Review: 1MORE’s MK801 Over-Ear Headphones

Now that we have spent a great deal of time with 1MORE’s in-ear solutions, it was time to sit down with their MK801 Over-Ear Headphones to see how well they perform. This is 1MORE’s first pair of over-ear headphones to enter the North American market with the other 4 models of in-ear models. An obvious attempt to compete against the affordable selection of headphones in stores, these retail for just $79.99 on average and offer decent performance for those not looking to throw all their money away at something, but still looking for a solid performance.

The MK801’s won’t compete against high-end models from Sennheiser and equivalent, but they will compete very well against average models that fall within the $70-100 range easily. They offer a pretty decent range resulting in crisp enjoyable highs and lows that help drive anything you want to use them for. They don’t kick hard like something from Kicker or like Koss’ Bluetooth headphones, but once again, those will also run you about $150-200 more than these. Instead of shooting for those heavy bass or hardcore audiophile communities, you find a nice balance of all your favorite frequencies, which leads to a great deal of enjoyment for the price tag.

Best for enjoying any music outside of the heavy bass tracks, these sound good when matched to all sorts of flavors like funk, pop, rock, jazz, blues, classical and so forth. So move on if you’re looking for something for dubstep, heavy rap or anything else with large bass drops and equivalent. We matched it against a whole range of artists including Bruno Mars, Boz Scaggs (Boz sounded great), Dave Brubeck (also sounded great), Live and Gary Numan (…also sounded great). We even took things to a different level with artists like Rammstein and Dead Element to see how well they sound when rock turns it up. All of which sounded quite well. Nothing was absolutely spectacular or above average, but once again (again), you will have to spend more money if you’re looking for something to knock your socks off and across the room.

They also work really well for watching videos with, let it be your favorite TV show or a fun movie. The lows are just beyond where you would want to start with for watching movies, allowing for great response to explosions, crashes, dramatic soundtracks or anything else that adds to the experience. Scenes from movies like new Fantastic Four and Inside Out sounded quite well with these.

These compete well against brands like Sony, Panasonic, RCA, Jam, Skullcandy (way better than Skull),  and so on. This should give you an idea of where they fit into the market of things and what to expect out of their performance. If you typically find buying a pair of headphones under the price of $50 doesn’t gain you the range you’re looking for–maybe they feel compressed, muffled or missing something completely–then the MK801’s may be something down your alley. You don’t spend much more and you get 3-4x as much performance from them.

They feature a visually pleasurable design to them, with two colors selections of either red or black. The black model is mostly black with silver text for the logo on each side and a black cable. The red model (the model we received) features a black/red design to them (red on the outside and black on the underside and cushions) with silver accents/text (logo) and a red cable.

The cushions are comfortable and can easily get you through a movie or an equivalent length of music enjoyment. They are quite oval in size, so you may get a little pinching front and back if you have larger (than normal) ears. Beyond that, you should be fine.

The cups move around and slide up and down to form to your head. They do not fold inwards for storing them, so if throwing them in a bag for travel, you will need the space of their full footprint.

The cable is a shiny red, simple in design and features and in-line controller for smartphones that allows you to accept calls, control the music you’re listening to and trigger the voice command on the device. It works best for iPhone control but will control your android devices as well just fine. The backside of the in-line controller features a small hole that contains a microphone for taking calls with. We didn’t notice any troubles with the other party hearing our voice using it.

Inside the box there is a soft draw-string bag for storing the headphones with. 1MORE’s logo is featured in the dead center and it works well for keeping the headphones from getting scratched up due to moderate usage/abuse (carrying them in bags and so forth).

Beyond that, there is simply small instructions inside the box and that’s what you find inside.

These headphones were tuned by Grammy award-winning sound engineer, Luca Bignardi. Luca is an Italian engineer who has been mixing albums for a handful of artists since 1979. He has his own recording studio and has worked with names like Andrea Bocelli. You can learn more about Luca in the following video or via his website here.

Our Conclusion

A good pair of over-ear headphones for someone looking for something under $100 with a good performing range for most music and media enjoyment. The lows are spectacular, but they are present enough to enjoy movies, rap and so forth (just not so much dubstep). Since they are over-ear vs in or on-ear, they also provide slightly more isolation from outside noise, allowing you to focus more on what you are listening to. A great entry into the North American market for 1MORE and we look forward to what we hear from them in the future (pun intended).

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

Video:

Note: in the video, we refer to them as MK802 (spoken) due to an error in some of the communication we had at the time we shot the video. This was later corrected in the video’s titles and description. When looking for these in store or online, make sure to use “MK801” as your reference (or one of the links we provide). 

Additional Images:

Specifications:

Tuned by a Grammy Award winning mixer
Cable coated with TPE materials which makes it softer and easier to organize
Constructed with strong, flexible and lightweight TR-90 steel
Dual in-line remote control compatible with iOS and Android

Contents:
Over-Ear Headphones
3.5 mm audio cable
Carrying bag
User Manual

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.