Astell&Kern - Billie Jean

As I said, all one star reviews have vanished all of a sudden from the product page. This manufacturer is making shoddy products and the reviews complaining about it have vanished.
My personal unit cracked within 2 months of none to light use, with the other side's cover plate coming off. Kudos to headphonezone for telling me 2 weeks later that the manufacturer will not be honoring the obvious manufacturing defects that fall under its warranty, but instead wants to charge me to replace shells. Do not get this piece of plastic for 8-10k, as you will only lose money by going for it.

Audio quality is decent, so you can enjoy that for 2 months before they break.

My previous review, made 2 days after receiving the product, is null. However, there is no option to edit or delete it.

This is a scam, do not fall for it.

This 2 BA earphone can challenge some of the top-end hybrids and dynamic drivers when it comes to bass punch. Add this to the phenomenal sound stage and clarity, this one is a real deal at this price point. Bass is dry, punchy, fast with short decay, treble doesn’t disappoint too. In fact there is amazing sweetness on the high end freq and that helps giving the sound an airy feel.

Paired this with Penon CS819 balanced cable to complete the music listening experience.

Keep up the great work team Headphonezone. Kudos for bringing products like Billie Jean to us !

Makes me wonder why these are not prominently displayed and kept hidden in the HPZ site :-)

So I've had these for about 3 weeks now, These are my first IEM'S - I produce music so I've had my fair share of headphones and monitor experiences.

Initially i wasn't too sure if i should get these because of the lack of reviews online but knowing Astell&Kern plus the Jerry Harvey name on I knew it wasn't gonna disappoint.

These sound really balanced.

The mids and high mids are where these shine so Vocals, Guitars, Orchestral instruments just come alive.

The highs are crisp but not too accentuated which I prefer but you're gonna hear plenty of detail in your Cymbals, Synths and Harmonized vocals.

The low end - So the low end is not gonna blow you away if you're a fan of Extra Bass earphones or headphones but it's very much there, I have listened to pretty much full spectrum of genres from Alt Rock, Electronica, Ambient, Dubstep, Orchestral Scores, Pop, Synthwave, Jazz, RnB you get the idea and i have never felt like "Oh man i wish i could hear that under 70hz low sub" the bass is present and it doesn't sound muddy whatsoever.

The soundstage is pretty killer, it's wide enough for you hear the instrument separation and panning, they're not gonna match open back levels but hey that's another ball game.

These sound is really detailed you can hear things far down the spectrum so you're not missing out on anything that there's in the track you're listening to.

The design of the earphones is solid I love the red and logo's on the sides, they are lightweight and I've worn them for a good 2-3 hours at a stretch without feeling fatigued.

These sound great on pretty much all genres i have heard! Does the basshead in me want that extra sub? Yes. But I'd take balanced sound signature than an extra bass muddy sound.

As far as Cons go -
I wish it had a better cable - It's in no way bad but just feels a little fragile (It's not fragile tho) - Plus the cables can be replaced if you will!

The case could've been better seems a little cheap when compared to the earphones (Nitpicking at this point)

Ear Hooks could be a little wider (But I have big ears so can't entirely blame it for that)

All in all these are a solid pair and for 10k oh boy you're doing yourself a favour there!

I suggest get the comply Foam Tips with these, the seal is just so much more better!

Great work by the Headphone Zone team aswell for making these available here giving a solid discount and also shipping them like in a day!

Hope the review helps :)

I bought these as an upgrade over my Shure SE215 after having used them for 5+ years (replaced the cables after 5 years and still sound like new) . I'm not a very hardcore audiophile just a casual listener. I don't even have a DAC/DAP yet, though I'm planning to get one now. I used these primarily with my laptop and my phone Nokia 8.1, none of which support High Res audio. I used to love the sound on my SE215s even without DAC/DAP so never felt the need to buy one. Coming to Billie Jeans, as soon as I opened the box, I was awestruck! The red color looks next level! Well now as took them off the packaging in hands now, the plastic body feels a little cheap to touch. Surely wouldn't pay ₹24999 mrp as mentioned on the box but for ₹9999 maybe it's okay. 3/5 for the overall built quality I'd say. 5/5 for the design and color though. Coming to the fit, I really wish they could've provided comply tips out of the box, rubber tips again feel substandard and don't provide that good isolation either!
Let's discuss sound now! Since my SE215 had comply tips, I guess the bass reverberated good and hence I would love the flat yet bassy sound. Coming to Billie Jeans, sound feels really very flat at first and bass sounds really low initially. Tweaking equalizer really helps though. These are my first dual drivers and first BA driver earphones so I didn't know what to expect. The soundstage is really wide. I could hear a few elements I couldn't hear in SE215 as well! I would really recommend these to those who love hearing vocals, instrumentals and especially Indian Classical music. These aren't really made for the EDM lovers I think. It's just the you wouldn't feel that 'magic' these have while listening to EDM music. If you really want to feel the magic, the first song you should listen to is MJ's Billie Jean! It's literally like these earphones are made for this song. Overall the sound I'd say is good but I know it could get much better with DAC/DAP. I'd rate 4/5 for the sound. Also these earphones are really really sensitive. I used my SE215 at about 75~80% volume on my phone but these feel really loud even at 40%. Also if you're at all planning to use these as your daily drivers, atleast I wouldn't recommend due to the built quality. Hopefully this review will give you a non-audiophile's perspective towards these.

The HW i received had a manufacturing defect and a replacement hasn't been made yet.

The carbon fiber plate on the right driver has come off and the left driver has formed cracks. All of this within 3 months of purchase where the IEMS have been sitting on a shelf inside the provided case, due to lack of use, since we haven't been stepping outside.
Team HPZ assures me that they're in talks with Astell and Kern, but there has been no reply from the manufacturer on the warranty claim in 2 weeks.
A complete and total waste of time, effort and money.

That missing one star is of bass.
Thats my single line review.
Music is highly ‘analytical’

Bought this after doing some reading on the web, comparing freq graphs and understanding them in the process. I really appreciate HPZ for offering us such IEMs at affordable prices and with they quick shipping. Now here’s my review of them.
The box - nice package- no nonsense, comes with 3 rubber tips- S,M,L with the M installed. I tried the fit and felt it a bit loose, L fits perfect and the isolation is good. Doesn’t fall off easily and stays in place. Great to wear while walking/ working out.
Sound- Comparing them to the ER4p - fun sounding, nice tight low end and sparkly highs. I would not say these are bass monsters, but the low end is tight, fast and does not bleed into the mid frequencies. Now the mids are very slightly recessed, As the etys present a meaty mid. Now the highs, sparkly and high. Can be sibilant at times, but very engaging. This overpowers the mids at times. Sweet sounding highs which are not fatiguing
Sound stage- quite good for an IEM, better than the ETys which sound narrow. The soundstage is decent
Imaging- as with the sparkly highs, imaging is good. jazz, instrumental/ percussion , rock, metal, EDM, trance sound really nice on these
Cable - nice and easy to handle. Long 64” cable. The ear guides are not very firm so makes them easy to wear
Finally, nice IEM to consider. Not a fully neural sound but they have bumps in the right places in the right amount to sound really nice. Great IEM from Jerry Harvey

I was a bit hesitant to buy them but I wanna try my first iem and given the name of the brand I went for it. I got a balanced cable from headphoneszone which was bonus.
The quality is off the room when stacked with fiio q1, but I don't like warm signature so waiting for a decent dac for this iem.
Thanks headphonezone for your rocking store for enthusiastic audio listener. Great info and collection of brands. Now let's restock fast.