TL;DR: The Alpha & Delta D2 provides an aggressive, basshead-friendly twist to the budget sport IEM format that may or may not be a good thing.

Before I begin, I would like to sincerely thank Teo at Lend Me Ur Ears for providing a review sample of the Alpha & Delta D2/m in exchange for my honest opinion. I am neither affiliated with LMUE, Alpha & Delta, or any of its staff, nor was I paid to write this review. All opinions and photos shown in this review are my own unless otherwise specified. Finally, please take the opinions expressed here with a grain of salt. Thanks!

Lend Me Ur Ears� in-house brand, Alpha & Delta made headlines on audiophile forums last year with the release of their debut dual-driver dynamic IEM, the AD01. From then on, it was clear that A&D has cemented itself as one of the must-watch up-and-coming brands on the market. About three months ago, Teo sent me a prototype of an IEM that A&D was developing at the time. That IEM turned out to be the D2 you see today.

So, to coincide with the D2�s release date (which also happens to be today), we are giving you an in-depth look at Alpha & Delta�s latest ~$30 sports IEM. How will it fare? Read on and find out!

The D2 arrives in a rather nondescript grey box with all the basic info on the IEM. You�ve got a flat image of the earphones on the front, an accessories list on the side, and a basic description and specifications list on the back (see the Specs section for the full list).

Opening up the box, you are greeted by plastic pouches containing 8 pairs of ear tips, a shirt clip, and a round carrying case, inside which are the earphones themselves. Also included is a one year limited warranty card. To be honest, the included eartips � 6 pairs of silicone ear tips and 2 pairs of foamies � are actually rather generous for a package at this price. However, since we�ve also seen this with their $100 AD01, it seems A&D may be trying to follow Brainwavz� habit of including a ton of eartips with all of their earphones. So far, so good.

Having received the beta prototype of the D2 three months back, I was able to see the differences made between that and the final production version. However, overall I found few changes were actually made between them, so I will be able to point them out as I continue.

Their rather rotund housings are built from a solid plastic, although I can�t actually tell what it is because it�s coated with a smooth matte finish. Even the nozzles have a matte coating which makes the whole assembly feel like it is one piece although it�s actually made out of three. (In the beta prototype the nozzles were wider, had a gloss finish, and also tended to come off the housings; the narrower matte finish nozzles found in the production version seems to be their fix for that. Otherwise, no other changes were made to design.)

Being a sports earphone, the D2 is designed to be worn around the ear; as such they have a sort of tube that runs from the housings to a point on the cable that serves as a built-in ear hook to keep the cable tied down during physical activities. What�s notable about these ear hooks is that they do not have memory wire like the Sport-Fi M6; instead, their lack of memory wire therefore makes them similar to also-recently-released Brainwavz XF200 (which I also reviewed not too long ago). The rest of the cable is built incredibly well � the cable is supple, durable, and generates little to no cable noise at all.

Their remote (available on the D2m) remains unchanged from its beta version, and features a singular button and a universal volume slider similar to that of the MEE M6 Pro (basically it's a slider that controls an analogue limiter that works separately from your source device, so make sure you keep the slider all the way up before you start complaining on the forums about �low volume� or �high impedance�). And all that is on top of their IPX4 sweat-resistance rating which is a huge plus if you sweat a lot during your workout (because seriously, who doesn�t sweat a lot during their workout?).

Having dealt with the problem with the nozzles in the prototype last year, A&D placed the final piece of the heavy-duty budget build that is the D2. From looks and feel alone they're already worth the asking price.

The rounded housings provide a very secure and easy fit, with its matte finish giving an extra grip to the seal. The housings are also specially moulded to fit the inner part of the ear. Overall, this makes for a smooth, stable, and excellently comfortable fit. Their isolation is about identical to that of the prototype version, which is to say it isn't that good. But there is some benefit to this, as the lessened isolation gives you better awareness on the road.

So with that, we've covered just about everything concerning the D2 on the surface. In the next section, let�s dive deeper towards the stuff that really matters.

The source equipment used in this review is primarily a 5^th-generation iPod Touch directly running the D2. For the amp test, I use a Schiit Fulla hooked up to my PC running iTunes 12 and foobar2k. For the EQ test, I will be using TuneShell for iOS and Viper4Windows on PC. Most of the tracks on the playlist I normally use to test the earphones can be found here, although I will include links to specific songs in the review for quick, easy reference.

As is standard procedure, the D2 was burned in for at least 50 hours prior to writing this review. Most of that time was spent on actual ears-on time instead of leaving it to play white noise for that length of time. I also have the beta prototype version, which I've used for close to 100 hours of ear-time. I noticed no changes in both units after burn-in, but I did notice some changes between units, which I will point out below.

Bass:

Treble:

�except for the treble, that is. Just like the AD01 before it, I have expressed some concerns regarding Alpha & Delta�s treble tuning of their earphones � in those IEMs, I found them to lack treble energy and extension. I thought things have been �fixed� by A&D with the arrival of their new IEM, but no, I guess the treble will stay the same for the sake of creating some sort of �house sound.�

In all honesty, though, I guess you can call me out for disliking the D2�s treble � it�s quite okay for a sport-oriented IEM like this, and on that note, you would be right and I would agree. But when the D2�s treble consists of peaks at 5 and 7 kHz and roll-off beyond 10 kHz, then yes, I think there�s some room in there for me to voice my concerns.

Soundstage/Presentation:
The overall soundstage of the D2 is a little bit congested in my opinion � this is probably due in part to the snappy, forward midrange and just overall small sound. Imaging, however, is quite solid, with positional cues being clearly-defined. Beyond that there�s not much to talk about. Let�s move on.

Genre Proficiency:

The D2 is a prodigiously bassy IEM, so it naturally excels at EDM and its bass-heavy subgenres. However, in my opinion EDM is probably the only genre that the D2 specifically excels at. Their clear midrange allows for a wider range of listenable genres, but all are to a varying degree of outright proficiency.

Summary:

The Alpha & Delta D2�s goal is supposedly to fuse audiophile-approved sound with lots of bass and package it in a sport IEM shell. If that was what they were going for, I guess they're straying away from the whole �audiophile� label a bit because of their incredibly powerful bass. Despite being a sport IEM, they sound a little more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than Usain Bolt � there's just an incredible amount of muscular brawn that in my opinion bogs you down instead of helping you go the extra mile.

Bass is nice to have in an earphone when you're gaming. Take away the bass, and you take away the compelling weight and power behind explosions and depth to deep orchestral scores like in Ori and the Blind Forest (which is an amazing game, by the way). Having some of that bass fills in that facet of the gaming immersion formula, and because of that I am very particular about exactly how much bass I want to have in an earphone. But though not having bass is one thing, having too much of it is another. I guess that�s what they call �too much of a good thing.� With too much bass, you get too much explosion, too much cello, too much timpani, and, well, you�re left with a bit of a mess. When you�ve got too much bass, you have one facet of the immersion nailed down, but the rest is obscured if not outright overwhelmed by it. And that sucks.

But lucky for us, there is an amazing piece of software that can fix that. This is known as the equalizer. And also lucky for us, the D2 respond to tweaks to the bass and, with it, you can effectively tame the bass down to much more pleasing levels � balancing out the bass and keeping the rest of the frequencies clear and separated from the low registers. With the EQ, we can also fix the treble, but to a lesser degree of success.

The D2 doesn�t respond to amping as well as it does with EQ � I mean, it is made to work with mobile devices.

The D2/D2m can be bought for around $26 and $30, respectively. At this price, they go directly head-to-head with the Brainwavz XF200, which provides a strikingly similar package, but at a cheaper price, and with an entirely different sound signature. Value is a subjective factor, and as such, I will present my view on the subject in the next section, where I will compare the two extensively.

Versus Brainwavz XF200 ($26.50):

The Brainwavz XF200 is an excellent sport IEM released quite recently � just around January earlier this year. Now that one was a gem � excellent sound, excellent accessories, and an excellent build to boot. Then the D2 comes along and now we have two new IEMs with a similar marketing pitch, similar build, similar�pretty much everything. Let�s break them down a bit and come up with a verdict.

Their build and isolation are overall quite similar, so you can leave them at a tie. The D2�s more rounded housings and grippy matte finish give them a point in fit and comfort. But the sound? I�m gonna have to issue a 2/3 split-decision win in favour of the XF200. The bass hits harder and digs deeper than the XF200, but the XF200 has more control and sounds more pleasing on more genres. (As a side note, I found certain reviewers who called the XF200 a �basshead� IEM. I don�t know why they would call them that � they either have a very low bass tolerance or haven�t heard a real basshead IEM. Either way, the XF200 really isn�t as bassy as said reviewers would have you believe.) The midrange is clear on both IEMs, but I have to admit, I do like the more aggressive mids of the D2 over the XF200, so the one point goes to it. The treble is an easy win for the XF200 � I don�t think I need to explain why.

So, in conclusion, does this make the Alpha & Delta D2 a bad IEM? Well, not exactly � they do sound quite good on their own. Their only technical weakness truly lies in their wonky treble tuning and not much else. The problem, however, is that the D2 tries to provide a marketing pitch that, despite coming later to the party than the Brainwavz XF200, fails to overshadow the latter in terms of overall performance. The XF200 just does everything so well that I can�t help but feel the D2 falls short here.

However, the D2 has its own merits, namely in its ability to cater to the niche basshead market, who will find their bass pleasing enough for a sport IEM. Overall, however, I just don�t think they do much to bring anything better to the table and, in my opinion, will just stay there as one of my less-recommended IEMs.

I would like to again thank Teo at LMUE for sending out the D2 sample shown in this review. I�ve got a couple more reviews coming over the month, so stay tuned for that. As always, be sure to check out some of my other reviews here!

This has been thatBeatsguy of DB Headphones; thanks for reading!

�Lend Me UR Ears only have one mission: That is, to bring quality audioproducts to the masses and providing good customer service in the process.�

Link:http://www.lendmeurears.com/

TL;DR: The debut IEM of LMUE's in-house brand, the AD01 provides a thunderous, bass-heavy sound signature built almost specifically for the basshead.

== Aesthetics ==

Packaging, Accessories

The AD01, for a $100 IEM, has a great accessory package. Aside from the already mentioned hard case, you also get ten pairs of eartips: generic eartips in S/M/L, Sony Hybrid lookalikes in S/M/L, bi-flange eartips in S/M/L, and a pair of generic foam eartips. Despite the quantity of included eartips, they aren�t exactly of the highest quality, with the included Sony Hybrid look-alikes looking about as cheaply made as possible. LMUE also offers aftermarket accessories on their site, one of which is a neat upgrade cable (priced at 45 SGD as of this writing) which Teo was kind enough to send along with the main package (I will expand on this later).

One thing I noticed about the AD01 at first glance is the apparent lack of branding on the earphones and its packaging. About the only thing that indicates the AD01�s brand is the logo on the front of the box. Otherwise there is no indication of what brand the IEMs themselves are, being little more than your generic Chinese-brand earphones if you have no prior knowledge of what it is.

Let me put this simply: the AD01 has an excellent build. Featuring full metal housings and removable cables, they�re sure to be able to take quite the beating. The cables themselves are extremely solid � better than just about any IEM cable I�ve tried so far � and are relieved quite nicely. The AD01 is built about as well as you possibly can for a universal IEM. About the only thing that the AD01�s build needs improvement on is, well, the cable. As I said, it's very strong, but it's also very springy and retains quite a bit of memory, which does make it a bit of a nuisance when wearing them around-the-ear since the cable tends to jump out of the back of my pinna.

Design-wise I�m quite happy that Alpha & Delta didn�t skimp in this area in creating the AD01. Despite some initial concerns they actually perform quite well. The connectors on the AD01 cables are rather short in comparison to the connectors from the MEE M6 Pro and other IEMs that use a 2mm connector, but they actually fit on the AD01 quite securely. (ON SECOND THOUGHT: Teo clarified to me via email that the 2mm DC connectors are in fact the same thing used on the M6 Pro, except the AD01's connector is more recessed, which makes it protrude less.) Looks-wise they're honestly not much different from your generic dollar store IEMs, but it's not like you'll be looking at your IEMs all day, right?

Stock cable and upgrade cable side-by-side.

The AD01 has a quick, easy fit � you simply plug it into your ears, and you�re good to go. You can also wear them around-the-ear, but as I stated the cable is quite springy and tends to fall out of the back of your ears when doing so. Its capsule-shaped housings are also a tad large, which may cause some fit problems for those with smaller ear canals, but for the most part they should fit pretty securely. (Side note: the MEE M6 PRO cables work with the AD01 and have memory wire earhooks, so if you're looking for a more secure fit and happen to have the M6 Pro, I suggest trying them out.)

The AD01 is actually quite comfortable once you put them on. Their housings are, again, quite large, but not to the point where they cause any discomfort. The included foam eartips give the AD01 a few extra points in this sector, but overall they're about average in my opinion. Isolation is also pretty good, and should block out most of the noise of your daily commute without fail.

The equipment used in this review consists of a 5^th-generation iPod Touch, an iPad 3, and my custom-built PC as the sources, the former two driving the AD01 unamped and the PC powering the IEMs with a Schiit Fulla. The EQ app used in its respective test is TuneShell on iOS. As always, my test tracks are available here, although I will link specific songs in the assessment for a more direct point of reference. As for the eartips, I am using the included foam eartips.

Concerning the �upgrade cable� which Teo included in the package for me to test, I honestly found no discernible difference between the stock cable and the upgrade cable, in my opinion, the only thing the upgrade cable upgrades is the looks.

The Alpha & Delta AD01 was not burned-in out of the box � rather, I spent much of its play time listening to them. Over that period I didn�t notice any changes, major or minor, and I�m pretty sure there won�t be any down the line.

Anyway, let�s get right down to it, shall we?

The AD01 equipped with the MEE M6 Pro cable.

When Teo approached me with the offer of reviewing the AD01, here was what he said about them:

�The AD01 has a V-shaped sound signature. Even though the bass is punchy, it does not bleed in to the mids and the overall clarity of the IEM is still there. Several people compared it as the Havi B3 Pro 1 with a good and punchy bass. I will also be offering an upgrade cable which will improve on the highs and the mids while taming the bass a little.�

Now, for this audio assessment I�m mainly going to compare the sound of the AD01 with these (probably marketing) statements and press on these statements to see if they hold any weight. I may not have the B3 Pro 1, but I do have quite a few IEMs that are more than ready to hold against the newcomer. Let�s take a look.

Bass:

The AD01 has your average consumer V-shaped sound signature, which basically means it�s got bass. And boy, does the AD01 have a lot of it. It hits hard, digs deep, and has an authoritative, visceral impact that�s perfect for EDM (Razihel � Legends). As stated, it doesn�t bleed into the lower midrange, but it�s certainly more boomy than punchy. On the flipside, electric bass notes and drums are more accentuated on the AD01, which makes genres like metal (Megadeth � Holy Wars�The Punishment Due) and other predominantly acoustic genres sound messy and very off-putting. Otherwise, though, I�m quite impressed.

Midrange:

The AD01�s midrange is actually pretty good for an IEM with a V-shaped sig. As is expected, it has a warm tonality which adds a noticeable amount of heft to the lower registers (Coldplay � Green Eyes). However, the AD01�s dual drivers work especially well together to provide a very clean midrange with clarity that still shines through on most recordings. They still completely flunk classical and acoustic (Gareth Coker � Fleeing Kuro, Govi � Bumblebeat), though.

Treble:

The AD01�s treble is good, with great extension and enough snap to retrieve high-energy sounds such as claps, percussive details and �s,� �ch,� or similar sounds in the human voice despite the bass dominating most of the recordings I�ve tested the AD01 with. But even then, I feel the AD01 still lacks energy up-top, instead losing out to its authoritative low-end.

Soundstage/Presentation:
The AD01�s soundstage is about what I would expect from a great consumer-spec IEM � decent on all fronts. Decent size, decent width, a bit lacking in air and depth, but otherwise not bad at all. The presentation is also quite good, with good imaging and separation between instruments. However, it's no Havi B3 Pro 1 with punchy bass � no, it's far from that. Again, still pretty good for what it is.

Summary:

The Alpha & Delta AD01 is quite the contender in the consumer IEM market, featuring heavy, powerful bass, while still able to extract some degree of details in your music. However, it's not what I would classify as audiophile-grade, as their sound quality isn't exactly up-to-par with some of the �true� audiophile offerings at the same price range � or, better yet, even lower. But in the end, they more than serve as a fun IEM I would listen to with some EDM.

Games:

V-shaped sound signatures or those with heavy bass usually don't make viable choices in competitive gaming, where one would need every sense optimized to get ahead over the competition. In this case, the AD01 is no different. With its thunderous low-end, it can be pretty difficult to hear or detect the details that matter, like footsteps and gunfire. But that doesn't mean the AD01 can't be used for gaming � I mean, that's perfectly fine, but personally they don�t prove very useful when you're gaming seriously.

Movies:

The AD01 works pretty well with movies, with its low-end again taking the spotlight for better or for worse. I'm no movie buff, but the AD01 works nicely for this purpose, bringing you a grandiose, cinematic experience. The only thing I find lacking is the soundstage, which doesn't really give you that in-the-cinema feel.

With its impedance of 9 ohms, they can be driven from your smartphone or MP3 player just fine. However, noticing the lack of treble energy, I tried giving them some extra power to see if the treble would improve. The AD01 sounded noticeably cleaner and clearer out of the Schiit Fulla, but sadly the treble didn't improve much if at all. Luckily, the AD01 is very responsive to EQ, and one could tweak their sound pretty easily without having to mess with the EQ too much.

The AD01 retails for $130 Singapore Dollars (~$100 USD as of this writing), bought exclusively from LMUE. For the price, I find it hard to complain about what they bring to the table. Top-notch build quality, a fun, bass-heavy sound signature � if you love bass, what�s not to like?

Versus Brainwavz S5 ($100):

The Brainwavz S5 is a slightly older competitor that shares quite a few characteristics with the AD01, which makes them the perfect rivals to place against each other in a battle to the death. Both of them have excellent build quality, impressive sets of accessories, and a V-shaped sound signature. At first glance, sound-wise they both sound fundamentally similar, but the AD01�s dual drivers manage to edge out over the S5 with deeper bass and a clearer midrange. In comparison, the S5 sounds brighter, more forward, more aggressive, but warmer, with a midbass-focused impact. Personally, though, I�d take either without any regrets.

Versus Brainwavz R3 ($130):

The Brainwavz R3 is a fellow dual dynamic IEM that features a unique �sound chamber� technology which allows it to provide a better soundstage, among other things. If you compare them side-by-side, you'll immediately notice the stark differences in their sound signatures, the AD01 being fun and bass-heavy and the R3 chill and laid-back. From sound signature alone I would much rather pick the R3 because of personal preferences, but both complement each other in a way that would have me get both at the same time.

In conclusion, I find the Alpha & Delta AD01 an impressive first release from the folks over at LMUE. I could say they've learned quite a bit from the products they've sold over the years and have taken that to heart in designing and tuning the AD01. With a top-notch build, an excellent accessories package, and a fun, bass-heavy sound signature, the AD01 is one of the best IEMs to get for bassheads and EDM fans alike.

More mids. More treble. Less bass. That�s all.

I just want to again thank Teo at LMUE for providing the sample of the AD01 used in this review. For a debut in-house release I�m quite impressed at what LMUE is capable of, and I hope to see more from them soon. As always, you can see the rest of the images taken in this review here. Also, be sure to check out more headphone and IEM reviews like these here.

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

�Lend Me UR Ears only have one mission: That is, to bring quality audioproducts to the masses and providing good customer service in the process.�

Link:http://www.lendmeurears.com/

23/07/15: Upgrade cable price fixed.