Overview
I was fortunate enough to be asked to beta test these headphones.
I’m no stranger to testing new items. My full time job is working in computer systems development, where we build new systems or maintain existing systems. I live in the world of the system development life cycle and know what it takes to build, test and deploy consumer products.
These are not my first bluetooth headphones, I’ve owned quite a few and used others. My first pair of on ear bluetooth headphones were the inexpensive Arctic Cooling headphones I used at the gym. This was years before the bluetooth IEM were available. The convenience was, at that time, realized.
Now, I currently own and use Bose Soundsport Free. I’ve also invested in the Radsone Earstudio ES100. I mention all this just to set the stage that I’m familiar with the bluetooth tech and have a baseline of what I am going to compare the Aiwa ARC-1 against.
Fit/Finish
The ARC-1 is a combination of leather, metal and plastic. The ear cups are black plastic, molded into a modest shape. They really do not draw a lot of attention. The left cup is plain with no markings or buttons. The right cup contains all the buttons and controls. It also has an indicator light for power, bluetooth, connectivity. A series of 4 horizontal lights give you a battery level indicator without needing to use your playback device.
The headband is padded underneath and the top is a leather band embossed with the AIWA name. It flows down the side where on either side just before the ear cups is a red AIWA logo badge.
At first touch, they do not feel as solid as they are. Once you manipulate them, though - they give you much better confidence. For the price, point they should last you a good, long time. Plus, Aiwa is giving you a great warranty with them as well.
The inside of the ear cups are a red cloth material with indicators of the left and right channel. You can also tell which way the headphones should go on just by looking for and placing the flat side of the ear cups forward.
Comfort
Clamping force feels just right. These are one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever used. Very light, soft pads that make a good seal. The only other headphones I’ve used that are more comfortable are the Beyerdynamic DT880 Special Editions. Those have velour ear pads, so they would have a slight advantage there.
Extended sessions with the headphones just confirm their comfort. There are times when you’ll forget they are on.
Sound
Now, let’s look at the relative sound signature of these headphones.
Let’s get into the general audio quality.
Lows/Bass
Bass is present and emphasized in tracks that call for it. The “bassiest” headphones I have ar Beyer DT 770s and these are ranked up there with them. They can go low when you want it, but also have a good slam when it is needed.
Using Marian Hill’s “Breathe Into Me”, you get a good idea of what these headphones are capable. They dig deep and give you a nice full and somewhat bloomy boom. It does bleed over into the mids a bit, but I didn’t find that it detracted a ton from the experience.
In regards to slam, I use AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. You get a nice slam of the drums here. Definitely much more than a Grado phone.
Midrange/Vocals
Vocals are present and mid tones are there, but not forward in comparison to say the Grado line. I’d consider it more balanced and well represented.
High/Treble
The highs do not sparkle or shine like they do on a Beyer DT880 or Grado SR225e. They are more laid back and polite on the majority of the tracks that I listened too. Are they the most detailed headphones I’ve ever heard...no, but they will get you there. On sibilant tracks like Queen’s Killer Queen, or Sarah Brightman’s Deliver Me, the vocals and instruments are never piercing or fatiguing. However, on Rammstein’s Mehr, there was quite a bit of sibilance in the male lead vocals.
I also tested the headphones wired on my home setup of FiiO e10k DAC, fed into a Little Dot Mk II with stock tubes.
I can say that these do take to an amp setup very well. All sibilance in the Rammstein track mentioned above was completely gone. The home combo smoothed out the rough edges.
Soundstage/Separation
The soundstage is relatively average. There is a decent amount of “surroundness” to it, but the sound definitely feels like it is coming from the headphone locations more so than from around you. There is some good binaural qualities, so you get that going for you. As we all know, a lot of that really has more to do with the recording.
Phone Call Quality
Connected to my Google Pixel 2 XL I found phone call quality to be excellent. Audio was slightly less in volume than I would have preferred, but adequate to get the job done. People I’ve called said the sound quality was excellent and they had very little background noise contamination. I used them while doing household chores and such, but still need to test it out in more noisy environments.
General Sound Thoughts
Having beta tested these and then compared them to the production models, I can say that the ARC-1 is a good all arounder. There is something for everyone here to enjoy. I’d consider the sound from them to lean to the warmer side. They are fun to listen to. I find that I rarely need to go more than 2 ticks over half volume.
Other Features
Dual Connect
This give you the ability to have 2 devices connected at the same time. For example, I have my Pixel 2 XL connected as well as my Samsung Chromebook Pro. I consume all my media from the Chromebook, but like to have my phone available for calls or text messages.
I can listen to Google Music, then when a call comes in, the headphones automatically switch over to the phone so I can accept the call if I wish. Once the call ends and a brief lull, the Chromebook is switched back to and music played again.
Very handy and a much used feature for me. I will say that the lull between switches takes a little getting used to. I also had some issues early on with the headphones swapping back and forth when they should not have. It turned out to be an issue with an app that I run that automatically reads out text messages over my bluetooth headphones. Whenever a text would come over, it used the same audio channel as a call would, so the headphones would try and switch over.
When using the phone is dual mode, I just disable that app and all is back to where it should be.
QConnect
This feature allows another pair of bluetooth headphones to be paired with the ARC-1 so that 2 people can listen to the same audio source. Pretty awesome inclusion, if you ask me! I've not had a chance to test this out, but if I do in the future, I will add on to the review section.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t really know what to think when I first got these. I love the convenience of bluetooth, but hate having to continually charge the device. The Bose Soundsport Free have a 5 hour battery life and if they run out of battery life, you cannot use them until they charge. The ARC-1, gives you 20 hours of battery life and on top of that also gives you the ability to use a 3.5mm cable to be powered by the play source.
No one headphone can do everything exceptionally, but the ARC-1 can do a lot of things very well. They are a great utility headphone. I much prefer them to Beats or Sol Republic in similar price ranges.
I think it should also be noted that I was impressed enough with them during the beta testing that I purchased a production pair with my own money. You can see the list of what I already own below as well a the tracks that I used to test with.
Test Gear
Amp/DAC
cmoyBB 2.03
Radsone Earstudio ES100
FiiO e10k
Little Dot Mk II (stock tubes)
Headphones Compared Against
Beyerdynamic DT 700 Professional (80 Ohm)
Beyerdynamic DT 880 Special Edition Chrome (250 Ohm)
Grado SR225e (32 Ohm)
Sennheiser HD-6XX (300 Ohm)
Aiwa ARC-1
Sol Republic Tracks V8
IEMs Compared Against
Dunu DN-2000J
Bose Soundsport Free
1More Quad Driver
TFZ Exclusive 5
This is just a list of all the gear available to me for comparisons. Not all gear has or will be used in every test.
Test Tracks
Rage Against The Machine: Killing In The Name
Bjork: Hunter
Aphex Twin: Windowlicker
Marian Hill: Breathe Into Me
AC/DC: Thunderstruck
Rush: Tom Sawyer
Judas Priest: Painkiller
Bruce Hornsby: The Way It Is
Static-x: Wisconsin Death Trip
Machine Head: Now We Die
Rammstein: Feuer Frei
Queen: Killer Queen (2011 Remaster)
Pantera: 5 Minutes Alone
Pantera: Cowboys From Hell
Pantera: Cemetery Gates
Volbeat: Evelyn
Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus (2006 Remaster)
Sarah Brightman: Deliver Me
Porno For Pyros: Pets
J.S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Kitaro: Symphony Of Dreams
Rammstein: Mehr
Rammstein: Mein Herz Brennt (Piano Version)
Machine Head: Psychotic
Sarah Brightman/Andrea Bocelli: Time To Say Goodbye
Pink Floyd: Time
Kraftwerk: Metal On Metal (2009 Remaster)
John Carpenter: Halloween Theme - Main Title
Not all audio tracks will be used for testing all headphone combinations. Any ones used to test the headphones in this review will be described in detail in the sections above.
