A161P Brief Glance from MEElectronics

[WalkGood]

Per Joe Daileda (VP of Sales and Marketing) MEElectronics will be releasing a new balanced armature IEM mid to late May 2012. The A161P will be replacing the CC51 (dynamic driver IEM) as their new flagship IEM becoming the A151’s heir. As far as I have heard there will not be a new dynamic driver replacement for the CC51 but for now the A151 will not be discontinued.

The A161P will be a single full-range armature IEM similar to their A151 which I reviewed here. Although it will be housed with a different armature driver than the SR series from Knowles, currently used in the A151. And will not have the nice twisted cable that the A151 uses as it did not work with the stress relief on their newly designed housing. Even though it is still supposed to be easy to wear over the ear or straight down depending on your preference. The new IEM is supposed to have an inline mic/remote but I have not heard back from Joe if there will be a model without one. I don't know what you're thinking, but I think this new IEM looks very nice and I'm excited to test and see the finished product.

When asked in facebook “How will it sound compared to the A151?” The response was “We think the treble is smoother than it would have been with a Knowles TWFK armature and hope the bass roll-off is lower as well” and “Better bass & treble extension, better overall balance, clearer and more resolving. A151 fans will still like it but it should appeal to a broader range of listeners. It is not v-shaped or bright/treble-heavy.” I find one point in that response strange as I do not find the A151s to have a v-shaped sound signature but it's possible it was just a statement and not a direct comparison. All I can say for now is lets wait and hear how they sound.

Per MEE: “Full specs will be released closer to the pre-sale date,” but they did post a response graph on their site and I provided it below:

I should be hearing back from him soon to find out if the plug will be a TRS or TRRS, right angled or not and a few other questions. But for now you know as much as I and when I find out more I’ll update this post.


*Information for this post is from an email from Mr. Joe Daileda, MEElectronics facbook posts here and MEElectronics website here.


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[CrowdAds]

[IDvsEGO]

I like the pics. price point?

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by IDvsEGO

I like the pics. price point?

Yes the pictures are nice but I did not take them, they're from MEE. So far they have not released a price point but my guess is that it will be price similar to when the A151 were first released and possible a little higher as they are MEE's new flagship model. I'm currently waiting to hear back on a few questions that I posed him, so as I find out more information I will update or make any corrections to any information I posted.

[The DarkSide]

I like the look of them myself. But, if they do come out with the inline volume control I'll definitely pass. It's the one major build quality issue I've had with the mee's. If they don't, I'll most likely bite.

[WalkGood]

Joe just replied to my email, below please find my questions & his responses:

• Will the male jack be right angled or straight? - 45 degree plug
• I understand the A161P will have an inline mic and volume control, does this mean you will be using a TRRS plug VS a TRS? – Yes, the plug is a TRRS and will be Apple compatible. We will also be including a TRRS adapter for compatibility with a much wider range of phones. You can see here for our compatibility and here for the adapter compatibility. We will also include a computer/Skype adapter.
• Will there be another A161P without the inline mic and volume control? – This unit does not have inline volume increasing compatibility. We will not have a version without the mic/remote, but the mic used is different than our previous mics.
• Will the armature be another Knowles armature? - Knowles
• Which specific armature? – I am not at liberty to discuss the specifics of the driver.
• What are the armature specifications? – I am not at liberty to discuss the specifics of the driver.
• Is the housing proprietary? - no
• Any other information that you can provide will be helpful – We originally had this product at the 2011 CES but delayed it until this year with subtle changes.

[kredig]

these phones seem interesting. typical mee-design i'd say.
if it has the same plug as the cw31 then the build quality should be slightly better as older phones by this brand. but what i DISLIKE is that there won't be any version without a microphone. i still like to use inears as usual headphones.
for the pricing i'd say it will be around $80-$100.

[JK98]

"We will not have a version without the mic/remote"

I hope they change their mind about this. Otherwise I won't buy one. I also hate the 45 degree plug. Why can't they use a right angle plug?

I do wonder how this compares with the Sony XBA-1 as far as sound quality, build quality, isolation and price.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by JK98

... I hope they change their mind about this. Otherwise I won't buy one. I also hate the 45 degree plug. Why can't they use a right angle plug?

I guess it's a good idea to have a product predominately targeted at smart phones users but seeing how it's their new flagship IEM, they should have thought of the millions of users like us It sounds logical but maybe that's why they're not getting rid of the A151 as it fills that void.

Originally Posted by JK98

I do wonder how this compares with the Sony XBA-1 as far as sound quality, build quality, isolation and price.

We can only wait and see, the release date isn't far off ...

[kredig]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/610309/revi...ive-ever-heard

[IDvsEGO]

if someone wants to upgrade from their 151 to a 161 I will give you $25 for your 151. Just puttin it out there

[kredig]

@walkgood: are you still planning to write a review?

the phone is listed with $90 right now for pre-order. but with the coupon A161P_PRE you will get a discount of $10

[The DarkSide]

Be patient, as good things come to those who wait,... http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40724

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by kredig

@walkgood: are you still planning to write a review?

Yes as TDS pointed out, it's almost finished.

Originally Posted by kredig

the phone is listed with $90 right now for pre-order. but with the coupon A161P_PRE you will get a discount of $10

Are you getting them and what player or phone will use use them with?

[kredig]

ahh. thank you. good to know.
i am not sure if i am getting those. they seem to be really interesting soundwise. BUT the microphone is really bugging me for some reason.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by kredig

... the microphone is really bugging me for some reason.

I thought the same thing at first and I really do think that MEE should offer a non "P" version but AFAIK they are not going to do that. Side note - the mic also doubles as a remote with ipods and some andriod devices if that helps. While I tested both options out I am not using them and they don't really bother me but I do understand why some don't want to pay for something they're not going to use. You could look at the SBA-03 IEMs by Fisher Audio, they're similar in every respect other than a few minor differences in specs, although I haven't tried them out personally so I don't know if they're the same SQ and they are more expensive ...