I just gloated about how well the packaging was done and Meelectronics made sure to carry that elegance to the design of the IEM. The A161p are primarily black with an accent of gold starting at the half of the barrel and going through to the nozzle. An Meelectronics logo is stamped on the black half of the barrel. The nozzle is angled, rather than straight, which is a plus for me as the contour of the nozzle makes it easier for me to insert without the barrel rubbing my ear. The filter is an integrated metal mesh filter, and this is something that actually bothers me a bit. Apple may not have much going on for itself in the audio world, but they certainly had their design right with unscrewable metal filters. This allows for easy cleaning of them, certainly adding to the durability of an IEM. Still this is a feature I rarely see in IEMs, I just hope it starts becoming popular as I love the idea of it, hopefully Meelectronics can work this into future IEMs.

The stress relief has a left or right indicator on each and is long and semi-flexible, which is a good thing since the cables coming from them are rather thin and are my biggest worry about the A161p. The remote/mic is plastic, but doesn’t feel as it’s going to fall apart, though it doesn’t have a volume control. Still the remote works well and I never had a problem using it to control my iPod, very fluid. A cinch sits on top of the y-split and is stamped A161p in grey. A shirt clip sits below the y-split where the cables join together, feeling much more durable now, to meet a 45 degree angled 3.5mm plug.

The build quality seems solid overall, the housing is a 50/50 mix of plastic on the black part to metal on the gold and feels sturdy. In-fact everything about the A161p seems solid, except for my concerns about the thin wire going to the housings. I’ve been putting these through their paces though for the past two weeks and they’re holding up well. I do hope Meelectronics considers looking into screw off mesh filters though.

As for fit, the A161p sit semi-deep in the ear blocking out a decent amount of noise with no music playing, but when the music is on at a reasonable level I can not hear anything but the music, putting aside very loud sounds. Comfort-wise the A161p are middle of the road, and putting them in is a bit of a pain for me as I have to move them around a bit before getting an optimal sound.

Nothing about the build will blow you away, these don’t have the incredibly sturdy feeling of the DUNU Ares, but I imagine these holding up rather well to abuse. These look sharp though and I’ve had a few people compliment their looks already, very stylish and elegant!

Sound Quality

I gave these 100 hours of listening time and about 20 hours of playtime when not wearing them before I formed an opinion on the sound. I made sure to try these unamped through my iPod Classic, as well as through my desktop set-up with a variety of tips from Comply to the triple-flanged tips included. I decided on the included mushroom tips over anything else.

The A161p are being marketed by Meelectronics as neutral reference quality IEMs using balanced armature drivers. The keywords that they’re using are clarity, accuracy, and detail. On the inside of the box Meelectronics explains what each word means to them, let’s take a look. Meelectronics defines detail as “fine musical nuances,” accuracy as “faithfulness to the original recording” and clarity as “purity and intelligibility of sound.” Do the A161p live of the these keywords Meelectronics has associated with them? I would say so, the A161p are the most satisfying IEM I’ve ever heard providing a clear neutral listening experience that has the musicality to match.

The packaging of the A161p shows a frequency response highlighting ruler flat bass response, which is something many audiophiles consider necessary in their headphones. I’ve put the A161p through its paces bass-wise from the quick sub-bass presented in James Blake’s

Limit to Your Love

to the thick bass in Sigur Ros’

Svefn-g-englar

and am highly satisfied. The bass is completely flat to my ears, the sub-bass is just as accurately represented as the mid-bass in my experiences. The flat presentation of the bass gives an accurate representation of what the band intended you to hear, any coloration to the bass is simply how the artist wanted you to hear it. With that said the bass can feel a bit thin at times, with the DUNU Hephaes I could “feel” the bass, whereas here I’m simply observing it. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, it’s just that those who listen primarily to bass centric music may want to avoid these. Thus said, I’ve greatly enjoyed the amount of bass for everything I’ve put through these from Flying Lotus to Incubus. This is the best bass in quality I’ve heard in an IEM thus far, detailed and textured, this will satisfy non-bassheads.

The mids are designed to sound life-like and balanced, and despite many claims by other companies about their natural mids, the A161p actually follow through with theirs. Vocals sound clean and natural, listening to John Mayer’s

Neon

and his voice can best be described as smooth and intimate. Female vocals fair well here as well, Sara Bareilles

Come Round Soon

and the A161p are able to present her powerful vocals well, especially during her long held note toward the end of the song which simply rings beautifully giving me chills. Some sibilance is heard in the mids, but it’s not a fault of the A161p, it’s simply a fault of the recording, Sara’s album

Little Voice

isn’t mastered well and sibilance comes through due to the fault of the album, the A161p simply expose it due to their mildly detailed nature. To touch upon the female vocals again, I’m currently listening to Florence + The Machine’s song

Cosmic Love

and the vocals are simply giving me chills, she has some amazing pipes and the A161p present them cleanly with no grain. What about instruments though? Guitars have their proper umph for heavier genres, and acoustic instruments resonate well, very life-like. I’m currently listening to Modest Mouse’s

Life Like Weeds

to get a feel for just how raw the A161p can present a guitar, this song has quite possibly the most raw and assertive guitar part I’ve ever heard and the A161p doesn’t disappoint, the guitar wails through as it should. Coming from my Audio Technica Ad2000 I was expecting to be disappointed with the mids, now these aren’t in the same league, but they do a damn good job. Good clarity and detail provide a great listening experience, though the mids seem a tad dry at times though I think it’s more of an issue of the A161p highlighting poor recording than the A161p’s presentation.

The highs are well extended with good clarity, I haven’t noticed any glaring grain that I can blame on the A161p. Taking a look at the highs I decided to put on some of my audiophile grade tracks. I first put on Pink Floyd’s

Money

from the De-Emphasized Black Triangle version of

Dark Side of the Moon

. I’ve had problems with headphones in the past coming off as shrill or incredibly grainy during the saxophone solo, I can proudly say that even during the highest frequencies I do not experience any grain, no clipping, the A161p handle these incredibly well which is a feat. Switching over to some fusion-jazz I put on Miles Davis’ song

Pharoah’s Dance

from his infamous album

Bitches Brew

. Miles Davis is one of the greatest trumpet players of all time, but do the A161p do his playing justice? The trumpet sound incredibly life-like and again there’s absolutely no grain despite some high frequencies being hit. The A161p’s treble is fantastic with just enough sparkle to highlight instruments that need it, without being bright or harsh.

The soundstage of the A161p is average at best, there’s decent depth and positioning and good space for instruments, but it doesn’t have the 3-D like sound I’ve become accustomed to with my Audio Technica Ad2000. At times the sound seems a bit flat, as if there’s a wall and everything sound is coming from a different part of it. This takes away some depth of the music, but the sound isn’t muddled and that’s important.

As I said earlier, the A161p are the most satisfying IEM I’ve ever listened to. The mildly warm neutral and well-balanced sound has good musicality to it and while these are detailed, they aren’t overly so completely exposing bad recordings, though poor recordings will be highlighted. Usually by this time I find something I dislike about the sound, but really the only thing I dislike about these is the fit. For the price these may be the best neutral, yet musical, IEMs around.

It’s obvious I am in-love with the A161p sound. The clarity is fantastic, they have enough detail to pick out anything you’d want to hear while maintaining musicality, and are well-extended on both ends of the spectrum so you’re not going to miss anything. The soundstage is a bit flat, but it gives the instruments the space it needs to breath despite the intimate setting. I do recommend an amp for the A161p though, listening from my iPod directly just doesn’t compare to the desktop set-up.