Disclaimer: Heir HISO is sent us by Heir Audio directly. It’s does not have to be returned. It goes for 329$ USD on Heir’s website. The colour scheme for this unit is “Blue Agate”.
INTRO
Located in China, Heir Audio has been crafting In Ear Monitors for several years. They make both custom and universal models and they offer various design elements to choose from. I think I’m not the only one who find their designs very unique and cool.
As most of you probably know, one of Heir’s co-founders was John Moulton, the owner of Noble Audio at present. After some time, around 2013, the team parted ways and from that point forward, Heir Audio has been continuing on it’s own in the business. There has been a lot of discussion about this topic but we (Headfonia) prefer to stay out of it and we give both companies equal chances.
Heir Audio is not all about just In Ear Monitors by the way. They also make good IEM cables as well as portable amplifiers. We can say they focus portable listening as a whole. You should check out their products in their webpage.
HISO ?
Heir Hiso is the latest addition to Heir’s product line, featuring Two Balanced Armature Drivers per side, with a Two-Way Passive Crossover design.
HISO is a brand new 2-driver IEM which is completely superior to the previous 2.Ai and it is the outcome that our engineers have developed for more than 15 months with great efforts.
According to Heir, this IEM utilizes a new crossover network design. There is no clear information of what exactly has changed comparing other models, although we can see this is the only IEM in their lineup that has a distinctive name. So my guess is, they wanted to have something different so they designed something different.
DESIGN, BUILD and PACKAGE
Heir Hiso is no doubt a beautiful IEM. There are 3 color options; White Shadow, Smoke Rings and Blue Agate. Smoke Rings caught my attention first but in the end I went for the fresh looking option. Blue looks very cool on CIEMs but sometimes it looks quite good on universal IEMs too. This is one of the occasions. The shell is semi-transparent so that you can see the drivers and bores inside. It reveals that Hiso has a big BA bass driver, and the other smaller one handles the other 2 freq’s. Take a notice here, as this can give a hint about the sound character, but for now let’s go on with the build quality and package.
The shell is very smooth and leaves no question about craftsmanship, however it doesn’t look as impressive as it was on the pictures. That is understandable though, as this happens with lots of C/IEMs. Hiso still looks great with that ocean-like blue appearance. Also the earpieces are really small and thanks to that they look very sweet. I didn’t expect them to be this small. The cable is light, thin, flexible and easy to work with. So that combination makes Hiso a very convenient IEM. Looks-wise, this IEM is certainly a beauty and it’s not a surprise. Heir offer great looking Universal IEMs in their lineup.
The carrying case got my attention for it’s light, slim and compact design for carrying around. It’s good to see more useful cases for IEMs, especially if you use them outside. This case is very pocketable, and the opening mechanism is not rotational. Just pull the cap upwards and you have your IEMs. Very good. As far as I know Heir include a crush-proof carrying case for the rest of the IEMs. Maybe they should think about providing this case with all the products. I personally think people would love this.
The package contains 9 pairs of ear tips (nice!), a cleaning tool and the carrying case. Also as a Heir classic, you get 2 straps, in case you use a portable amplifier with your DAP. Since Heir offer portable amps, they like to include this accessory in every package. Store is no sore right?
FIT and ISOLATION
The memory-wires affect the fit badly as they pull out the IEMs from my ears. You can always cut them to have a cable without memory wires though. With that aside, Heir Hiso fits very very good, thanks to the small and round shape and good nozzle angles. You can get a nice deep seal with the right tips for you. So overall, if I think that there is no memory-wire, than I could say Heir Hiso can get 9 points out of 10 for isolation and fit. That is quite good. Of course your experince may vary.
CLICK HERE or to the jump below for the sound section.