HIDIZS MS3: Simply Captivating

Mermaids are an aquatic-type of folklore creatures whose features are female humans with a tail of a fish on their lower torso. They are known to sing beautifully to attract and charm human beings, especially men in open seas or coastal areas just like their avian counterparts or cousins, the Sirens.

HIDIZS MS3 is the latest model of their Mermaid Series line-up. It looks like it serves as an accompaniment model for the HIDIZS MS5 Dark Angel but it caters more on the entry-level segment. Like most of its sistren, it has a hybrid driver set-up and it takes some features from its older sister, The MS5. The aforementioned features that are implemented on the MS3 are the detachable nozzle system with specific tuning filters and its design cues.

There are two types of drivers that were used by MS3, these are dynamic driver and balanced armature driver. The dynamic driver is a 10.2mm dual-concentric and magnetic circuit one with bio-nanofiber composite diaphragm which also has similar properties with the older paper cone technology specifically to handle the low frequencies. The dual balanced armature driver model is a SWFK-31736 made by Knowles, one of the premium companies that offers top-notch audio solutions out there, and this specific driver will handle the midrange and high frequency to have clean and well-detailed vocals and then a clear and bright treble quality. These drivers are also connected to a rework crossover circuit board with tantalum capacitors for better clarity and accuracy on its sonic qualities.

These drivers are housed in a shell chassis made of aviation-grade aluminium alloy that undergoes a CNC-milling process. The shape and contours of the shell is eerily similar to the MS5 with some slight changes like it omits the gold panel on the face plate to simplify its manufacturing process, a smaller build frame and placement of vent holes. It still has its detachable nozzle system which HIDIZS coined as "HIDIZS Pneumatic Sound Tuning Filters". The detachable nozzles give the MS3 a versatility to change some of its sonic profiles as these nozzles have specific tuning filters to target a certain target curve. There are three types of nozzles that you can choose from based on our preferences. HIDIZS still implemented a proven 0.78mm 2-pin connector on this one which is a good decision.

As for its fitting and comfort, since it takes some design contours from the shells of the MS5 albeit a tad smaller profile, it also offers a very comfortable wear into my lugholes with less heft on it compared to the MS5. I don't experience any wearing issues and somehow, it manages to block some external noises from the outside surroundings.

Regarding its stock cable, it is indeed a high quality as it is a rigid, sufficiently thick and well-braided one. It is a 4-core, high purity oxygen-free copper conductor in an UP-OFC  technology. This composition of materials has a low resistance and it will deliver a seamless transmission of signal from the transducers to give an accurate and clarity of signal output. It retains a "shark fin" design form on its 2-pin receptacle plug from the previous MS5, There are two available options to choose from when it comes to its termination plug, either a 3.5mm single ended or 4.4mm balanced termination.

As for product packaging, HIDIZS MS3's product packaging is quite well-presented and its inclusion were loaded in black-coloured, stocky rectangular box. The inclusions are placed in a three-layered arrangement. The pair of IEM transducers at the top, a plentiful amount of ear tips and tuning filters at the middle compartment and at the bottom,  there's a box for cable and some paperwork.

Here are the following contents included inside the box:

■ A pair of HIDIZS MS3 IEMs.

■ Stock cable in a 3.5mm termination plug.

■ Polyurethane faux-leather IEM pouch with rebounding opening clasp.

■ 3 pairs of vocal ear tips in different standard sizes.

■ 3 pairs of bass ear tips in different standard sizes.

■ 3 pairs of balanced ear tips in different standard sizes.

■ a pair of red coloured tuning filters.

■ a pair of  silver coloured tuning filters.

■ Some paperwork like instruction manual and warranty card.

The HIDIZS MS3 is an easy to amplify set that only needs a decent amount of power output from its sources as it scales well to all multimedia devices like smartphones, laptops, PCs and DAPs.

Regarding its tonality, since it has a detachable filter nozzle system, HIDIZS MS3 offers different kinds of sonic profiles. Here are the following setting based on its specific tuning filters:

Red Colour Tuning Filter - It gives a V-shaped sound signature, it elevates mid bass while attenuating the upper mids to the presence part of the treble region.

Rose Gold Colour Tuning Filter - it takes a more U-shaped sound profile as it tries to balance its overall frequency range spectrum. It reminds me of some Harmanish-type of tuning with added more texture.

Silver Colour Tuning Filter - a U-shaped type of tuning with more emphasis on treble region. This is the brightest among its tuning filter set-up.

LOWS/BASS:

This is the one of the most prominent parts of MS3's overall frequency range. It is quite an impacting, incisive and vigorous bass response as I try to determine the differences of nozzle tuning filters in its low end frequencies. Sub basses have a constant presence in all types of tuning filters. I discerningly felt those rumbling and reverberations from synthesisers, octabasses, low tone bass guitars and drum machines.

Red Colour - A more boomy bass response as it gives a tad excessive texture on its note weight that it occasionally smears on other parts of the frequency range. Bass guitars have a more broader and weighty sound as it growls from strumming on its strings, a thunderous and authoritative bass kick drums as I listened to John Bonham's drum work on "The Rover" and "When the Levee Breaks". Then on bass baritone vocals, it has that more dark, monotone and gravelly tone from the voices of Barry White and Peter Steele.

Rose Gold Colour - it makes the bass response more punchy and thumpy yet cleaner compared to the Red nozzle one. Bass guitars sound more resonant albeit a tad sombre one while bass kick drums have thudding and sustaining sound characteristics as I listen to fast double kicks from Fleshgod Apocalypse's "The Betrayal" and Slayer's " Raining Blood". On bass baritone vocals, it still has depth and dark tone with a cleaner sound.

Silver Colour -  In general, It has similar characteristics with Rose Gold Colour. A cleaner one as it separates the low frequencies from other frequency regions.

MIDRANGE:

The midrange presentation of this one is definitely recessed to varying degrees. But it is still well-texture, linear and detailed to sound more natural and tonally correct. Depending on tuning filters it gives more emphasis on the midrange region that really affects the tonality of vocals and instruments.

Red Colour - due to the bass smearing, it emanates a more warmth sound that it gives more texture on vocals, mostly on male voice type and contraltos and lower mezzo-sopranos on female vocals. It also added some note weight on instruments like brasses and percussives. It gives more depth and power on baritones to sound more lush and warmth albeit overstated in my opinion, a richer and darker chesty tone from contraltos as I listen to Tracy Chapman and Annie Lennox. Lower types of mezzo-sopranos like dramatic ones have a smooth and a hint of dusky tone. On instruments, mainly on brasses, trumpets have fuller and darker timbres while trombones have rounded and powerful sound with a hint of metallic tone and horns have a very robust and rounded one. Percussive like field drums have a booming and duller tone while marimbas have an earthy and rounded sound.

Rose Gold Colour - This type of tuning filter is the most balanced and more organic sound as it almost encompasses the tonality of vocals and instruments in a very versatile manner. It has a rather sufficient note weight not to sound too lean nor excessively thick. It gives more emphasis on tenors, countertenors, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos to sound more sweet, melodious and captivating as we listen to some singer's vocal quality. Tenors have that resonant voice as they sound brassy and strong as I listen to the great three operatic tenors, Prince, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant on his Led Zeppelin days. Mezzo-sopranos and countertenors have that velvety and smooth sound as the MS3 able to deliver those pitches almost perfectly. Sopranos seems to have that silvery and silky tone especially on lyric, dramatic and soubrette-types as they give that euphonic and insouciant feel as I listen to Tarja Turunen and Alison Krauss. Regarding on instruments, strings like guitars either acoustic or electric types have a balanced to ceiling on how it defines its plucking and strumming notations while a fuller and lustrous sounds of the violins on every strokes on its bow string and fingering techniques like trills, stops and tremolos. Percussives like snare drums have a hard and clear tone on every strike. Chordophone like piano have a flexible range of note key to have a balanced sound on either sufficiently warm or adequately bright not to sound too strident.

Silver Colour - it gives a more shimmering and expressive sound on female vocals particularly on lyric and coloratura types of sopranos as they are brimming with energy as they have these bell-like and gleaming characteristics on singers like Mariah Carey, Coco Lee (R.I.P) and Diana Damrau but there are some caveats on this type tuning that it sound sharp and fatiguing in a long listening session. On instruments it gives a more crisp and presence on acoustic guitars then a sparkling and metallic sound of violins, it gives more character on woodwinds as flute sounds bright and light while the piccolos has a brilliant and penetrating sound, then on clarinets and saxophones, they have these reedy and forceful sound on them.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

Bright, engaging, sufficiently airy and snappy, those are my observations on its treble quality especially on gold and silver tuning filters. The bright gives a crisp and detailed definition on some vocal and instruments that some of us, especially treble heads that they will find enjoyable to listen to. There are some accentuate peaks and gains on upper-mids and in the presence part in the treble region that might be a little bit an issue to some treble sensitives, there some instances of sibilances but it will most occur in sibilant-laden tracks.

Red Colour - it will somehow dampens and veiled a bit on upper mids to presence as it even out some peaks to have that smoothness but at the expense of detail and shimmer as it dulls a bit the quality of .cymbals as they sound rather soughing and too undulating in my liking but it gives tonally correct sound on hi hats as it has the shortened buzzing sound. This type of tuning also lessens the treble air extension on this one as it dampens the sparkle and gives an indistinctive harmonics on it.

Rose Gold and Silver Colours - they share almost the same treble registers as they highlight those upper mids up to the brilliance part of treble regions to give a crisper and more detail sound but it give some instances of being screechy, blaring and a tad piercing especially on the treble-sensitive sensitives. It give more shimmer and sizzle on cymbals, more tingling sound on triangles and brilliant and piercing tones on glockenspiels. It also have a sufficient air and sparkle on the brilliance region.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

Its overall sound field dimensions gives me a rather average to above average on lateral points, a good height reach and good depth on between from front to back to give me an immersive yet sufficient head room within my aural sphere.

On imaging, it presents a concave presentation as I was able to perceive the placement of instruments and vocals within the confines of its spatial field. It has an excellent separation and layering performance as it is able to give a sufficient gap and spacing of each instrument and vocals with each specified tonal and frequency layers on its sonic canvas.These remarkable technical performance will perform well on more complex tracks even for its price.

The cohesive performance of its hybrid drivers set-up seems to perform well, although on the Red tuning filters,it looks like there's a hint of being a tad sluggish particularly the behaviour of its dynamic driver. Overall, it's performs pretty well on other tuning filters

There's also good contrasting on projecting resolution between macro-dynamics and its micro-details capabilities. It is solid and vivid on projecting its macro-dynamics while the micro-detail retrieval is quite sharp as it is able to extract some nuances and overtones of datas from audio tracks. The tonality tends to be natural albeit it is more in coloured side of the spectrum.

PEER COMPARISONS:

SEE AUDIO YUME

● They are in the same price range and both of them have similar driver set-up. While MS3's shell chassis are made of metal alloy, the Yume's shell's have a medical grade resin material on its cavity base and a metal alloy on its nozzle.  Both of their product presentations are remarkable with a substantial amount of inclusions.

● While the MS3 has three distinctive types of tuning to make it more versatile, Yume has only a single sonic profile and its a balanced-neutral tuning. It is more focused on sub bass as it is a tad leaner mid bass. a more transparent, detailed and forward presentation of vocals and some instruments. Then a sufficiently bright and more refined treble response but compared to MS3's Gold and Silver tuning filter modes, it is less airy and less sparkling.

● As for technicalities, the sound/speaker stage of the Yume is rather average in size but its imaging presentation is somewhat an immersive 3D-feel spatial cues. Both separation and layering aspects of both devices are quite similar.

KIWI EARS QUARTET

● Another set with similar driver set-up with the MS3 but it has an additional dynamic driver. Its shells are made of high quality medical grade resin and it is also noted that it has toggle switches to change its tonality. As for product packaging and quality of the inclusions, while the MS3 has a better stock cable, This set has a much better IEM case for storage.

● Tonality-wise, they are quite similar on sound signatures given that the QUARTET has tuning switches to some specific frequency spectrum by adjusting its impedance output in its drivers. It presents a warmer tonality that somewhat veils the quality of details and timbre on vocals and instruments. Even with red tuning filters on MS3, QUARTET has still a more boomy bass that really smears across to other frequency ranges.

● In general, technical performance of QUARTET is way inferior to the MS3 from sound/speaker stage dimensions up to the resolution capabilities. Technical capabilities was indeed its chink of its armour as I mentioned it on my review of the QUARTET before.

Before I conclude the assessment of this product, Its older midrange sister, the HIDIZS MS5 reception in the audio community seems more of a mixed bag as some were quite impressed on its technical capabilities while the others question and are critical of its tuning choices. The MS3 seems to mitigate some of those issues when it comes to tuning to make some refinements of its tuning and HIDIZS seems to deliver it properly. In my opinion, I'm still impressed by the technical performance of the MS5 albeit its sound stage width is average and it presents a tad congested head room.

If you want a fun, engaging and musical set with good technical capabilities, then HIDIZS MS3 is perfectly for you.

HIDIZS MS3 is now available on HIDIZS' official site. You can order it down in the provided unaffiliated link below.

★★HIDIZS MS3 - OFFICIAL★★

And also, please check out my reviews of other HIDIZS products.

■ HIDIZS S9 PRO

■ HIDIZS XO

■ HIDIZS MS5

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: HIDIZS MS3

IMPEDANCE: 18Ω

SENSITIVITY: 112dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 40KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M

PIN TYPE:  2-PIN CONNECTOR (0.78MM)

PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm

DRIVER UNIT(S): (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER + (2) BALANCED ARMATURE DRIVERS

PROS:

△ Impressive product packaging and substantial amount of inclusions.

△ A durable and sturdy metal alloy shell chassis.

△ Three types of tuning filters to choose from for tonal versatility.

△ High quality stock cable.

△ Three types of ear tips to choose from according to your preference.

△ Working toggle switches for different types of sonic profiles.

△ Authoritative and solid bass response.

△ Well-textured, detailed midrange.

△ Shimmering, crisp and detail treble register.

△ Tuning filters works well on different types of vocals to sound natural and depicts an almost tonal and timbre correctness.

△ Excellent technical performance for its price.

CONS:

▽ Noticeably recessed midrange in any tuning filter settings.

▽ Instances of bass smearing on the red tuning filter.

▽ Attenuated upper mids and presence part of the treble especially on the silver tuning filter might be a bit sharp to some treble sensitives out there.

▽ Definitely not a neutral sounding as it is tonally way too coloured for neutral heads.

Some Tracks Tested: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**

Suzanne Vega – Luka **

Lauren Christy – Steep *

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *

Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*

Type O Negative - Black No.1 *

Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **

Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *

Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to HIDIZS nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to ZOIE HELLO of HIDIZS for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate their generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.