This and That:
There's no doubt that the IS-1 Hiput is one of the worst in-ears that I have ever owned or heard.
Anyway - several years ago, strolling through the internet, I came across a cheap in-ear ($10-ish) that was massively hyped; there were claims that its sound was quite neutral or at least balanced and natural, and even that it would possess the level of resolution and bass quality of in-ears above $250; sometimes it was even compared to the Sennheiser HD 800 (that I own as well). I didn't give much about the hype and didn't believe in it (well, it's not that rare that cheap 'buds are hyped beyond reason and turn out to be utter crap), but thanks to the cheap price and because I still had some coupon credit on the MP4Nation website, I placed an order and got the IS-1 for just a few cents.
Little did I know of the existence of two IS-1 iterations at that time, and apparently MP4Nation didn't seem to know either. Many years later I found out that there are the "Hiput" and the "Liberty"; MP4Nation only listed one version and only luck decided which of the two versions you got (I received the "Hiput"). Later I was gifted the "Liberty" by a fellow audio lover who was apparently sort of responsible for starting the hype, later regretting it (and deleting all of the Ivery threads) since his impressions, as he said himself, were too early and he didn't think much before posting and was still in an early honeymoon period.
Anyway, yes, the Liberty is clearly ahead of the Hiput that I purchased back then - it doesn't have much in common with the HD 800 either, though, and is barely even bearably without any modding (yikes, that massive treble spike!).
Whatever, this text right here is about my Hiput.
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Not much can be expected for $10-ish, and that's what you get: two pairs of silicone tips and the in-ear; yep, Ivery was so cheap that they didn't even include three pairs of silicone tips as you'd usually find.
The cable sucks. Period. Okay, there are worse cables on some included cheapo earbuds, but the Ivery's cable is close to being that bad.
Comfort is good and the silicone tips are soft. Microphonics are really bad though.
Sound:
Low impedance sources + largest included silicone tips were used by me.
Tonality:
Without any real expectations about the sound, I started the playback and was sometimes really shocked:
The sound signature can be described appropriately in one word: Bass. Big, fat, chunky bass.
The Ivery IS-1 Hiput has an enormously emphasised bass range; more than 20 dB was my first estimate. It wasn't quite that much with about 15 dB, but due to the poor bass quality it seems undifferentiated and overshadows everything.
The emphasis extends evenly over the entire bass range, without any roll-off in the sub-bass that is very strong, and unfortunately also radiates strongly into the midrange, making voices sound unnaturally dark, full and "woolly". Just way over-bloated.
There is no hint of naturalness here and even as a "fun in-ear", the IS-1 is, in my opinion not really usable at all. An in-ear such as the SoundMAGIC E10 or Brainwavz R1, or most models from Knowledge Zenith is an inexpensive in-ear that does the "fun" thing rather well for me, and they deserve the term "fun in-ear" because they are listenable without any EQ interventions despite some strong accentuations and have their strengths - but the Ivery is a long way from that and there is only that bloated bass that covers everything.
In the upper highs there is a smaller, narrow peak, which is however too high and too weak in relation to the overly dominant bass to save the sound and give the in-ear a halfway tonal balance; nope, it just drowns in the wall of bass. Hi-Hats only get a little "body", but get lost in the bass. Also other tones in the highs appear swallowed and missing.
I really don't mind a very strong, warm and impactful bass emphasis as long as it's implemented well and as long as the rest of the tuning and the resolution match it. None of that's the case for the IS-1 Hiput.
Resolution:
For the price range, the bass attack is rather quickly, but the decay is way too slow and completely fuzzy. Even though I prefer neutral in-ears (stationary listening), I definitely don't have anything against strongly bass accentuated or bass-heavy in-ears and can find pleasure in them as long as the technical quality is right. But with the Ivery, it would be a shame to use the words "bass" and "quality" in the same sentence.
The resolution in the mid and high range is bad; everything sounds squashed, undifferentiated and hollow. Even with heavy EQ use doesn't lead to more details - the highs become prominent, but differentiation or details aren't there either.
The driver flex (crackling when inserting the in-ears) is also very strong on the Ivery - this doesn't necessarily speak for a strong magnet or a stiff diaphragm either.
Soundstage:
Unfortunately, you can't speak of a stage or separation with this in-ear; everything comes from the center and the stage is very narrow, without a really recognisable depth or width rendering.
Conclusion:
The IS-1 Hiput sucks.