As with the packaging the build quality is nothing out of the ordinary for an IEM of this price range, light and sturdy seems the trend so why deviate? The housings are black and made of metal, the nozzle’s are huge and protected by metal mesh coverings, the back of the housing is ported and says Brainwavz while each IEM has an indicator for which side of the ear it belongs. The housings are light and have little ridges on the outer portion for better grip, there is a seam on stress spot, but I don’t have worries of it coming apart. The cables have ample stress relief provided by a flexible sleeve that extends half an inch from the housing. The cable itself has a nice rubberized feel to it that is easy to grip even with sweaty hands, but is a bit thin coming from each ear, also the enhanced grip from the cable has made them more of a pain to untangle when they tangle, and they do tangle more than most IEMs I own. The cable has a cinch that says M5 on either side with the Brainwavz logo on the y-split. The cables join as one to a thicker cable and ultimately ends in a right angled plug that has a sufficient stress relief.

The M5 are semi-deep insertion IEMs that I’ve taken to wearing over-ear due to microphonics when worn down, even with the cinch it bothered me. Comfort and isolation is very dependant on the tips used so I’ll look at them separately, I would like to mention, though, that I had some driver flex upon inserting the left earphone only. The driver flex was worst with the mushroom tips and meant that I had to leave the earphone in shallow to get a good sound, deeper insertion created an odd sound presentation that was unlistenable, with the other tips I didn’t have this severe of a problem. Due to this problem with the mushroom tips and the IEM comfort and isolation were compromised and I really did not enjoy the M5. Switching to the Comply tips the isolation is above average and the comfort is excellent as is the fit, the only problem I have here is that the Comply tips are difficult to actually remove once on, I imagine that they will be damaged by many when trying to remove them. With the double flanged I get much better comfort than the mushroom tips, about on par with the Comply tips and the isolation is great too, the problem is I still get the flex on the left ear which makes deep insertion not an option. This is a shame because I feel the double-flanged offer the most balanced sound.