This and That:
Three Balanced Armature drivers per side.
Available in two different designs.
Sparse unboxing experience – compact cardboard packaging without many visual details, nonetheless clean.
Brainwavz’ well-known and fairly nice black and red zipped carrying case is included.
Six pairs of silicone in three different sizes plus some Comply Foam tips.
Cable clip and Velcro cable tie.
Very large shells (bay be a potential problem for people with rather small conchas).
The visual design neither attracts me nor puts me off – it’s okay. I really like the hexagonal faceplate design, though.
I like that the inner shells are solid black whereas the faceplates are translucent – however, both aren’t equally clear.
Build quality is rather decent, although subjectively not on the level of that of my Knowledge Zenith AS06 or AS10, and the shells feel sturdy.
What’s fairly unusual for a multi-BA in-ear (although not exclusive to the Hex, nonetheless definitely unusual) is that there is a vent hole in each shell.
Really good fit and ergonomics.
Removable cable with MMCX connectors.
The cable consists of seemingly twisted conductors that were rubber-coated/-sleeved – therefore, it’s a fairly typical cable and also comparable to Brainwavz’ other in-ears’ cables, and therefore, while seemingly reliable and tough, unfortunately also quite springy and not really flexible.
A chin-slider is present but definitely somewhat difficult to adjust.
Sound:
Low impedance sources.
Largest included silicone tips.
Tonality:
Warm to dark, rather relaxed tonality with a roll-off towards the sub-bass (focus more on midbass and upper bass – not unlike my Westone W4R, but less bassy than it).
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The original Hex I received had a very early roll-off in the bass, so that it had less than neutral quantity already in the upper midbass. It was replaced by Brainwavz. The replacement fares much better and doesn’t come below neutral quantity in the lows until the sub-bass around 30 Hz (averaging both channels to account for some channel imbalance that it unfortunately has in the lows, it even stays above neutral throughout the entire bass) wherefore it sounds like an actual in-ear with good extension and not like earbuds; it is also tuned less dark in the treble than the initial Hex and has got a couple other differences in terms of tuning, too.
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The treble is generally and evenly on the somewhat darker side of neutral, although not muffled. The upper highs (cymbals), however, take a step into the inoffensive direction.
Bit of a broad rebound around 6 kHz, but not really above neutral. Still adds a bit of metallicness, though.
Upper treble (cymbals) definitely on the relaxed side and reproduced inoffensively, close to the point of being a bit too muffled – less relaxed upper highs and no 6 kHz lift would have been better.
Super treble extension past 10 kHz okay but not spectacular.
Treble timbre ultimately not always fully natural due to the 6 kHz rebound and rather dark upper treble but definitely no glaring flaws (doesn’t sound unnatural but lacks the “final touch” - ultimately it’s still clearly better than if the treble had any audible unevenness, were wonky or had unnaturally placed or overly strong peaks).
Lower mids on the somewhat warmer side, but not much.
Upper midrange on the somewhat darker side.
Generally inoffensive mids that have a tilt towards the darker side but are mostly correct in the lower and central midrange.
Fundamental range around 300 Hz on the warmer side which adds a bit of pleasant warmth to the sound but can also lead to an impression of muffled lower mids. This elevation is however only around 5.5 dB compared to an in-ear with a flat-neutral bass (e.g. my Etymotic ER-4S or the ER4SR), so it’s ultimately still rather close to being neutral to balanced/moderate in quantity.
Climax around 180 Hz, stays flat at that level down to around 80 Hz and rolls off towards 20 Hz (that are still a tad above flat-neutral) below that. The result is a warmth- and upper bass impact-driven bass instead of an “impelling” bass from the lowest registers.
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So yeah, generally inoffensive and without any glaring flaws for those who like a rather and relaxed sound, and good for long listening sessions without any signs of fatigue, however nothing really special.
However, even though the Hex is inexpensive for a multi-BA in-ear, around the same price point and below, there are single- and multi-BA in-ears with a balanced to relaxed tuning that I would take over it – for example the Apple Dual-Driver In-Ear, Brainwavz B100, Rose Mini2, SoundMAGIC PL50, Sony XBA-C10 or Ultimate Ears UE600vi; or Knowledge Zenith AS06 or Pai Audio MR2 for multi-BA in-ears with a bassy, warm and v-shaped sound.
Resolution:
Central midrange resolution and speech intelligibility are decent to good, but outperformed by other models in this price range.
Lower midrange details are subjectively a bit behind.
The upper midrange sounds a bit veiled.
Treble details are actually rather decent too, but the separation is on the softer side, lacking the precision of other models and competitors.
As for the bass, its definition doesn’t really impress and it is also a bit too soft for Balanced Armature standards – it’s quite “dynamic driver-like” in its body and presentation.
While overall still okay for a multi-BA in-ear in this price range, unfortunately the general detail level and resolution is ultimately definitely a good bit away from being impressive and the Hex is outperformed by other single- and multi-driver in-ears (such as the ones mentioned earlier above) in terms of resolution.
Soundstage:
Somewhat wider than “average” (may extend just a little further than the base between my ears). With some spatial depth as well, although the soundstage is generally definitely much more wide/oval than circular.
Imaging precision okay decent but not pinpoint precise (bit of “spatial smear/blur” in the “empty space” between and around instruments).
Conclusion:
Okay but nothing special. No glaring flaws but the technical performance could be definitely a good bit better for a multi-BA in-ear, even at this price point.