Packaging:

The IEM comes in a minimalistic cube-shaped box with a white outer sleeve. As usual, the front of the sleeve was filled with a big outline of the IEM and the name of the IEM. And at the back, there was a brief history of the development of the HS1300ss and its specification sheet. Inside the black box, there were 3 compartments. The first layer was for the IEM and cable, the second was for the eartips, and the last one was for the carrying case.

In the box:

• Carrying case
• 8-core high-purity OFC cable
• 9 pairs of assorted Acoustune tips
• Safety instruction and warranty card
• Leather & velcro cable strap

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Built & Fit:

Housing

Utilizing aluminium for the shell and stainless steel for the acoustic chamber, the HS1300ss has a really solid built. And despite the full metal body, this industrial-looking IEM wasn’t as heavy as I thought. They were actually pretty light and small, so it wouldn’t cause any discomfort or fatigue when you wore them for a long listening session if you have a medium-sized ear like me.

Interestingly enough, with the improved ergonomics on the 1300ss, I could achieve a very good fit and isolation almost to a level of CIEM with it.

According to the Acoustune, the design of the nozzle on 1300ss was a 2way nozzle, which would allow users to adjust the eartips in two different way to achieve a better fit. But when I tried what I assume as the 2nd step by pushing the tips all the way up to the shell and covered the vent on the nozzle, it causes a driver flex issue that wasn’t there before.

Cable

The included ARC61 cable here also solid as the IEM itself. The double twist 8-core OFC cable was pretty thick, yet it’s still soft, easy to manage and non-microphonic due to the technology they had applied on their cable (and it didn’t feel cheap at all). Not to forget the industrial look, they also used metal finishing for the Y-splitter and the plugs. The cable itself looked very similar to the ones they provided for the HS1600 series, the AR51, with the only difference was the black metal finish on the connectors and plug and ear guides.

What made their cable different than most IEMs nowadays was the proprietary connector that they use, the PentaconnEar. A new type of connector that was designed and manufactured by the Nippon Dics Co. LTD or NDics that are much more reliable than the conventional MMCX connectors. These were proven by how easy I could attach and detach the cable from the IEM without using too much force as I did to MMCX, and once it was connected, it was robust.

Eartips

Acoustunes’ eartips has been very well-known in the audiophile community and it was no surprise to see them included here. However, although they included all the series of the eartips from the double-flanged AET06 to their foam tips, the AET02 here, I was a bit disappointed. The reason was pretty simple, the included tips for HS1300 were slightly different than their retail version even though it shared similar shapes. Here, all the silicone tips were in black colour and they were much softer and thinner than the retail’s version. This, of course, would cause them to have different sound and fit. So, if you have the retail version, it was much more recommended to use them than these black acoustune tips.

Carrying Case

The case was coming in full black colour like their other newer line up instead of leather like the hs1551CU’s. The lining inside was using velvet fabric and there were two magnets on the flaps to secure the case when storing the IEMs.