Earin: wire-free and blameless!

Earin®, which is a play on words meaning “in the ear” in the language of Molière, comes to us from the north, and more precisely from Sweden in the small town of Lund. This brand aims to offer us the most ergonomic and qualitative listening experience possible thanks to a truly wireless in-ear listening solution. When we say wireless, it’s both in substance and in form, but let us tell you a little more about this Earin® M-1 in-ear headphone system.

At the origins, there is Epickal…

ATefore presenting this new product to you which is entering the BH catalogue, let’s dwell a bit on the genesis of this new Swedish brand. It all started in 2013, when Olle Lindén and two fellow engineers Kiril Trajkovski and Per Sennström decided to combine their know-how and their passion. These three former members of the big name in consumer electronics, Nokia, founded Epickal AB.

VSThis decision is not the result of chance and had patiently matured after the closure in 2011 of the development offices of Nokia in Copenhagen, where they were employed. At that time, they were inspired by a film released in 2008 and called “Definetely, Maybe” (one day, maybe) and starring Ryan Reynolds. In the film’s intro scene, the character played by Ryan Reynolds pulls out a pair of wireless, cable-free standalone headphones to listen to music on the street. Of course, such a product did not exist at the time and it was this scene that inspired our 3 engineers from Nokia at the time.

ATith the firm desire to make this truly wireless headset exist, our three friends, joined in the meantime by Carl Ståhl (a former Sony Ericsson employee) are developing a prototype. And they decide in the summer of 2014 to launch a “crowfunding” campaign (crowdfunding) in order to find the necessary funds to finalize their project. They had spent a year to create a viable prototype and it was now necessary to finance the continuity of research as well as the production of the helmet named Earin from then on.

Earin®, a Kickstarter success

OProvide a musical experience stripped of all that was unnecessary in order to offer the smallest headphones but also with an excellent sound. Goodbye wires, goodbye microphone, Olle Lindén and his team don’t like cables and they know that deep down, neither do we. In order to fund their vision of the ideal wireless headset, they launched a campaign on the crowdfunding site kickstater. What they hadn’t anticipated, however, was the general public’s enthusiasm for their idea.

Lhe amount initially requested was £179,000, which corresponds to approximately €225,000. It took them just under two months to reach almost £972,594 or more than a million euros. Making Earin®, the fourth largest Kickstater Europre project and the largest Kickstarter project ever funded in Sweden. This gives you a glimpse of the enthusiasm of the public and various investors for this truly wireless in-ear headphone project. It was at the start of the 2015 school year that the first “backers” (kickstater funders) received their copy. The webstore opened its doors at the beginning of 2016 with the availability to the general public of the first models of Earin® in-ear headphones called M-1.

Earin® M-1, wireless audio reinvented

” L“a new definition for wireless audio”, could be the unifying and identifying slogan of Earin and the M-1. A real success with the general public, the truly wireless Earin® headset does not leave professionals indifferent either. Proof ? It is the winner of an iF DESIGN AWARD 2016 which rewards its minimalist design and its no-frills construction totally focused on acoustic satisfaction. The entire Earin (Epickal) team could not find a better endorsement than this to celebrate the release of this helmet, which also received the “German Design Award 2017”.

Lhe first point and not the least is the fact that this helmet composed of earphones (earbuds) does not have any cable. No cables are needed to charge them and no cables connect the left earphone to the right earphone. Each earphone is independent and is placed in your ear canal to deliver high quality sound. The Earin® can therefore be said to be truly wireless or wireless and cordless if one wishes to distinguish between the audio signal transit technology and the physical characteristics of the headphones.

VSow does it work? By Bluetooth® of course. Bluetooth® aptX® technology allows mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and audiophile players to transmit sound to the headphones. Then, this sound always travels via Bluetooth® between the left earphone and the right earphone. As you can see, no wired connection is required.

Lhe Earin® headphones are therefore small, even very small. Each earphone weighs no more than 3.5 grams for a length of 20 mm and a diameter of 14.5 mm; you barely feel them in your hand. Every component is designed for a small footprint, and you’ll find no buttons, no LEDs, just headphones built around two dedicated amps feeding high-precision drivers with balanced armature speakers. The Nokia alumni have carefully thought out their concept and the technologies used.

LLoading and carrying are attributed to the one-piece machined aluminum capsule. The latter, which benefits from the same care in its design, is capable of recharging your pair of Earin® M-1 headphones up to 3 times thanks to its integrated 600 mAh Li-Ion battery rechargeable via a Micro USB connection. Barely larger than a stick of lipstick, the earphones recharge automatically when placed inside, guaranteeing up to 3 hours of listening time in stereo for a charging time of 70 minutes.

So let’s recap:

• Minimalist, robust, lightweight and award-winning design
• Truly wireless form factor
• Bluetooth® aptX technology
• 2 dedicated amps
• High precision speakers with balanced armature
• 3 hours of stereo autonomy
• Aluminum capsule for transport, storage and recharging
• Ability to recharge Earin® M-1 up to 3 times with one charge
• iOS mobile app, Google Play and Windows Store

Oui, I forgot to mention that an application is available for your compatible Apple, Android and Windows 10 mobile devices. This application allows you to finalize the pairing of your headphones. Once recognized, and connected, you can activate the “bast boost” function for more powerful and dynamic bass and you can also control the balance for each earphone. Finally, you can give a small name to your pair of Earin® M-1 in order to find your pair more easily among others.

Et the sound in all this? The Earin headset is only for listening to music and nothing else. It does not include a microphone and all aspects of its design follow the single goal of giving you quality sound reproduction with ease. This is due to particularly effective passive insulation. The earplugs fit perfectly into the ear canal and you have several sizes available for a precise fit. In addition, to ensure constant support even during full physical activity, stabilizers are provided to reinforce stability, ensuring that the “earbuds” do not move an inch.

PFor the rest, we can say that the former Nokia and Sony Ericsson players made the right engineering choices with high-precision balanced armature loudspeakers. Compact, these loudspeakers are extremely precise with while offering a fast response in an extremely compact form factor. Small but sturdy and don’t be fooled by the first listen, which seems to lack bite because once the headphones are run in, you find them more lively. In order to gain depth, the “Bass boost” function allows one to obtain a little more fishing in these little Earin® which support aptX® and AAC. Clear highs that slap well, bass that can be slightly boosted, neutral mids without distortion, that’s what I noticed during my listening session. A low sound level does not suit these headphones which need fullness to be appreciated at their fair value. In any case, it has nothing to envy to other wireless in-ear headphones on the market with a frequency response of between 20 and 20,000 Hz.

SOver time you have to see their behavior, but the first impression is positive overall. The passive isolation is effective, the sound is quality, the earbuds are light and the use is very basic. The pairing is certainly the most delicate moment but once it is done, all you have to do is let yourself be rocked. However, take care to always store your headphones together in their very practical storage and charging capsule that takes up very little space. The Earin M-1 wireless headphones are part of this new generation of cordless headphones that is growing more and more. The sons just have to behave themselves.