OneOdio Focus A6 Review

Introduction

You’re not spoilt for choice as for as wireless headphones go, and in the last few years, you can bag yourself a pair of budget headphones with comparable specs to over-ears that costs twice as much.

That’s what the OneOdio Focus A6 is aiming for, with wireless Hi-Res Audio support, long battery life, “powerful” noise-cancelling and more for well under £100 / $100, on paper at least, it looks like a bargain.

But, as always, buyer beware, as specs can tell one story but performance will tell another. What story does the OneOdio Focus A6 tell? It’s somewhere in the middle.

Design

• Stylish looks
• No carry pouch
• Foldable design

Flashy is the first word that comes to mind with the Focus A6 headphones. They look stylish with the metal CD textured radial design with gold trim that stands out on both black and white options (the version here is the latter).

They are comfortable to wear over long periods, the lightweight design and lack of any forcible clamping force mean they don’t feel intrusive to wear. The adjustable headband makes it easier to make the headphones fit your head (big or small).

The design can be folded both outwards and inwards if you want the headphones to take up less space in a bag. Disappointingly, there’s no case or even a pouch to keep them safe from marks or nicks. It’s a common absence on many budget headphones, and I’m always disappointed when I see it.

The buttons are clicky, if a bit cheap-feeling, but there’s a sense of just getting the job done. Wearing the headphones, they also feel a little rattly from time-to-time – walking down a flight of stairs in Canary Wharf I heard something shaking about in the right earcup. Despite the premium aesthetic, the build quality is what you’d expect for the money.

Features

• OneOdio companion app
• Bluetooth 6.0
• LDAC support

The OneOdio, similar to Soundcore and a few others, have a list of features as long as my arm (the span of which is very long), and while they’re impressive on paper, it’s always worth taking them with a pinch of salt.

These are one of the first headphones I’ve used that have Bluetooth 6.0 support, which helps in terms of better battery life, better sound (apparently), less interference, more accurate Find My location help, and more seamless switching between multiple devices (which the Focus A6 supports). You do need a Bluetooth 6 compatible device to make the most out of these features, however.

With the OneOdio Focus A6, I haven’t come a cropper in terms of any wireless interference so it seems as if the headphones hit the mark.

Elsewhere, there’s SBC, AAC, and LDAC support; the latter boosting the headphones credentials in terms of high quality sound. Though it’s worth adding that it’s not always about the Bluetooth codec in terms of the sound you hear, the quality and tuning of the driver itself will have even greater impact on audio. But at least with LDAC, the OneOdio gives itself a better chance of producing a better sound, though with LDAC enabled it doesn’t appear as if you can utilise Bluetooth multipoint.

It is Hi-Res certified in terms of wired audio, which it supports through its USB input so you can listen to lossless audio (a wired connection also supports ANC as well).

There’s the OneOdio app, which offers decent customisation for a headphone at this price, offers some modes including a Game mode (a claimed 0.065 seconds of latency) and the Movie Sound Effect. To be honest, with this mode I can’t hear much of a difference other than it sounding slightly warmer.

There’s also a Find My headphones feature, which with Bluetooth 6.0, is said to be more accurate in figuring out where your headphones are.

Noise-cancelling

• Cancels up to 48dB
• Wind Noise Reduction mode
• Transparency mode

You’d be right not to expect a level of noise-cancellation that, say, the Sony WH-1000XM6 can muster. Despite OneOdio’s claims of cancelling up to 48dB of noise; the performance is in line with similarly priced efforts from Sony, Panasonic, EarFun and Soundcore, which is to say that it’s just ok.

Having used them on a long-haul flight, they reduce the cabin noise a little but not by a huge amount. The sound of the cabin and the engines was still noticeable and I had to raise the volume a lot to hear what I was listening to.

Back on solid ground and again the Focus A6 let quite a bit of noise. They’re decent at suppressing low frequencies but mid and high frequencies still tend to evade the headphones’ microphones. You hear what’s around you with ANC on, and when the Transparency mode is activated, there is a slight artificial sound added on top of what you can hear.

The noise-cancelling performance is similar to what you’d get from many budget over-ears at the moment, but I will say that the Lindy BNXe offers a slightly stronger performance if ANC is the prime reason you’re looking to purchase a new pair of headphones.

You do also get Wind Noise Reduction in the app, but again it’s worth bearing in mind the performance isn’t the strongest.

Call quality is not the best either, letting in plenty of noise and making it a fight between your voice and what’s around you when it comes to being heard. In a quiet place you’re likely be fine – take these headphones outside to make calls and it is a struggle despite the Dual-Mic Environment Noise Cancellation these headphones boast.

Battery Life

• Up to 40 ANC with ANC
• Fast-charging support

The headline feature is 75 hours, but there’s a catch, as always, as that high number is with ANC off. Turn it on and you get close to 40 hours.

And in the battery drain test I carried out, I’d say that’s an accurate claim. It took five hours for the headphones to drop 10% battery, which would peg these headphones closer to 50 hours (and this was in LDAC mode). That’s the same performance as the less expensive Mixx StreamQ C4 and better than the likes of the Soundcore Space One.

Fast-charging is provided, and 10 minutes nets you a quite stunning ten extra hours of playback.

Sound Quality

• Sharp treble response
• Lacks detail
• Underwhelming bass performance

I mentioned earlier that having wireless and wired lossless support isn’t as important as the quality and tuning of the drivers, and the sound quality here is not what I’d call excellent. But it’s not bad either.

The OneOdio Focus A6 have a bright and sharp tuning that’s brighter than I’d expected. This tuning initially gives the impression that detail, at least with the highs, is better than you’d expect. But the Focus A6’s overall sense of detail is what I’d term as hazy, and bass comes across as a little limp.

With GoGo Penguin’s Atomised it’s a sharp, lean and crisp sound that defers to the highs in terms of brightness, but the midrange isn’t home to the clearest sense of detail or clarity – it’s a treble forward response that I wonder might grate with some who are sensitive to treble. I do like how the highs sound but it’s the rest of the frequency range where the headphones come across as lacklustre.

The headphones in general offer lower levels of detail and definition that remind me of the Mixx StreamQ C4 headphones. The soundstage is spacious but what exists within it is not the most defined. The tone of instruments is a bit hard to tell, the headphones don’t dig out detail as well as I’d hoped, and while voices sound clear they don’t sound particularly natural.

Bass is lacking depth and extension with every track I put through these headphones 40mm drivers, and switching on the Super Bass Mode produces a performance that’s less than super. This mode seems to make vocals sound recessed (further away). Pop mode is the default mode and it’s the best of a weak bunch.

The sound has also been tuned with ANC in mind, so when it’s turned off the OneOdio Focus A6 sound softer and the soundstage is smaller. That’s not at all what I expected.

Should you buy it?

FAQs

The post OneOdio Focus A6 Review appeared first on Trusted Reviews.