Googling whether you should buy a certain pair of earbuds? you've come to the right place! These are honest reviews from a sound engineer who takes pride in their listening capabilities.
1/5 Would not recommend.
2/5 Would not recommend, but has one or multiple factors worth some merit.
3/5 Neither good nor bad.
4/5 Would recommend.
5/5 Outstanding across the board.
Reviews:
Smoonigh - a60 Pro
Sony WF-C500
Smoonigh - a60 Pro
£20
The first impressions were outstanding. The second I used these I was pleasantly surprised by the frequency response. These really do sound great. Nice, audible high end that doesn’t overstate itself, a good midrange that doesn’t feel scooped or overly boxy or harsh, and an impressive low end which is full and weighty. The build quality isn’t anything special, but cheap plastic is rife within this price range.
It all comes crumbling down when the battery started to suffer. Some earbuds have a "master" earbud that handles the primary connection to your phone, and this one typically drains faster than the other earbud. This caused a gradual, but obvious deterioration in the right earbud’s battery life, which was consistently draining first. It started off at 1.5 hours, then 1, then 30 minutes, then 15, then 5. Within 3-4 weeks these buds were completely unusable.
Honestly, I may have had a dodgy pair, they get plenty of good reviews and so your experience may differ, but this was frustrating enough for me to stay clear of them from now on. I will however consider buying these again just to check what mixes sound like, as their sound quality was pretty impressive.
2/5
Sony WF-C500
£45
From what I gather, the Sony WF-C500 is a budget pair of WF-C700Ns, not that I have ever owned the latter pair. Honestly, my first impressions of these were not great. Everything is of course plastic, but not a sleek and smooth kind of plastic, more like a cheap kind. The body of the earbuds themselves are a bit larger than other pairs, and therefore, they suffered in the ergonomics department. My main issue with these headphones was the sound, they sound terribly thin. The moment I put these in and heard some music, I wondered if I could even use them due to how piercing the sound was. Luckily, they have a customisable EQ spectrum via their app, which is a real handy feature, and one that I wish every modern pair of earbuds came with. However, once everything was sounding somewhat normal, another issue became present, they don’t have enough power in them. If you turn up the low end to a reasonable level, and turn up your volume on your phone, you’ll quickly realise that the bottom end completely disappears once you go above 3/4 of your volume. This isn’t terrible, but is just another annoyance, as you’re unable to have good bass and decently loud playback without trading off one or the other. To give these a lasting positive, their battery seemed to be good, I never had to rush to put them back in the case.
Overall, I’d say there are some positives to these earbuds, but the initial impression with the build quality, the frequency balance, and the lack of power really took any hope out of a redemption for me. Despite being made by a well-known brand, Sony, there are definitely better, cheaper earbuds out there from less reputable companies.
1.5/5
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