because of the weight of the mid bass, there is warmth that flows to the upper bass/ lower mids giving a warm neutral tone to the overall sound. Very impressive bass overall.

Mids

The mids sound warm due to the added warmth from the mid bass but nowhere the mids sound bloated. The lower mids are slightly recessed and the instrumentation appears a tad thin sounding at times to me. Tips change from stock to Divinus Velvet has slightly improved the situation. There is an adequate depth to the instruments especially the string instruments that sound great on these with excellent dynamics. The vocals sound clear, lively, open and there is adequate warmth to the vocals. A slightly forward vocal with Divinus Velvet tips. Female adequately shine with the velvet tips and these tips are my preference for vocals. Male vocals sound a tad thin at times. Never have I come across harshness/shout/ sharpness in my overall listening time and upper mids are very well controlled. Well done mid-section.

Treble

Treble is the smoothest for a planar that I have heard so far – not a bad thing and will be quite optimal for treble sensitive listeners. Great details with the balanced filter and I liked it a lot for an extended, inoffensive and fatigue free listening. However, it is not as open sounding as I thought it would be – both with the balanced as well as treble filters – Balanced filter is better overall. I feel the highest of the highs are smoothened/ suppressed especially the splashes and if it is directly compared with S12, the difference is obvious. Mind that it is a subtle but impactful difference to me, and I am being extremely critical here. Brilliance on the S12 is indeed brilliant. Certain treble heavy tracks like Shout – tears for fears, here we divide – Dead letters circus is hair raising for me on S12 compared to MP145. A more detailed comparison follows later. I need a reference here to write about the treble performance of MP145 and S12 is my reference here. By no means MP145 has a dark treble but the upper treble sounds kind of muffled in comparison. The extension and details are present and sound fantastic. But I do feel the treble could have been a bit airier and more open at the top at least with the treble filter. Overall, the tuning preference is with the bass here and the brightest of the brights are kept at bay. Overall, a very decent inoffensive treble with good extension and details.

Technicalities:

To me, the best thing about this IEM is the dynamic transient presentation. It is just top-notch with an excellent resolving capabilities and layering. Add smoothness to it, voila!!! This IEM has a massive spacious soundstage and very good imaging. I don’t say wide, however it is like all around like an empty space littered with instruments. There is an adequate height and depth to the stage. The layering especially the kind of bass this produces and segregates it from the rest is just fantastic.There is some planar sheen that is noticeable here and there but is not distracting. Not the best tonality that I have heard but good, nonetheless. Overall, for the technicalities, this is one of the easiest recs ever.

Comparisons:


Vs Letshuoer S12, Tin Hifi P1 Max and Aful MagicOne (MO)

S12 and P1 Max – equipped with Divinus velvet tips; Aful MagicOne – Spinfit W1

Testing equipment – V6 + NX7

• Fit 

MO > P1 Max > S12 and MP145. Fit for the last 2 highly depends on the right size of the tips. With the right size, there is no issue. However, all the 3 cannot beat the fit of MO.

• Driveability 

MP145 > S12 > P1 Max > MO. MP145 being easy to drive and resulting in an excellent value for money. Other 3 – I won’t listen to them without NX7. You can understand by now. 

• Bass

To me the bass is strong on all. When considering the overall bass performance, none have disappointed me. There are subtle differences which can have a big impact on the user preferences. 

Sub-bass

MO has a better sub bass depth and texture followed by MP145, S12 and P1 Max. MP145 is denser in comparison overall but does not go as deep as MO. Although MO has a distinct bass profile having a BA driver, sub bass section is where MO truly shines. It does not have an earth-shaking rumble, but the depth is truly felt here. MP145 has a satisfying rumble and sounds denser but is slightly lacking the depth of MO. Rumble on the MO is heard more than felt making it distinct from DD or a planar – Even planar cannot be compared to a proper DD here. I prefer the MO overall due to the depth followed by MP145 for sub-bass.

Mid-bass

The attack, thump, slam, and body are excellent on the MP145 followed by S12, MO and P1 Max. All are close here unlike the sub-bass but the MP145 tops this with an excellent denser body and authority. Texture is equally great on MP145, S12 and MO. MO at times sounds thinner in mid-bass section compared to both the MP145 and S12. All the 4 have an excellent control over the mid-bass. MP145 and P1 Max sounds warmer in comparison to S12 and MO. My overall preference is MP145 here.

• Mids

Instrumentation 

S12 has energetic mids here however, not very detailed in comparison. S12 and MP145 have a slightly recessed mid-range however, MP145 has a slightly better control over being energetic here compared to S12. Instrumentation on the S12 sounds most crispier of all. Micro detail retrieval is excellent on MO followed by P1 Max, MP145 and S12. I don’t prefer one over the other here for instrumentation as there are technical aspects that come into play as well. However, my overall preference is MO for the Instrumental tracks followed by MP145.

Female vocals  

Energetic female vocals on both the S12 and Aful MagicOne. Controlled without being too harsh or sharp. In comparison, Hidizs MP145 and P1 Max has a better overall control here and sound more soothing in comparison. Female vocal clarity is equally good on all 4. 

Male vocals 

All 4 are great without sounding dry. Better vocal clarity and detail on MO followed by S12, P1 Max and MP145. Vocals on MP145 are at times thin sounding compared to the other 3. 

• Treble  

In comparison with the S12 and Aful MagicOne, I was a tad less impressed with the treble performance of the Hidizs MP145. Especially the upper treble – the splashes etc. It sounds subdued, smoothened to an extent in comparison. The result is smoother, inoffensive treble slightly lacking in finer details due to the lack of openness up top. However, the general detail retrieval in the treble region is excellent on the MP145 due to the excellent transient response it has. P1 Max sounds mellowed as well in comparison with S12, and MO. Treble is kind of similar sounding on both MP145 and P1 Max with a smoother presentation and is not as open as the S12. However, resolution in the upper treble is slightly better on P1 Max over MP145. S12 has a bright but a smoother presentation throughout which makes it kind of legendary for a reason. MO has a smoother treble compared to S12 but is quite open, extended, detailed, energetic and can be borderline sibilant in certain tracks, however controlled. For some, this can be off-putting as well.  For treble heads like me and especially with the treble heavy tracks, I prefer the S12 here followed by Aful MagicOne without a blink of an eye. For treble sensitive listeners – the MP145 is a really good choice. All are close here – subtle but impactful difference for someone especially coming from the S12.

• Technicalities:

Tonality – P1 Max and MO sounds more natural to my ears followed by S12 and MP145. Planar sheen is present on both MP145 and S12 but a tad less with S12. Mind that it is not distracting. Just for the sake of comparison, I had to mention.

Layering and separation – MO and MP145 does an excellent layering and separation followed by S12 and P1 Max. Each of them is close but MO and MP145 tops here.

Resolution – MO and MP145 does an excellent job here followed by P1 Max and S12. Although I find MP145 is less resolving compared to other 3 in the upper treble region but not by much. For most, this can be ignored.

Soundstage –Instead of terming the stage as wide, I will call it spaciousness for MP145. Kind of holographic having excellent height/ depth and sound coming from all directions. This tops among all here. 2^nd would be the MO and S12 with their excellent headroom followed by the adaptive stage of P1 Max. P1 Max lacks a bit of a stage depth compared to all three.

Imaging – Excellent imaging on MP145 closely followed by MO, then S12 and then P1 Max. Kind of fuzzy on both the S12 and P1 Max – not the strongest in imaging department.

Dynamic transient response – MP145 >= MO > S12 > P1 Max. Simply put.       

Pros:

• Authoritative bass profile – sub bass and mid bass
• Excellent bass separation from the rest of the frequencies
• Fantastic female vocals
• Excellent dynamic transients
• Excellent resolution and layering at the price point
• Massive spacious stage
• Very good stage height and depth
• Precise imaging
• Excellent value for money
• Decent accessories for the price
• Replaceable tuning filters that influence sound quality

Cons:

• Upper treble could have been more open sounding
• Big in size – may not be optimal for small ears
• Planar sheen – Not the best tonality I heard (nitpick) 
• Slightly recessed lower mids (thin sounding at times) (nitpick)
  

Comparison conclusion:

There is no one clear winner here. These are some of the best IEMs at the respective close price points. Honestly, I cannot pick only one or two and be done with it. I see pros and cons in each of them and they do complement one another so well. However, for most users MP145 is a great value for money IEM compared to the rest because of its driveability. And because of that I will consider Hidizs MP145 an overall winner here.

Conclusion:

Overall, Hidizs MP145 is one fantastic IEM at its current price point. I would say these are the best value for money IEMs especially for its authoritative Bass profile and the technicalities. If you are in look-out for a great technical IEM at a lesser cost, look no further. These are easier to drive providing an excellent value for the money. And likewise, nothing is too perfect in the world. Here is no exception. The cons listed are based on critical examination and should not bother most users. I highly recommend this IEM for what it is and if you have already obtained this IEM during the Kickstarter, is it not a steal already? From the plethora of IEMs coming and going, MP145 is going to stay.