A while back I looked at an over-ear wireless headphone called the SuperEQ S1. It was a hybrid ANC headphone that housed a variety of uses, but didn’t exactly satisfy in the realm of audio quality. Once you release a Bluetooth over-ear headphone, a true wireless model is bound to come next as a sort of unwritten rule of the headphone market. Their latest addition to a growing library of consumer listening products is the Q1 Pro. In a collaboration with OneOdio, Super EQ aims to deliver even better active noise-canceling and isolation. Personally, I’m most looking forward to seeing what improvements they’ve made to the resolution of their products, if any. Let’s see what Super EQ brings with the Q1 Pro.
What You Get
Not much is included in terms of accessories. SuperEQ includes the barest of necessities with minimal packaging. Inside the box, you get the charging case with the earphones inside, and a USB-C charging cable underneath. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any additional ear tips with my specific unit even though you’re supposed to receive two pairs.
Look and Feel
You can pass these off as another plain looking true wireless, but that would be a bit unfair. The charging case is solid black with LED indicators showing how many charges you have. It’s a small enough case to fit easily in your pocket with a simple design. With the earphones themselves you get a stemmed build with a circular housing and short nozzle. There’s a silver plating on the stem of the Q1 Pro that helps give the earphones an aesthetic flourish, and stands out compared to its plainer charging case. The fit was a bit loose, but I got more used to it over time. It would of been nice if I didn’t have to keep pushing them back in my ear every once in a while.
Design and Functionality
A 10mm driver helps give the Q1 Pro an ample amount of amplitude with plenty of headroom. This especially helps noise-canceling, which adds even more room for adjustment. Two microphones are dedicated to producing a helpful level of isolation helping the earbuds monitor environmental sounds. You also get a transparent mode that invites those sounds in the world of what you might be listening to. I appreciated the functionality of the ANC for the price. It made good use eliminating harsher elements like the AC that hovers above me. Accessing these features can be done with simple actions, using the Q1 Pro’s touch sensitive controls. Both earbuds house the same commands so it doesn’t matter which side you press. You can also use these controls to activate voice command and for phone calls. Call clarity is serviceable, giving you intelligible voices with little interference.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth version 5.0 is supported here , giving the Q1 Pro around 33 feet of range and easy paring. I experienced one or two moments of desyncing, but nothing major. No high-resolution CODECs are found here.
Battery Life
For it’s price I’m not expecting a huge amount of battery life, but at least a sufficient one. The Q1 Pro should last five hours off a single charge with ANC turned on, and six hours with ANC off. Including the charging case, you should get a total of fifteen hours from the Q1 Pro with charging time taking about 1-2 hours.
Soundstage
Don’t expect much from the Q1 Pro in this area. For the price it’s a decently capable true wireless that distinguishes itself with an average width and positioning. However, these are more in line with the more condensed soundstages you may be used to hearing from more economical earphones such as these. Most of the imaging is squished together, and although placement is more identifiable, they barely reach out of a purely internal headspace. Many of the sound elements conjoin with each other, creating a much more solidified stereo image, but with a more restricted sound field.
Low End
The thickness of the bass is pretty good. It has a nice low-end rumble, lifted by a bit of sub-bass presence. By the mid-bass things start to smooth out, and the response gets a bit flatter. However the main bass frequencies add a lot to spice up the sound signature. The vibrations are consistent and gives the timbre an immediate energy.
Mids
The midrange serves as a good spot for vocals to shine. Although the clarity gets a bit foggy here, podcasts and audiobooks shine the most. Vocals stand out with their forward push, but the rest of the tonality is mostly recessed into a v-shape, leaving most instrumentals to feel like they’re not in the proper resolution.
Highs
Treble frequencies are the most present among the main response. They shine over the timbre with a lively brightness that immediately jumps out at you. Some of the tonality leans harsh but never piercing. The issue I had was with its clarity. Like most of the sound signature, the texture is never clean, and you feel like a few fundamental frequency bands are missing.
Summary
If you’re looking to spend fifty bucks on a true wireless system, there’s a few other options I might recommend. However when it comes to ANC, voice calls, and just listening to podcasts or audiobooks, this is a solid option. Music isn’t the clearest, and the soundstage isn’t the widest, but those looking for an affordable set of earbuds as a utility, these aren’t a bad choice.
You can find the SuperEQ Q1 Pro on their website here.
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