# Xiaomi (Mi) Piston V2.0 Review



## tkin (Sep 10, 2014)

*Xiaomi [Mi] Piston Headset V2.0 Review*​
Hi Guys, I bought a pair of Xiaomi (Mi) Piston V2.0 Headsets last week. So after trying them out for a few days here’s my review.

First let’s get one thing straight, these are genuine and they are definitely V2.0 from flipkart. Some people might argue that these do not match completely with the version available at aliexpress which comes in brown packaging instead of white and looks slightly different. After hours of scouring through head fi and mi forums I’m certain about these being genuine. I’ll not bother with details.

*Specs straight from the packaging:* 
*Frequency range: *20-20,000Hz
*Impedance:* 16ohm
*Sensitivity: *93dB

*Features straight from Flipkart:*
Anti-tangle Cable Made of Braided Kevlar Cord
Beryllium Alloy Diaphragm
Boosts Sound Performance and Stabilizing High and Low Frequency Effects
Double Damping System
Filters Unwanted Sound Waves for Purest Sound

*Pics:*

*The packaging:*
*i.imgur.com/RisOsGO.jpg

*Unboxed:*
*i.imgur.com/hnNpfJ5.jpg

*What's inside?*
*i.imgur.com/saFq7eM.jpg

*1MoreDesign, sounds funky, but the design is good:*
*i.imgur.com/CYPpikH.jpg

*Volume control and shirt clip:*
*i.imgur.com/woZQ5Bx.jpg

*Extra 3 pair of tips, no biflange though:*
*i.imgur.com/jF7l19R.jpg

*Kevlar? I guess so, didn't try to tear it apart:*
*i.imgur.com/TZUGT4Y.jpg

*The buds:*
*i.imgur.com/8TnhdGt.jpg

*This is version 2.0 if I'm not wrong, the back grills are there as I'd expected:*
*i.imgur.com/ggrSMfU.jpg


*Review:*

*1.Packaging: *

a. The packaging is excellent, the best I’d ever seen on any product. It’s flashy and you’ll instantly love it. The box has a transparent panel on top and be very careful because its extremely scratchprone, don’t even try to touch it if you can. 

b. Inside you’ll get a rubber case smelling of dark chocolate or burnt rubber based on what your senses are like. It’s soft and carries the headphones. 

c. Take out the tray and take a look at the three pairs of replacement tips and a metal shirt clip.

*Score: 9.5/10... Would have given 10 if it came with a pouch like the iF version.*

*2. Product quality:*

a. The headphones are built sturdily, the earpiece and the remote are made of metal and the cold touch feels good. 

b. The buttons on the remote are sturdy but has a positioning issue. When using it your thumb will be on the central control button and index and middle finger will be on the volume buttons. So when pressing either, pressure will be automatically applied by your fingers on the reverse buttons causing some unwanted presses. It’s like squeezing a straw using the three fingers. It takes some time to get used to.

c. From the remote to the connector the wire is covered with Kevlar. It says bulletproof but haven’t tried it, lack of bullets or the gun etc... But from the remote to the earpieces the wire is basic rubber. That means its weak and you’ll instantly feel some discomfort about it. Remember a chain is as strong as its weakest link. A strong pull or twisting can damage this part of the wire easily. Would it have been too difficult for Xiaomi to include covering on these parts? I’d have not minded paying some extra.

d. The headset is extremely light and doesn’t tangle much.

*Score: 8/10.. Would have given more if the entire wire had Kevlar covering.*

*3. Sound quality: *
I’m not very fluent about audio terminologies and I’m writing this review in layman’s terms. So I’ll try to explain this as simply as possible.

a. Bass: The bass is heavy and resonating, sort of booming but clear. If you us an equalizer then make sure the lower frequencies i.e the left most bands are kept low.

b. Mids: Mids are clear but a bit recessed, the bass and treble are heavy but voices will remain clear. It will help to push the medium frequencies a bit. Most users will like it, some will hate it, it’s a hit or miss thing.

c. Treble: Treble is high and clear. It’s not as dominant as bass but it’ll work for most of you. You can hear the sharp strings easily and this part needs no help from an equalizer.

d. Overall: The sound frequency signature is V Shaped. Unless you’re overly hell bent on flat signature you’ll like this. Most instruments come clear and vocals are crisp.

*Score: 8.5/10.. Wouldn’t have mind a bit more overall balanced sound, the warm notes will please a lot of you but I tend to prefer flat signature so I can tweak it better on my own.*

*4. Mic quality: *Mic quality is good, audio is clear as I’d received feedback from clients listening over 1000s of mile away and they would have complained about any voice issues. Since they haven’t, I’d say its fine. Won’t give a score here.

*5. Isolation:* It’s poor. The vents are the culprit. Putting the finger on the vents causes isolation to increase greatly but completely destroys the bass. So that mod is out of the question. Don’t expect much use in noisy places like bus or road.

*Score: 6.5/10*

*6. Miscellaneous:* The eartips are not very comfortable as they tend to slip a bit. The controls work with Android out of the box.

*Conclusion: These earphones will go toe to toe with most mid range models like Soundmagic E10 and PL30 and the extra added mic helps to bridge the gap. The price however destroys all barriers. I’m a bit worried about the strength of the product given the fact I use them hastily. But again, for 999/-even if these work for 1yr its full profit. I’d say go for it, eyes closed, the next best things are SM E10M costing 3k, so get the Pistons eyes closed.*

*Final Grade: A-*

N:B: 
1. A sample of the list of songs I used for testing: 


Spoiler



*i.imgur.com/GylVPUI.jpg


2. I don't believe in burn in..(prepares for the eggs and tomatoes)

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Update:

*Connector Issue:* The Piston has TRRS connector, but its worked absolutely fine with my Dell Inspiron N5520 laptop, I plugged it into the audio jack and it played absolutely fine. No issues.

Tonight I'll try it with my Steelseries Siberia USB Soundcard and report.

*Eartips used:* Medium, but all off them are slippery, but gets better with use.

*Apps used to Test:* I used the following apps to test the headset:

*Android*
*1. Poweramp:* My default media player, the equalizer helped with the overwhelming bass, when using E10 I use a bass boost profile. But with the Piston I had to pull down the lower frequencies a bit.
*2. MXPlayer:* Watched few episodes of Cosmos: A Spacetime Legacy. It played really well, voices were crisp, and the sound was clear. The instruments came alive and were better distinguishable than E10 by a slight margin.
*3. TuneIn Online Radio:* Worked fine, the lack of equalizer bothered only by a slight margin.

*Windows*
*1. WMP:* Played a bunch of music and a few videos, played well without any issues regarding the TRRS connector.

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*Volume control compatibility list:* 

*Works with:* LG G2

*Does not work:* Moto G, Lava Iris X1, Htc desire 816


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## $hadow (Sep 10, 2014)

Loving mine and nice review mate.


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## .jRay. (Sep 10, 2014)

Me jelly. Looks awesome.


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## pulkitpopli2004 (Sep 10, 2014)

Very good review.. and yes packaging is very stylish.. 

if u consider bass and mic quality only, are these the best one at such price?


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## tkin (Sep 10, 2014)

$hadow said:


> Loving mine and nice review mate.


Thanks. Enjoy the pistons mate. With supply drying up I'm not sure how long we can get our hands on the pistons.


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## tkin (Sep 10, 2014)

pulkitpopli2004 said:


> Very good review.. and yes packaging is very stylish..
> 
> if u consider bass and mic quality only, are these the best one at such price?


Yes. Nothing comes close at this price.


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## $hadow (Sep 10, 2014)

tkin said:


> Thanks. Enjoy the pistons mate. With supply drying up I'm not sure how long we can get our hands on the pistons.



They have to increase the production and supply if they want to reach the masses.


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## tkin (Sep 10, 2014)

Updated main post with some tidbits, please let me know if anyone ones any information on this.

- - - Updated - - -



$hadow said:


> They have to increase the production and supply if they want to reach the masses.


To do that they need to make a lot of profit, something I'm not seeing happening right now.


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## Zangetsu (Sep 10, 2014)

good review...
also post pros & cons


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## tkin (Sep 10, 2014)

Zangetsu said:


> good review...
> also post pros & cons


Pros in a nutshell: Premium packaging, excellent sound quality, good build quality.
Cons in a nutshell: Mediocre isolation, not completely covered in kevlar, volume controls do not work with all devices.

- - - Updated - - -

Updated volume control compatibility list, to be updated with more models soon.


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## ankush28 (Sep 11, 2014)

tkin said:


> *Does not work:* Moto G, Lava Iris X1



Poor availability and no support for moto g. I guess, I have to buy CX180

Nice review and photography skills


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## tkin (Sep 11, 2014)

ankush28 said:


> Poor availability and no support for moto g. I guess, I have to buy CX180
> 
> Nice review and photography skills


Also keep an eye on soundmagic es18 as well.


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## tkin (Sep 11, 2014)

Update: Volume control does not work on Htc Desire 816.


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## .jRay. (Sep 11, 2014)

NVM...


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## ankush28 (Sep 11, 2014)

tkin said:


> Also keep an eye on soundmagic es18 as well.



I had one. Stopped working within one month. Amazon sent me refund today (By cheque )


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## tkin (Sep 11, 2014)

ankush28 said:


> I had one. Stopped working within one month. Amazon sent me refund today (By cheque )


I have PL30, E10, also had E30 which got lost. They had proven to be very sturdy so far, maybe their quality had gone down recently


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## SaiyanGoku (Sep 11, 2014)

Waiting for Mi Piston is worse than waiting for next Redmi 1s flash sale.


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## tkin (Sep 11, 2014)

SaiyanGoku said:


> Waiting for Mi Piston is worse than waiting for next Redmi 1s flash sale.


I'm waiting for the 10400mah powerbank, its even more rare, like Yeti


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## josin (Sep 13, 2014)

tkin said:


> I'm waiting for the 10400mah powerbank, its even more rare, like Yeti


me too.....flipkart is teasing too much... On topic it will appeal to the people who loves V curve.....works much better with MI3 and redmi than on any other hand sets. Nexus 4 with viper + pistons is a killer combo. The only negative i can think of is about the quality of bass..its not tight as i 've expected. But in its price range nothing can come close to it. Absolute VFM product


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## tkin (Sep 13, 2014)

josin said:


> me too.....flipkart is teasing too much... On topic it will appeal to the people who loves V curve.....works much better with MI3 and redmi than on any other hand sets. Nexus 4 with viper + pistons is a killer combo.


Not teasing, they simply do not have stock, I got the powerbank off eBay.


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## josin (Sep 13, 2014)

tkin said:


> Not teasing, they simply do not have stock, I got the powerbank off eBay.



whats the damage?


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## tkin (Sep 13, 2014)

josin said:


> whats the damage?


1600/- with free TPU case.


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## josin (Sep 13, 2014)

tkin said:


> 1600/- with free TPU case.



Thanks....almost double..ouch...ill wait for stocks


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## tkin (Sep 13, 2014)

josin said:


> Thanks....almost double..ouch...ill wait for stocks


No, the TPU case is 300/- in eBay, so more like 1/4th extra. What alarmed me was that 5200mah was discontinued. If you're not in a hurry its better to wait.


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## $hadow (Sep 13, 2014)

Even after pre ordering the power bank I haven't got it.


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## .jRay. (Sep 13, 2014)

Where can i buy one? I see it isn't available now in fk.


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## tkin (Sep 13, 2014)

$hadow said:


> Even after pre ordering the power bank I haven't got it.


Flipkart probably wants to shove their Digiflip cr@p down your throat, they even discontinued the 5200mah model which got them more revenue. for sure.

- - - Updated - - -



.jRay. said:


> Where can i buy one? I see it isn't available now in fk.


3 Options:

1. Check in eBay for parallel imports, look at seller rating.
2. Import from abroad like Xiaomi world or Aliexpress.
3. Wait for flipkart to bring back stock.


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## kamikaz (Sep 17, 2014)

What's with all those power ballads !!!
One thing I noticed is ,these phones need a bit of shallow/medium fit ,you push the tip deep in, you lose a bit of bass and soundstage , noticed it by chance yesterday ,I thought the decrease in bass was due to burn in ,but realised it was due to me pushing the phones a bit too deep into canal,hope that helps !


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## tkin (Sep 17, 2014)

kamikaz said:


> What's with all those power ballads !!!
> One thing I noticed is ,these phones need a bit of shallow/medium fit ,you push the tip deep in, you lose a bit of bass and soundstage , noticed it by chance yesterday ,I thought the decrease in bass was due to burn in ,but realised it was due to me pushing the phones a bit too deep into canal,hope that helps !


Bass seems a bit overwhelming at first, you get used to it within a few days. Some songs still hurt the ears  though, just try to play *The Look by Roxette*, and you'll understand.


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## kamikaz (Sep 17, 2014)

I didn't find any excess bass for the song  !?,I got a flac file ,im using mi3 ,BTW perhaps the optimization in phone might have played a part (Dirac has done something)
I haven't yet used the phone in a noisy environment ,yet ,but at home I don't use high volumes ,just the level ,were the warning for high volume pops up ,thats the level I'm usually hearing at (around 40%)
But yeah my ear must have got used to it ,perhaps my old HD 203 sounds less bassy now !!


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## icebags (Sep 19, 2014)

now its weird, igyan says its sound signature is like high "mids" & "highs" nut not so powerful bass. 



Spoiler


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## TechnoBOY (Sep 20, 2014)

Nice review mate


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## tkin (Sep 20, 2014)

TechnoBOY said:


> Nice review mate


Thanks, hope  this helps the users who want to buy the headset.


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## pulkitpopli2004 (Oct 2, 2014)

Mi piston are available on FK.. 
Error 500 Server Error

but nowhere is mentioned which version is it? V1, V2, or V2.1?? how to confirm that?


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## ankush28 (Oct 5, 2014)

Ordered piston. Hope its 2.0 or 2.1


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