Brainwavz, widely known for producing value-for-money products, is one company which has constantly impressed us with its audio gear. Whether it be the Brainwavz Delta or the Brainwavz Jive, the company has done a pretty good job offering earphones with great sound signature in the sub-Rs. 2,000 category.
Brainwavz Omega
Rs. 9,99
What Is Good?
- Comfortable fit
- Decent clarity
- Crisp vocals
- In-line remote with microphone
What Is Bad?
- Flimsy cable above the Y-split
- Microphonics
Now, with the Brainwavz Omega, the company debuts in the sub-Rs. 1,000 category. It claims that these earphones “have been meticulously designed to sit comfortably inside the ear canal thereby providing sharp and crisp audio playback.”
Priced at Rs.999, the Brainwavz Omega is available in three different colour variants: red and blue, white, and black. We spent some time with our black-coloured review unit and put it to test. Read our full-length review to know more about these earphones.
For what it’s worth, the Omega doesn’t look bad
While the Omega doesn’t look as fancy as either the Brainwavz Delta or the Jive, considering the price point it ships for, its clean, neat and distinctive aesthetics don’t look bad by any metric. We wouldn’t call it premium-looking earphones, either.
Like most of Brainwavz products, the Omega also bears a metal housing for the drivers. Both the drivers rest in a barrel-shaped steel shell with a plastic loop holding the housing intact. The fact that the housing is made of metal and yet feels very light is something impressive. What this implies that listening to music for longer durations are now fatigue-free.
The earphones sit snugly in the ears providing good noise isolation. It’s worth emphasising that the Omega comes bundled with Comply Foam (S-400) tips which offer good seal and thereby provide better isolation. For the uninitiated, the Comply Foam ear tips alone cost around Rs.400. Additionally, the company also provides three different sized silicone ear tips (small, medium and large), allowing you to select the one which offers good seal. Also to come bundled are the velcro cable tie and a shirt clip which could be handy to those who use them.
The Omega has a 1.2m long cable along with a 3-button remote which allows you to control volume and accept/reject calls. The remote also houses a microphone. It’s good to see the company bringing extra functionality (3-button remote along with the microphone) to the earphones which eventually adds to its value. That said, the cable above the Y-split feels insubstantial. Strain relief at the point where the cable separates from the housing would have been a good addition. But, we understand that the company had to cut corners somewhere.
On the specification side of things, the Brainwavz Omega houses two 6mm dynamic drivers with the frequency ranging from 20Hz to 20,000Hz. It has a rated impedance of 16 ohms and a sensitivity of 98dB at 1mW.
Omega’s V-shaped sound signature with slightly underlined bass is fun
First things first, the Brainwavz Omega’s tonality is a bit heavy on the bass side, not basshead-level heavy, but still strong enough to make its presence felt. The bass is forward and punchy but not as tight as what you see on Brainwavz’s previous offerings. In fact, it’s rather flabby in the Omega. What’s impressive is the sub-bass extension. In ‘Doin’ it Right’ by Daft Punk the extension of bass was deep and the sub-bass was evident, but again, the tightness was missing.
Mids on the Omega are slightly laid-back, but nevertheless they sound clean and clear. The bass tapers slightly towards the midrange, but we can easily overlook it since it is close to negligible. Dan Layus vocal’s in ‘Boston’ by the American rock band Augustana were smooth and sounded good but when multiple instruments start kicking in, things start to get worse. A sense of space for different instruments is clearly lacking. After listening to Dire Strait’s ‘Sultans of Swing’ we came to a conclusion that the soundstaging is just about average.
Treble on the Omega, at high volume levels, has a tendency to sound sibilant and harsh sometimes. But, at slightly lower volume levels, the whole experience is more engaging. Much like the bass, treble also extends to a good level, thanks to its V-shaped sound signature. Noise isolation is decent since we got a good seal. For some reason, the 3-button remote was dysfunctional with both our Android as well as iOS devices. We are not sure if it was because something was wrong with our review unit, though. Having said that, minus the microphonics, the microphone on the inline remote worked well during voice calls.
Is it worth your money?
The Brainwavz Omega ships for Rs.999 and is available via Amazon and Flipkart. You can also buy it from the company’s website. The Omega will be a good investment for those of you who are still stuck with bundled earphones.
The Omega has been tuned smartly. Its V-shaped sound signature adds a bit of fun to the entire experience, which is likely to appeal to many first-time earphone buyers. Moreover, especially for the asking price, the good fit, comfort, and the extra functionality you get with these earphones only adds to its value. The Cowon EK2 and the Panasonic RP-TCM125 Ergo Fit are also good alternatives in this price segment.
