[size=24.7999992370605px]INTRODUCTION[/size]
Brainwavz is a well established manufacturer of headphones in the value for money category – offering many different options (especially for IEMs) that suit almost anyone’s sonic preferences.
I’ve had regular contact with Audrey from Brainwavz, and when she asked me to consider reviewing an entry point mini amplifier (the AP001), I immediately agreed – intrigued by a possible new direction for them.
I received the courier pack a few days ago – and although I haven’t had a lot of time with the AP001 , its basic functionality doesn’t take a huge amount of time to test, so I thought I’d pass on my thoughts before I start working on my next major review projects.
I have already spent as much time as I could with the AP001 – logging about 18-20 hours so far with a variety of different earphones.
I’ve listed price at USD $29.50 (current MP4Nation price at time of writing) – however this is not what I paid for them (they are a review sample).
DISCLAIMER
I was provided the AP001 as a review sample. I am in no way affiliated with Brainwavz - and this review is my honest opinion of the Brainwavz AP001. I would like to thank Audrey for making this opportunity available.
PREAMBLE - 'ABOUT ME'.
I'm a 47 year old music lover. I don't say audiophile – I just love my music. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly changed from cheaper listening set-ups to my current set-up. I vary my listening from portable (Fiio X5, X1 and iPhone5) to my desk-top's set-up (PC > coax > NFB-12 > LD MKIV > HP). I also use a portable set-up at work – either X5 > HP, or PC > Beyer A200p > HP. My main full sized headphones at the time of writing are the Beyer T1 and Sennheiser HD600. Most of my portable listening is done with IEMs, and up till now it has mainly been with the Fidue A83, A81, Dunu DN-1000 and Altone200. A full list of the gear I have owned (past and present is listed in my Head-Fi profile).
I also formerly owned several portable amps including the Arrow 4G, GoVibe PortaTube, Fiio’s E7, and E11. I own the Fiio E11K (currently on a mini tour of Australia with my X1) and Beyerdynamic A200p but generally do not use portable amps – especially since buying the Fiio X5.
I have very eclectic music tastes listening to a variety from classical/opera and jazz, to grunge and general rock. I listen to a lot of blues, jazz, folk music, classic rock, indie and alternative rock. I am particularly fond of female vocals. I generally tend toward cans that are relatively neutral/balanced. I am neither a bass nor treble head (you could argue that I do like clarity though). I am not treble sensitive (at all).
For the purposes of this review - I used the Brainwavz AP001 with both my iPhone 5S and Fiio X5. In the limited time I have spent with the AP001, I have noticed no change to the overall sonic presentation (I do not believe in 'night and day' burn-in). I will respect others choice if they believe in physical burn-in, but I am yet to experience it.
This is a purely subjective review - my gear, my ears, and my experience. Please take it all with a grain of salt - especially if it does not match your own experience.
The unit arrived in a compact all plastic outer retail package. The front is quite plain with just the name and picture of the product. The rear has a clear window showing the AP001. Below that is a list of its features and specifications.
Removing the outer packaging exposes a simple plastic tray housing the AP001 and 2 cables (charging and interconnect).
The micro USB charging cable is quite short (about 22 cm plug tip to plug tip), but appears well made. The interconnect (3.5mm to 3.5mm) is approx 12 cm in length. The actual cable is very thin but very flexible.
Overall, quite a spartan but practical offering – especially when you consider the price point.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The table below lists most of the available specifications. I have asked Audrey for the impedance measurements for the headphone out, and will post those once she comes back to me.
Unfortunately there is no information on output voltage, distortion, SNR or channel separation.
BUILD / DESIGN
The build quality is generally very good.
The outer body appears to be a hard plastic and it is pretty solid – and very light weight. The front plate however seems to be some sort of alloy. Despite the square form factor, the edges are not sharp.
The casing itself is square with a center notch. I’m honestly not sure what this design is for – the only thing I can think of is that you can slot the interconnect cable through it so it stays with the unit when not in use – the plug seems to be sized for it anyway. Edit - apparently it's so you can wind the cable of your IEMs around it to keep it tidy - or at least that's one of the possible uses anyway.
The unit has 4 ports or sockets – all clearly labelled. At the bottom is the 3.5mm socket for the line-in (or source). On the left hand size is the micro USB socket for charging. On the top of the AP001 are two 3.5 mm headphone sockets.
All of the sockets are relatively firm, and appear to do their job nicely.
There is no volume control, or EQ control. What you see is what you get.
BATTERY / INDICATORS
Charging is done via the supplied micro USB cable. When plugged and powered (charging), the light inside the center glows amber. When fully charged the light goes out. Charging takes somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours.
Battery life is quoted at 12 hours – and I have been using it for 6-8 hours at a stretch with no signs of depletion, so those numbers look solid.
When in use (audio signal engaged), the central light glows blue. It is possible to have the unit charging and playing at the same time – and both lights are shown.
AUTO ON / OFF
The design of the AP001 is switchless, so when an audio signal is recognised, it switches on. When the audio signal stops, it goes into a timed shut-off mode, and switches itself off after a preset time. Sounds very good in theory, and most of the time it works well – but there is a caveat which I discovered, and it is one of the most annoying things about this unit. The auto on/off is not sensitive enough. When I was using it with my T1’s (high impedance – requiring plenty of volume), the AP001 turned on with no problems, and ran with no problems over the space of several hours (sounded really good too). But when I ran sensitive earphones (my Fidue A83) with the Fiio X5 as source, I had issues to get the AP001 to turn on (had to either “hot-plug” it to create a static pop loud enough for the device to turn on, or boost the volume enough for the device to recognise the audio). I’m a relatively quiet listener – so with the Fidues, actually keeping the unit playing was another issue. After the preset shut-off time, and in the midst of my listening, the unit would simply click-off. This happened with theX5 with my A83 and Altone200. The Dunu1000 needed just a little more power, so they were OK. Strangely, it also played better with the iPhone 5S (as far as recognition of audio goes), than it did with the X5. Anyway – it was pretty annoying. It was good when working – but caveat emptor for those with sensitive IEMs and low listening habits.
Edit : the issue with low volume from source has been confirmed by Raz at MP4Nation. It appears the X5 isn't the ideal source for this particular amp, so I'm amending the review up 1/2 a star, as they'll bring out a list of compatible devices eventually. So far it has worked well with the iPhone 5S. The additional 1/2 star simply because I shouldn't be downgrading based on the X5 not being an ideal source.
OTHER ISSUES / NOTES
The other issues that need to be mentioned are"
A loud static pop (mainly on sensitive IEMs) when plugging or unplugging the source plug from/to its socket. It’s loud enough with less sensitive gear, but with IEMs like the A83, it’s actually almost pain inducing. Again caveat emptor – you can avoid it as long as you know it’s there.
Also it seems to be prone to some EMF – not all the time – but when it strikes it’s annoying. It had been clear with the X5, but at work yesterday plugged to my iPhone, and sitting close to a phone and PC, I could clearly hear static from time to time. Moving it away from the PC helped. I haven’t had the same issues at home, so I’m wondering if it’s just the basic poorly shielded budget work PC.
And a note of interest – this amp is not actually a Brainwavz design – but rather an OEM generic design. Hopefully it is a direction that Brainwavz expands upon (by introducing their own designs in future), as we know what they are capable with earphones of their own design.
SONIC COMPARISONS / IMPRESSIONS / POWER
OK – that’s my little gripes out of the way – how did it sound?
To me it was relatively clear, and just seemed to add some mid and sub-bass to the base sonics of whatever I used it with.
One of the first things I tested when I got the unit was the actual amplification circuit, and location of the bass boost (using test tones and an SPL meter). This is not going to be hugely accurate – but should give us an idea. I didn’t go lower than 100 Hz (was too difficult to measure accurately – my meter is not that sensitive), but what I did find was volume boost as follows:
So it’s clear that the actual amplification supplied by the amp is subtle (specs say 120% increase of audio – but that’s not what I’m measuring – unless you take that measurement in the bass area). And the bass boost seems to be centered around the 100 Hz area – which is why it’s adding a nice thump to headphones that need it – and not bleeding into the mid-range.
Pairing the AP001 with my Altone200 and Dunu1000 was bordering on too much bass for me. It added a darkness to both IEMs that simply did not gel with my tastes. The A83 was much better (apart from the sensitivity issues – on/off conundrum), and so was the Alfa Genus from Rockjaw (with the black treble filters fitted).
I also tried a couple of portable headphones. My son’s Momentum On-ear was pretty good – I find it a little thin for my tastes - and the AP001 helped, although it did become slightly boomy, and on a couple of tracks it was distorting slightly. I also tried the UE6000 and this made an already relatively balanced (but warm) headphone quite bassy and too dark again for my tastes.
The real surprise for me was with my T1. I know an iPhone can’t power it properly – it gets loud enough, but ends up anaemic in the bass. Adding the AP001, and the beautiful mids and detail were still present, and this time the AP001 was able to supply what was missing in the bass from being underpowered. It was probably the only combination I really enjoyed during my time testing the AP001. It wasn’t just good, it was very good.
The AP001 may appeal to people on a very restricted budget, who need a modest volume increase to their portable set-up, who want a permanent bass boost, and who might like to share their listening with another person via the dual headphone outs. Mainly I suspect it will be sold to the curious (it’s cheap enough to take a risk on).
But for the reasons I listed in the review, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone I know. In this case I don’t think it’s particularly good value. No volume control, a weak amplifier, EQ always on, and a sometimes iffy (in my case) auto on/off. For the same money you can get a Fiio E6 which is a similar size, but has better amplification, volume control and a switchable EQ. The only thing that I can see as a plus over the E6 would be the dual headphone outs. And if you can stretch the budget to $60 you can get a real amplifier in the E11K, or a CMOY.
Two and a half stars from me.
Brainwavz is a well established manufacturer of headphones in the value for money category – offering many different options (especially for IEMs) that suit almost anyone’s sonic preferences.
I’ve had regular contact with Audrey from Brainwavz, and when she asked me to consider reviewing an entry point mini amplifier (the AP001), I immediately agreed – intrigued by a possible new direction for them.
I received the courier pack a few days ago – and although I haven’t had a lot of time with the AP001 , its basic functionality doesn’t take a huge amount of time to test, so I thought I’d pass on my thoughts before I start working on my next major review projects.
I have already spent as much time as I could with the AP001 – logging about 18-20 hours so far with a variety of different earphones.
I’ve listed price at USD $29.50 (current MP4Nation price at time of writing) – however this is not what I paid for them (they are a review sample).
DISCLAIMER
I was provided the AP001 as a review sample. I am in no way affiliated with Brainwavz - and this review is my honest opinion of the Brainwavz AP001. I would like to thank Audrey for making this opportunity available.
PREAMBLE - 'ABOUT ME'.
I'm a 47 year old music lover. I don't say audiophile – I just love my music. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly changed from cheaper listening set-ups to my current set-up. I vary my listening from portable (Fiio X5, X1 and iPhone5) to my desk-top's set-up (PC > coax > NFB-12 > LD MKIV > HP). I also use a portable set-up at work – either X5 > HP, or PC > Beyer A200p > HP. My main full sized headphones at the time of writing are the Beyer T1 and Sennheiser HD600. Most of my portable listening is done with IEMs, and up till now it has mainly been with the Fidue A83, A81, Dunu DN-1000 and Altone200. A full list of the gear I have owned (past and present is listed in my Head-Fi profile).
I also formerly owned several portable amps including the Arrow 4G, GoVibe PortaTube, Fiio’s E7, and E11. I own the Fiio E11K (currently on a mini tour of Australia with my X1) and Beyerdynamic A200p but generally do not use portable amps – especially since buying the Fiio X5.
I have very eclectic music tastes listening to a variety from classical/opera and jazz, to grunge and general rock. I listen to a lot of blues, jazz, folk music, classic rock, indie and alternative rock. I am particularly fond of female vocals. I generally tend toward cans that are relatively neutral/balanced. I am neither a bass nor treble head (you could argue that I do like clarity though). I am not treble sensitive (at all).
For the purposes of this review - I used the Brainwavz AP001 with both my iPhone 5S and Fiio X5. In the limited time I have spent with the AP001, I have noticed no change to the overall sonic presentation (I do not believe in 'night and day' burn-in). I will respect others choice if they believe in physical burn-in, but I am yet to experience it.
This is a purely subjective review - my gear, my ears, and my experience. Please take it all with a grain of salt - especially if it does not match your own experience.
THE REVIEW
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIESThe unit arrived in a compact all plastic outer retail package. The front is quite plain with just the name and picture of the product. The rear has a clear window showing the AP001. Below that is a list of its features and specifications.
Removing the outer packaging exposes a simple plastic tray housing the AP001 and 2 cables (charging and interconnect).
The micro USB charging cable is quite short (about 22 cm plug tip to plug tip), but appears well made. The interconnect (3.5mm to 3.5mm) is approx 12 cm in length. The actual cable is very thin but very flexible.
Overall, quite a spartan but practical offering – especially when you consider the price point.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The table below lists most of the available specifications. I have asked Audrey for the impedance measurements for the headphone out, and will post those once she comes back to me.
Playback time | 12+ hours fully charged |
Charging interface | Micro USB port (cable supplied) |
Input | Single 3.5mm line in (cable supplied) |
Output | Dual 3.5 mm headphone out |
Output Impedance | To be advised |
Frequency Response | 10 Hz – 100 kHz (really ???) |
Suggested Headphone Impedance | 16 – 150 ohms |
Built In Battery | 120 mAh |
Dimensions / Weight | 38 x 38 x 12.87mm / 15.5g |
Warranty | 1 Year |
Unfortunately there is no information on output voltage, distortion, SNR or channel separation.
BUILD / DESIGN
The build quality is generally very good.
The outer body appears to be a hard plastic and it is pretty solid – and very light weight. The front plate however seems to be some sort of alloy. Despite the square form factor, the edges are not sharp.
The casing itself is square with a center notch. I’m honestly not sure what this design is for – the only thing I can think of is that you can slot the interconnect cable through it so it stays with the unit when not in use – the plug seems to be sized for it anyway. Edit - apparently it's so you can wind the cable of your IEMs around it to keep it tidy - or at least that's one of the possible uses anyway.
The unit has 4 ports or sockets – all clearly labelled. At the bottom is the 3.5mm socket for the line-in (or source). On the left hand size is the micro USB socket for charging. On the top of the AP001 are two 3.5 mm headphone sockets.
All of the sockets are relatively firm, and appear to do their job nicely.
There is no volume control, or EQ control. What you see is what you get.
BATTERY / INDICATORS
Charging is done via the supplied micro USB cable. When plugged and powered (charging), the light inside the center glows amber. When fully charged the light goes out. Charging takes somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours.
[size=12.8000001907349px][/size] | |
Amber light - charging | Blue light - amp in use (with Fiio X5 and Fidue A83) |
Battery life is quoted at 12 hours – and I have been using it for 6-8 hours at a stretch with no signs of depletion, so those numbers look solid.
When in use (audio signal engaged), the central light glows blue. It is possible to have the unit charging and playing at the same time – and both lights are shown.
AUTO ON / OFF
The design of the AP001 is switchless, so when an audio signal is recognised, it switches on. When the audio signal stops, it goes into a timed shut-off mode, and switches itself off after a preset time. Sounds very good in theory, and most of the time it works well – but there is a caveat which I discovered, and it is one of the most annoying things about this unit. The auto on/off is not sensitive enough. When I was using it with my T1’s (high impedance – requiring plenty of volume), the AP001 turned on with no problems, and ran with no problems over the space of several hours (sounded really good too). But when I ran sensitive earphones (my Fidue A83) with the Fiio X5 as source, I had issues to get the AP001 to turn on (had to either “hot-plug” it to create a static pop loud enough for the device to turn on, or boost the volume enough for the device to recognise the audio). I’m a relatively quiet listener – so with the Fidues, actually keeping the unit playing was another issue. After the preset shut-off time, and in the midst of my listening, the unit would simply click-off. This happened with theX5 with my A83 and Altone200. The Dunu1000 needed just a little more power, so they were OK. Strangely, it also played better with the iPhone 5S (as far as recognition of audio goes), than it did with the X5. Anyway – it was pretty annoying. It was good when working – but caveat emptor for those with sensitive IEMs and low listening habits.
Edit : the issue with low volume from source has been confirmed by Raz at MP4Nation. It appears the X5 isn't the ideal source for this particular amp, so I'm amending the review up 1/2 a star, as they'll bring out a list of compatible devices eventually. So far it has worked well with the iPhone 5S. The additional 1/2 star simply because I shouldn't be downgrading based on the X5 not being an ideal source.
OTHER ISSUES / NOTES
The other issues that need to be mentioned are"
A loud static pop (mainly on sensitive IEMs) when plugging or unplugging the source plug from/to its socket. It’s loud enough with less sensitive gear, but with IEMs like the A83, it’s actually almost pain inducing. Again caveat emptor – you can avoid it as long as you know it’s there.
Also it seems to be prone to some EMF – not all the time – but when it strikes it’s annoying. It had been clear with the X5, but at work yesterday plugged to my iPhone, and sitting close to a phone and PC, I could clearly hear static from time to time. Moving it away from the PC helped. I haven’t had the same issues at home, so I’m wondering if it’s just the basic poorly shielded budget work PC.
And a note of interest – this amp is not actually a Brainwavz design – but rather an OEM generic design. Hopefully it is a direction that Brainwavz expands upon (by introducing their own designs in future), as we know what they are capable with earphones of their own design.
SONIC COMPARISONS / IMPRESSIONS / POWER
OK – that’s my little gripes out of the way – how did it sound?
To me it was relatively clear, and just seemed to add some mid and sub-bass to the base sonics of whatever I used it with.
One of the first things I tested when I got the unit was the actual amplification circuit, and location of the bass boost (using test tones and an SPL meter). This is not going to be hugely accurate – but should give us an idea. I didn’t go lower than 100 Hz (was too difficult to measure accurately – my meter is not that sensitive), but what I did find was volume boost as follows:
100 Hz | + 10 dB |
150 Hz | + 5 dB |
200 Hz | + 4 dB |
300 Hz | + 4 dB |
500 Hz – 10 kHz | + 3 dB |
So it’s clear that the actual amplification supplied by the amp is subtle (specs say 120% increase of audio – but that’s not what I’m measuring – unless you take that measurement in the bass area). And the bass boost seems to be centered around the 100 Hz area – which is why it’s adding a nice thump to headphones that need it – and not bleeding into the mid-range.
Pairing the AP001 with my Altone200 and Dunu1000 was bordering on too much bass for me. It added a darkness to both IEMs that simply did not gel with my tastes. The A83 was much better (apart from the sensitivity issues – on/off conundrum), and so was the Alfa Genus from Rockjaw (with the black treble filters fitted).
I also tried a couple of portable headphones. My son’s Momentum On-ear was pretty good – I find it a little thin for my tastes - and the AP001 helped, although it did become slightly boomy, and on a couple of tracks it was distorting slightly. I also tried the UE6000 and this made an already relatively balanced (but warm) headphone quite bassy and too dark again for my tastes.
The real surprise for me was with my T1. I know an iPhone can’t power it properly – it gets loud enough, but ends up anaemic in the bass. Adding the AP001, and the beautiful mids and detail were still present, and this time the AP001 was able to supply what was missing in the bass from being underpowered. It was probably the only combination I really enjoyed during my time testing the AP001. It wasn’t just good, it was very good.
CONCLUSION
So, we’ve come to the end of my few days with this unit – what are my thoughts?The AP001 may appeal to people on a very restricted budget, who need a modest volume increase to their portable set-up, who want a permanent bass boost, and who might like to share their listening with another person via the dual headphone outs. Mainly I suspect it will be sold to the curious (it’s cheap enough to take a risk on).
But for the reasons I listed in the review, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone I know. In this case I don’t think it’s particularly good value. No volume control, a weak amplifier, EQ always on, and a sometimes iffy (in my case) auto on/off. For the same money you can get a Fiio E6 which is a similar size, but has better amplification, volume control and a switchable EQ. The only thing that I can see as a plus over the E6 would be the dual headphone outs. And if you can stretch the budget to $60 you can get a real amplifier in the E11K, or a CMOY.
Two and a half stars from me.