When it comes to truly wireless earbuds, Apple AirPods is the name that most people will mention. But for those who aren’t looking to spend $150 or more on a pair of wireless earbuds, there are cheaper options. Wicked Audio’s Arq earbuds are true wireless earbuds that come in less than $100, but are they earbuds that you’ll get your money’s worth for?
Wicked Audio is known for making headphones that come at an affordable price. In fact, they’ve been doing so for the last 20-plus years. But as times and technology change, the need to be cord-free is something every consumer strives for.
Design
The Arq earbuds have a pretty straightforward design. There’s no added bells and whistles to make the earbuds standout. It has a very basic and simplistic oval shape that’s small and lightweight. The earbuds themselves sit at an angle to make it easier to slip in and out of your ear. On the outside, you’ll find an LED light that will indicate if the earbuds are on and connected. On each channel, you’ll get a tactile button with a nice clicky response that lets you turn on and connect the earbuds.
Wearing the Arq earbuds are comfortable, and after a few hours of wearing of them, I still didn’t have any discomfort. The Arq comes with three different sizes for the earbuds, and I found that they securely fit in your ear. If you were to walk around wearing them, they won’t have a problem staying in your ear. But running around or any vigorous activity can cause them to fall out of your ear.
Along with the Arq earbuds comes a carrying case and charger. The case is a tubular shape that measures about 5.5” inches in length. It’s lightweight, easy to hold, and feels durable and sturdy. Placing your earbuds in there to charge is very simple, and the magnets inside offer a secure hold for your earbuds during charging. The great thing about the carrying case is that it also doubles as an external battery to charge other USB devices such as mobile phones and tablets. The carrying case has four LED lights on the outside that will indicate how much power the case has left, before needing to be recharged itself. The size of the carrying case does make it unsuitable to carry in your pocket, but it does make it easy enough to carry in your backpack or laptop bag.
Performance
Sound quality on the Arq earbuds is pretty good. The lows have a good sound to them but don’t expect a lot of bumps to be pushed out because, for the size, the Arq earbuds are only built with a 10mm driver. The mids come through rich and dynamic, but one thing I did notice was the highs felt a little unbalanced. Music with a lot of snares and claps such as some hip-hop is where I noticed the distortion in the highs, often coming in with a high pinging noise which would drown out the mids. But in pop, rock, and orchestral music, the distortion in the highs isn’t as noticeable.
The Arq earbuds connect using Bluetooth 4.2, which doesn’t give the earbuds that much range. Having my phone close to the Arq earbuds, I didn’t have any connection issues, but once I stepped out of the 30ft range is when I would get a fallout in the music due to connection issues. Out of the box, the Arq earbuds quickly paired with my phone, but on the first instance, connecting the left and right channel to each other will take a few seconds longer, which would also happen every time I turned on the earbuds.
The Arq earbuds will give you just about over three hours of listening time before running out of juice. One great thing is that the carrying case can charge up your earbuds multiple times before it runs out of power. I found that I had to charge the carrying case again after about a week and a half, and that’s if I’m not using it to charge any other mobile devices.
Final Reaction
Using the Arq earbuds for the last two weeks, I’ve been pretty happy the way it performs. The mids and lows are great, and the highs are a little bit unbalanced, but yet it didn’t make the earbuds unusable. The lightweight and simple design makes them an attractive pair of earbuds but doesn’t make them stick out like a sore thumb when you’re out in public. The carrying case gives you a lot of power to keep using the earbuds for a while but does make it uncomfortable to carry in your front or back pocket. Wicked Audio set out to make a pair of truly wireless earbuds that won’t break the bank. And for a retail price of $79.99, you truly are getting a pair of earbuds that are worth every cent.
Score: 4/5 Atoms
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