Edifier has been producing several products that has drastically outperformed the price range their offered at. From my first product I reviewed for them, their $50 H850, to their flagship $100 W855BT and a few iems in between. Edifier has provided very sound audio products that I’ve gladly recommended to several people who’re looking for a great price/quality headphone that’s quite easy on the wallet. Introducing their introductory wireless product, the $40ish Edifier W800BT. So how will the youngest sibling in the W series hold up to its older brethren? Please allow me to share my thoughts and impressions during my time with them.
A little about me
I would like to say that first and foremost I am NOT an “audiophile” but rather an audio enthusiast. I listen to music to enjoy it. Do I prefer a lossless source? Yes, of course. But I can still be very happy streaming from Pandora or even my YouTube “My Mix” playlist. I also prefer equipment that sounds the best to me personally regardless of what frequency response it has or rather or not it's “sonically accurate” and I always have and shall continue to encourage others to do the same.
I'm a firefighter for both the civilian and military sector and the cliché of wanting to do this since I was born couldn't be more present with me. I've worked hard over the last several years to earn this position and now it's time for me to work even harder to keep it.
My interests/hobbies are powerlifting, fishing and relaxing to audio products and reviewing them to help other decide on what products would work for them. Few things make me as an audio enthusiast/review feel more accomplished than when someone tells me that I helped them find the type of sound they've always been looking for.
Now, the sound signature I personally favor is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice some of that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have nice extension and detail reveal with a smooth roll off up top as to not become harsh in the least. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are the (in no particular order) Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI & Zeus XIV, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics.
I would like to say that first and foremost I am NOT an “audiophile” but rather an audio enthusiast. I listen to music to enjoy it. Do I prefer a lossless source? Yes, of course. But I can still be very happy streaming from Pandora or even my YouTube “My Mix” playlist. I also prefer equipment that sounds the best to me personally regardless of what frequency response it has or rather or not it's “sonically accurate” and I always have and shall continue to encourage others to do the same.
I'm a firefighter for both the civilian and military sector and the cliché of wanting to do this since I was born couldn't be more present with me. I've worked hard over the last several years to earn this position and now it's time for me to work even harder to keep it.
My interests/hobbies are powerlifting, fishing and relaxing to audio products and reviewing them to help other decide on what products would work for them. Few things make me as an audio enthusiast/review feel more accomplished than when someone tells me that I helped them find the type of sound they've always been looking for.
Now, the sound signature I personally favor is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice some of that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have nice extension and detail reveal with a smooth roll off up top as to not become harsh in the least. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are the (in no particular order) Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI & Zeus XIV, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics.
Equipment used at least some point during the review
-Sources
-LG V20/HP Pavilion
-Playing Pandora, YouTube, and various format personal music
-Sources
-LG V20/HP Pavilion
-Playing Pandora, YouTube, and various format personal music
Disclaimer
I am by no means sponsored by this company or any of its affiliates. They were kind enough to send me a product for an arranged amount of time in exchange for my honest opinion. I am making no monetary compensation for this review.
The following is my take on the product being reviewed. It is to be taken “with a grain of salt” per say and as I always tell people, it is YOUR opinion that matters. So regardless of my take or view on said product, I highly recommend you listen to it yourself and gauge your own opinion.
I am by no means sponsored by this company or any of its affiliates. They were kind enough to send me a product for an arranged amount of time in exchange for my honest opinion. I am making no monetary compensation for this review.
The following is my take on the product being reviewed. It is to be taken “with a grain of salt” per say and as I always tell people, it is YOUR opinion that matters. So regardless of my take or view on said product, I highly recommend you listen to it yourself and gauge your own opinion.
The Opening Experience
Why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience
Please allow me to explain why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience with a product. Maybe it’s due to my southern roots in the hills of eastern Kentucky, but I’ve always been raised under the pretense of when you introduce yourself to someone for the first time you present yourself with confidence, class, character, pride, and competence. You greet the other person with a true warm smile, eye contact and a firm handshake. Anything less or short implies to other person that you either don’t care about them, are too full of yourself, too busy to be bothered by the likes of them, or worse, just generally disrespectful.
As a consumer, I take this same belief to when I open a new product. Why? Because think about it this way. How else can a company introduce themselves to their customers? How do they present their products? Are they packaged with pride and presented in such a way that makes the listener eager to listen to them? Or maybe they’re just wrapped up and placed in an available space. How about the box itself? Is it bogged down with jargon that says look at this, look what I can do. I’m better than anything on the market and here’s why read this and check out that. Or, is the package clean, simplistic and classy? As if saying to the customer ‘Good day, pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Please give me a listen and allow me to show you what I can do and allow my actions to speak louder than my words.’
This is why I feel so strongly about the initial presentation of a product, and I feel it’s truly a shame more people don’t. But with all that aside, let’s discuss how this products introduced itself shall we?
Please allow me to explain why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience with a product. Maybe it’s due to my southern roots in the hills of eastern Kentucky, but I’ve always been raised under the pretense of when you introduce yourself to someone for the first time you present yourself with confidence, class, character, pride, and competence. You greet the other person with a true warm smile, eye contact and a firm handshake. Anything less or short implies to other person that you either don’t care about them, are too full of yourself, too busy to be bothered by the likes of them, or worse, just generally disrespectful.
As a consumer, I take this same belief to when I open a new product. Why? Because think about it this way. How else can a company introduce themselves to their customers? How do they present their products? Are they packaged with pride and presented in such a way that makes the listener eager to listen to them? Or maybe they’re just wrapped up and placed in an available space. How about the box itself? Is it bogged down with jargon that says look at this, look what I can do. I’m better than anything on the market and here’s why read this and check out that. Or, is the package clean, simplistic and classy? As if saying to the customer ‘Good day, pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Please give me a listen and allow me to show you what I can do and allow my actions to speak louder than my words.’
This is why I feel so strongly about the initial presentation of a product, and I feel it’s truly a shame more people don’t. But with all that aside, let’s discuss how this products introduced itself shall we?
The initial handshake Edifier provided on their W800BT headphone is honestly about what I expect in a headphone of this price range. The front of the box does look rather nice I will say but the back goes to the standard “showy” design that’s to be expected in the most competitive price range. But upon opening the outer box up you’re given the W800BT positioned in a cheap white plastic shell that’s main job it to just hold the headphone in a solitary position. Lastly, inside the box, you’re given a smaller (obviously) second box which holds your micro usb charging cable, 3.5mm aux cable, warranty, and startup guide.
Not really a whole lot to talk about for the unboxing of the W800BT. It was a very normal handshake and with respect to the $40ish asking price, I honestly can’t expect much more than I received.
Construction
The build quality of the W800BT is again, quite normal for the $40ish asking price. It’s completely plastic, of cheaper quality, with no articulation sub the head adjustment, which does give very physical and audible clicks when changing. The right side of the ear cups have the power/sync button on the face plate with the volume/track control buttons on the back of the ear cup. The bottom of the right cup is where you’ll find the micro usb charging port, and on the bottom of the left cup is where you’ll find the 3.5mm aux port that can be used if you’re on a device without bluetooth of if the headphones battery dies. A side to add is that there is a silver plastic strip between the pads and the cups to offset some of the (in my case) red.
The padding is a pretty firm foam that is fairly easy to remove and replace if you were to find a correctly size aftermarket pair of pads. But taking the cost of these into consideration, I wouldn’t recommend investing in a pair of pads.
My thoughts on the construction of the W800BT is that it’s very basic. They are however incredibly light headphones as well as impressively durable (though at least in my case they do scratch fairly easily), which is to be expected with plastic. I mention this to say that for those looking for an inexpensive headphone for a younger child, these would actually be a solid choice. They can take a drop, they’re not heavy and have fairly decent isolation for one to watch their movie/show in peace.
Comfort
I’ll be honest and straight to the point with this one. The comfort can use a lot of work. The padding has zero breathability thus my ears grew a bit warm quite quick and well as the chosen material isn’t great for long duration of listening. The clamping force really isn’t that bad truthfully; the level of support is nice and i know that it’s not going to fall off my head if I bend over to grab something. What I believe to be a large factor in the level of comfort, other than the pad material selection, is that the cups themselves have NO articulation. This, at least in my case, cases pressure points on the front of my ears which limits my listening durations to not much longer than 2ish hours, but it wasn’t the best within that time frame either. Perhaps one with smaller ears/head will enjoy these more than I did.
Sound
So onto what most consider to be a very important factor in a headphone purchase, the sound quality. Coming into this I was under the pretense that this would have close to the same sound as the H850 headphone considering the similar pricing (but of course knew that the added Bluetooth feature would take away some). Unfortunately that is most certainly not the case. I mean you’re not going to be in pain listening to these, and they are very affordable, wireless, headphones, but imo they don’t perform close to what I’ve come to expect from Edifier. Now as for other $40ish headphones, um, they’re not bad, but they’re not great either, they’ll play a movie or music to pass time.
I will give credit to them for having fairly impressive musical separation (thanks to a viewer of mine for recommending the song Infected Mushroom by Spitfire). In the song just linked, it starts off fairly meh, but around the 28 second mark, when more sounds start getting introduced, the W800BT’s do a surprisingly good job at separating them and even making them sound out of your head.
Treble
The highs in the W800BT are fair. They don’t particularly give me chills but at the same time I’m not disappointed in it either. There’ve been a few cases where I heard a bit of sibilance but I’m unsure if it was the headphones or recordings because it wasn’t every time I listened to a treble based instrument/song/piece. Something I particularly did like in the W800BT’s treble is that I personally never grew fatigued with it or did it ever get harsh to me.
Mids
My personal favorite area in music in general. To me, this is where the soul is. As with the W800BT the mids are notably recessed but not to the point of being a v shape. Now, though the mids aren’t a shining focal point they do come across very clear and clean (with respect to the recession). Rather it be male or female it didn’t sound bad, just withdrawn from the rest of the music.
Bass
It’s present but it’s not gonna impress anyone. BUT with respect to the REST of the audio band of these headphones, the bass is definitely the most redeeming factor with the W800BT (reference the Infected Mushroom song again for a great example). When listening to rock music you can most certainly get a good bob your head beat.
Conclusion
My final thoughts on the Edifier W800BT is that it’s a headphone I’d say would be good to have if you just need something for a trip or want something that you don’t mind being rough with. If I may offer a recommendation, try and save up another $50 (I know it’s double the cost of these) to purchase their W855BT, the difference between the 2 headphones is astronomical, and I firmly believe will make you happier as well. The battery life of the W800BT is very good though I forgot to add earlier. I never stopwatch timed it or anything but I’d say their claim of 35 hours of listening time is quite accurate for my goodness they seem to last forever.
Also, make sure to check out my unboxing and review videos. They’re pretty awesome AND you getta put a face to the Army-Firedawg name. If this review helped you out at all please hit that thumbs up button for it really helps me out a lot. Till next time my friends, stay safe.