Hello!
Once I heard an interesting phrase from a Chinese: “China is where the Chinese are.”
Applied to today's realities, one involuntarily wants to paraphrase it – “China is where there is Chinese”, that is, everywhere, and it seems that audio equipment will soon be sold at a price of “five kopecks a bunch”.
It is surprising how fast the Chinese industry is giving birth to various electronics manufacturers. Their name is legion. The impression reinforces the awareness of the fact that all the names that are more or less familiar to us are just a grain of sand from the real state of affairs. There are many more of these companies on the domestic market, and the fact that most of them are still unknown to us is most likely only a matter of time.
With no less enthusiasm and scope, China is also spawning online stores designed to sell this colossal volume of products.
About two months ago, while reading one of my favorite forums, I came across a promotional article offering to buy 'Bluetooth – $ 13 Active Noise Canceling Headphones with free shipping from one of the many Chinese Internet sites.
By clicking on the link, I was forced to go through a whole quest in the form of clicking on the referral link, registering, receiving and applying the bonus code, in order to get the announced cost. Looking ahead, I will say that the headset cost me even cheaper than the declared cost – $ 10.99. For this amount, we are offered a device with the following characteristics:
- ABS and TPE plastic housing in black with red wire;
- chipset: CSR8645, Bluetooth 4.1 with AptX support, support for work at a distance of up to 10 meters;
- support for HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP, AptX profiles;
- resistance: 32 ohms;
- output: 100 ± 3dB;
- 10mm drivers;
- frequency coverage: 20 Hz – 20 kHz;
- two-color LED indicator;
- microphone sensitivity: -42 ± 3dB;
- battery: 110 mAh capacity, 8 hours of playtime, 360 hours of standby;
- weight: 15 grams.
After weighing all the pros and cons, and after watching the promo video, I decided to take a chance and ordered this miracle of Chinese engineering.
The order was placed on March 1, and I received the package only on May 15. Agree, not very fast. On the fortieth day of waiting, I wanted to open a dispute on paypal for a refund, but decided to wait another twenty-five! days my patience was rewarded. Arriving at the post office, I received my long-awaited 'Cool Dodo' (I don't know what the name of the company really means, but for myself I translated it that way).
I must say, the Chinese did not bother with packaging. Inside the usual mail bag, there was a carrying case in which the headset and everything else from the set were packed.
No boxes or fancy packaging. Only the bare minimum, only hardcore.
Packaging and equipment
The first impression of the case is not bad. Carbon imitation, red lock on the contour. Soundly and neat. And the case itself will not lie idle – it will be useful for convenient transportation of the device.
Inside is a Spartan set. The headset itself, a set of interchangeable ear pads in the amount of two pairs of sizes L and S (plus one pair of M already on the headset), a set of two pairs of in-ear spacers with exactly the same approach to dimensions – L and S in a bag, M on the headset, microUSB- charging cable, and a small accordion booklet with a brief and clear description of the main functions of the device.
Nothing else could be found inside. I did not peel off the lining of the case – I believed the Chinese that there was definitely nothing else inside. By the way, the case itself is quite convenient. Roomy and has a compartment for small items inside, fenced with a net.
Appearance and materials
The first impression of the headset's appearance – oh, Sony IS800, is it you? Only the 'Cool Dodo' is even bigger … The headphones are big. Right here are big.
Rigid flat red wire involuntarily made me recall the Beats by Dr. Dre Tour headphones. In general, as usual with the Chinese – with the world on a string.
A few more words about the wire. It is tough and has an excellent memory effect – my wire still remembers all the bends in which it was laid at the factory by the caring hands of a Chinese conveyor worker, so that then it would travel to me for a long 2.5 months. It's nice, but I'm not that sentimental, and it would be better if he straightened up faster.
The body of the headphones resembles a jug with a curved neck.
Case material – matte plastic with a light soft-touch effect. The body at the ends is covered with metal washers with processing in the form of concentric circles, creating an interesting effect.
The washers are magnetic, making the headphones comfortable to wear around the neck by connecting them with their ends.
The cable exit points are crimped efficiently and reliably.
The cuffs are marked with the right and left earphones. The same designations are found on interchangeable in-ear pads.
The remote is massive and has sharp edges that do not cling to the collar just because the remote itself is very high – almost immediately under the right earpiece.
By the way, the high position of the remote control does not cause any inconvenience and you get used to it right away. The hand itself reaches exactly there. Given the location of the remote control, during a conversation you involuntarily feel like James Bond, because if you hold the remote control with your hand, you become like a movie secret agent conducting covert negotiations.
This arrangement of the remote has another not obvious plus – it does not drag the headset to one side when worn. Conveniently.
A few words about the remote control itself. He is big. Everything, there is nothing more to say about the remote control. Just kidding.
But the remote control is actually massive, and according to the tactile sensations, some kind of empty inside. Why it was made so big is unclear.
Three buttons with standard functionality – volume control, track switching and call answer / end, no surprises here. Volume control buttons in the form of '+' and '-' signs.
Two-color indicator light to highlight different events. Blue for events, red for low, and alternating for pairing mode. In standby mode, the indicator blinks once every five seconds – this is clearly unnecessary, especially in the dark.
In the same place, on the remote control, there is a MicroUSB charging connector covered with a plastic cap. The plug is not made very elegantly, but, apparently, reliably (until it falls off and is not going to).
Convenience and features of use
The ear pads are soft. I would like it denser – then the sound insulation would be better. Silicone in-the-ear spacers, soft and very comfortable, do not chafe.
The headphones are securely fixed in the ear – I advise you to choose your own size of ear pads. The wire does not cling to clothes, however, I wanted it to be a little longer – when worn with clothes with a collar, I literally miss 3-4 centimeters in length – the remote control is slightly behind.
Voice quality is good. None of the interlocutors complained about the connection, even after I asked if I was heard well. It was only after I said that I was speaking on the headset that some noticed a slight echo or boom in the sound, but it seems to me that this is a placebo effect – since they said that there must be problems, they need to be invented.
Among the characteristics of the headset, the noise cancellation system from Qualcomm is declared – CVC 6.0, and we can assume that we are talking about the sound in the headphones, but no. In this case, we are talking only about noise reduction technology for the microphone when transmitting speech. Apparently, the technology works. It is convenient to speak on the headset. There was no discomfort or hearing problems.
Putting on the headset for the first time and looking in the mirror, I had a desire to make myself a haircut 'under the pot', draw bags under my eyes and walk and scare people with uterine mooing – well, the spitting image of Frankenstein!
Despite the fact that the monster from Mary Shelley's novel had electrodes in the neck and not in the ears, due to the shape and size of the headphones, the first association was just that.
Another unpleasant feature is associated with a miscalculation in the design of the headphones. Due to the fact that the sound guides do not have longitudinal grooves for air access to the ear, when you touch the headphones in your ears, or when walking and running intensively, the speaker membrane vibrates and crunches unpleasantly.
It is unclear what it is made of, but it looks like it is made of plastic film. I even tried to record this sound so that it was clear what it was about. A very annoying miscalculation. It is almost impossible to use headphones. The only way out is to take a file or a blade and make a groove yourself, but this is a dubious event.
A huge minus to the manufacturer for such 'childish mistakes'.
The headset is able to voice the events taking place. She does it in a pleasant female voice only in English. Among the available phrases are on, off, pairing, and voice-over of numbers or names of the caller. SMS and messages from instant messengers are not voiced.
The headset needs about 1 hour and 45 minutes to fully charge. The manufacturer claims up to eight hours of music playback.
I could not squeeze more than 6 hours and 45 minutes of music playback out of it. Although, almost seven hours, also a good result.
Sound
The device was tested with three phones (SGS7, LG G2 with modified firmware, and with iPhone 5S). Looking ahead, I will say that the headset played best with iPhone 5S.
Prime Test CD1 and Spotify streaming service were used as content, with stream settings in extreme quality.
The first thought when turning on music through the headset is BASS! BASS! And ALS again!
There are a lot of low frequencies. It seems that the manufacturer has decided to squeeze the maximum bass out of the speakers. The first thing to do is to reduce the low frequencies to almost zero with the equalizer. Then it gets better.
Also, the headset is very loud. There is a fair amount of volume here, it pleases.
Support for AptX technology is declared. To be honest, I did not notice much difference from headsets without this technology, although I honestly tried, for which I included music files in FLAC format.
The upper frequencies are indistinct, poorly worked out. At high volume, it starts to hurt the ear a little.
If you mute the low frequencies with the equalizer, the mids become audible, which, by the way, are worked out quite well. The middle frequencies are probably the main advantage of this headset – rich and clear. However, everything that goes beyond the middle, both down and up, begins to get lost and blurred.
Low frequencies. As I said earlier, there are many, many. The bass hits literally everything. At the same time, if it is not reduced, although it sounds powerful, it sounds like a barrel. Low frequencies lack transparency, clarity, shape. They seem to be smeared.
Another of the unpleasant moments I would like to note is 'cycling' and sand at high volume.
The main genre that the headset more or less copes with is electronic, club and popular music. With complex, instrument-rich music, this headset did not develop a relationship.
To summarize, the main complaint about the headset is an excess of low frequencies, low detail and transparency of sound, as well as indistinct 'tops'. If you solve the issue with the crunch of the membrane, the headset may appeal to fans of powerful bass and electronic music.
conclusions
If you twist the equalizer, you can achieve more or less acceptable sound quality from the headset. For her money (taking into account the discount), she plays normally. Not good, but ok. But for the full cost of $ 21.99 (at Amazon), you can look for better options.
Even if you don't find fault with the sound quality too much, I still can't recommend this headset for purchase. Everything is spoiled by a constructive miscalculation in the design of the sound guide, because of which it is uncomfortable to wear a headset, and it is generally impossible to run in it – the membrane rustles and crackles with every step.
The Chinese once again decided to push their muscles and make candy for a relatively low cost. But it looks like pushing too hard … Not worth the money.