So how many times have you been out on a ride and wished you could play your favorite music while ripping down your favorite road? There are numerous ways one can do this these days with Blue-tooth headsets and ear-bud headphones nearly everywhere you look. However, most of the aforementioned options don’t provide what I would consider “sonic nirvana”. For that you need a quality, in-ear, earphone that also can isolate ambient sound like wind noise (and ambulances it turns out).

Typically these types of earphones can be quite costly but a relatively new company on the sonic scene recently contacted us at Nashvilleriders.com to review a set of their in-ear headphones. The item in question promises good sound quality and construction while keeping the costs reasonable. Did they live up to the promise? While not without their quirks they can definitely prevent you from worrying about getting Rick Astley’s “Never gonna give you up” stuck in your head.

MEElectronics

MEE, or M double E as they like to be called, was started back in 2005 with the goal of creating great sounding MP3 players. They realized though that in order to make sure that the good stuff made it from the player to one’s ear intact, they needed to create an equally high quality earphone. In doing so they apparently found their niche and in 2010 they turned their focus squarely at producing high quality earphone sets that not only strived to bring the best in sound quality, but also would be durable, look good, and still be a good value.

Today MEE makes a wide variety of earphones to suit not only different tastes in form and style, but also one’s taste in how you like your music. There are models that are biased towards bass, clarity, and accuracy and come in various housings to help enhance these qualities including plastic, ceramics, and wood. The variety of models and the accessories available from MEE is well beyond the scope of one of our reviews (it could fill a small book) so today we’re going to focus on the M6 Sports headphones.

The M6 Sport

MEElectronics sent us the M6 earphones for a motorcyclist’s perspective on the product which I was excited to try. Turns out that after all these years I had never actually listened to music while riding. So I stuck them in my ears and away I went.

With the M6's earphones you can enjoy your favorite music while swerving through traffic on your Kawasukimahonda GRXZVS 100000, giving bikers everywhere a bad name! Well actually, I don’t really mean that, because it can be quite dangerous to ride while having Van Halen cranked up to eleven in your helmet. I know this because while testing these earphones, I almost got hit by an ambulance that had its sirens and lights on. Whoopsie!

The first thing that I noticed about the M6’s was the amazing sound quality. These things sound great! They sound much better than any other earphone I have used at the same price level. Believe me, I buy cheap earphones all the time, because I have two teenagers that can’t seem to keep up with theirs, so “borrow” mine, then promptly lose them, but I digress….

The M6’s come with several sets of silicone eartips that vary in both size and in the ability to block extraneous sound. This allows one to customize the fit so it doesn't matter if your ear has “been around the block” and the opening is all stretched out or if you have a nice, innocent little ear opening, the included eartips should be able to accommodate.

The wire coming out of the earphone pieces themselves has an interesting feature that is called Memory Wire. The audio wiring and insulator are sheathed in a stainless steel mesh for a couple of inches as it exits the earphones. This Memory Wire allows one to shape the path of the wire so that it can flow over the ear and it will retain this shape without being too stiff.

While this memory wire is very useful in the actaul positioning of the wires prior to slipping your helmet on, the wire and subsquently the earphones are still too easy to pull away from your ear. Maybe making a thicker memory wire would do the trick, I don’t know. I am sure the brainiacs at MEElectronics will have some ideas though.

Another interesting feature is the use of low microphonic cables that run from the gold plated connector to the earphones. What does this mean exactly? You know that noise you typically get when you drag your earphone cables across your jacket or something rough? That noise is virtually gone thanks to this feature.

The M6 is marketed as a sports type earphone to be used during activities, such as running, weightlifting, or looting shops in Vancouver after a hockey game. It doesn't seem to be marketed as a motorcyclist’s earphone and I have some ideas as to the reasons.

First of all, the triple flange silicone eartips can easily close up at the tip, inside your ear, resulting in no music and very little sound from the outside world. This issue seems to be caused by the fact that the silicone eartip extends beyond the casing of the earphone. This extended portion can fold flat and drop you into silence. We've been in touch with MEE about this and they told us they are aware of this problem and are taking steps to correct it.

Another issue that is specific to most motorcyclists is that it can be also be very difficult to pull a full face or even a flip-up helmet over your head without upsetting the earphone’s position. Even with the memory wire routed correctly you can still knock them lose and if you do, you pretty much remove your helmet and start all over again.

As far as noise cancelling, unless I have the sound at full blast, once I hit about 70 mph, I can’t hear anything but wind noise. This could influenced by my choice of helmets though. Flip-up or “modular” helmets like what I wear are typically more noisy than your average full-face helmet. As stated earlier, the M6’s aren't actually marketed as a motorcycle earphone and your average jogger or looter can only achieve top speeds of 25-27 mph. The fact that they are sending out these to motorcycle enthusiast sites (webBikeWorld reviewed these recently as well) says to me they are looking to use feedback from these reviews to develop a motorcycle specific product.

Conclusion

There is one little snag not mentioned above I want to point out before wrapping it up. The "law" in some states makes it illegal to operate a motor vehicle while wearing headphones, earphones, or even earplugs. If you have questions about your states law concerning earphones and motorcycles, you can learn more by clicking here.

Overall, MEElectronics is headed in the right direction if they are indeed out to get their products into our helmets. For the $29.99 price you can't get a better sounding pair of earphones. Once they get the issues sorted out these could become a rider standard, like heated grips, gps mounts, and tank bags. Meanwhile, I will continue to use these in their present form despite the pitfalls and will be looking forward to seeing a revised set in the future.

So did you get the Rick Astley song out of your head yet?