ALPHA & DELTA D2W Bluetooth Sport earphones

Alpha & Delta is a Singapore brand that designs and manufactures earphones. Being audiophiles themselves, their products receive a healthy following of audiophiles and fans. My first encounter with A&D earphones was the D2M wired earphones that feels amazingly comfortable with respectable audio balance.



The new D2W is the first wireless earphones and takes after the D2. With the same earbud mould and behind-ear cable design, the D2W is equally comfortable. Like the D2, the D2W is IPX4 water rated, and connects via the latest Bluetooth 5. The benefit of Bluetooth 5, besides high data transmission for better sound quality, is the ease of pairing. The D2W automatically goes into pairing mode when no connection is found.



Many wireless earphones come with cable management clips. What I like about the D2W is that the cables are already clipped out of the box so that I can use it instantly without fussing over the setup. There are 2 in-line compartments, one of which stores the battery, but the D2W only has 60mAh capacity and lasts merely 4 hours music play time, which is below average for wireless earphones in this era.

Audio quality
The D2W sounds better than the D2M, thanks to better sound staging, instrumental separation, and a little more treble presence. The bass gets really full when you get a good in-canal seal, but the treble is able to present its clear and bright tones without harshness or sounding pushy, though lacking the midrange support resulting in a not-so-rounded experience. Sound staging is wide and close, with distinct instrumentation positioning to allow comfortable listening and detailing. You get the bassiness without veiling the highs, which is great for modern genres, while Classical tracks might lack excitement.

The unfortunate side-effect is the hiss noise which is distracting for soft music, though most casual users would not notice it when using the earbuds at open environments. Another unpleasant feature is the voice prompts and button beeps which I find too loud. When battery runs low, the loud voice prompts play persistently every 15 seconds for about 6 times before shutting down.

Verdict
The D2W is Alpha & Delta’s first wireless earphones, retaining the comfortable behind-the-ear fit of the wired D2 series. The battery life is too short for my liking, the noise floor is audible in quiet environments, the beeps with button presses are too loud. In comparison, the similarly-priced local brand Creative Outlier One might be too bright-sounding, less bass-warmth, and more fatiguing on the ears as the earbuds protude more and requires ear hooks to hold the earbuds in place.

Official Product Website: https://www.alphandelta.com/d2w

Specifications

• Bluetooth Chipset: Bluetooth 5.0
• Driver: 10 mm Dynamic Drive
• Battery capacity: 60 mah
• Music playback time: 4 hours
• Talking time: 5 hours
• Charging port: Micro USB Type B
• Sensitivity: 97 +/- 3dB
• Microphone sensitivity: 42 +/- 3dB
• Supports Multipoint: Yes

ALPHA & DELTA D2W REVIEW:

SOUND:7/10
CONSTRUCTION: 7.5/10
DESIGN: 8.5/10
VALUE: 7.5/10

INTRO:

After the great success of their budget minded D2 sport earphones, Alpha & Delta logicaly decided to make a bluetooth version of this fun sounding single drivers earphones. Using latest 5.0 Bluetooth connection, it promise excellent stable connectivity, sleek versatile water proof design and a warm bassy and rich soundsignature.

Called the D2W, this bluetooth earphones are priced around 50$, wich make them very affordable. Now let’s see if it worth the buy in term of features and mosty importantly sound quality.

You can find all Alpha & Delta products from official distributor LEND ME UR EARS


DISCLAIMER: I wanna thanks Lend Me Ur Ears for sending me this review sample. I’m not affiliated with this audio product distributor and all my toughs are my own.

INFO SPECS:

Bluetooth Chipset: Bluetooth 5.0

• Driver: 10 mm Dynamic Drive
  
  
• Battery capacity: 60 mah
  
  
• Music playback time: 4 hours
  
  
• Talking time: 5 hours
  
  
• Charging port: Micro USB Type B
  
  
• Sensitivity: 97 +/- 3dB
  
  
• Charging Volt: 5.0 V
  
  
• Working Volt: 3.7V
  
  
• Microphone sensitivity: 42 +/- 3dB
  
  
• Build in microphone: Yes
  
  
• Supports Multipoint: Yes
  
  

ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN:




UNBOXING is minimalist and not particularly glorious in its presentation, but still, it have everything we need wich is 3 pairs of silicone eartips, a pair of nice Memory Foam eartips, a carrying pouch, a cable clip and micro usb charging cable.



CONSTRUCTION is all plastic with a black mate finish that promess good grip in hands. It neither feel cheap or greatly built and reflect its price value in the choice of economical material. Still, the type of plastic used with mate rubber look enough robust to be able to trow it on the ground without caring about potential breaking. The D2W are light and kinda sturdy.



DESIGN is quite interesting and most of all VERY comfortable due to small universal custom housing shape. Even if not true wireless, the D2W over ear wearing design make it extremely portable and practical as the cable can be wear back or front of your head.



When the cable isn’t extended, it fit perfectly at the back of your head in a natural comfy way due to very light material used. This sure is a big plus for people doing jogging or exercise with the D2W because it will never fall from you ears, its water resistance, have good isolation and will not create ear fatigue due to inexistant discomfort in long use. Sometime, simplicity is the best approach for design, and here Alpha & Delta create a very practical bluetooth earphones that understand human body for real.

INTERFACE is well thinked too and cover every need. You have 3 buttons that do control everything but fast foward and rewind. It can pause-play, skip or back tracks and control volume. The features work even with my Xduoo X20 wich is indeed impressive.

BATTERY LIFE is average and similar to what we can find since 5 years with bluetooth iem. Its stated as 5 hour, but as I listen to max volume it can hold 4 hours. This is one of the biggest drawback with near any bluetooth earphones.

CONNECTIVITY is excellent and very stable, unlike other bluetooth headphones or earphones I try, I do not encounter sound cutting with the bluetooth source near by. Distance can go up to 15 meter, but as with any bluetooth signal, it cannot pass trough all type of walls.



SOUND:



First impressions was rather positive without being spectacular or particularly impressive. I feel easily at home with such a warm permissive and innoffensive soundsignature, the D2W are bassy and balanced sounding with slight U shape soundsignature and hint of darkness in treble. For some, they will be overly warm and lack details, for other it will be a blessing to be able to enjoy this type of bass and smooth clarity that have a laid back approach.

SOUNDSTAGE is wide and have a stereo like approach, it isn’t very tall and lack a little deepnest.

IMAGING isn’t particularly impressive due to average level of clarity, we are far from analytical earphones with sharp instrument separation.

BASS dig very low and sub have good thickness and control, timbre is very warm and opposite of bright or grainy with a buttery, thick and opaque presentation. Mid bass is smooth and bleed on the mid range without drowning vocals. Punch is weighty with a round smoothed attack, again, its thick and innofensive, wich is surprising due to amount of energy bass can deliver.

MID RANGE is slightly recessed but well rounded up with its slight upper mids gain, vocal do not feel far away from you and have good wide that avoid a too intimate or centered approach. Body is quite thick but keep enough tranparency to offer enough richnest in whole range. Instrument have good weight and male vocal benifit from bass emphasis. Instrument like cello, violin and piano do sound nice, but acoustic guitar lack details in timbre and grip in attack.

TREBLE is rolled off in upper highs and have all its emphasis in lower region wich make the mid range lusher than all other frequencies. The D2W aren’t very detailed and you will not find alot of micro details as well as sparkle or decay. This make the D2W very permissive to bad recording and this can be a plus to have a laid back earphones in your collection, to me, its a break from bright or very energic earphones.

SUB BASS: 7.5
MID BASS : 7/10
MID RANGE : 7/10
TREBLE : 6.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE : 7/10
IMAGING : 7/10
ATTACK-DECAY : 6.5/10


COMPARAISONS :



VS MACAW T60 Bluetooth earphones (around 20$) :



These T60 are on the market since about 2 years now and they still can compete with pricier BT iem due to great sound performance. When it come to connectivity, they show their age as it’s way less trustable than the D2W with its 5.0 bluetooth, the T60 is 4.0 and not a good one, connectivity is unstable and will cut sound time to time even with the sound source in my pocket.

SOUNDSTAGE have a little more out of your head feel with T60 due to taller presentation, as well, there a little more deepnest, but widnest is the same as D2W.

IMAGING is a littlle clearer with T60 due to brighter soundsignature, but both earphones aren’t particularly talented in this department.

BASS of the D2W is weightier and more impactfull and make the T60 feel thin and dry and lacking thickness in body. Mid bass punch is faster and more emphased with T60.

MID RANGE is warmer with D2W, male vocal sound more full bodied while T60 have more details in female vocal. Instrument separation in mid range is clearer with the T60.

TREBLE is slightly more extended with T60 and feel brighter as well. Without being a details beast, percussion and micro details are more fowards than more laid back D2W. T60 have higher resolution and a more mature tuning.

COMFORT is an issue with the T60 strange housing shape and a very very big drawback as it can affect the sound quality. D2W is extremely comfortable and will not tend to fall or hurt the ears like the T60.

All in all, in term of sound quality alone, the T60 offer a more detailed and balanced sound but the bad connectivity, low battery life and comfort issue make it an overall inferior value than D2W.



VS QCY Q29 True Wireless BT earphones (40$) :


With a promising design, the Q29 trigger my expectation too high and I was disapointed by sound performance and even more by maximum volume level. The connectivity being kind of ackward as well, it will not suit any BT device.

Battery life is superior to the 5 hours one of D2W as it can go up to about 10H with the type of use I make. That’s about it for positive aspect.

BASS can cause distortion is sound strangely dry and lifeless compared to full bodied and impactfull D2W bass.

MID RANGE is dark, dry, thin and congested in a small soundstage that affect instrument separation negatively. D2W vocal are fuller and wider sounding and have more presence even if slightly warmed by lower end.

TREBLE is unbalanced with strange peak in mid highs that make percussion shrilling. The D2W without being a treble beast have a way more smooth and natural high range and the timbre of instrument is fuller and richer.

All in all, the D2W sound from another league, is more comfortable and feel more sturdy (aka Stay away from the QCY Q29).



CONCLUSION :

This is hard to not love the Alpha&Delta D2W due to its gentle treble and laid back bassy soundsignature, but it’s hard to adore them too for die hard audiophile as they aren’t spectacular in term of clarity and imaging.

Anyway, it would be dumb to think that a Sport earphones stated has having a fun sound will impress audiophile that search for balanced and analytical sound, it isn’t tuned (and priced) as serious earphones and the lack of maturity in tuning refinement do not make the D2W sound unbalanced or not musical, quite the opposite in fact because the overall frequencies curve is smooth wihtout harsh peaks in treble.

With its great stable connectivity, very comfortable waterproof design and an enjoyable laid back, bassy and slightly dark sound, the Alpha&Delta D2W are the perfect all arounder bluetooth earphones for youngsters, joggers or treble sensitive music lovers.



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