I/O Audio Volare's Review - Outstanding Debut!

 

General/Packaging/Build/Comfort

I/O Audio is a new brand that came out of nowhere early this year. It is quite a daring debut because Volare is a flagship model from the brand. Priced at 599$, Volare has the following configuration 1DD+4BA+4EST. 

The packaging is very premium overall, I had a very good unboxing experience. The IEM itself is stored in a faux leather storage case, the accessories such as cable, eartips are housed in the box in a “drawer” kind of style. It screams premium overall. The cable is a 8 core OFC SPC with interchangeable plugs (modular), it comes with 2.5,3.5,and 4.4 plugs.

You will find 5  types of ear tips in the box, wide bore and narrow bore and foam. 

The whole iem is very smooth and there aren't any sharp edges, the face plate is really very pretty. In terms of comfort,the Volare’s shell is slightly big, but it fits very well and also the seal, to me, feels very custom-like. I have no discomfort even wearing them for long listening sessions,do take into consideration that everyone’s ear is different and if it fits well for me doesn’t mean it will fit well for you,but fortunately, I/O Audio does throw in plenty of ear tips choices,so i’m sure there will be one that fits eventually.

Gears used for this review

• DITA Navigator

• Earmen ST-AMP

• I/O Audio Volare Stock Cable and Eartips

• Fiio M23

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound

The Volare has a tonality of neutral and slight warmish sounding to my ears, although sporting 4 BAs, I don't hear any hint of BA timbre, the Volare’s timbre sounds very natural to my ears. If I had to nitpick, yes, there is a slight BA timbre, but only if you pay real hard attention to it. The tuning sounds slightly V-shaped to my ears and you can clearly tell it is sub bass focused rather than mid bass.

Bass

• The sub bass is rumbly and has good extension, but i wouldn’t say it is anywhere near basshead kind of rumble, it does rumble when the track calls for it

• Mid bass has good body and it doesn’t sound thin, double bass pedal doesn’t sound bloated or lacking in terms of texture, Slipknot’s People = Shit, during the fast drumming, every hit can be heard clearly

• Bass from the Volare is tight and clean, it exhibits no 

• Transition between the sub and mid bass is quite balanced without sounding incoherent

• I personally find the tuning of bass is done right to my preference,somewhere between fun and audiophile but not venturing into the basshead category

Mids

• The mid range has plenty of details and they don’t sound recessed at all

• Vocal doesn’t sound recessed nor too forward, just right to my ears

• Male vocal in my opinion sounds a little bit lacking in terms of texture and the fullness, but female vocal on the other hand has very good energy level to it, even when you crank the volume higher, it doesn’t sound “shouty”

• The upper mids are generally quite safe sounding, but again, it depends on your tolerance and sensitivity, and most importantly, the fit

Treble

• Now, the treble, is also another strong point of the Volare, it has plenty of energy and air, yet it is not harsh sounding

• Detail retrieval is very good and actually for the asking price, i personally think that it is punching above its price point

Soundstage/Imaging

• The Volare’s soundstage is not that “big” sounding, a good width and height perception, separation is also top class

• Imaging is very good,the instruments can be pinpointed easily in busy track like Slipknot’s Duality

• The technicalities of Volare is very good overall

Driveability

• The Volare is not hard to drive and it does sound decently loud even from weaker source like Apple’s Lightning Dongle, what i want to stress is that, sounding loud is not equivalent to driving power

• Switching over to my desktop setup , the Volare becomes a different beast, very controlled bass and the highs are very well extended and it is somehow “bigger” sounding now in terms of soundstage

Comparison (Letshuoer’s EJ09)

• Switching over to the EJ09 for the purpose of comparison,i would say the tonality between the EJ09 and Volare is vastly different

• Priced at 899$ for the EJ09 vs Volare at 599$, in terms of value, Volare is definitely running circles around the EJ09

• The tonality of the EJ09 is leaning towards neutral bright-ish, not everyone is into this kind of sound signature

• In terms of bass, the sub bass does have a bit more quantity compared to Volare, but the mid bass is slightly thinner than Volare

• Mids are very clean sounding, the male vocal especially, can be a little thin at times, female vocal however is very sweet and full of energy

• Treble is very energetic, at times it can be a little fatiguing for those who are sensitive to treble, on the positive side, it is very airy and contributed to a very big soundstage

• Technicalities is definitely way ahead of Volare, which make sense because costing 300$ more, but Volare is not too far off, i would say it does have probably 70-80% of EJ09 in terms of technicalities

• Shell size, both are more or less quite similar

Final Thoughts

Having tested the Volare for almost a month, it is safe to say that it offers a very good and high price performance ratio. For a debut model, it does almost everything right, of course there are some cons if I were to nitpick. The Volare has been my daily driver since i received them, i have even put it up for comparison with the TOTL model from Letshuoer, and Volare definitely isn’t too far from and costs way less. This is definitely an outstanding release from I/O and I am definitely looking forward to their upcoming releases. It deserves a 5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended! 

*The Volare is sent over by ShenzhenAudio for the purpose of this review. I thank them for the support and opportunity as always

Head over to the official store if you are interested in getting one, it is currently being priced at 599$

I/O Audio Volare’s Store Link - Non Affiliated