SWEEAR HE-Live5 HIFI IEMs – Holy Driver Of Pure Bliss
Sweear HE-Live5 is a $899 USD pair of IEMs with one 10mm custom dynamic driver, and 4 balanced armatures. They also come with a modular cable, high-end packaging, and a sound that will surely satisfy even the pickiest listener. Today we will review the Sweear HE-Live 5 and compare them, to the best IEMS in the range, including Campfire Bonneville (1399 USD), Spirit Torino Twin Pulse Beryllium (1000 USD), FIR Audio e12 Electron (1799 USD), and Soundz Avant (1390 USD).
Introduction
This is my first review exploring an IEM / Earphone from the SWEEAR company. We know they’ve been established since 2019 and they have a rich selection of products under their belt now, but for our first experience we can guarantee that the company is extremely helpful, friendly and will be there for you, to help you sort out any issue you may encounter as well as offer you advice through every step of your audio journey with their products. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to SWEEAR for providing us with the sample for this review.
PROs – Rich package, Excellent comfort, Strong Passive Noise Isolation, Complex Acoustic Design inside the IEM which allows you to hear a wide soundstage, strong instrument separation and outstanding detail / resolution. The sound has a strong and bold bass, with a lot of depth, but also a bright and open treble, creating strong contrast and a versatile tuning that works with every music style out there. The shells are really beautiful.
Cons – If you want to consider it a negative, He-Live5 shows a lot of details, both the good and the bad, and it shows compression quite a bit.
Product Link
Official Link – https://www.sweear.com/product/he-live5-hybrid-5-driver-in-ear-monitor
You can grab one here, once they become available on Amazon – https://amzn.to/4c6J96H
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
There are companies that go overboard with the marketing materials, allowing you to know way more than you need, and there are companies which just let you know the basics, allowing the sound and popularity of their products to speak for them. Sweear falls in the second category, as the information about their IEMs is a bit sparse, and for an earphone with such a high performance, we know that the company used 5 drivers at the heart of the HE Live 5.
Those included a single high precision custom 10mm dynamic driver, and 4 balanced armatures, in a 4-way crossover. This means that the low frequencies are handled by the custom dynamic driver, Medium Frequencies are handled by one balanced armature, the Medium – High Frequencies are handled by 1 balanced armature, and the Super High Frequency is handled by 2 balanced armatures. There are three pipes leading from the drivers to your ears.
The SPL or sensitivity of the sweear he-live5 is 108 dB, which is on the high side, and in practice, this is an earphone really easy to drive, sounding loud fast, and being easy to pair with a multitude of sources. The impedance is also on the higher side, at 28 OHMs, which helps a lot with eliminating hissing and source noise from sources that have a high output impedance.
I tried explaining across multiple videos and written reviews that to handle soundstage and acoustic information, there are multiple ways companies design IEMs, he-live5 being the kind of earphone that implements unique IPP micro-acoustic tubes inside, which help create a realistic soundstage, and develop a large, natural sounding soundstage. The design is flexible, it should fit both personal audio enthusiasts, or music lovers, and music production, and as we will discover later in the review, He-live5 is literally perfect for gaming too.
The design is ultra ergonomic, with a medium fit that will not cause issues for anyone, as deep fits can, but with the passive noise isolation comparable to a custom IEM. The IEM shells are solid, feel like they are filled with resin. This being said, they are not heavy, feeling natural inside of my ears. The default cable aids with the comfort, as there is a solid ear guide that coils tightly around my ear, providing good support for the IEMS, and allowing me to always feel comfortable while wearing he-live5. He-live 5 never falls out of my ears, and the cable keeps them locked in, instead of pulling on them, as it sometimes happens if the coiling is too large, like with IMR Dark Matter.
To drive the sweear He-Live5 I have paired them with a multitude of sources, including Topping A50 III Amplifier driven by a Topping D50 III DAC, iBasso DX180 Music Player DAP, Burson PlayMate 2, KAEI TAP-1 DAC, Dethonray Listening M1, iBasso DC07 PRO. Sweear includes a modular cable, so you can replace the jack connector, having both 4.4mm balanced connectors, and 3.5mm single ended connectors included in the package. Every single source I paired the He-Live5 was fully able to drive them, they are not picky, not sensitive to source noise, and will scale nicely with source, so after testing them with all of the above sources, I settled on the Dethonray Listening M1 and added iBasso D16 as the main sources for the sound part of today’s review.
Sound Quality
Overall Signature – To really appreciate and describe the sound of the SWEEAR He-Live5, I allowed them over 200 hours for physical burn-in and for my mental burn-in and for their sound to settle in with my mind. They have an open treble, sparkly and airy top end, paired with a slower, sloppier, but fairly precise and tight bass, excellent extension down to 30 Hz in the lows, with the treble reaching 16 kHz to 18 kHz quite nicely. There is a hint of warmth in the midrange, but also the upper midrange is stronger than the lower midrange giving music emotion, impact and color.
It always takes me around 10 minutes to get used to the tuning, as there is a bit of coloration, 3.5 – 5 kHz peak that creates a specific shimmer in music, but I can comfortably mix and master using HE-Live5. The strongest music style as presented by He-Live5 is ACG, followed by EDM, Electronic, pop, commercial music, Jazz, Classical and even metal or rock. Older rock and metal shines with He-Live5, as the IEMs have a brighter midrange, allowing solo guitars to shine, and they also have an unveiling tuning that takes away too much lower midrange from older songs, giving music more shine and sparkle.
Bass – Starting with a bold, tight and precise bass, He-Live5 has a slower speed than the rest of the sound, but it is nowhere near as slow and sloppy as what you get from e12 electron, or other basshead IEMs, it is a monitoring IEM with a natural bass at most, but with a smoother texture, allowing it to be enjoyable and fun with all music stylers, including bass-heavy rap, EDM, and pop. Songs like those few singles by Marine Houshou, Mori Calliope and ACG music in general shines the brightest, is presented the most satisfying, and with the most natural tune, but the tuning works for Armin van Burren, and Infected Mushroom too. Even with Post-Hardcore bands like Fall Of Troy, the bass gives the whole song a strong outline and baseline to develop on, while for ZZ Top and Ozzy Osburne, it feels like He-Live5 was designed with the older albums in mind to really give color and vibrancy to.
Midrange – The lower midrange is very limited in presence, but not dipped, just really tight and controlled, so you can expect the upper midrange and lower treble to really shine and sound open. There is a slight tendency for He-Live5 to crush modern mixed and mastered metal tracks, where guitars are already compressed to the point of distortion, so I would try to enjoy either older rock, or pop. Songs like Internet Yamero feel like they were mixed and mastered with HE-Live5, as the voices are bright, emotion and full, while bass is rumbly, deep and powerful, with a stronger emphasis on the upper midrange and treble, creating a wide, holographic soundstage and lively presentation. Overall, ACG is by far the best style to enjoy with HeLive5.
Treble – If so far, I’ve been loving the sound with ACG, the treble is just the topping to complete a perfect tuning, and HimeHina is one of my favorite artists to blast while reviewing IEMs, so He Live5 completes the experience with a bright, brilliant treble, open and airy. It creates a wide, holographic sound, with superb brilliance and natural resonance in the highs, perfect for female voices, which it seems to favor slightly, as male voicers are a bit on the thin side to be ideal. As the name of the IEM suggests, He-Live5 is better for live music, acoustic and styles that tend to sound natural and not heavily compressed, as with more compression, He-Live5 reveals that compression, and especially in the treble you can hear the ceiling of the recording, the IEMs showing mixing / mastering problems quite easily. It feels like they were designed part for music production, part for listening, and part for live singing, so it makes sense that they would reveal compression. Bands such as La Dispute are spot on across the entire discography, while Silverstein for example, shows just how badly compressed albums like Discovering the Waterfront really are.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – Dynamics as presented by He-Live5 are vivid and lively, although they are stronger at lower volumes, and the sound gets more compressed at higher volumes. This being said, textures are almost always fluid, smooth and enjoyable, with very little to no grain. Bass is clearly the slowest element in the sound of He-Live5, but it is still fairly tight, while mids and highs are natural in speed with a grain-free, but detailed presentation. Square waves are generally non-offensive, so even aggressive instruments like trumpets can be listened to and enjoyed with no fear of the big hearing fatigue.
Volume Control – Volume control is okay, but you will get a better listening experience at lower volumes, as with extremely loud volumes, there is more compression, and detail revealing is slightly stronger, with a bit extra THD too. Both the good and the bad are shown more in music. At lower volumes, the sound is wider, while at higher volumes, the soundstage becomes laterally stronger, but depth is shallower, with music coming through stronger as a wall of sound.
Soundstage – Soundstage in general is wide, with good instrument separation and an emphasis on a real spatiality of sound. He-Live5 will show music as it is, emphasizing wider music to become even wider, without sacrificing instrument definition and separation, allowing each song to be presented as clean and crisp as possible, with a 3D holographic soundstage for EDM and ACG, but painting most rock and metal in a live fashion, as a wall of sound that happens in your face and closely around you. As it is dependent on the source material to create soundstage, He-Live5 is great for mixing, mastering and music work, allowing you to hear exactly what you have in the track already.
Comparisons
SWEEAR HE-Live5 vs Soundz Avant (899 USD vs 1390 USD)
Build – Avant is also based on a custom design, and made of resin, offering a slightly shallower fit, with thinner bore size, but still a very secure fit, and a much lighter shell, which makes it more comfortable. This being said, the cable included with the Avant, as well as all of the soundz IEMs I have reviewed so far, is rather basic, compared to the exquisite modular option that He-Live comes with from the factory. Soundz has really solid metallic cases included with their IEMs, which is awesome for protection, they even have a rubber lining on the inside, but if you like your stuff scratch-free, the leather case of the He-Live5 will survive usage and abuse a bit better.
Sound – Sonically, Avant is more neutral, with stronger lower midrange, less upper midrange emphasis, a tighter bass, and tighter overall sound that’s quicker. This is a double edged sword, because He-Live5 sounds more fluid with most music, Avant reveals details a bit more, while He-Live5 reveals compression more, but has less grain and slightly less texture, being more fluid for casual listening. Avant is better for music with deep and strong male voices, while He-Live5 gives more color to female voices, and creates a brighter, more exciting treble, which is also slightly more fatiguing than the smoother, toned down treble of the Avant. Both are great for ACG, Pop and Electronic, but Avant is better for metal and deeper music, while He-Live5 sounds better with ACG, and female-led tracks.
SWEEAR HE-Live5 vs FIR Audio e12 Electron (899 USD vs 1799 USD)
Build – FIR E12 Electron has a heavier shell which is made of metal, but it has removable and customizable faceplates which look really nice in person. E12 also has a thicker, more reliable cable included in the package, along with a great transport case, but the actual fit is deeper with HE-Live5, which offers better seal, and more passive noise isolation, feeling much more like a custom than a universal IEM. The shells being lighter, and the fitting more secure, I have to give the comfort points to He-Live5, and the looks / design points to e12 electron. Both IEMs are really fun to use in person, both equally sensitive to source noise, he-live5 being easier to drive from all sources, and less sensitive to source quality.
Sound – Sonically, e12 is a bass cannon, with a lot of bass, depth and power in the lows, attenuated midrange, and an even smoother, less energetic treble relative to the midrange and the bass. The sound of e12 is dominated by the bold, deep bass, while He-Live5 presents music with a balanced, edging neutral tuning, wider soundstage, and more finer details in the upper midrange and treble, while e12 focuses a lot of effort in the lower midrange and the bass. Technically, e12 can extract more information from music, but it is also more colored, making He-Live5 a better option for monitoring, mixing and music production, while e12 is more of a listener / guilty pleasure IEM for anyone who wants to enjoy a voluptuous, full and deep bass.
SWEEAR HE-Live5 vs Spirit Torino Twin Pulse Beryllium (899 USD vs 1000 USD)
Build – Twin Pulse Beryllium has lighter shells, but the comfort of He-Live5 is better, as they are more ergonomic, the shell material is more biocompatible, and generally they sit better in my ears. He Live 5 is the kind of IEM that comes with a great cable from the factory, while you can upgrade the cable of Twin Pulse Beryllium to heavily improve their fitting. Twin Pulse Beryllium does not isolate much from the outside noise, while He Live5 isolates really well from the outside noise. Both are sensitive to source noise, but HeLive5 is much easier to drive compared to Twin Pulse Beryllium, and HE-Live5 sounds really nice with more affordable sources, while Twin Pulse Beryllium is source picky.
Sound – Sonically, the two IEMS are very different. Twin Pulse Beryllium relies on a complex acoustic design to create soundstage and it achieves a more realistic soundstage, while HE-Live5 relying mostly on balanced armatures will create more instrument separation and a more precise sound. Both IEMs have a bit of warmth in the midrange, but He-Live5 has more sub bass focus, more brightness in the treble, more air, sparkle, and subsequently better clarity and precision. Twin Pulse Beryllium sounds more natural in the midrange, bass and treble, has a slower and sloppier sound, which is desirable for most listeners, while HE-Live5 is a much better mixing / mastering and gaming earphone. Overall, Twin Pulse Beryllium is great if you want the sound to be like mini speakers in your ears, while He-Live5 is a proficient monitor that will bring a smile to your face any time you plug it in.
SWEEAR HE-Live5 vs Campfire Bonneville (899 USD vs 1399 USD)
Build – Both IEMs are made really well, but Bonneville is using an MMCX cable while HE-Live 5 is using a cable with a 2-Pin connector. The cable used by HE-Live5 is modular, and you can replace the jac part, while Bonneville can be ordered with any termination you may require. Overall, the comfort is about equal, Bonneville is a bit larger, they are equally heavy, and they both provide the same degree of passive noise isolation, both having a medium fit, with medium insertion depth. Both are about as easy to drive and will show source noise about as much. The package of Bonneville is more colorful, while He-Live5 comes with a more practical transport case.
Sound – Sonically, He-Live5 has a more lively sound, brighter treble, less bass warmth and coloration, less bass bleed, and a more precise bass while having an equally great bass extension. Both IEMs have a wide and holographic soundstage, Bonneville has more width in the lower midrange, while He-Live5 extends more in the upper midrange and treble, creating more air and sparkle. He-Live5 reveals more details in the treble, while Bonneville reveals more information in the bass and lower midrange. Both IEMs have a bit of warmth in their midrange, they are both very enjoyable, and about equal in technicalities, with Bonneville being slightly more revealing at the cost of the sound being quite a bit heavier and having more bass overtone for the entire sound.
Value and Conclusion
Starting with the versatile tuning and signature, along with the beautiful shells, and excellent comfort, SWEEAR HE-Live5 started impressing me from the first moment I started reviewing them, but with more experienced I gained, the more my feelings of love grew for this IEM, the company aided me with multiple answers with my silly questions about the IEMS, even assisting me when I wanted to send them back for them to check if I broke something during our photo shoot, so the value is excellent, and the product is entirely worth it, SWEEAR being not just behind their product, but there for you, and offering a product that’s easily worth the asking price.
Before the end of the day, I was so impressed with the overall quality of the HE-Live5 that I have to add it to the Audiophile-Heaven Hall Of Fame, they earned this award and the company provided what I consider to be an earphone that will withstand the test of time, and I am hopeful we will get to review more of their excellent products and share about their flagship IEMS with you.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for ultimate resolution, but bliss in musical enlightenment, a huge soundstage, bold and heavy bass, but sparkly and open treble, all in a comfortable and beautiful package, Sweear He-Live5 is among the best IEMS I ever heard and a fully recommended purchase in my review today.
Product Link
Official Link – https://www.sweear.com/product/he-live5-hybrid-5-driver-in-ear-monitor
You can grab one here, once they become available on Amazon – https://amzn.to/4c6J96H
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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