Introduction

Many of you might know Head-Direct from the previous in-ear reviews featured on this site. Not that long ago they announced a new model. Finally the RE0s are here, available at their website. They are the new high-end IEM solution from Head-Direct.

The previous Head-Direct RE-series in-ears look pretty much the same with only a few minor trim pieces to differentiate them, this has changed with the RE0s. The RE0s feature an aluminum casing which looks radically different coming from the all-plastic RE1s and RE2s. This change is definitely for the better and the materials chosen for the new earphones make them so much more attractive to look at.

These new in-ears do not share any design characteristics with the RE1s and RE2s, in fact they are redesigned from the ground up. The driver is a newly developed 64 Ohm dynamic in-ear driver which should deliver a better more neutral sound than the RE1s. The price of the RE0s is at the moment $200 in its early incarnation, but for that you also get a free FiiO E3 portable headphone amplifier. A great package because the RE0s are much like the RE1s, a set of very power demanding in-ears.

Specifications

• Driver unit: 9 mm
• Impedance: 64 Ohm
• Sensitivity: 100 dB/1mW
• Rate input: 10 mW
• Max. input: 30 mW
• Frequency response: 15Hz ~ 22KHZ

You might recall the RE1s having an impedance of 150 Ohms so you might think the RE0s might be easier to drive, but think again. The sensitivity of the earphones is actually 3dB/1mW lower than that of the RE1s, that along with the drop in impedance means that it takes roughly the same amount of power to drive them to the same volume level. During the course of my testing I found the RE0s to be just about as hard to drive as the RE1s.

The Package

The Head-Direct RE0s I got were from the first production batch. These ship without a box, but with the final bundle which includes the following: big double flange tip, small double flange tip, small to large single flange, five sets of spare filters.


The selection of tips is reasonably good. You do not get a foam tip which can be a problem for some. If you are interested in foam tips you can get some aftermarket ones made by Comply. The model that fits the RE0s is called the T400 (Ultimate Ears version).


As a new thing the RE0s now ship with five sets of spare filters. This means that you do not have to buy filters for a long time, unless you have really nasty ears.