VIVO XE800

| 11 mm Driver |

? VIVO has a couple of earphones in the market but specially the VIVO XE800 have gained quite a reputation, therefore we decided to see what all the fuss was about. When searching for the VIVO XE800 one of the first things that you will notice is that their price is substantially higher than many other Chinese earphones with a similar single dynamic driver configuration.

The VIVO XE800 have an 11mm dynamic driver packed inside their housings. The earphones have an original design form factor that easily allows them to be worn straight or inverted with the cable going above and around the ears. The housings of the VIVO XE800 are made of plastic and are very light weighted, the quality of the plastics feels cheap and fragile. As you can see from our photos the VIVO XE800 have silver colored details that although resembling metal they are just silver painted plastics.

The cables of the VIVO XE800 have a lightly rubberized coating, are thin and have a basic construction quality. There is a single button control and microphone on the cable that allows to answer/reject calls, play/pause music. Moreover, the nozzles provide an unique feature with a rotating movement to allow a perfect customizable fit. Many times when an earphone gains a fair amount of fame, counterfeit units appear on the market with impeccable aesthetic resemblance.

When we reviewed the JVC HA-FX1X we talked about this. Since the very first moment that we received our VIVO XE800 there were some aspects that did not inspire us a lot of confidence. First of all, the earpieces were inverted (meaning that the left earpiece was emitting the sound of the right earpiece and the left sound was coming from the right earpiece). Then, there were some very subtle details that our unit did not have like: the eartips should be oval-shaped and ours were normally shaped and there is a metal “ohm”-like looking piece in the nozzles that should be found according to the photos on VIVO’s website and our unit was deprived of it. What does this make us suspect? Well, this increases the chances that our unit could be fake.

You can buy the VIVO XE800 in white. The buying link that we are providing is from a seller that is widely reputable for selling original VIVO XE800 units. F

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VIVO XE800 - Review

Tests & Scores

Weight

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Accessories & Packaging

Almost 99 out 100 times the VIVO XE800 is shipped with no packaging but they do have an original packaging. Despite this, the original packaging is just a tiny box. With the earphones you will receive 2 extra eartips.

^4.5_/10

Bass & Sub Bass

The VIVO XE800 have punchy mids and good enough depth with an overall energetic bass personality. They will cover any music genre’s bass with no difficulty.

An EQ enhances mid-bass and sub-bass in a clearly perceivable level.

Under our extreme bass tests, the VIVO XE800 took up to 40% of the maximum power of a Fiio E12 portable amplifier when setting it to high gain, with bass boost turned on and applying a custom basshead EQ. The results were a big increase of punch and depth but they were still far from achieving any kind of rumble or impact with no traces of basshead hitting impact.

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^7.75_/10

Mids & Vocals

Mids of the VIVO XE800 are rolled off on the lower mids end with lower vocals sounding distant, higher mids sound much better and still do not become harsh. Overall normal listeners could feel happy enough with their mids, audiophiles will most probably do not love them. An EQ makes lower mids sound much clearer, specially the lower vocals which became far less congested and still not boxy. Higher mids remain under control with no traces of harshness.

^6.25_/10

Highs & Treble

The highs of the VIVO XE800 have some brightness but no detail at all. Piercing and sibilant highs are not an issue with these earphones. After an EQ there was a big difference in brightness and some detail was revealed but still overall they were not great. Sibilance was slightly introduced but piercing highs were still not present.

^5_/10

Sound Leak

The sound that leaks out of these earphones is relatively lower than most average earphones. At low and moderate volume levels they will not be perceivable by nearby people, at higher volume levels the sound leaking out of them will be noticed but at normally noisy situations they will fully blend with the environmental sounds.

^7.75_/10

Sound Isolation

The VIVO XE800 offer an average sound isolation; surrounding noises will be clearly reduced but to get a more effective isolation it is necessary to set higher volume levels.

^7_/10

Comfort

With a shallow housing profile that sits flush in the ears and very light weight, the VIVO XE800 are easy and comfortable to wear. Their fit is tight and secure enough.

^10_/10

Response to Equalization

The VIVO XE800 showed a good response to EQ; bass got noticeably enhanced, mids vastly improved with much better lower vocals and no harshness and higher frequencies added some brightness and detail.

^7.75_/10

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Scores

• Accessories - 4.5/10
  4.5/10
• Design - 10/10
  10/10
• Bass - 7.75/10
  7.8/10
• Mids - 6.25/10
  6.3/10
• Highs - 5/10
  5/10
• Sound Leak - 7.75/10
  7.8/10
• Sound Isolation - 7/10
  7/10
• Comfort - 10/10
  10/10
• Response to EQ - 7.75/10
  7.8/10
• Value for Money - 7/10
  7/10

Summary

AWARDS

Pros

✅ Very comfortable and flush fit

✅ Responds well to equalization

✅ Good bass with fun punch and depth

Cons

❌ Highly overpriced for their performance

❌ Lower vocals sound distant

❌ Highs have no detail

Conclusion

Our VIVO XE800 unit with their standard eartips provided, missing "ohm" shaped metal piece inside the nozzles and way different bass and highs sound response than what they are famous for could mean that we got a lemon or a counterfeit product. Whether we got an original product or not we cannot certify it.
The price of the VIVO XE800 can be found from a range of approximately $12 to almost $100, in this range you will find original and fake units if you have a reputable seller that you trust and offers them for a price in the lower section of the 12 to 100 range does not necessarily means that you will get a fake unit but be cautious.
As you could read from the review, our unit had strong bass, so so mids and lacking highs with great fit and comfort and good response to EQs. If this is the true personality of an original VIVO XE800 and considering their selling price, we find them pretty tough to recommend; they did not sound horrendously bad but were far from spectacular.

7.3/10

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VIVO XE800 Frequency Response

VIVO XE800

Photos

VIVO XE800

7.3

SCORE

7.3/10