Since I had won a set of these from a weekly giveaway, I thought the least I could do is leave my thoughts on these headphones from the point of view of someone who knows what ‘good’ or ‘audiophile’ sound is, especially considering it was released in 2019, and there’s already the Q20 and Q30 to succeed it.
First off, these are far from audiophile quality. They are not for anyone who prefers a balanced sound. The sound is very light on the mids while being heavily focused on lows and highs. For those familiar with the terminology, the sound would be described as a “V shaped” frequency response.
Due to the lack of midrange, the headphones don’t sound as loud as other headphones, but still manage to get plenty loud for me personally. The headphones manage to passively cut out a decent amount of noise around you.
Now the obvious main focus of these headphones is the bass. That’s the first thing I noticed when I listened to music with them. The bass completely blew me away. WITHOUT the BassUp it sounds bass boosted. WITH BassUp it sounds SUPER bass boosted. You can feel the headphones physically vibrating on your head with some songs at higher volumes both with and without BassUp on. The bass audibly plays down to 15hz. Not a single bass note will go unheard in any song. You hear all the bass and it sounds very clean and well separated from the mids and highs.
So, the big question: Are they worth it in 2021? or are you better off with a different set of headphones?
I would say for anyone who likes rap music, electronic, EDM, pop, and anything else bass heavy, these headphones are for you, and are a very relevant and great option. They sound excellent for these styles of music.
However, these headphones might not be as satisfactory for music that uses more acoustic instruments. Look elsewhere if your music doesn’t have much bass.
Another possible use for these headphones is for watching movies. Thanks to the way these headphones are tuned, the sound is very captivating, and will really draw you into whatever you’re watching. I listened to “Time” by Hans Zimmer from the movie Inception on these headphones, and the sound was absolutely magical. The deep and rich low end was perfectly captured by the headphones. It sent shivers down my spine, it was such an intense and captivating sound. So these headphones will do an excellent job for watching movies and videos.
I didn’t notice any delay between audio and video on YouTube using an iPhone, so I doubt there’s any delay issues for anything.
So, here is my ratings for 3 main categories of users:
For bass lovers, these headphones are an easy 10/10. Well worth it in 2021.
For those who prefer balanced or audiophile sound, 5/10. Look elsewhere for balanced sound. Perhaps the Q30’s so you can EQ it to your liking.
For movie and video watchers, 10/10.
