>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<
INTRO:
Simgot is the company that – so far – has the earphone that I think is the best cost/benefit in the market in the $100 USD range, the Simgot EM6L. But the company isn’t just the EM6L, it has released other lines of earphones, among them, the Single DD (single driver) earphones line with the EW100, EW200, EA500… and now, the second version of this last one, the EA500LM.
Price: $89.99 USD
Colors: Mirrored
SIMGOT LINKS:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DecJPWR
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDSeaI7
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DEDFi9p
SPECIFICATIONS:
– (1) 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD) DMDC per side
– 2° generation lithium-magnesium alloy dome diaphragm
– Frequency range: 10Hz – 50kHz
– Effective frequency range: 20Hz – 20kHz
– Sensitivity: 123dB/Vrms (@1kHz Gold Copper nozzle & Red Silicone Ring)
123dB/Vrms (@1kHz Silver Steel nozzle & Red Silicone Ring)
124dB/Vrms (@1kHz Silver Steel nozzle & Black Silicone Ring)
– Impedance: 21Ω±15%(@1kHz)
– 3 detachable nozzles
– Termination Plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Connectors: 2pin 0.78mm
– Cable size: 1.2m (detachable)
– Cable: OFC HP copper silver plated
– Shell: Metal
– Earphone weight: 10.9g (one side)(without eartips)
– Cable weight: 18.1g
– Total weight (packaging, iems, etc): 247.3g
– Packaging size: 14.5cm [H] x 12cm [W] x 6.2cm [D]
UNBOXING:
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
First, I would like to start this review by saying that mirrored earphones are very difficult to generate audiovisual content, fingerprint marks can leave the earphone looking dirty, or the reflection can show objects, stains, images, etc, that aren’t exactly from the earphone, but from what is on the other side of the camera. It’s always very difficult to generate good images of the product without what was mentioned above interfering in the final result of the content. I’m not a professional photographer or videomaker, but I certainly tried to do the best I could with the resources I have at the moment. I hope you understand. We will always strive to improve.
Construction: The Simgot EA500LM is an all-metal earphone and it has a removable nozzle. The quality of the shell is excellent, robust product with great ergonomics. It comes with 3 pairs of removable nozzles – one is already installed in the earphones – that act as sound equalizing filters. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the earphone is all mirrored, and such earphones pick up a lot of fingerprint marks and can scratch more easily. Aesthetically speaking, mirrored earphones are indeed very beautiful, but I think it’s of no use to have so much beauty if afterwards it ends up looking “worn out”. Another issue about the construction of the EA500LM is that, being a metal earphone, it ended up being relatively heavy… I say this because we have resin earphones that weigh half, the EM6L itself is an example of this. It’s okay in practice the weight didn’t bother, I used the earphone here and it didn’t feel very heavy.
Eartips: The eartip kit is simple, just one type of silicone eartip in sizes S/M/L. To say that I liked the eartips, the material used in the dome is very good, very soft, but the detail of these eartips is that the thickness of the tube is a bit wide, this ends up increasing the circumference between earphone + eartip… for those who have a very narrow ear canal, this can cause discomfort over time… but as this is subjective, just change for eartips from other third party companies. What I think Simgot missed was that it could indeed have more types of eartips included in the kit. For earphones in this price range, the ideal is to come with about three types of eartips. I did the earphone review with the size M ones.
Cable: Excellent cable! They took the EM6L cable and put the EW200 connectors. The combination was perfect, the EM6L cable is already very good, the only part there that I wasn’t a big fan of were the QDC connectors… so they put the 2 pin 0.78mm type connectors. I have nothing to criticize, just praise, the EA500LM cable is excellent. The earhooks are good, the cable is easy to roll up, it doesn’t have microphonics, it’s light, thin, beautiful, etc etc etc… only compliments. The chin slider I thought works well.
Fit and comfort: This part is very subjective, for my ears, I found the EA500LM comfortable. I thought that being a metal earphone and weighing around 10g, it would be something bad, however, in the ears this weight issue wasn’t noticeable. It’s certain that it could indeed be lighter, and the lighter the better – in my opinion – see the resin IEMs that weigh much less. The fit of the earphone is also a part that I considered very positive, the EA500LM is very ergonomic, a diagonal fit. If the person has a very small ear, then maybe there can be some contact in some part of the ear. Being a metal earphone, you have that cold sensation of the surface of the earphone when inserting it in the ears. Something I didn’t like very much is that the earphone has a more “stretched” body, and it ends up being a bit protruding in my ears, I would like it to be more discreet. I spent a few hours straight with the earphone in my ears and didn’t feel discomfort. Because the cable is very light, this also helps in comfort. I found the insertion medium and the isolation good.
Accessories: Included accessories, the earphone comes with a semi-rigid carrying case with zipper closure, exactly the same as the EM6L. It’s a good carrying case, it has a good space to store the earphone. IMO, it could have the company logo, because it gives the impression of being a generic carrying case. As mentioned in the construction paragraph, the product comes with 3 pairs of removable (screwable) nozzles, and also comes with some additional rubber rings.
SOUND ASPECTS:
The sound of the Simgot EA500LM I understood as a Mild V-Shape with a slight increase in the mids and treble, that is, it has a sound that is a little more “forward” in the region of the mids and treble. The resolution level of the EA500LM is excellent, it doesn’t seem to be a Single DD, it gives the impression of being a Multi-BA IEM, from the sensation which is the speed and detail of the sound. I was quite impressed with the earphone, the sound is very lively, has energy, delivers a lot of information. I consider the EA500LM to be an upgrade from the EW200.
Bass:
Quantitative: The level of the EA500LM’s bass I understood as moderate. I found the amount very well implemented. It gives that feeling of neither surplus nor lack. I believe that people who like bass will not be disappointed, I myself like bass and enjoyed what have here… unless the person is looking for an earphone with a lot of bass, then I think it’s better to look for a basshead IEM. Those looking for an earphone with balanced bass in the presentation, the EA500LM is a great choice. The earphone has sub-bass and mid-bass, I didn’t perceive a region standing out more than the other, for my ears, the sound was somewhat linear between the regions. I didn’t feel roll-off, the extension is good.
Qualitative: The EA500LM’s bass has good definition, are controlled, are versatile, has texture, and have a bit of physicality. They are bass that accompany the recording, and don’t invade the mids. The impact is audible and has a more contained, delineated characteristic… note that they aren’t lean bass, on the contrary, they are bass that have substance, they just aren’t bass with enough force to put warmth in the whole IEM’s sound. I would say that among the three frequencies – bass, mids, and treble – the EA500LM’s bass is the region that has less sensation of high speed, but still, they are very good bass and don’t clash with the other frequencies, it’s just because the mids and treble have the sensation of being faster. Among the musical genres, I would say that only EDM and Hip-Hop don’t match the bass of the IEM (in quantity), but other genres the EA500LM’s bass are perfect.
Mids:
Quantitative and qualitative: The mids of the EA500LM are the best part of the earphone, without a doubt I was very impressed with what I heard here. For sure, they are mids that are a little more “forward”, you realize that this region has more frontality. The good thing here is that the mids don’t sound shrill, aggressive or harsh, on the contrary, I think they stop at the exact point. Qualitatively speaking, things only get better, they are mids of a lot of transparency, a lot of resolution, great detail, great clarity. A lot of information with quality. The instruments have a lot of definition, it’s possible to hear micro details within the presentation. Snare drums sound with attack, pianos are very precise, violins have a lot of exuberance, wind instruments are very palpable. Whispering voices deliver that sensation of air, of breath when speaking/singing.
Voices: With all this quality in the mids, the voices could only be excellent. This is a very good IEM for those who like vocals with emphasis on presentation, especially for those who like female/high vocals, which in my view, gain more life and energy, they can perform very well. The male/low vocals are also cool, because as the IEM has good activity in the bass region, the vocals of lower timbres can still present texture. Now, the vocals of higher timbres really manage to have a little more advantage here in the EA500LM (in my opinion).
Treble:
Quantitative: I understood the treble of the EA500LM as moderate to high. It gets a bit complicated to explain, because they aren’t neutral treble nor excessive treble. It’s as if they follow the rhythm of the mids/upper-mids, they come a bit forward, so they follow the same line there. There are some IEMs that have “forward” mids and when they get to the treble they decrease, you feel that one region has more emphasis than the other, the Truthear Nova itself is an example of this, here in the EA500LM this doesn’t happen, the treble follow a linearity that accompanies the mids, it becomes something more balanced. I would only say that for a person who isn’t a big fan of mids and treble more “forward”, that perhaps the EA500LM is not very much your beach. But it is also good to remember the thing of the eartips, I did a quick test with the Sony EP-EX11 and I thought it gave a slight softening in this region. I didn’t feel roll-off, great extension of treble.
Qualitative: They are very refined, versatile treble, they have great resolution, without peaks, without stridency, without sibilance. The EA500LM has a great detailing (level of micro detailing), it’s possible to listen to the smallest details of the recording. The airy is also very good, you feel that the sound has life, that it expands. The sparkle is a little more towards the crystalline side, that is, it has a brightness a little more accentuated than what I would consider neutral. I didn’t feel harshness, stridency or piercing at any time. Hi-Hats sound with a lot of detailing, you can hear the sound of the cymbals touching each other in a very clear way. Good IEM even to listen to Jazz… that’s because I like to listen to the genre in a more analytical way, more pulled towards to bright. Broadly speaking, the EA500LM made me even think that it’s similar to the Hifiman HE400SE, although the Simgot with a slight touch more in the sub-basses… Of course, this is just a “broadly speaking”, because they are distinct products.
Soundstage: I found the soundstage sensation very good. Even though the EA500LM is an IEM with mids a little more “forward”, the sonority of the IEM doesn’t lose the sensation of amplitude, it has a good amount of depth there for the sound to present itself in a more spatial way. Very positive point of the IEM, it knew how to be a middle ground between having a slight frontality and at the same time not sounding “glued to the eardrum”. Obviously this is not the most spatial IEM I have ever heard, I think even the EM6L has a slightly larger soundstage, but when you add the soundstage and the imaging, the performance level of the EA500LM increases considerably.
Imaging: I found the instrumental separation of the EA500LM very good. IEM with a lot of resolution, everything is very clear, it’s possible to hear each instrument in its proper place and perceive that there’s no congestion between them. As I said throughout the review, it seems that it’s an IEM with multiple balanced armature drivers, because the level of detailing is so good that it seems to have specific drivers for each frequency. I was really impressed with the capacity of the EA500LM’s dynamic driver. Also remember that the quality of the recordings greatly influence this aspect of imaging.
Nozzles (filters): In the test changing the nozzles, my conclusion is that, I didn’t feel significant differences between the gold nozzle with red ring to the silver nozzle with red ring. I only felt a little difference between the gold nozzle with red ring to the silver with black ring… and even so, it was very little, I would not be surprised if a placebo effect happened here… but anyway, I thought that the silver nozzle with black ring the sound in the upper-mids region became clearer, piano passages sounded more perceptible. The curious thing is that both – gold/red and silver/black – are the ones that come with the foam inside. In theory the silver/red should be the most different (because it doesn’t have the foam). But that’s it, everything is very subjective. I think that if the company had put more eartips, the modification of the sound could be more effective than the filters.
Driver flex test: I didn’t heard driver flex sound when inserting the earphones in my ears.
Amplification: I used the DAP FiiO M11S to do this review. The output used was the 3.5mm and the DAP in High Gain mode. The Volume was at 70% of the 120% available by the M11S. I can affirm that the Simgot EA500LM is an easy to play IEM, it doesn’t require dedicated amplification. I tested the IEM on the FiiO KA11 and it played easily. Certainly the EA500LM will play on smartphones, iPads, and notebooks. But as usual, I suggest that at least the person has a good quality dongle to play the IEMs. Currently, I recommend the FiiO KA11 as a good cost/benefit dongle.
PROS AND CONS:
– Unboxing experience
– Analytical sound
– Price/performance
– Removable nozzles (filters)
– Great technicalities
– Soundstage and imaging
– Excellent detailing
– Fast sound feeling
– Good fit and comfort
– Good eartips (quality)
– Great cable
– Good carrying case
– Fingerprint marks
– Mirrored earphone scratches easily
– Earphone weight (?)
– Few eartips
– Inefficient filters (subjective)
GRAPHS BY AFTERSOUND:
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