OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation
It could be robust to hunt out the most interesting headphones for individuals who don’t must spend over $70. Perception me — I’m always on the hunt for fairly priced headphones that’ll please my music-snob ears. A lot of the most fairly priced headphones skimp on important choices like customizable EQ, ANC, or worst of all: have tinny sound top quality. I’m always determined to hunt out the most interesting low-cost headphones.
So I jumped on the probability to evaluation OneOdio’s Focus A5 headphones. With ANC and LDAC assist, I couldn’t wait to hearken to if these headphones lived as a lot as my expectations.
Sadly, OneOdio shot itself throughout the foot with an absence of an app. I consider these headphones may presumably be loads improved with a personalized EQ and customizable contact administration buttons. Listeners are sadly caught with OneOdio’s default EQ, though, which doesn’t exhibit the power of these headphones’ bass depth.
Nonetheless are they nonetheless worth it, considering they’re merely $69? Uncover out on this OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Cheat sheet
- What’s it? A pair of worth vary headphones with LDAC assist
- Who’s it for? These attempting to not splurge on headphones
- What does it worth? $69 / £59
- What can we like? There’s LDAC assist — whether or not or not it makes a distinction is one different question
- What don’t we like? The sound top quality is pretty disappointing, and there’s no personalized EQ
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Specs
| Value | $69 / £59 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Environment friendly range | 32.8 toes |
| ANC | Certain |
| Battery (No ANC) | 75 hours |
| Battery (ANC) | 45 hours |
| Weight | 9.3 ounces |
| Dimensions | 9 x 7.9 x 2.5 inches |
| Colors | Black |
| Compatibility | iOS, Android |
| Frequency response | 20 Hz-40 kHz |
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Value & availability
The Focus A5 headphones are $69 from Amazon U.S. and £59 from Amazon U.Okay.. This makes them among the many least costly over-ear headphones I’ve seen with premium choices like LDAC assist. I simply these days reviewed the JLabs JBuds Lux ANC headphones and was truly impressed with the sound top quality for the low ticket of $79. Our most interesting low-cost headphones are the 1More SonoFlow SE headphones, which might be merely $54 and blew us away with the sound top quality.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Design & controls
The OneOdio Focus A5 headphones are pretty participating. Its clean earpads are adorned with a form of lenticular flourish and an not simply seen mannequin emblem. The scarf feels a little bit bit brittle and heavy, though, which makes them actually really feel laborious to placed on for prolonged intervals of time. They’re made correctly, though, with sturdy-feeling material and good clicky buttons.
There’s a USB-C charging port on the underside of the right cup, alongside an affect on/off button, an ANC button, and amount administration buttons. Given there’s no app, you’ll’t customise these button controls, nevertheless they’re pretty simple to understand — I would equivalent to the choice of being able to do what I would really like with the buttons.
There’s no carry case throughout the area, so if that’s a should have, you’d be increased off elsewhere. I charged these headphones up straight out of the sphere they normally have been completely charged in beneath an hour, so good for fast turnarounds.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Choices & Connectivity
The Focus A5 headphones have LDAC compatibility, which initially made me clap my palms with glee. Nonetheless, as shortly as I actually enabled these settings, I observed it’s nothing larger than a promoting tag.
There’s little degree in licensing LDAC assist for worth vary headphones if the exact, bodily {{hardware}} of talked about headphones isn’t sturdy adequate to translate the ‘lossless’ audio top quality. There’s no wired connection on the Focus A5 headphones each. Clearly Bluetooth can on no account attain wired connection top quality, and I’m not saying they may. Not even the $500 AirPods Max headphones are capable of that. Nonetheless the Focus A5 headphones merely can’t do the high-res top quality justice. I’ll deal with this completely throughout the ‘audio top quality’ half, nevertheless for a little bit little bit of not-so-subtle foreshadowing, the treble clipped all through dance tracks and the bass was nowhere to be heard.
By means of ANC, it’s possible you’ll be disenchanted there, too. Whereas listening throughout the office I would nonetheless hear my colleagues talking over the music as if ANC wasn’t even enabled. I toggled off ANC to match and noticed hardly any distinction in sound cancelation. I wouldn’t advocate these for busy public transport or metropolis strolling. Although it’s common for over-ear headphones, there’s no waterproofing, so maybe depart these at residence everytime you go to your moist walks, too.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Title top quality
The headphones embody a built-in omnidirectional mic, which means it’ll determine up sound from all sides. This doesn’t bode correctly for clear title top quality on busy streets, however it put it to the verify on a reputation with my companion. Usually, you’ll see me sporting AirPods Skilled 2 earbuds for wi-fi calls, and my companion couldn’t inform the excellence between these and the Focus A5.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Battery
The OneOdio Focus A5 headphones have a whopping 75-hour battery life, 45 hours with ANC enabled. This gives them among the many longest battery life I’ve ever seen on headphones. These beat even my favorite worth vary headphones, the JLab JBuds Lux ANCwhich closing for a whopping 70 hours. The battery life tops out at 45 hours with ANC on, and there are actually totally different headphones with even increased ANC battery life now. The Sennheiser Accent ($179) have 50 hours of ANC battery, and the Marshall Monitor III headphones have a mind-blowing 70 hours of ANC battery — nevertheless they’re $349. So not worth vary headphones by any means, nevertheless spectacular by means of battery.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Audio top quality
For lower than $69, you’ll’t anticipate headphones to impress audiophiles. Nonetheless I’m not sure who these headphones would impress.
To supply them a superb trial, I listened on my colleague’s Samsung Galaxy S24 FE by way of Tidal with LDAC enabled. I carried out ‘Von Dutch’ by Charli xcx as a result of it’s a sort of pop songs with arresting bass and addictive synths. To my disappointment, the aforementioned arresting bass was shabby and lackluster. Merely to rub salt throughout the wound, too, the extreme trebles and percussion notes maxed out, resulting in an unsavory clipping sound. It was similar to the audio equal of accelerating the sharpness on a low-res {{photograph}} until it’s deep-fried.
Having LDAC assistance is all correctly and good, however it means nothing if the bodily {{hardware}} throughout the headphones (the Focus A5’s 40mm drivers don’t look like doing loads legwork proper right here) isn’t as a lot as scratch.
Whereas locked into the LDAC setting, I switched up genres to see if it was merely the dance model that the Focus A5s had trouble with. I positioned on ‘In Every Dream Dwelling a Heartache’ by Roxy Music, constructed on Bryan Ferry’s unsettling vocals and encroaching pipe-organ keys. It may presumably be the 41-year-old recording’s forgiving top quality, nevertheless this observe sounded merely as creepy by the Focus A5 headphones as I’d want it to. There’s a particular lack of readability throughout the rolling synths and sliding guitar licks, though, when straight as compared with higher-quality earbuds (like my AirPods Skilled 2s). Nonetheless, the Fusion A5 headphones are a smidge of the value of AirPods.
Do you have to’re a retro music evangelist, you’re in a tremendous place to get some worth vary headphones to have the benefit of semi-blurry recordings. Nonetheless when you want to stream the remastered variations of those songs, correctly, you’re in for a bumpy expertise.
OneOdio Focus A5 headphones evaluation: Verdict
It’s troublesome for me to advocate headphones that sound unhealthy. And that’s these headphones. They do sound unhealthy. For all their epic 75-hour battery life to their pleasing ticket, I wanted to like these headphones. Nonetheless they merely cannot do justice to your music. Probably these would go effectively with anyone who doesn’t care about fidelity recordings or anyone who merely needs a pair of main headphones. Nonetheless whatever the very good battery life, worth vary price, and spectacular seems to be like, these headphones do not sound good.
Do you have to care about sound top quality nevertheless you proceed to wish to stay with a worth vary (me to a T), it’s possible you’ll be throughout the JLab JBuds Lux ANC headphones. They’re $79 and sound good for the value, nevertheless clearly they’re nonetheless not as spectacular as, say, the Marshall Monitor III headphones. I beloved testing the Lux ANC headphones and truly beloved the usual of ANC and sophisticated soundscapes.
The OneOdio Focus A5 headphones aren’t horrible by any means, nevertheless there are significantly better decisions in the marketplace for a relatively comparable price.
