Use Code “talkingstuff” for 10% Discount on the headphones on www.supereq.net
Today I have with me the SuperEQ S2 ANC Bluetooth headphones. SuperEQ is in a way related to OneOdio, one of my favourite budget wired headphones. So how good are the S2’s, watch on to find out.
With work from home becoming the norm, people are on the lookout for decent headphones and not spend a fortune on them. We have seen mostly wired headphones in the 2-3k range, but the SuperEQ S2 are a pair of headphones, with Bluetooth and ANC.
The SuperEQ S2 are mid-sized and look like on ear headphones more than over the ear. SuperEQ sent me these to try out, so we’ll do just that. I’m liking the colours, the pista green with orange combo look really nice. These are also available in black on green, and plain black colour options. These are really loud colours and are targeted more at the younger crowd. The tagline “be young, be free” does emphasise this.
The back of the box lists the specifications and contents.
Let’s get into the box and try the headphones out. We have a carry case which has the headphones within, same as the OneOdio.
24 months warranty and lifetime service.
Also in the box are some paperwork and manual, aeroplane adapter, you can use these on an aeroplane.
Not sure how many budget headphones provide this.
3.5 to 3.5 mm jack, great if your battery dies and your device has a 3.5mm jack you can still listen to your music.
USB-C charging cable, I’m so glad it’s USB-C.
And here are the headphones. Whoa, quite audible click when you open them up.
The earcups look to be attached to the headband using circular rods and not the standard flat metal frame.
The ear cups are quite small, I feel they won’t cover my ears. This could affect the noise isolation if there are openings around. The foam does feel soft.
We have the SuperEQ branding on the headbands, with L and R marked under the logo for their respective sides.
The earcups can fold in to lay almost flat and can be folded down 90 degrees to take less space. Great for travelling.
Here’s the USB-c port for charging.
The other cup has the 3.5mm jack and a microphone hole.
The headband has adequate padding made of PU leather within the arch.
The right earcup houses the controls for volume, power on/off and the ANC button. You can also answer calls using the volume buttons.
The ANC or active noise cancellation function works even if you’re not listening to music and can drain the battery, so make sure to activate it only if needed.
These controls are clickey, so you need to deliberately press down to activate them. This is great as I don’t like capacitive controls as they’re easy to trigger accidentally. Not everyone will like physical controls, but I do.
When the headphones are powered on, we have this green light indicating that it’s on.
It should turn to blinking blue light to indicate it’s in pairing mode. If it doesn’t initiate pairing, hold down the power button until the blue light starts blinking.
To reset all paired devices, hold down both volume up and down buttons for 10 seconds.
Now to pair it with my phone. Tap on SuperEQ s2 displayed in the list, hit pair and it’s now ready to use.
The S2 uses Bluetooth 5.0 which is more stable as compared to Bluetooth 4.2, with lower latency and higher bandwidth the quality would be much better.
Also, we can pair multiple devices.
Now audio quality, the drivers are 40mm which is quite good. Bass is quite rich, and it performed well across all frequencies. The highs are clean with the mids also sounding quite clear, not muffled in any way. Surprising quality for the price.
The video and audio stay in sync when streaming and gaming, with no perceivable lag.
Connecting to the 3.5 mm aux cable the sound improves many fold as there’s no compression required, and you can use the aux cable even if your battery is dead. But the headphones will draw power from your phone instead.
As I did say earlier the earcups don’t sit over my ears and it starts to get a bit uncomfortable. Also, when wearing the headphones they seem to want to be worn in reverse or they just pop off my head when worn in the correct left/right orientation.
The ANC is fine, the noise cancellation is reasonable. The microphones also do a great job of removing background noise, making calls much clearer. ANC is great when you’re travelling and don’t want to be disturbed by the plane’s engine noise or the click-clacks on the train, these will work well. Repetitive sounds are easily handled, but sudden loud noises like a car horn will still get through.
Now for the battery life. SuperEQ claims 25 hours at medium volume, and 20 hours at full volume which would drop to 18 hours with ANC enabled. Very respectable numbers. It would take 2.5 hours to charge up the battery to full, which is still quick.
Of course, there’s no IP rating so keep away from water.
Ok, the SuperEQ s2 are great sounding headphones for the price. The included ANC function does a decent job, and the noise cancelling microphones help for cleaner calls. Being lightweight, and foldable helps throw it into a bag while travelling. The build is also decent, but the clicks while opening and closing the headphones does scare me a bit, but it’s still working all this time. The earcups are soft, but their size makes them a bit uncomfortable, which should not be a problem for small ears, but if you like one ear headphones these would work. Battery life is great, and the fast 2.5-hour charging is nice to have.
Overall, a great pair of Bluetooth headphones, sound quality cannot be compared to premium headphones, but they do sound as good as or better than other headphones in it’s price range.
