Sometimes a €4.99 bottle of plonk hints at the richness of a €69.69 bottle of French Merlot. In some situations, their unsaid prices mellifluously outstrip even €100.00 bottles…
Try blind-testing (fools oenophiles!) any serious sommelier.
Such was the case of the Awei ES-Q9 earphones. These little woofy wonders of wood cost little more than €3.75 a pop.
With units that are carved of solid wood (last time we’ll way wood, not!), their price point belie their impeccable capabilities.
Booming BloomersLike a wet kiss at the end of a warm fist, subsonic bass extension shakes the drum at the end of our tiny ear canals. Had we been high on some happily illegal substance we would’ve sworn a subwoofer was in the room. Somewhere.
Then proceeded to try and find it.
Yeah, these babies boom so much that our eardrums couldn’t take much more of another EDM album. We just had to floor the pedal and head to the nearest club. Dance nation!
Admittedly, clubbing with earphones is awkwardly anti-social, yet what better way to test the seal on these?
Losing a pair in a club wouldn’t hurt the wallet much either…
Hmm, stock silicone earbuds were a tad stiff (haha) causing uncomfortable prolonged listening. Comply tips we had lying about solved that.
Being open backed ported IEMs the Awei ES-Q9s leaked, but not badly. Isolation with Complys was slightly worse but comparable to Zorloo’s Aeros (upcoming, hint, hint!).
Seriously, the bass on these are beyond belief. Bass-heads would be hard pressed to tell the difference between these and a full-sized pair of headphones. You can feel the pressure waves building up on your eardrums. Once you achieve a good seal, that is.
Since we’re actually hitting the drinks pretty hard now we’ll sneak in that we loved the well-constructed jack at the end. For the price of a Happy Meal we weren’t expecting gold-plating! Here’s looking at you big named brands that won’t even throw some good old gold on plugs. And you boutique companies that milk gold-plated ends for marketing press. Haha.
But there you have it folks, the Awei ES-Q9s all in solid wood with gold trimmings.
Final ScoreIgnore the slightly recessed midrange, the cheaply glued together mettalic prolly plastic port (OMG it’s a proper port like on your subwoofer), you bass fans should give these a try. For once this Chinese offering with it’s rather tacky long-winded full name is aptly named.
Awei ES-Q9 Wooden Super Bass Earphones 5/10
Ignore the score if you want a pair of el cheapo wooden ‘phones that actually sound good!
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