INTRO:-
Unless you were living in a cave for some years, everyone has heard about Brainwavz and most of us have owned them too. The are one of the most active brands in the market. With plethora of products under their belt they have reach from $15 earphones to $250 earphone. Let have multiple flagships let it be their DD or BA earphones or Headphones. They usually target the mass market with mouth watering prices. Tempting to the limit and maybe beyond when in sale.
Their BLU series has seen couple of very successful earphones. The BLU-100 left everyone awe inspired when launched with a lowly price tag and the BLU-200 improved on the 100.
Here I will look into the BLU-300, the 3rd and the cheapest member of the lineup. With an mop of just under $40 it looks sleek and has a neck bend design with a magnetic clasp and with its IPX7 rating it is bound to get attention from gym goers and everyone else.
The market is flooded with plenty of BT earphones in this price, but we will look into a couple of other BT modules to see if the BLU-300 is really worth it or not.
You can get yours from here:-
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/products/blu-300-wireless-sports-earphones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07J5RZG8V
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J5RZG8V
P.S. I am not a BT guy, but I will be very lenient with my words.
ACCESSORIES:-
The BLU-300 is very lowly when it comes to accessories too. It doesn’t come with the trademark Brainwavz red/black case, there is no carry case in the box, and only one pair of tips. The charging cable and warranty card sums up the list of accessories.
Possibly because it will not fit into the box, but putting in some tips is something they could have done.
BUILD QUALITY, CABLE AND MIC:-
The BLU-300 is built very well, it feels very sturdy and solid in hand. The all metal housing brings plenty of confidence about its durability. The neck bend rest on the collar and is built with good quality plastic, unless you go hard at it, it will last anyone for couple of years at least. One has to take a bit of care of the cables, as they are the biggest reason why BT earphones fail. (few years ago I suggested Brainwavz to go Removable cables, but it went in vain).
The cable is long enough and is fairly comfortable. The remote is well built too. This time around it has separated power and volume buttons. The bigger power/call answer/end button is easy to reach and operate.
The power button works as answer/cut for calls, does work for pause and play for music too, but one has to manually initiate the music app first. The volume buttons work as usual. Holding the volume buttons for a couple of seconds changes the song.
USAGE:-
It nearly takes 90 to 120 minutes to charge from battery low to full. It shows red lightly while charging and blue lightly when charged. Holding the power button for a couple of seconds turns the device on, a blue light starts blinking, holding it for another two seconds initiates the pairing mode, blue and red light blink simultaneously.
The range is said to be 10m and it is around 8m even with a wall in between, the reception quality has improved considerably and the amount of lag has recued too.
I will never be able to test the Stand by time, but the playback time is respectable at around 7 and half hours depending on the volume. Calling will reduce the life by a couple of hours. I can't be on call for that long to test it, so.. bite it.
You cannot pair another device while streaming from another. If a call comes from the other device, the music will stop and will resume once the call is disconnected.
The MIC quality is good with good amount of clarity, picks plenty of back ground sounds too.
Paired with my Pixel 2 and A7 2016.
SOUND QUALITY:-
The BLU-300 relies on a 10mm dynamic driver for the heavy lifting and BT 4.1 for connecting, it's not the latest and might struggle while streaming Loss-less files. To me, its baseless to stream Loss-less files over BT anyway. For general listening one will be very pleased with the performance.
Its bass heavy sound with good amount of mid range emphasis gives it a very engaging signature. It’s a L shaped signature with plenty of warmth and a bit of coloration.
BASS:-
It’s the driving force of this earphone. Older models were slightly more mid bassy with a slower decay, the 300 focuses on the sub-bass rumble and gives plenty of vibrations at around 60-90hz, it feels pretty satisfying compared to older models.
Bass has a nicely rounded body with a punchy and airy bass. The slam feels more natural thanks to faster decay. Lower end extension is pretty good. One cannot be critical about of details here but the 300 has good amount of details and texture. Notes don’t feel overly attacking or flashy and are well rounded. It has good amount of resolution but as usual density is missing.
Bass is well within limits and delivers a sound signature enjoyable for everyday use. Yes its nearly bass head level of bass, only if it has slightly bigger body, I would have labeled it bass-head.
Mid bass is nicely controlled with good amount of decay speed. Upper bass too is pretty clean. The driver handles the bass like a champ. I will not call it the best but yes It can be the best for an BT earphone in this price.
MID RANGE:-
Whenever I hear BT I lower my expectations considerably. I just simply cant expect it to pick up wired level of micro details and clarity. What I can expect is a signature easy on ears and acceptable levels of transparency.
The 300 is better than 100 and 200 in this regard. It has better details and clarity. The timber feels more natural and notes have better sharpness with more accurate body. And more than everything, it doesn’t sound hollow.
The vocals are the focus here and both male and female vocals sound natural, female vocals sound slightly off, just slightly. They have good amount of texture to them.
Instruments do have some clarity but as we go deeper into the spectrum thighs get more gloomy and they tend to lose intensity. Layering and separation is acceptable. Stage size is better than some wired earphones.
HIGHS:-
The nicer the lesser you talk about it. It's not like it's totally missing but it lacks extension, there is some upper mid energy which extends up to lower highs, but that’s it, over that its muted, lacks enough energy to be clear, but till that slump its got more than enough energy, more than S0 to be precise. And it's not bad, it just lacks much needed extension. Cymbals are okay, guitars are good, but when you get into some fast paced music with some serious instrument work, it falls on its back, everything sounds pretty much veiled, giving up much details, so play some slow jams, with lesser instruments, some POP, trance and house is just okay as they just use synthesizers in the track and it is just fine. If the track has few more things playing in the background, it just feels very bust lacking any focus or transparency.
So stick to pop, and hip-hop, not rock, if rock don’t expect details.
COMPARISON:-
In recent past I have tried some other BT cables from KZ and TRN, the KZ costs around $10 and TRN costs around $18 but they don’t have earpieces, What I can conclude though is that the Brainwavz Has better Reception and Vocal clarity. Trn has slightly better upper mid presence with a bit more extension but that’s it.
The one with best extension is the BLU-Delta, but it sounds thin and lacks the bass thump. Which in a gym session feels very dull and uninspiring.
CONCLUSION:-
If you will ask me, I am satisfied, my last few reviews were some $500 earphones with up to 5 drivers so I simply can't expect that level of performance here.
1. I expected an engaging sound signature, and I got it.
2. I expected very good reception and I got that with very clear voices at both ends for calls.
3. And more than those, I wanted lesser amount of mid-bass, and the BLU-300 delivered in that front.
Yes it doesn’t have much treble presence, you can't expect that from an BT device any way unless you are spending $1000. It is a very good option for gym goers, commuting use, jogging use in the park, and for casual listening to Netflix to Amazon Prime episodes.
That’s it guys, have fun, enjoy, cheers.