£6 bluetooth earphones, how bad can they be? (Sephia SL99)

[Mr.Meerkat]

I should immediately start off with a disclaimer, the title is a little misleading. Its actually not £6 but instead somewhere around £15-20 normally. However, as its Black Friday (sales), Amazon had a lightning deal on em for £5.99 so I think I'm allowed to use the price I bought em for?  

 

Proof of purchase price.

Spoiler

 

The box:

Spoiler

 

Do you really want me to rate the packaging? Its nothing special, absolutely no protective packaging such as any film to protect the headphones from scratches during manufacturing or to protect it during shipping however if you were expecting better packaging, you're probably looking at the wrong price bracket. 

 

The contents and actual headphones:

Spoiler

Inside the box was a warranty card, instructions, a set of large and a set of small silicon tips (with medium tips pre-installed). 

 

Actual review:

Lets get down to business.

 

We'll start off with build quality:

It has a soft-touch feeling texture. It feels relatively sturdy and I can't really see any major manufacturing problems. However, the silicon tube that surrounds the wire feels cheap AF as its stiff and feels very low quality. There are also a couple of very small niggles.

 

Comfort:

What can I say about it? Its a mixed bag. I really hate earhooks as they really uncomfortable for me. However, after wearing them for two hour, it didn't make my ears hurt at all so although it wasn't comfortable, as it didn't make my ears hurt (like other earhooks), I will not be harsh about it. The supplied ear tips are fine for me as well. Oddly I have to use medium ear tips for my right ear and small for my left but as they both fit perfectly fine, I'll not complain. (Should state how I'm someone who prefers IEMs>headphones, just can't wear headphones for as long). 

 

Extras: 

Ermm...nothing to note?  

 

Battery life:

I've used them for 2 hours total so far and its battery is still going strong (i.e. no connection or volume problems) so its probably safe to assume 4.5 hour stated on the box won't be too false. 

 

Sound quality:

I guess this is probably the most important factor for a pair of earphones. 

Bass: The bass seems to be controlled pretty well. Its not boomy however it may sound a little muddy at times. 

Mids: They are present and are decently clear. However, if you're listening to a song with large amounts of all three (bass, mids and highs), the mids do struggle a tad and may sound a little distorted but its nothing too bad.

Highs: They're clear, not harsh and sounds fine.

Volume: It gets loud enough. With my XZ (not like what device really makes a difference), 50% is more than loud enough if not a little too loud in a relatively quiet room. 

Overall: Its not bad. For the average consumer, they will sound absolutely fine and are definitely a good upgrade over the typical bundled pair of earphones. 

 

Noise bleed:

As they are fully closed earphones, there wasn't really any noticeable noise bleed at 50% volume. 

 

Conclusion:

 

For £6:

Build quality- 10/10, nothing special and nothing disastrous. For the price, you can't expect anything better. 

Comfort - 23/25, deducted 2 points for the earhooks. I understand why they are there and they are probably the most comfortable earhooks I've ever used but still, I hate the feeling so to me, its fair. As the rest is perfectly comfortable, no need for any more detections. 

Sound Quality - 45/50, volume gets 5/5, Bass gets a good 15/15, Mids get a reasonable 10/15 and highs get a good 15/15.

Battery life - 5/5, although I've not used it for a full cycle yet, it seems to last long enough so I'll give it a full score regardless. 

Value - 10/10

Overall: 93/100, a rating of A+

 

For £6, they're a steal. The sound quality is almost on par with the pair of Brainwavz Delta IEMs I have (£20) and really aren't too far off from my pair of Sennheiser MM30G. They're comfortable enough and they are probably the first pair of earphones/headphones with earhooks that haven't made my ears hurt so I'll forgive it for having them. 

 

For £15+:

Build quality- 7/10, nothing special and nothing disastrous. Deducted a point for the shite silicon tube (around the wire) and another 2 for the small niggles plus in a way, you can still feel that its somewhat cheaply made.

Comfort - 20/25, deducted 5 points for the earhooks. (probably a lil overkill but hey, my review, my choice on how the points are given)

Sound Quality - 34/50, volume gets 5/5, Bass gets a good 11/15, Mids get a reasonable 8/15 and highs get a good 10/15.

Battery life - 5/5, although I've not used it for a full cycle yet, it seems to last long enough so I'll give it a full score regardless. 

Value - 6/10

Overall: 72/100, a rating of B+

 

For £15+, its harder to recommend them as I've never used another pair in that price bracket. However, if I paid £15 for them, I would not have been disappointed so I'll give them a recommendation(?). 

 

I hope this review was helpful! 

[kb5zue]

Wow, I hope that you cut and pasted all that information, cuz if you didn't, that's a LOT of typing for a cheap pair of headphones.  So, was it worth it?

 

[Mr.Meerkat]

Just now, kb5zue said:

Wow, I hope that you cut and pasted all that information, cuz if you didn't, that's a LOT of typing for a cheap pair of headphones.  So, was it worth it?

Even if I did cut and paste, I would have still had to type it for the first time?  

Anyway, took me like 25 odd mins to type it all but ya know, when you're bored, its not a bad way to kill time. 

[Jayden Preciado]

Why not save up some money too? you can buy a pair of nice audio headphones for mabye 20 USD or wherever you live.

/

[EunSoo]

what was the bluetooth range like?

[Mr.Meerkat]

Just now, Jayden Preciado said:

Why not save up some money too? you can buy a pair of nice audio headphones for mabye 20 USD or wherever you live.

/

1. Already have a nice pair of Beyerdynamics Custom one pros.

2. Already have a good enough pair of IEMs (MM30G for home use as its jack is a little dud after 2 years and Brainwavz Delta for everything else).

3. My current headset (Cloud 2s) are good enough as well.

 

Yeah, I think I'm all good in terms of already having nice head/earphones  

[Mr.Meerkat]

1 minute ago, SCGazelle said:

what was the bluetooth range like?

Well I went downstairs with them on and my phone in my room, upstairs, and it worked fine so its pretty good?