So, I had dynamic driver IEMs (Sony MH755’s, etc.), and balanced armature drivers (KZ AS06’s). But (like most people I guess) I had never tried planar IEMs. Planar IEMs are quite new and the prices are a bit higher (and were 10 times what they are now just a few years ago). These are my first planar IEMs. As you can see, this is quite a classy unboxing experience, for “just” 150$ IEMs:
Review was done with the pink “filters” and the included “vocal-oriented” tips. Yes, tips (and filters) can make an enormous difference. How do I know? Because I tried all of em. Source was an Xduoo XD05 Basic (AKM version) dac+amp, gain set to medium (250mW maybe). I also tried em with the XD05 paired to my Aune X7S (Class A amp). I also tested em with my Moon 100D Dac paired to my Little Dot Mk2 tube amp (yes, it works!)… and my Samsung S7 (lol).
Note about the filters: Twice, I thought the left or the right driver of my MP145’s was broken. I could hear only faint sound. Only to realize… the absolutely tiny little holes in the filters were clogged? They did not even seem like it (you could see through em). Rubbing a moist cloth on em fixed everything (I don’t get it. I got normal amount of ear wax and wash my ears often). But yeah, now you know it can happen – and if it happens, no, it’s not the end of your IEMs!
Frequency response
- Bass was the first thing to impress me. Like, holy fucking bass. They say there’s “no replacement for displacement”, and this oversized planar shows it well. Powerful electronic music drum kicks, but also low, rumbling sub-bass. As I said earlier, that’s a shocking amount of sub-bass. “So, this is what a flat-to-nearly-zero-hertz frequency response graph gives you? I’m all for it”. My Fostex T50RP’s are modified to punch my eardrums with the ~100hz bass/kick drum slam. These IEMs punch less, but go lower.
- Mids are very realistic, life-like. It’s “uncanny valley” territory vocals and instruments. That is all. Seriously… this is the “endgame” goal, isn’t it?
- Treble can be problematic. You got a treble-oriented amplifier (or a Samsung S7? Lol) Motley Crue - Saints of Los Angeles’s sibilance is there but it’s okay. The Oasis discography will be… more annoying than the usual. Rage - The Beggar’s Last Dime will be unlistenable. Warrel Dane - The Day the Rats Went to War will be unlistenable. I know I’m treble-sensitive. But bad pairings will not give you normal treble levels. Otherwise, with my XD05? I forgot treble could sound this good. And my ears never hurt. Still, while riding the bus, I also found an upside of this treble peak: I tend to hear the cymbals and all this kind of treble a bit less when I’m outdoors with IEMs. This might be the reason why they put a treble peak: With the MP145’s, all the cymbals in your music are clearly heard, even outdoors.
Technicalities: Riding the wave between analytical and musical.
First: these love power. They sound better with 250mW or more. Friendly reminder: Power doesn’t equal “volume”. It just means everything will sound “fuller”, just more complete, even at low volume. Yes, I enjoyed em for days simply plugged straight into my phone. But without good power, the “studio rooms” just sound like… spheres. Smaller, unnaturally solid spheres. The lack of depth feels like an invisible “tetrisphere”-like brick wall. You will also get no instrument separation whatsoever: Extreme metal music will sound like a blurry mess. But this is not the MP145’s limits! They just require better amplification to shine: Planars gotta planar.
You look at the Hidizs website and one of the first things you see is “FAST planar driver”. You might then think these are analytical, even mechanical-sounding IEMs, like all these less-expensive planar headphones. This could not be further from the truth. The “stereotype” is gone: I did not knew vocals and pianos could sound so life-like, so natural, using planar technology. Yeah, Susvara users laughing at me right now: Hey, I’m poor. I’m surprised all it took was 150$ to get an oh-so-well-tuned planar IEM, in which I hear something resembling both the powerful bass and the speed and analytical-ness from my Fostex T50RP’s, combined with the great, great, natural, realistic (i.e.: “soulful”) mids of my Nad HP50’s (which I actually use more than my HD6XX’s for this reason, by the way).
I believe this is the first time I hear “full range” audio done right in IEMs or headphones. These IEMs remind me of what I get with my Emotiva B1+'s speakers – with an AMT tweeter – paired with an active subwoofer. It’s just all there. And Hidizs MP145’s are not analytical, mechanical, studio-monitoring-only, fake-detail, harman-flat-and-boring IEMs. These are full-range IEMs full of natural musicality gifting me with an “S-tier” amount of “uncanny valley” moments. They might be “cheating” a bit with the treble peak. Still… these are kind of riding the wave between analytical and musical. These are kind of trying to give me the best of both worlds. These are kind of winning at all of it at the same time. And the more power you will give em, the more natural these will sound… and the more they’ll win you.
The Hidizs MP145’s will give you your own personal space of glorious voices and details, and studio rooms will sound like studio rooms. In my experience, if you use the included pink filters and the included “vocal” ear tips, these IEMs can make you feel like you’re there, in the studio, and hear not only the singers and the instruments, but also the room. There’s good soundstage, great instrument separation – uh, great layering, for lack of a better term. What I mean is, the driver is so fast no sound will ever be hidden, silenced, “forgotten” because something else is playing, louder, at the same time.
They’re also very well made. The metal casing is obviously solid, and fits my ears perfectly. You might also have seen the tiny little hole in the casing. With other IEMs, removing silicone-like tips from my ears made a “PLOP” sound and made my eardrums hurt, because these tips sealed my ears. Thanks to this tiny little hole, I can finally remove my IEMs without feeling like I removed my eardrums at the same time (sorry 
lol).
Final thoughts
Zeos once reviewed a pair of headphones and said “I want to go outside, and when someone asks me what time is it, put these on his head and ruin his life”. Plumb & Key 4050 - I Love You (Original Mix), Lindsey Stirling - Elements (Orchestral Version), or damn it, just Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang on these Hidizs MP145’s will ruin the life of your friend with Airpods. Lol.
These are a home run for me. Great, all-around, do-it-all planars. More than bassy enough for electronic music. More than fast enough for metal music. More than musical enough for vocals, jazz, relaxing songs, etc. The only problem is that now my girlfriend always wants em.
Bonus: Great customer service by Hidizs. I’ve somehow lost the little bag in which I kept all the filters. I e-mailed Hidizs, asking if I could order spare filters, and yes. I also got another “little bag”, and I’ll be able to try their new “sea anemone” ear tips which came with, I believe, the MP143’s.
