This & That:
Two Balanced Armature drivers per side; single-bore nozzle.
The unboxing experience is generally nice with a well-designed, compact package that contains the in-ear, several differently sized silicone ear tips of high quality, some Comply foam ear tips, three pairs of differently sized ear hooks (called “Freebit ear interface”) that can be put on the in-ear shells, one pair of silicone covers that can be put on the shells, and lastly a nice carrying case made of neoprene.
I like the shells’ dark blue colour and that they are translucent.
While it’s generally good that the shell design is unique, I don’t particularly find it the most attractive. Less attractive without any “Freebit ear interfaces” or silicone covers installed, so I have the silicone covers installed on the shells all the time.
I like how and where the MMCX socket is placed.
Perceived value/build quality of the shells is on the lower end – the blue plastic seems to be rather thin; my Shure SE425’s and Knowledge Zenith AS06’s shells definitely appear thicker and more premium to me, even though the polycarbonate used by Akoustyx is supposedly more durable.
Excellent fit and comfort.
High quality cable; removable with MMCX connectors. Supple and flexible thanks to twisted conductors. Looks and feels premium.
Nice three-button remote control, located on the cable’s less convenient left hand side (purposely located there by Akoustyx based on a UC Berkeley study that having the microphone on the left hand side would increase the users’ awareness of being on a call as well as their environment).
A chin-slider is present.
Sound:
Low impedance sources.
Largest included single-flange silicone tips.
Silicone covers installed on the shells (not that it would really make any difference).
Tonality:
Flat-neutral leaning more towards to bright-/lean-neutral; mostly diffuse-field oriented.
Tonality is somewhere in-between my Etymotic ER-4S, the ER3SE, the ER2SE, my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors and the diffuse-field target.
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The lows, that are generally flat neutral, extend flat and linearly into the real sub-bass (no roll-off) and are generally elevated by ca. 1.5 dB compared to my Etymotic ER-4S that is absolutely flat and lifeless in the bass, which makes the R-120’s minimal bass elevation similar to that of the Etymotic ER3SE and ER2SE in quantity, with the exception that the Akoustyx’s minimal elevation extends a little further up wherefore it has got slightly more warmth in the upper fundamental range and lower midrange in comparison to Etymotic’s SE models.
The midrange is generally flat, neutral and highly realistic sounding without any real tendency towards warmth or brightness, while the presence range around 2 kHz is slightly relaxed compared to the central midrange at 1 kHz wherefore the R-120 is a bit less “brutal” and direct with imperfections on the track compared to the ER4SR and my ER-4S and more comparable to the ER3SE in this area, and still more direct here than my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors.
Going up in the treble, Akoustyx’s dual-BA in-ear deviates somewhat more from the more Etymotic (ER3SE) target oriented signature that it closely follows below, and is closer to the diffuse-field target compared to the Etymotic (ER-4S, ER4SR) target (that is basically a slightly milder approach to the rawer diffuse-field target), which makes it sound rawer, more direct, but also brighter in the upper middle and upper highs.
Listening to sine sweeps, the area between 4 kHz and 10 kHz, especially in the middle around 7 kHz, is on the brighter side and sounds brighter than the central midrange at 1 kHz to me. Compared to my Etymotic ER-4S and the ER4SR, the output from the R-120 is about 3 respectively 4 dB stronger around 7 kHz, and around 2 dB below and above that (there are no audible peaks in these areas, they are just generally and broadly elevated to my ears); around 10 kHz and above, the R-120 is also somewhat brighter than what my ears perceive as flat when listening to sine sweeps, which leads to a somewhat metallic upper treble timbre.
Extension past 10 kHz is really good.
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Listening to music, the R-120 sounds generally mostly neutral and realistic to me, but also somewhat (sometimes a little too) bright and metallic. Often the treble timbre appears mostly realistic, but sometimes it doesn’t fully and comes across as somewhat too bright tending towards being rather metallic and a bit screechy with high notes; anyway, it’s a treble presentation that’s definitely raw, merciless and direct, although on the edge of becoming a bit too bright and a bit too metallic.
This, along with listening to sine sweeps that tells me the same, demonstrates that the comparatively milder Etymotic target response (that is basically a somewhat modified diffuse-field response) sounds flatter and more correct to me in the highs with music, sine sweeps and audio material that contains spoken words/dialogues (the R-120’s treble timbre, in all of these cases, leans more towards the somewhat brighter and leaner side) – even if the difference in the upper middle and upper treble is only few dB.
Do I like the R-120? The answer is quite simple – sometimes I definitely do but sometimes its treble presentation is just a bit too bright and metallic for my ears.
To add just one last sentence about the sound signature, one could also basically say that the R-120’s tonality shares many similarities with the Etymotic ER2SE and ER3SE but comes with more brightness in the upper middle and upper treble.
Resolution:
Generally decent to good resolution, but not among the best in its price range.
Subjectively at least one step or two below Etymotic’s comparably priced Balanced Armature and dynamic driver models from the ER2 and ER3 line when it comes to separation, cleanliness and control in busy parts of the music as well as revealing micro details.
Bass slightly on the softer side for BA drivers, which creates the perception of some extra body. Not slow or soft at all thanks to the flat tuning.
Good bass control; doesn’t really show signs of strain even when fast and complex bass lines are on the music files.
Fairly good speech intelligibility.
Treble separation mostly clean but starts to show a bit of haze and some loss of control in fast, busy and dense parts of the music.
Soundstage:
The soundstage presentation is somewhat wider than deep wherefore the perceived shape is a bit more oval than circular; it sounds natural, realistic and three-dimensional to me.
In terms of size, the R-120’s stage is neither the smallest nor the largest but sounds more or less “average” in size and believable.
In terms of imaging, the R-120 does a good job and provides clean instrument separation and localisation.
Its stage remains intact and precise but cannot fully keep the same level of control when the scenario becomes fast, dense and busy.
Conclusion:
Comfortably fitting in-ear with a largely flat- to rather bright-neutral sound signature that is mostly oriented towards the diffuse-field target.
High quality cable; the only thing in terms of build quality/finish/perceived value that I would wish for are thicker-walled, more premium appearing plastic shells.