Comments/feedback welcome! These IEMs were ~£60 at retail and were marketed as 'designer headphones'. The company has since, to my knowledge, gone bust (or been bought out by an American company and vanished from the UK) and that is why you can get these IEMs for as little as £3, which is hands down the best bang-for-buck investment you'll ever make in audio 
Quarkie Review
Specification Details:
Cost: RRP £69.00/’Street’ Price <£10 (£3 in places)/Price at Purchase: Free, thanks to Quarkie for the sample.
Style: Cable down
Cable Length: 1.25m Straight-Plug terminus
Driver: Dynamic
Impedance: 16 Ohm
Sensitivity: 104dB (± 3dB)
Freq. Range: 20Hz-20KHz
Driver Size: 13.5mm
Noise Isolation: 26 dB (Impressive!)
First Impressions:
The Quarkie comes in a compact angular packaging that offers views of the headphone and a details of the 'model' chosen. Overall, I find the packaging to be a bit 'cheap', it doesn't look like the kind of box you would expect to find a fairly expensive 'designer' headphone in.
In terms of accessories provided, the Quarkies ship with an audio splitter (a peculiar accessory to ship IEMs with imo), and four sets of tips – four silicon single-flange tips (XS, S, M, L; supposedly engineered to provide optimum fit by British researchers and 'engineers') pretty basic and sparse really, especially compared to the offerings from other brands and the retail price. One of the biggest oversights is the lack of a carrying pouch or cloth, which really does (or rather did) seem odd given the price.
On removing them from the packaging the first thing you might notice is the very plastic feel off the housing and, in my case, the bolt. It's far from poor in quality, the housing feels solid, the nozzles have metal filters, and there is more than enough cable relief, but it just looks cheap and again belies the rrp. The cable itself is thin and braided. It is absolutely genius... My favourite cable of any headphone or IEM I have ever owned, there is no memory to it at all, it never tangles and is so light that you cannot notice the cable or any drag on the housings when they are in the ear - take note Senn/Fischer Audio/VSonic. The cable also features an in-line remote and microphone, positioned at lapel level if worn cable-down.
In terms of comfort, the drivers are VERY sizeable compared to other IEMs (such as the E10s/PL50s/CX-range/VSonics offerings) but are, quite comfortable over long periods of time, with the angled nozzle and shallow insertion aiding this. I also believe the very light weight of the housing and cable contributes to this. I mentioned size, to give you an indication as to how big these are, the bolt itself is larger than the diameter of a penny, and you have approx half of the housing sticking out of your ear - this is even worse with the snake models. This means you can have 1.5-2" of bolt/snake/eye sticking out of your ears, which I found to be a massive downside. Whilst I personally liked the design, 90% of those I spoke to said they looked ridiculous and my gf actually refused to be seen with me when I had them in!
Sound:
Excellent. They have a pretty flat sound signature, with lovely smooth mids. The Quarkies are far from bass-monsters; the bass is there, and with some good punch, but in some tracks (deadmau5 - The Veldt, Sigma - Changing for example) I personally feel like they need a slight boost to the lower end, which is especially evident with artists like Clubfoot - the Quarkies often fail to convey the melodies and sub-melodies that he places so very well in the bass/sub-bass.
Soundstage is very spacious, with good separation. They possess good clarity and excellent separation - the best of any IEM I have heard. They actually remind me a little of my HM5s, just on an IEM scale - similar kind of breadth and space.
Overall they have a musical, fast paced and dynamic sound that is easy to listen to, and pairs well with vocal-based or mid-heavy songs (looking at you pop/rock/metal).
Bass: Good impact, well controlled but sometimes feels lacking. Very little bleed into the midrange.
Mids: They are engaging, smooth and sweet. Very musical with plenty detail.
Treble: Slightly rolled towards the top frequency, which can be noticeable in some tracks and genres. it is very clean though and entirely non-fatiguing with no hints of sibilance on any tracks I sampled.
Burn-in: No difference noted after 50 hours.
Isolation is pretty poor with the provided flanges - especially given the shallow insertion and marketing hyperbole - swap them for a bi- or triple-flange though and things improve substantially. These can be worn over-the-ear with relative ease, but the inline mic does end up mid-jawline, actually improves mic quality but makes using the remote a bit more awkward.
These headphones are also rather easy to drive, I've had no issues powering them from a Moto G and they sound excellent through an mp3 player or DAP such as the Sansa Clip+, but you really get their full potential when you amp them - gives them that all needed boost to the bass that transforms them into very well rounded headphones.
Concluding Comments:
Spacious, enjoyable neutral headphones that come alive when amped. Stupid design can be very quickly forgiven when you put on some rock (Steppenwolf's self titled album) or some classics/piano (Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni for example).
I thought these headphones were at a steal when you could get them for £30, I think they bested the RE0s with ease, much better bass response and a less harsh tone, and I would say they are comparable to the RE-400s with both lacking somewhat in sub-bass - I would say that the Quarkies have better isolation but are perhaps a touch inferior with regards to speed, and separation...
So, given the current basement prices, what you have here are so daft looking headphones that are 4/5ths of an RE400 for a 33rd of the price. Bonkers. Buy a pair, you really wont regret it (Sports Direct is current offering them for £3 a pair online).
Quarkie Review
Specification Details:
Cost: RRP £69.00/’Street’ Price <£10 (£3 in places)/Price at Purchase: Free, thanks to Quarkie for the sample.
Style: Cable down
Cable Length: 1.25m Straight-Plug terminus
Driver: Dynamic
Impedance: 16 Ohm
Sensitivity: 104dB (± 3dB)
Freq. Range: 20Hz-20KHz
Driver Size: 13.5mm
Noise Isolation: 26 dB (Impressive!)
First Impressions:
The Quarkie comes in a compact angular packaging that offers views of the headphone and a details of the 'model' chosen. Overall, I find the packaging to be a bit 'cheap', it doesn't look like the kind of box you would expect to find a fairly expensive 'designer' headphone in.
In terms of accessories provided, the Quarkies ship with an audio splitter (a peculiar accessory to ship IEMs with imo), and four sets of tips – four silicon single-flange tips (XS, S, M, L; supposedly engineered to provide optimum fit by British researchers and 'engineers') pretty basic and sparse really, especially compared to the offerings from other brands and the retail price. One of the biggest oversights is the lack of a carrying pouch or cloth, which really does (or rather did) seem odd given the price.
On removing them from the packaging the first thing you might notice is the very plastic feel off the housing and, in my case, the bolt. It's far from poor in quality, the housing feels solid, the nozzles have metal filters, and there is more than enough cable relief, but it just looks cheap and again belies the rrp. The cable itself is thin and braided. It is absolutely genius... My favourite cable of any headphone or IEM I have ever owned, there is no memory to it at all, it never tangles and is so light that you cannot notice the cable or any drag on the housings when they are in the ear - take note Senn/Fischer Audio/VSonic. The cable also features an in-line remote and microphone, positioned at lapel level if worn cable-down.
In terms of comfort, the drivers are VERY sizeable compared to other IEMs (such as the E10s/PL50s/CX-range/VSonics offerings) but are, quite comfortable over long periods of time, with the angled nozzle and shallow insertion aiding this. I also believe the very light weight of the housing and cable contributes to this. I mentioned size, to give you an indication as to how big these are, the bolt itself is larger than the diameter of a penny, and you have approx half of the housing sticking out of your ear - this is even worse with the snake models. This means you can have 1.5-2" of bolt/snake/eye sticking out of your ears, which I found to be a massive downside. Whilst I personally liked the design, 90% of those I spoke to said they looked ridiculous and my gf actually refused to be seen with me when I had them in!
Sound:
Excellent. They have a pretty flat sound signature, with lovely smooth mids. The Quarkies are far from bass-monsters; the bass is there, and with some good punch, but in some tracks (deadmau5 - The Veldt, Sigma - Changing for example) I personally feel like they need a slight boost to the lower end, which is especially evident with artists like Clubfoot - the Quarkies often fail to convey the melodies and sub-melodies that he places so very well in the bass/sub-bass.
Soundstage is very spacious, with good separation. They possess good clarity and excellent separation - the best of any IEM I have heard. They actually remind me a little of my HM5s, just on an IEM scale - similar kind of breadth and space.
Overall they have a musical, fast paced and dynamic sound that is easy to listen to, and pairs well with vocal-based or mid-heavy songs (looking at you pop/rock/metal).
Bass: Good impact, well controlled but sometimes feels lacking. Very little bleed into the midrange.
Mids: They are engaging, smooth and sweet. Very musical with plenty detail.
Treble: Slightly rolled towards the top frequency, which can be noticeable in some tracks and genres. it is very clean though and entirely non-fatiguing with no hints of sibilance on any tracks I sampled.
Burn-in: No difference noted after 50 hours.
Isolation is pretty poor with the provided flanges - especially given the shallow insertion and marketing hyperbole - swap them for a bi- or triple-flange though and things improve substantially. These can be worn over-the-ear with relative ease, but the inline mic does end up mid-jawline, actually improves mic quality but makes using the remote a bit more awkward.
These headphones are also rather easy to drive, I've had no issues powering them from a Moto G and they sound excellent through an mp3 player or DAP such as the Sansa Clip+, but you really get their full potential when you amp them - gives them that all needed boost to the bass that transforms them into very well rounded headphones.
Concluding Comments:
Spacious, enjoyable neutral headphones that come alive when amped. Stupid design can be very quickly forgiven when you put on some rock (Steppenwolf's self titled album) or some classics/piano (Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni for example).
I thought these headphones were at a steal when you could get them for £30, I think they bested the RE0s with ease, much better bass response and a less harsh tone, and I would say they are comparable to the RE-400s with both lacking somewhat in sub-bass - I would say that the Quarkies have better isolation but are perhaps a touch inferior with regards to speed, and separation...
So, given the current basement prices, what you have here are so daft looking headphones that are 4/5ths of an RE400 for a 33rd of the price. Bonkers. Buy a pair, you really wont regret it (Sports Direct is current offering them for £3 a pair online).
