From the packaging and presentation, you can tell a lot about a product and so can you from the build quality! If top-notch build quality is a top requirement when buying audio equipment, you won't be disappointed with the Hidizs Mermaid MS4 earphones and their all-metal aluminum body, quad-driver housing.
The Mermaid MS4 driver housing is made of three separate aluminium pieces, namely a front glass cover, the main body and the nozzle body, which has a lovely gold accent finish.
The nozzle tips feature a close-knit metal mesh, while the front glass cover has Hidizs branding embedded in gold plated lettering.
The outside perimeter of the front shell also features a gold accent strip, which compliments the smooth matt polish finish of the Mermaid MS4 construction.
Considering the size and quad-driver setup inside it, one would expect the Mermaid MS4 earphones to be weightier than they actually are, weighing just 18 grams. The low weight coupled with the smooth finishing on the shells and ergonomic design, makes the Mermaid MS4 very comfortable to wear.
Depending on your ears, the shells will just about fit snugly inside the conch of the ear. The slanted nozzle tips also provide a more secure fit although it's worth keeping in mind that the Mermaid MS4 aren't designed for the gym. In fact, they don't have an IPX rating.
The Mermaid MS4 earphone cable is braided so, it's less flexible than normal headphone cable but carries some advantages over non braided cables, including durability as braided earphone cables aren't prone to break as easily as rubber cables because braiding does make the structure of the cable stronger.
Braided cables also help reduce the rustling noise (microphonics) that you can sometimes get with in-ear headphones when the earphone cable rubs against anything like a shirt or desk. The earphone wearing style is also important when it comes to microphonics.
Earphones with straight down cables are more prone to microphonics while earphones such as the Mermaid MS4 with over the ear style cabling minimize microphonics considerably. The tiny holes you see on the Mermaid MS4 body are "vacuum holes" designed to help improve the acoustic sound and virtually eliminate microphonics, which really shows the extend the MS4 designers have gone to make sure microphonics will be a non-issue.
The Mermaid MS4 earphone cable is designed to loop around the top of your ears and features an earguide sleeve made of rubberized plastic that minimizes the discomfort of having cabling sitting on top of your ears. The braided cable integrates four strand wiring made with oxygen-free copper and are attached to a metal straight plug with a textured, coarse grit finish.
Having a detachable earphone cable is extremely convenient yet, not all earphone cables come with the detachable feature, which offers another neat advantage and that is being able to convert the earphones to wireless.
A 2-pin bluetooth cable isn't included with the Mermaid MS4 earphones but you can buy one from Hidizs, the BT01, or buy a third party 2-pin 0.78mm bluetooth cable. The Hidizs BT01 does have good specifications, featuring oxygen-free copper wiring, aptX and up to 7 hours of battery life.
Aside from wireless conversion, you can also convert the Mermaid MS4 unbalanced 3.5mm connection to a balanced 2.5mm connection, which provides a better audio quality overall because balanced signals are able to cancel out cable noise and provide louder volume (approximately 6 to 10db).
The Hidizs Mermaid MS4 are quad driver earphones, integrating four speaker drivers in each earpiece for a total of 8 speaker drivers. The driver setup is hybrid, consisting of three balanced armature (BA) drivers and a single dynamic driver, which makes the audio sound more punchy and natural.
The balanced armature setup consists of one single Knowles 33518 BA driver and a dual Knowles hybrid 30017 driver with 6.5 kHz frequency response. The single Knowles 33518 BA driver is capable of a frequency response up to 40 kHz
The 10.2mm dynamic driver inside the Mermaid MS4 handles the bass response with a low-end range down to 15Hz, which is smooth and clear.With a triple BA driver setup, one expects a lot of treble detail, good vocal representation, wide soundstage and, that is exactly what you get with the Mermaid MS4. Clear mid-range and superb treble response without any harshness.
And, it isn't just the bass, midrange and treble frequencies. The Mermaid MS4 is also capable of clearly defining the low and upper mid-range, as well as sub-bass, which is great news for those who listen to orchestral music.
The Mermaid MS4 have a high sensitivity (112dB) and low impedance (12 ohms), enabling the Mermaid MS4 to deliver exceedingly good volume levels even from a smartphone, which is a huge selling point since many high-end in-ear headphones are made with high impedance, preventing you from properly driving them from a mobile handset.
That being said, you will achieve the full potential out of the Mermaid MS4 with a portable digital audio player like the AP80 DAP or an external DAC with more power output.
Accessories bundled with the Hidizs Mermaid MS4 include four different types of ear tips of different sizes and for different listening situations.
There is three sets of three pairs of silicone ear tips dedicated for bass, vocals and balanced sound, as well as memory foam ear tips.
It's nice that the ear tips have been nicely arranged and laid out to make it convenient and easier for the user to find what they need. The included brown leather case to store the Mermaid MS4 earphones has a cool treasure chest box design that sets it apart from the standard hardshell or carry pouch to store earphones. Check out the review of the Hidizs MS2 earphones, the review of the DH80S dac/amp combo and the S3 Pro dac amp