Brainwavz Omega IEM

[testman78]

Introduction

Brainwavz is a relatively new company, established in 2008 with the aim of bringing good personal audio products to users at affordable prices. True to its motto, the company produces a wide range of affordable products, including the Brainwavz S1 and Blu-200, which I found impressive.Brainwavz are back yet again with another product set to offer what the big boys do but at a far more wallet friendly price point. Brainwavz products have always been about value for money. With each new IEM release they push the envelope for product value at each price point. Now,Today we're going to be taking a look at their brand-new IEM, the Omega.



Specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The Omega arrives in a plastic box.The plastic feels quite flimsy and cheap, and shows they low-balled the packaging here. Given its price, however, I guess this would have to be expected.



The packaging on this model is quite basic but they still ship with a shirt clip,a Brainwavz-branded cable tie and two pairs of silicon tips.This is a good selection given the price point but I would love to see some form of bag or case included.Oh yeah, and you get a 12-month manufacturer's warranty.




The Earphones

The Brainwavz Omega comes in 3 bold colours: White, Black and Purplle.



The earphones themselves are of the in ear monitor (IEM) variety and can be worn with the audio cables over and down the back of the ears or hanging straight down.



The housings are fashioned from steel giving them good strength as well as their lightness.



A normal 1.2m round cable is used but it feels of good quality and is reasonably easy to manage.



All controls, on/off, volume, pause/UN-pause, & phone answer/hangup are there.



On the technical side, things are pretty straightforward with the Brainwavz Omega. The headset has 6mm dynamic drivers, with a 16Ohm impedance rating, 20-20,000Hz frequency range and 98dB sensitivity.



Both ear pieces have left and right ear designations, so you easily know where each bud goes.




Testing

The earphones are small and light enough that they remain securely in place regardless of which method you wear them.



The Omega was burned-in for at least 50 hours prior to writing this review-or long enough for the brain burn-in to settle. I found its treble peaks did smoothen out over that period, although I don't know to what degree this will continue if I burn them in further. In any case, let's get on with the sound assessment.



They have a reasonably flat sound with a good, clear midrange. Both bass and treble are there but definitely in the background.Clear and crisp treble response and the bass response is very adequate. Overall, clarity is good, though with some genres like rock, one will notice a slight muddiness in the mids.



Isolation is good,and the in-line controls and mic are intuitive and functionally sound.



I found the Omega to play movies pretty decently as well. Unlike a lot of IEMs at this price that often have overbearing, bass-heavy sound signatures, the Omega takes a turn and heads in the opposite direction towards a cleaner, more clinical sonic approach that more often than not simply presents the sound without doing much else. Not that it's a bad thing, though this cleaner sound really helps to hear the details better. It's no home cinema, but at least you can take them around with you.



When I judge a headphone or IEM on their gaming performance, I'm basically gauging how well they would be put to use as a gaming tool. In competitive first-person shooters and other games which make use of audio cues, a detailed IEM will help to bring out the details that matter in these types of video games (e.g. footsteps, gunfire, etc.). Personally, I feel like the Omega does a pretty good job as a gaming IEM, bringing out ample clarity to hear through the blanket of noise that often plagues large-scale FPS matches. They, of course, are easily outmatched by a number of options up the price ladder, but let's not forget that these reside at the very bottom of that ladder. For that, you can't go wrong with them.




Final Thoughts

With a comfortable, sleek and secure design, these earbuds provide booming yet defined sound that doesn't lose its luster, even in chaotic situations.As mentioned earlier, these are comfortable to wear but the selection of tips on offer contribute to this and also help isolate you from outside sounds. Not everything is blocked out but the vast majority is to make listening to quieter passages easy going and these are on a par with anything else I have tested.I actually prefer to be able to hear louder external noises when wearing earphones for safety reasons so would consider these ideal for normal day to day use.When I first tried these earbuds, I had to double-check the retail price because they sounded so much better than I expected for a set under $20.



After using the Omegas for around a week, I can see them being a great match for the average user with a smartphone or other form of portable music. These handled all my different test tracks very well indeed and all music seemed to come across well.For the money($14), you are getting a very good earphone with the Omegas. Brainwavz have produced a quality earphone at this price point and should be a simple purchase for anyone looking for an upgrade to supplied earphones.The vast sea of inexpensive earbuds can be hard to navigate.The $14 Brainwavz Omega is an affordable pair of earbuds that doesn't cut any corners, despite its low price. With a sleek, colorful design,secure ear inserts and an inline remote, the Omega earbuds offer a lot more than just solid sound quality.