Brainwavz� products have always been about value for money. With each new IEM release they push the envelope for product value at each price point. Now, this week we're going to be taking a look at their brand-new IEM, the Jive. It's a $30 IEM marketed as being �tuned to perform like a balanced armature for only $30,� which is a pretty bold statement that, as experience has taught me, shows Brainwavz really has something big going on here. Let's take a closer look after the jump.

The Jive arrives in a plastic box of sorts slightly similar to its budget brother, the Delta. The plastic feels quite flimsy and cheap, and shows they low-balled the packaging here. Given its price, however, I guess this would have to be expected. Inside that plastic box is the core of the packaging � namely Brainwavz newly-designed long IEM case, which contains everything in the Jive package.

Again, Brainwavz blows me away with their accessories package that they manage to throw into each of their products. On top of the IEM case, you get two extra pairs of silicone eartips, their now-typical Comply foam eartips, a shirt clip, and a Brainwavz-branded cable tie. Oh yeah, and you get a 24-month manufacturer�s warranty � a recent change that applies to all Brainwavz products. (Yes, even the old Brainwavz products I�ve reviewed have a 24-month warranty now. So basically, as of this writing, I could apply for warranty on them even now.) It�s an impressive package that has outright blown me away, putting much more expensive earphones to shame whilst remaining at a bargain bin price point.

The Jive has a unique, playful design that really appeals to the younger crowds. It comes in three colours � Blood Red, Army Green, and Ink Blue � each of which has a rather flashy look to it. I'm not exactly a fan of the colour palette, but they look decent nonetheless. Their full-metal housings have a horn shape somewhat reminiscent of Final�s (formerly Final Audio Design) higher-end Piano Forte earbud models. Somewhere down the cable of the left earpiece sits the remote and mic, which comes in iOS- or Android-compatible flavours. A neat little detail on the remote are two little nubs on the centre button, which helps out with controlling the remote without looking at it. Down that cable is the ever-robust Brainwavz Y-split that I've come to love. But like their higher-end IEMs, the Y-split on the Jive is quite compact, which keeps the whole assembly quite lightweight.

The Jive, being a (spoiler alert) top-notch budget IEM, checks all the boxes in the high-quality budget IEM category. Full metal housings? Check. Proper strain reliefs? Check. Solidly-constructed connector and Y-split? Check and check. From what I see, the Jive�s build is about as far as one could push the build quality of an IEM before having to make compromises in other areas or increase the price. They may not look the part, but they definitely are capable of holding up to abuse. About the only thing that might need improvement is the cable, which is a little thin above the Y-split and tends to be microphonic when worn straight down. Wearing them around the ear fixes this issue. Otherwise, no complaints here at all.

The Brainwavz Jive�s housings allow for an easy fit with just about any type of ear. The three-size selection of silicone eartips should get you a good fit with the Jive, but if that doesn't work, there's the included Comply S-series foam eartips to fix that. The Comply eartips also happen to be the most comfortable out of the bunch, as the silicone eartips� seal forms a vacuum in my ear which is a little annoying. In either case, both types of eartips on the Jive offer excellent isolation.

The source equipment used in this review is a fifth-generation iPod Touch and an iPad 3 directly running the Brainwavz Jive, and a PC running iTunes 12 and Foobar2k powering the Jive through a Schiit Fulla DAC/Amp. The EQ apps used in their respective test is TuneShell on iOS and Electri-Q on the PC. The eartips used on the Jive are mainly the included Comply eartips, although I will provide a comparison between the two in the following assessment. The list of the test tracks I listen to while reviewing the Jive can be sound here, although I will include links to specific songs in the review for a more direct point of reference.

The Jive was burned-in for at least 50 hours prior to writing this review � or long enough for the brain burn-in to settle. Out of the box I found the Jive to sound quite harsh in the treble region, and I later found that they, like other Brainwavz IEMs, absolutely require burn-in to tame them down. If you�re no believer of burn-in, and you aren�t impressed with the Jive so far, then give them a chance and let them run for at least 20 hours. You should notice a difference. In any case, let's get on with the sound assessment.

I found the Jive to have a very tip-dependent sound signature that changes quite noticeably depending on the eartips used. I could go on all day comparing their sound signature with the many different pairs of eartips I have, but for the sake of brevity, I�ll be focusing on the ones that come included with the Jive itself. Let�s begin.

Bass:

At first glance, one would think of the Jive as a budget IEM for the masses (sure enough, it is). As such, I expected a bass-heavy sound signature that I probably wouldn�t like. Boy, was I wrong. So, so wrong.

To put things simply, the Jive�s low end is spectacular. There�s really nothing more to say about it without me rambling all day about how good they are. They exhibit great speed and control without the slightest hint of midrange bleed (Daft Punk � Touch). They also provide enough kick and extension for most consumer listeners to find sufficient for their tastes. I�ll say that until now, I�ve never heard a low-end that manages to cater to both consumer and audiophile ears with literally no compromises made. And at thirty dollars, no less.

With the Comply eartips, I found them to trade some of its power and extension in for an even tighter and more controlled bass response. At this point their low-end resembles that of a balanced armature. As  it has a dynamic driver, the Jive obviously doesn�t completely match up to the speed and attack of a true balanced armature IEM, but they sure do come close for a $30 IEM. If this isn�t bass perfection, I don�t know what is.

Midrange:

The Jive�s midrange has exceptional clarity and a rather cold tonality to them that is simply unprecedented for an IEM of this price. No musical instrument � electronic, acoustic, or vocal, you name it � sounds necessarily bad on the Brainwavz Jive. Guitars sound particularly amazing, with pianos coming quite closely. Personally I found vocals to be rather thin-sounding (Coldplay � Shiver), although that seems to be cause by their remarkably cold presentation, which I�m not going to complain about.

However, this is where the sound quality starts to get a little bit shaky. With a few sine wave sweep tests, I found the Jive to have peaks (basically emphasis on certain frequencies caused by housing resonances, driver tuning, etc.) around 3 and 6 kHz, which emphasises the overtones of most instruments. As I'm no acoustics expert, I can't really explain this in more depth, but what these peaks do is make the Jive sound � for lack of a better word � annoying. Instruments tend to sound a little too forward and in-your-face, which makes the listening experience quite fatiguing to my ears (Masashi Hamauzu � Sazh�s Theme). You can hear this emphasis on the stock silicone tips, although I did find the Comply ones to accentuate them even further.

I also found the Jive to not be able to retrieve smaller details very well, but in the end, though, you really can�t complain much about it, given that we�re still dealing with a thirty-dollar IEM.

Treble:

The Jive�s treble is pretty good, with great extension to the very top of my hearing range. It never sounds sibilant, and carries enough energy and edge to satisfy the more treble-oriented listeners. However, I didn�t exactly find them very capable in bringing out minute details in recordings. Then again, this is only with the included Comply eartips � having the stock silicone eartips will bring out more edge in the top-end, and sibilance becomes emphasized to the point of it getting a little irritating. Nonetheless, the Jive still goes far beyond the standards of budget IEMs.

Soundstage/Presentation:
IEMs usually have a hard time with soundstage, and as you may have noticed from my reviews, I often don�t go into detail with it. I guess that, in terms of space, I just find them all comparatively similar, regardless of price point. The Jive, however, stands above the rest of its similarly-priced brothers with excellent separation that I would much more often find on IEMs starting $50 and up. Completely unprecedented for its price. Seriously.

Genre Proficiency:

To be honest, I never found the Jive to fail at any particular genre. I found them to take every genre I listen to and still perform beautifully. Acoustic or electronic, the Jive plays them all well. However, I found them to be more suited to slower, lighter music in contrast to heavier genres like dubstep, metal, and grander orchestral recordings. In those genres, I found them to really convey the rhythm and emotion better. That, or the synths in heavy EDM and dubstep just sound too grating to my ears.

Summary:

All in all, I find it very, very hard to nit-pick and complain about the faults of the Brainwavz Jive. Yes, they do have their faults, but I find them completely negligible especially when we consider the fact that the Jive is thirty freaking dollars. The Jive is simply excellent.

Games:

When I judge a headphone or IEM on their gaming performance, I�m basically gauging how well they would be put to use as a gaming tool. In competitive first-person shooters and other games which make use of audio cues, a detailed IEM will help to bring out the details that matter in these types of video games (e.g. footsteps, gunfire, etc.). Personally, I feel like the Jive does a pretty good job as a gaming IEM, bringing out ample clarity to hear through the blanket of noise that often plagues large-scale FPS matches. They, of course, are easily outmatched by a number of options up the price ladder, but let's not forget that these reside at the very bottom of that ladder. For that, you can't go wrong with them.

Movies:

I found the Jive to play movies pretty decently as well. Unlike a lot of IEMs at this price that often have overbearing, bass-heavy sound signatures, the Jive takes a turn and heads in the opposite direction towards a cleaner, more clinical sonic approach that more often than not simply presents the sound without doing much else. Not that it�s a bad thing, though � this cleaner sound really helps to hear the details better. It�s no home cinema, but at least you can take them around with you.

The Jive is responds to EQ very well, and with a few quick tweaks, hammers out the peaks in the stock sound signature and smoothing it down to a fine, luscious signature that I could listen to for hours on end. Quick 2 dB reductions to 3 and 6 kHz should do the trick.

With regards to amping, the Jive doesn�t need any extra power beyond your phone or MP3 player to be listenable. Sure, better source equipment will make the Jive sound better, but the improvements will only be marginal at best.

The Jive is, as of this writing, priced at $28 at Brainwavz� parent site, MP4Nation. As I�ve said again and again in this review, the Brainwavz Jive is a completely unexpected IEM at this price. Sound-wise, its level of performance is simply outstanding in the overcrowded and oversaturated budget IEM market that Brainwavz has dropped it into. I mean, with a few tweaks to the build, they could very well be $50 IEMs and they�d still be pretty amazing.

To properly judge just how awesome an IEM is, we�re gonna have to pit it against some of the best IEMs in its class. To be honest, though I don�t exactly have those �best IEMs in its class� (Xiaomi Pistons 3.0, Ostry KC06, Havi B3 Pro 1, or whatever the Chinese Brand forum thread hypes about every week), I do have a few notable IEMs that I feel are amazing in their own right. Let�s take a look.

So here we go, one of Brainwavz� own IEMs. Priced at $50, the Brainwavz S0 offered the same level of quality you would expect from a Brainwavz IEM, with a smooth, laid-back sound signature that simply works. However, I found the Jive to edge it out sound-wise with its livelier, clearer sound signature that�s less easy on the ears but definitely brings more energy and life to recordings. Of course, the win for the Jive is a very subjective and preferential one, so these statements are debatable. Nonetheless, the Jive is good. Real good.

Another Jive vs. $50 IEM matchup, but this time, the A151P is armed with a balanced armature driver. I thought this would be an interesting matchup since I wanted to see just how closely the Jive comes to performing like a BA as Brainwavz advertises it. And I�m happy to report that it does come quite close.

The A151P is quite like the S0 in that it has a smooth, laid-back sound signature, but with the inherent speed of a BA and a much cleaner midrange. The Jive isn�t quite as speedy as the A151 but it sure does come close, and deeper, stronger bass response and livelier sound signature allows them to play EDM much better in my opinion.

However, the winner for this matchup personally goes to the A151 as I think they just sound better. They�re just a smoother and more relaxing IEM to listen to � perfect for those cold nights where you�re listening to The Fragrance of Dark Coffee while having a nice, hot cup of cocoa draped in a warm, cosy blanket. Yeah, that�s what the A151P does so well. And that�s why I love �em.

I guess it�s kinda obvious that the Brainwavz Jive is one epic budget IEM. An unprecedented sound quality, encased in a solid beater build, wrapped in the trademark Brainwavz package, makes for one amazing budget IEM. That�s really all I could say. Should you get the Brainwavz Jive? If you�re looking for an excellent beater IEM to take out and about, I don�t see any reason not to.

Smooth out the resonance peaks.

Make an improved, more expensive version. They�ll be a hit.

Again, I would like to thank Pandora and Brainwavz for providing the sample of the Jive in this review. They have improved immensely over the past year and I�m very, very excited to see what they have in store for us next. You can check out the rest of the photos I took during this review here, and read some more of my reviews here.

As always, this has been thatBeatsguy of DB Headphones; thanks for reading!

�At Brainwavz we have a simple mission, to produce innovative, high quality audio products with a dedicated focus on high-end sound at a realistic price. Our strength, success and product range is built on our unique relationship with our customers and users, a relationship that has produced a simple and obvious result. We give real-users real sound quality. 2014 will see Brainwavz pushing forward with an expanded product line, continuing with unique and innovative products, from earphones to headphones to audio accessories.�

Company website: www.yourbrainwavz.com