OneOdio A11 Super Bass Bluetooth headphones review
Strong bass, weak construction.
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We’ve been using the OneOdio A11 headphones for the past few weeks as the ‘Super Bass’ marketing had us curious. We figured we’d take them for a spin and see if they’re worth your hard-earned cash. Let’s get into it and find out.
- Smart design
- Powerful bass
- Substandard build quality
- Badly-designed adjustment mechanism
- Bad fidelity at high volume
- Low-quality materials
Unboxing and setup
We’ve grown very familiar with OneOdio recently and the A11’s packaging doesn’t deviate from their previous offerings. It comes with the same cheap-feeling leatherette carrying bag as the rest of their products and all the necessary accessories, alongside a manual detailing the setup process. Nothing exciting here.
The setup experience was hassle-free, just hold the pairing button down for a couple of seconds and wait until the A11s show up in the connection menu on your device of choice. The headphones can also be used in wired mode via the included 3.5mm audio cable, no frills here, just pure functionality.
What’s in the box?
- USB Type-A to Micro-USB charging cable
- 3.5mm audio cable
- Leatherette carrying bag
- User manual
Design
The design is, generally speaking, uninspired, it looks like any other set of on-ear headphones on the market today. That’s not to say that they look bad, the A11s just lack any notable design choices. The earcups have OneOdio’s logo in the center surrounded by tightly-knit textured concentric circles with a mirror image chamfered edge running around the outside, which we are big fans of. The cables that connect the earcups to the headband are exposed and we like the somewhat classic look this gives the product. However, they are undefended as a result and could be damaged.
The headband is a standard matte black with a very subtle ‘OneOdio’ logo pressed into the surface. Overall the A11’s are light on the branding which is always a plus. The earcups are a circular, on-ear shape with faux-leather material. OneOdio has also thoughtfully added a small row of three bumps just above the left-hand side earcup so you know if you’ve got them in the wrong orientation as you put them on.
Build quality
OneOdio has let us down here as the build quality falls short of par for the sub-$40 price point. There are multiple aspects of this headset that feel cheap and liable to wearing out or breaking entirely. The worst offender is the adjustment mechanism. It’s made from very light plastic and doesn’t have enough friction between the two parts to keep it at the setting you decide on. This becomes immediately irritating as it requires re-adjustment every time you use it.
The hinges are cause for concern also, as they feel very loose and we suspect they are entirely constructed from plastic. Given how loose they are, we think that they may be particularly prone to breaking fairly quickly. The cables that run from the earcups are also something to make note of – they feel really cheap and inflexible, and given how exposed they are there could be potential for accidental damage. Additionally, the cables are disconcertingly taught when the headset is on its largest setting which worries us as they could be gradually pulled out. This is made worse as the adjustment mechanism means these cables will be pulled on very frequently.
The leatherette that covers the headband and earcup padding feels soft but inexpensive and the included cables are cheap and rubbery. They’re functional, but that’s about it. It’s not all bad news as the buttons are clicky and impressively tactile and the metal plates on the outside of the earcups are satisfyingly cold and sturdy to the touch.
Sound quality
This is where the OneOdio A11s win a point back. The bass is actually pretty impressive for this price. It’s best described as warm and powerful. We weren’t expecting this sort of power at this price point. The ‘Super Bass’ setting not only increases the bass but gives the sound a sort of tactile quality.
Unfortunately, the audio experiences a serious drop in quality as you raise the volume. The mixes get muddy and the notion of fidelity fades as the A11 bombard your ears with discordant noise. We can’t recommend these for a commute or any other such application where outside noise may cause you to raise the volume. The mids and highs are serviceable but nothing more – they experience a similar loss of fidelity as described above and aren’t super impressive to begin with.
We are pleased to report that the Bluetooth connection has been very reliable in our testing and we can’t detect any losses in audio fidelity through the wireless connection mode. Additionally, we were impressed with the battery life and how quickly they charged. If you need some very convenient headphones and aren’t fussed about supreme audio quality, these might be worth considering, though at this price point there are better options out in terms of audio performance.
Comfort
The A11s only weigh 160g which helps keep them comfortable, however, the padding on the earcups falls short in terms of softness, which is a problem as the clamping force is quite high. If the cups were softer this issue would be partially mitigated. The super-slim padding on the headband doesn’t provide any comfort either and the stitching that binds it to the underlying material feels like it’s liable to fray fairly quickly.
The aforementioned adjustment mechanism rears its ugly head in terms of comfort too. The lack of friction means that it can readjust itself as you are using it, particularly when walking. The light headband exacerbates this as all the weight of the headset is in the earcups meaning they frequently click downwards away from the headband. As a result, we are unable to recommend the OneOdio A11s for use out and about.
Final verdict
The OneOdio A11s come in at a very competitive price and have disproportionately powerful bass on their side. The wired and wireless connections are solid and have not demonstrated any loss of signal or related unreliability. We like the visual design of the headset with limited application of logos and smart matte black coloring. Unfortunately, the overall sound quality is substandard, especially at higher volumes. The built quality is the worst we’ve seen from OneOdio with some worryingly flimsy materials and possibly the least reliable adjustment system we’ve experienced with headphones. We don’t recommend the OneOdios due to these issues. If you’re limited to the sub-$40 price range, there are better options out there.
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