AUKEY EP-B48 Review / The ANC Bluetooth headsets great in yield and small in price
One of the many gadgets that we use every day is a pair of earphones or headphones, whether wired or wireless is a personal choice, but what matters is the quality of the sound. I do not know about you, but I often come across reviewers who promote audio quality and product materials with exaggerated costs, so I asked myself: possible that there is no cheap product characterized by an excellent quality / price ratio? Well it is the case to understand if the answer can give it AUKEY, With its EP-B48 earphones proposed on the store Amazon Italia for a very palatable price.
We speak in fact of poco less than 30 euros but you can find it often on offer also about 24 euro, and already this alone is worth a nice 10 to the company but maybe you will think that it comes from the classic cinesata, since AUKEY offers on this product also the functionality of active noise reduction. And so let's start by analyzing this product at 360 degrees, starting from the packaging that comes in a brown cardboard with a stylized icon on the front of the product contained therein, which remember the first sales boxes offered by Xiaomi.
Inside, under a plastic tray that houses our AUKEY earphones, we also find a multilingual user manual including Italian, a small one warranty sheet (after registration on the official website of the company), a small one micro USB charging cable and a sachet containing 2 pairs of spare parts for the earphones of different sizes to adapt better to the various pavilions and made of soft silicone, as well as 2 small fins that allow to connect the wires of the ear drivers together.
The Bluetooth headsets EP-B48 from AUKEY adopt the typical design for this type of products, Namely arched, therefore the back part of the structure will be directly in contact with our neck. This bow is made with imitation leather material that manages to keep one wearable comfort even after many hours of use but above all even in situations where sweating is definitely intense due to sporting activity such as walking or running on a treadmill. But I do not hide the fear that over time this material may deteriorate precisely because of situations in which the sweat comes into contact with the earphones, but if you're not a sportsman then you do not have to fear. While for sportsmen this could be the only drawback, while at the level of stability during a race I have to applaud the company, because once the drivers are inserted into our ears, they will never fall remaining almost glued.
At any rate the bow can be flexed without fear of ruining its structure, returning to the initial shape without deformation. With a total weight of 49 grams and dimensions equal to 264 x 188 x 44 mm, comfort is guaranteed thanks to the ergonomic design of the product, perhaps a little squat in the ends of the controls but still pleasing to the eye.
E the terminals are the least cured in design. In fact here we find the control commands on the left unit, namely volume increase / track advancement key, power multifunction key and volume key - / rewind of the musical track. Furthermore we also find a small blue / red LED that shows us the status of activity or recharge of the AUKEY earphones. But it does not end here because we also find a microphone because the EP-B48 earphones can also be used to answer or make calls from the smartphone to which they are paired. In the lower part always referred to the left terminal finally we find a small door that conceals therecharge entry of type micro USB and the activation button and relative LED (always in blue color) of the ANC function that is the active reduction of noise.
Both modules are made of plastic with shiny inserts and honestly I'm not clear why the company did not distribute the commands on both modules, because the right one is practically naked and has no function except to get the driver for the right ear out of its seat. Also the drivers are made of plastic and do not offer magnetic attachment functions therefore once unused these will be a dangling on our chest but the thread is still short, so they will not create discomfort when they are not inserted into the ear, moreover you can take advantage of the two small fins supplied that serve to join the two wires in order to obtain even more stability during non-use.
So let's talk about battery, a unit from 300 mAh to lithium polymers that in about 2 hours it is recharged using an energy source from 5V / 1A while at the level of autonomy we will be able to perform about 18 hours in normal mode while if we activate the function of the ANC then the autonomy will drop to about 14 hours. Very good values considering that the 4.1 type Bluetooth connection (CSR8635 chipset) is used with support for protocols A2DP, AVRCP, HSP and HFP with a range of reach up to 10 meters but definitely sensitive, as I happened in some situations that the pants worn shielded the signal, and then the sound in the headphones was found with small and short interruptions.
And here we have a second really interesting feature, namely the possibility of connecting the AUKEY EP-B48 earphones to two devices at the same time such as a MP3 player and a smartphone or two smartphones etc .. The advantage of this function is subjective, but since the company has inserted it basic in the product is a plus that should not be underestimated during the purchase phase and the choice of one model rather than another. That said, the coupling is immediate and above all stable.
Unfortunately I could not find technical information about the frequency range, impedance and sensitivity of dual drivers but I can still claim that the sound is decidedly powerful and that in most cases returns excellent quality but with certain passages the predominance of the bass could create some burrs of listening. I do not know if this is connected to the presence of the active noise reduction function (ANC), because when this is active the defect just reported is amplified. Nothing serious, me in these days of experience in Madrid I used them almost all day ranging from calls, to listening to multimedia content in general and I was really satisfied with it, especially in relation to the ridiculous price of the product.
But let's get to the queen of the features offered by the AUKEY in-ear headphones, namely the active noise cancellation using the sixth generation CVC technology (AS3421 chipset), which effectively isolates us from noise and external interference, filtering or even dampening annoying noises typical of airplanes, subway, engines, air conditioners etc .. But is it really functional or is it a function inserted just to make a scene? The answer is, it works !!! Certainly do not expect results like products from at least 200 euro, but isolation from noise, or rather the reduction of these especially linked to sources such as subway, air and traffic it was consistent.
Finally, as mentioned before, we also have the possibility of using them in combination with the smartphone for managing outgoing or incoming calls, with more than satisfactory results. In fact, the sound is received by both interlocutors in a crystalline way. A negative note, however, I must do and is related to the management of the ANC function which is activated via the on-off selector placed on the left terminal of the headset. The problem is that this will be turned off separately by turning off the earphones AUKEY, otherwise the function will remain active and the battery will still be downloaded. In fact, I happened to put the headphones with almost full charge and in the morning find them virtually without autonomy because of what I just told you. Once the EP-B48 earphones have been started (just hold down the power button for 3 seconds) an English-speaking voice warns you of the connection with the device.
At this point if you press the power button once, we will start the music playback, while the two-consecutive quick press will start the call to the last number on the smartphone dialer. To answer an incoming call you can use both the volume keys and the power key while to reject it you will need to keep the latter pressed for about 2 seconds. Unfortunately there is no function that calls the integrated voice assistant in our smartphone. Also if we left the phone in silent we will be notified of the call with a small trill and a fairly full-bodied vibration from the left terminal. One thing also that I liked is the fact that the AUKEY earphones enjoy a volume system separate from that of the smartphonetherefore, we could lower or raise the sound level without necessarily acting on that of the phone. To change the volume parameters just click on the command buttons while keeping them slightly pressed we could move forward or backward the music track.
PROJECTED IMPACT
Without a doubt we can not certainly define the AUKEY EP-B48 earphones as a professional gadget, but in consideration of the price at which they are proposed they result an optimal purchase, a best buy, both personally and as a gift. Excellent for sports use, but also in situations of relaxation enjoying a audio quality more than satisfactory. If we then add the possibility of a Bluetooth connection to two devices at the same time, the excellent battery life and the active noise cancellation (although not at professional levels), I would say that it would be a real crime not to buy them. Therefore I recommend you do it through the Amazon store, a real guarantee in Italy.
