Acoustune HS1670SS Review – Raw Detailed Excellence
Acoustune HS1670SS
EU799
Pros
- Clean articulate detailed well balanced signature style.
- Great hard case, carry case, cable and tips selection.
- Awesome industrial design style and solid build.
Cons
- No 2 pin connector option
- Treble clean style may be a little too detailed for some.
- Not for solid bass focused audience
Sound Signature:
As always the most important part of any earphone review is the sound signature.
The tips selection is very good and for my ear shape and signature preferences I used the supplied soft Foam tips, these helped tame some of the upper regions. It was relatively easy to get a snug secure fit and good seal with these also due to their compact nature.
So how is the signature, now we have a nice comfortable fit. Let me go through the familiar band of frequency ranges that all us earphone fans are interested in.
The bass has a fair size of body, punching with a strong impact, while impactfull it is not a dominant character in this earphones tuning. Quick to resolve and versatile across many musical genres. This area gives more body to the signature and produces a punchy texture to the bass, not overly dominating but clean and with a kick. This area of tuning should be very appealing and I’m sure it will have ideal strength and impact for many in-ear listeners out there. For me the dynamic feel and speed of attack helps with a slightly energetic vibrant feel and supports the ease of transitioning pace.
Mid range area is again clean and accurate sounding, providing more focus especially to female vocals. There is a feeling of air flow in the representation and the delicate nuisances with live vocals are relayed expertly along with the natural style of accompanying instruments tonality aspects. This region directs the listeners focus in a controlled and balanced style positively adding to the signature musicality.
Upper mids appear raised slightly and transitioning is smooth into the lower treble regions, all throughout there is a sense of space within the frequency spectrum helping to give an effortless aspect to the sound signature, never feeling like it is struggling to keep up or congested.
Technically the HS1670SS is very strong across the complete sound spectrum but even though this is highly technically proficient all the musicality is still relayed to the listener, there is not a stark or surgical feel that you sometimes get as a trade off on the technicalities.
While there is an aspect of tuning that feels like reference tuning, the detail has enough space to sound slightly airy but very articulate. Portraying a slight neutral feel in the overall tuning of the signature, it is very well balanced across the whole sound spectrum. Acoustune have achieved something quite special and this earphone is certainly one of the most coherently balanced earphones that I have listened to for sometime.
The staging area has a wide character and with the right track style along with good tip selection you get a sense that the staging is projecting outward and creating realistic well positioned imaging. The scale is not holographic or overly grand but with a decent range of width so you are fully immersed in the music. The spacial positioning of the imaging have an accurate 3 dimensional feel really adding to the experience and certainly for me resulting in falling deep into the musical experience.
Acoustune have made some specific tuning refinements in the upper regions, resulting in treble detail that is tight and articulate, resolving quickly with instruments sounding realistic and clean. Care has been taken in this area not to push into abrasive territory, as we know this area of the frequency spectrum is very sensitive to most. At times the treble does feel a little too clean and quick, bordering on hot at times but this looks to be a trade of with the high level of articulate detail versus the smoothness.
However our experience has been extremely positive and I am pleased to say that Acoustune know how far to push the treble extension to squeeze the most out of these solid earphones. Due to the excellent balance and airy nature of these earphones the listening experience is not harsh and results in non-fatiguing listening sessions, meaning you can listen for longer without your ears feeling strained.
Detail is precise and clean sounding with a depth of complexity reflecting the effort and care taken by the engineers with the technical tuning of the HS1670SS. The driver speed helps to adds to the experience shaping the elements and placing them in their own distinct soundspace.
When listening to well mastered recording, the HS1670SS earphone really shines in it’s abilities to portray the soulful emotions in voices and realistic air movements of the musicians instruments especially for live recorded performances. There is a breath of airiness amongst the layers resulting in a perceived wider sense of range, positively adding to the immersion.
You would think that the clean reference style and analytic transparency would result in too much stark clinical separation but thankfully this is not the case and the HS1670SS maintains a cohesion across the layers, each layer holding its own space, even though each distinct they are also aligned in unison. With a general airy aspect relayed amongst the layers this technically solid earphone has a unique and effortless in it’s style adding to the listening experience.
The HS1670SS while technically strong has a musicality that gives a range of accessibility across many musical genres, finding the balance for the mainstream and the demanding audiophiles crowd is always difficult but I think the HS1670SS does an expert job to satisfy both audiences. Well done Acoustune for a competitive priced, solid beautiful looking and sounding earphone.
