You never know what sort of hidden gem awaits for me at Winners, a Canadian clothing store chain that apparently sells as much earphones as their beauty products. Today I explore the iFrogz Chromatix Earbuds, which quite surprised me among the usual crappy earbuds Winners has to offer.
I bought these expecting a mediocre to poor sound quality, and to my surprise I was wrong.
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SOUND QUALITY
In terms of sound signature, they are warm and quite natural sounding, almost leaning towards neutral sound signature. Bass for the most part is present but not emphasized so don't expect deep punchy bass, however it has no problem with providing warmth to your music. The mid frequencies are neutrally positioned, sound very natural and have no problem with producing clear vocals, although the lower-mids seem to be a bit veiled by the mid-upper bass. There is absolutely no harshness at all in the mids, especially in the high-mids. Treble here seems fairly subdued especially in the lower regions of the high frequency spectrum. Once EQ'd, it has no problem giving out some clarity in the upper portions of the treble frequency.
In terms of sound presentation, they offer surprisingly good stereo separation and a rather spacious soundstage. Obviously they don't sound as spacious and airy compared to more expensive earphones or even some of my Chi-Fi like the KZ ED9 or ATE, but it is apparent that these earphones have no problem with mimicking virtual distances in a virtual soundstage. On the detail level, there is not much fine detail you can make out; for that you may need to look at more expensive options... or Chi-Fi.
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OTHER THINGS (Fit, isolation, microphonics, etc.)
As for fit and isolation, the eartips fit great, feel comfortable and stay intact but provides only average isolation.
Microphonics on these is my only complaint as they are quite loud when the cords touch your clothes, so I'd recommend wearing them over the ear to minimize that.
And the backings of the housings are magnetic, which is definitely an added bonus.
It's also great to point out that these are micro-driver IEMs, which I have heard many worse.
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CONCLUSION
So to summarize about the sound quality. the iFrogz Chromatix offers a balanced, clear and natural/neutral sound that is very gentle to the ears and not at all harsh. The highs might sound recessed and the low-mids might sound a tad bit muddy, but nothing like an EQ can't fix. They also have excellent stereo separation and a well defined soundstage which makes you feel immersed in your music. All this for just $10.
I bought these expecting a mediocre to poor sound quality, and to my surprise I was wrong.
========================================================================
SOUND QUALITY
In terms of sound signature, they are warm and quite natural sounding, almost leaning towards neutral sound signature. Bass for the most part is present but not emphasized so don't expect deep punchy bass, however it has no problem with providing warmth to your music. The mid frequencies are neutrally positioned, sound very natural and have no problem with producing clear vocals, although the lower-mids seem to be a bit veiled by the mid-upper bass. There is absolutely no harshness at all in the mids, especially in the high-mids. Treble here seems fairly subdued especially in the lower regions of the high frequency spectrum. Once EQ'd, it has no problem giving out some clarity in the upper portions of the treble frequency.
In terms of sound presentation, they offer surprisingly good stereo separation and a rather spacious soundstage. Obviously they don't sound as spacious and airy compared to more expensive earphones or even some of my Chi-Fi like the KZ ED9 or ATE, but it is apparent that these earphones have no problem with mimicking virtual distances in a virtual soundstage. On the detail level, there is not much fine detail you can make out; for that you may need to look at more expensive options... or Chi-Fi.
========================================================================
OTHER THINGS (Fit, isolation, microphonics, etc.)
As for fit and isolation, the eartips fit great, feel comfortable and stay intact but provides only average isolation.
Microphonics on these is my only complaint as they are quite loud when the cords touch your clothes, so I'd recommend wearing them over the ear to minimize that.
And the backings of the housings are magnetic, which is definitely an added bonus.
It's also great to point out that these are micro-driver IEMs, which I have heard many worse.
========================================================================
CONCLUSION
So to summarize about the sound quality. the iFrogz Chromatix offers a balanced, clear and natural/neutral sound that is very gentle to the ears and not at all harsh. The highs might sound recessed and the low-mids might sound a tad bit muddy, but nothing like an EQ can't fix. They also have excellent stereo separation and a well defined soundstage which makes you feel immersed in your music. All this for just $10.
