QT – SuperEQ Q2 Pro

disclaimer:  The SuperEQ Q2 Pro was sent by OneOdio for the purpose of this review.  I have no financial interest in OneOdio or SuperEQ.

The name SuperEQ is new, but the company behind it is one many will recognize. SuperEQ’s parent company, OneOdio has been known for making budget headphones for some time and not too long ago we reviewed the Monitor 60 and Fusion A70 models here on Ecoustics. SuperEQ is a recent sub-branding with more youthful design and colors and a product line that includes both over-ears and in-ear models. While OneOdio has made several wireless headphones over the years TWS is a new market for them so I was interested to see what the new SuperEQ Q2 Pro would deliver.

Unboxing / Packaging:

Package graphics are nice and there is enough product detail to tell the user exactly what to expect when unpacked.   The kit is fairly standard with the earpieces, charging case, charging cable, three sets of tips, and the manual.

 

Build/Internals:

My first thought when I saw the write-up on these was boy did somebody get the renders wrong as the driver appears to face the rear of the unit, which while possible is certainly not the usual arrangement. I confirmed with the OneOdio representative that the orientation was indeed correct and that the driver is encapsulated and a sound bore run to the nozzle. Needless to say I was intrigued as this design is certainly not a copy of anybody else’s product and has at least a couple unique elements to it.

Other than the driver orientation, the Q2 Pro seems very much a normal TWS as it uses a 12mm dynamic driver, a touch control system, Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, a charging case with USB type-C connector, and offers both an ANC and a transparency mode as is all the rage in recent TWS offerings.

Build is plastic for both case and earpieces and with the 12mm driver the earpieces are a bit on the large side and sit as much on the ear as in it with the nozzles and inner face sitting in the ear and the driver portion and touch faceplate sitting outside the ear. Weight is light and comfort was good after finding the appropriate tip size and getting the earpieces seated.
Pairing was straight forward with the Q2 Pro supporting SBC and AAC protocols and thankfully no app required and no registrations to complete in order to be able to use it. Once paired (I used AAC nearly exclusively) I found the Q2 Pro had solid connectivity as long as kept within 5-10 meters of the source device but did find that interior walls often defeated the signal so line of sight between source and earpieces needs to be maintained for best connectivity.

 

Controls:

The touch controls worked smoothly and are fairly simplistic so the learning curve is kept to a minimum. With no application option, you’ll need to learn the tap and touch and hold functions to turn on the ANC, Transparency modes, answer calls, and switch tracks. Volume control is notably absent from the touch controls and relies on the source device to adjust the playback volume.
I started my normal listening tests at about 72 dB and found that without ANC or transparency mode in use I could get a full 12 hours out of the Q2 pro before needing to recharge them in the case and once in the case it took roughly 3 hours to completely recharge the earpieces from fully drained. The case provided 2 full charges and a partial before needing to be recharged itself. Use of ANC or transparency mode reduced the useful life to roughly 7 hours which is still quite respectable.

 

Sound:

Sound wise, the 12mm dynamic driver has good low end impact but is slightly loose and will likely please the target youth audience as it emphasizes the lows and highs and has the popular consumer V tuning. Sub-bass has reasonable rumble but the emphasis is largely in the mid-bass where it has no lack of slam but trades a bit of control for impact.
Mids are mildly recessed and these are best suited for EDM, hip-hop, and other popular genres as a result as strings come off as somewhat muted (and more-so with ANC). Voices do cut through the mix well and with an upper-mid/ lower –treble emphasis female vocals are emphasized enough to stand out in front.
Treble has solid detail and good energy before rolling off above about 10kHz so while the top end lacks a little extension, it does have enough energy to keep from feeling closed in. There is a bit of a spike in the area between 8 and 10Khz that some may find fatiguing and it brings up an interesting point. For a product named SuperEQ, there is no EQ option and no app provided that offers any way to adjust the sound. Those looking for tunable sound will be let down by this as the name seems to imply it should be an option.

 

ANC/Ambient:

Turning on the ANC does indeed block a lot of outside noise but at the cost of a bit of a veil over the sound. This is not uncommon in ANC models and certainly not uncommon in models under $100 so this doesn’t put the Q2 pro behind a lot of its competitors, but it does keep it from leap-frogging a lot of them to the front as well.

Transparency mode works as advertised and does allow the user to hear a lot of outside conversation and other sounds so offers those who wear in-ears while exercising, running, or just out for a walk in the neighborhood a way to track traffic noises and other warning signals while still enjoying their music.
Call quality was good although there was some wind noise noticeable by listeners on the other end of the call so here again, about class average and not a knock on the Q2 pro as again, even the $300 Sony and Bose struggle with wind noise.

 

Thoughts / Conclusion:

Overall, I think the SuperEQ Q2 Pro offers good value at $54 USD retail as it packs a lot of features into it with logical controls, good battery life, a pleasant V signature that will please most consumers, and comfortable weight and fit. The fact that the name has EQ in it but no sound tuning options are offered is a bit of a disappointment, and those looking for a reference tuning may be best served by another model in their line-up.