Audeara A-01 Review: Personalized Audio Comes at a Price

Jun. 8, 2018

Beebom Score

Before we dive into the review of these headphones, lets get the specsheet out of the way.

These headphones use plastic that definitely doesn’t look like it belongs anywhere near a pair of cans that retail for £299

That’s not all though,the build quality of these headphones consistently fails to impress, even by the simple fact that the finishing isn’t quite as good as one would expect. Honestly, the Sony MDR-XB950BT that I use (and that arepriced at $199; £127) have a build quality that’s a lot better than these headphones that are priced more than twice that amount.

The headphones can be folded flat for carrying around in the carrying case (which is really quite good) that’s provided with them. However,unlike other headphones like theAudio-Technica ATH-M50x, they can’t be folded inwardsinto the body to make them even more compact.

Objectively speaking, the design of the Audeara headphones is actually pretty nice, it’s just that the company has, for some reason, made such compromises in the build quality that it overshadows the design elements of the headphones.

One of the major issues with most headphones that I’ve noticed people encountering after a couple of days using them is comfort. A lot of times, headphones feel comfortable over a short period of time, but wear them for a few hours at a stretch and they show their true colors, so to speak. While this mostly happens with on-ear headphones, like theSony MDR-XB450that I personally tried and got annoyed with, it can happen with over-the-ear headphones as well.

There are three different types of tests:

Based on the test you choose, theapp will check a number of frequencies to adjust the headphone’s sound according to your hearing levels. I went with ‘Ultimate Precision’ and the test is really quite comprehensive. The app checks hearing levels for frequencies starting from 100Hz, all the way up to 22kHz and well, suffice it to say that it’s an incredibly detailed test of your hearing capabilities.

Based on these tests,the app adjusts the equalizer for the headphones(the company calls this the ‘Audeara Effect’), ensuring you can hear every frequency in every song. It gives users the option to check out what the headphones sound like with 0% ‘Audeara Effect’ applied, 50% effect applied, and 100% effect applied, and whatever sounds the best can be applied to the headphones.

The best part about all this, is that thechanges are made to the headphones themselves, and you don’t need the app installed on every device you’re using the headphones with— that’s really great.

Regardless of their target audience, I tested the earphones under both the settings — Audeara Effect applied, and not applied.

As soon as I switched the slider in the app to 100% effect, the change was audible, and man if that wasn’t a huge and welcome change. I won’t be exaggerating if I said thatwith the Audeara Effect applied, the audio quality picks up so greatly, it feels like the headphones beamed you out onto a different planet.

I tested the audio quality with a number of songs, including some bass heavy mixes from Illenium, calm and deep songs from Coldplay, rock music from the likes of Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight, and even metal music ranging from Metallica to Lamb of God and Eluveitie and I just can’t explain the feeling.

Either way, there is one issue with the audio quality on these headphones whether or not your turn on the Audeara Effect. I noticed thatat volumes higher than ~80%, bass started distorting quite a lot, and at some points even sounded like static. That’s not something I expected from a pair of headphones priced this high.

Yet another thing that justifies the high price of these headphones is the fact that they come with active noise cancellation, which, in essence,cuts out ambient sound from the environment making the overall experience of listening to music far betterthan a normal, non-noise cancelling pair of headphones can possibly afford.

Maybe I’m putting too much thought into this, or maybe my expectations were so high that this seemed to be an issue to me; either way, I’m not going to say that the headphones do not have a decent noise-cancellation. To be honest, most of the times you have headphones on, you’re gonna be playing music on them, and with music playing even at low volume ambient noise was almost non-existent.

Honestly, I don’t have any issues with these headphones as far as Bluetooth connectivity goes. They pair just as easily as any other Bluetooth headphones will, and they maintain connection for a respectable distance.The company advertises approximately 10 meters of range, and while that’s not what you’ll get in the real world, you’ll definitely get around 6-8 meters of rangedepending on the number (and type) of obstacles in the way.

Other than Bluetooth, theheadphones also support a standard wired connection with a 3.5mm headphone jack, and Audeara supplies an AUX cable with the headphones so you won’t have to go out and pick one up for yourself. Thebox also comes with a 1.4-inch converter so you can plug these headphones in to amplifiers if you want to.

I didn’t test out the headphones in their Line + ANC configuration to be honest, but in all the other modes too, the headphones last quite long. For the most part,I’ve been using these headphones in the ‘Bluetooth + ANC + Audeara Effect’ mode, and they’ve drained down to about 70% in around 7 hours of listening. My Sony MDR-XB950BT headphones that I use on a daily basis, last around 18 hours on a full charge, with Bluetooth and Bass Boost turned on, and judging by that standard, I’d saythe Audeara headphones don’t really disappoint in terms of battery life.

They charge with a regular microUSB port, and that cable is supplied in the box as well. However, youwillhave to use your own adapter — but that’s usually the case with Bluetooth headphones and earphones anyway.

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SEE ALSO:boAt Nirvanaa Tres Earphones Review: Great Audio, Lousy Build

These headphones areaimed solely at people who want their headphones to sound perfect tothem,no matter what they might sound like to other people, and who are willing to pay a rather steep price for this personalization. If you’re looking for a pair of headphones that will pump out a sound that’s tailored to your hearing levels, and that offer you the ability to customize their audio output to such an extent that it’s almost difficult to explain it, these headphones from Audeara are definitely not gonna let you down. For everyone else (including yours truly), there are a lot of choices out there, including those great Sony ‘Extra Bass’ series of headphones that I so love.