Binary Acoustics 1900

On one evening these do something the recent run of IEMs through here have not: competence everywhere instead of brilliance in one place. Kidjo was the highlight. Kashmir was the wall, and the wall turns out to have my name on it.

An evening with these and I was ready to say something very complimentary. They control the whole frequency range in a way that the last few things through here have not. Then Kashmir came on and it hurt enough to end the session.

My first instinct was to blame the chain. I had them on my phone into the Muse HiFi M3 Ultra, and I know these same earphones did not do this on the Rockna Wavedream with the Cayin Sol. Reasonable theory, probably still part of it. Then I went and looked at what Sonic Compass already knows about me, and the theory got a lot less interesting. "Bright treble on vocals makes me physically wince." I agreed with that. "Sibilance makes me stop listening immediately." Agreed with that too. I am a treble-sensitive listener and I have been on record as one since July. Kashmir is a hot remaster in exactly the band I flinch at. This was the most predictable outcome of the night and I still managed to be surprised by it.

So this is not a review that tells you the 1900 has a treble problem. It is a review that tells you the 1900 has treble energy, most people enjoy it, and if you are built like me you need to know that before you spend US$235.

Before any of it, look at the thing. The faceplate is 316L stainless and the pattern is musical notes mixed with vintage piano parts. The name comes from The Legend of 1900, a film about a pianist who spends his entire life aboard an ocean liner, scored by Morricone. I photographed them on piano keys before I knew any of that. Sometimes you get lucky. Look closely at the nozzle and you can see three separate bores, one each for the highs, mids and lows, matching the three-way crossover inside. 1DD + 1 passive radiator + 4BA, 10Ω, 124dB. Silicone tips in the box, no foams — which for me is the wrong omission.

The global note, written early and still standing: "These exercise excellent control across the frequency range. Where many of the recent IEMs through here excel in different ranges, these just deliver everywhere."

Angelique Kidjo — Baba Blues (St James Infirmary) (Afro-pop / blues). Dynamics terrific. Emotional engagement: four question marks, because I was distracted by the quality of everything else. First note of the night and in hindsight the most revealing one — admiring rather than listening.

Free Flow Flaca — Oni Mode (slower) (hip-hop). Kicking it. Excellent controlled bass, not as potent as other IEMs I have had here but right in there with proper thud and slam. The strings articulate and sitting nicely apart from everything else — that separation keeps coming up all evening.

Chrome Sparks, Jónsi, Khalid — Sleeper (downtempo). Very fine presentation. Enjoyed a lot; nothing else written down, which is usually a good sign.

Angelique Kidjo — Voodoo Child (Afro-rock). Holographic. Unbelievable. My head "going full Exorcist" trying to find where a sound was coming from. Then the first snag: a snappy snare that was too much. 3dB off at the Muse and the snare stopped hurting. Two things worth holding onto — the fix was at the source, not the earphone, and a 3dB cut solving it completely is high volume dependence showing up in the wild.

Angelique Kidjo — Never Know (Afro-pop vocal). Just perfect from start to finish. Her songs are vocal-centric, with mid or upper bass doing the percussive work, and that is squarely where these live.

Angelique Kidjo — Babalao (Afro-pop / percussion). The intro is wonderful: the male percussive vocals sit back behind the rest and create real depth and texture. PRaT excellent again. Separation supports picking up all the detail in the vocals and the instruments.

The Dead South — Illusion and Doubt, album (bluegrass / folk). All the songs sound solid. I was working, not tuned in — take it for what it is worth.

The Dead South — Gunslinger's Glory (bluegrass / folk). Resolution very impressive; you can hear very deep into the music. Treble on the cowbell brilliant, snare and shuffle sounds precise. At about 1:30 the song lays down a deep layer of many instruments and they are all there distinctly, explorable one at a time. Cowbell and snare are treble events, and here they were brilliant rather than painful — whatever hurts is narrower than "the treble".

Led Zeppelin — Kashmir, remaster (classic rock). "Too shrill in the treble and it hurts to listen for me." I did not get this on the Rockna Wavedream with the Cayin Sol. Session over.

Four other people have heard these, and only one of us got hurt — On the treble I am one against four. But the reviewer who praises it hardest also says plainly that it is boosted, with sparkle. Nobody is claiming a flat top end. There is energy up there by design, and four people enjoy it while one of them flinches. On the bass, two reviewers flatly contradict each other: one says it bleeds into the mids and gets boomy, the other says it does not spread into the lower midrange at all. When two careful listeners disagree that hard about the same product, it usually means tips, seal or source. And I am the outlier in the other direction — less bass and more treble than everyone else, from the same drivers.

Stage, 5.0 on my profile. Confirmed, loudly — The Exorcist moment on Voodoo Child is the clearest hit of the evening, and stage is the facet I score highest on. Babalao backs it up more quietly, with the male vocals placed deliberately behind everything else to build depth. Sounds arrive from places. That is the whole thing for me.

Detail, 3.0. Outperformed my own score — I sit mid-scale on detail, and yet Gunslinger's Glory had me picking through a dozen instruments one at a time at the 1:30 mark. When an earphone gets a 3.0 detail listener rummaging around in a mix, the resolution is doing something.

Timing, 3.0. Also outperformed it — PRaT came up twice unprompted, both times on Kidjo, both times as a strength. For a facet I rate as my lowest priority, noticing it twice in one evening says the earphone is pushing it forward.

Emotional, 3.8. Not yet, and I know why — The very first note of the night is me failing to answer the emotional question because the technical performance was in the way. Never Know got there and nothing else quite did. This is what a first session sounds like when you are assessing rather than listening. Ask me again when the novelty has worn off.

Tone, 2.6, and the answer to the whole thing — Two painful moments, both in the same narrow band. A snare on Voodoo Child at 3dB too hot, and Kashmir. Both sit in 5 to 8kHz, which my profile now records as my pain region. Meanwhile the cowbell on Gunslinger's Glory, which is treble energy higher up, was brilliant. So the honest verdict on the treble is this: the 1900 has lifted lower treble. Four listeners enjoy it and I am not one of them, and that is a fact about my ears as much as about the earphone. The chain almost certainly makes it worse — 10Ω and 124dB is a revealing load, my volume dependence is high, and a 3dB cut fixed the snare outright. But I am no longer calling the chain the cause. It is an amplifier of something that is genuinely there.

Three facets I cannot score yet — Comfort: one sitting is not enough; they are small and light and nothing hurt, and every reviewer rates comfort highly. Promising, unproven by me. Dynamics: terrific on Baba Blues, controlled on Oni Mode, "not as potent as other IEMs"; my profile wants real sub-bass extension and one reviewer measured these rolling off below 40Hz — a mismatch waiting to surface that session one never went near. Analytical engagement: never measured on my profile, so nothing to compare against — but Gunslinger's Glory says the earphone invites it.

If you are not sensitive between 5 and 8kHz, four other people are telling you these are a bargain and I have no reason to disagree. If you are, audition before you buy, and know that the fix costs you the air.

Best so far: vocal-centric music with percussive mid bass. Kidjo is made for these. Careful: hot remasters if 5–8kHz is your sore spot — Kashmir was unlistenable for me. Confirmed strengths: staging, separation, resolution, PRaT — all four showed up on night one. Watch next: sub-bass below 40Hz, against a profile that wants real extension.

What session two has to answer — the question changed. It is no longer "is it the chain", it is "how much of it is the chain, and can I live with the rest". Kashmir on the Rockna Wavedream with the Cayin Sol, same track, matched level. The Voodoo Child snare on both chains. Foam tips — none in the box, and foams pull down exactly the band that hurts me; the real question is what they cost me in air, because I want that air. Something with real sub-bass. A long session for comfort, three hours minimum. And Kidjo again, not taking notes.