One of the most popular sectors in electronics right now is that of personal audio. Headphones are a huge market right now with tons of manufactures trying to vie for you attention. Obviously the one of the biggest names out there right now is Beats by Dre, though that certainly isn’t the only one you should be looking at. There are plenty of other brands out there that make headphones that are just as good, if not better. They just aren’t quite as well known. One of those companies is Wicked Audio. They’ve been around since 1995, though I’ve never really heard of them until recently. Then again, It’s only been over the past few years that I’ve been exposing myself more to newer brands than the tried and true established ones.
On that note, Wicked Audio sent over their Reverb model headphones. This isn’t the top of the line Solus model, but instead it’s their entry level, over ear headphones that feature great sounds at an incredibly low price.
Design and Build
If you’re looking for headphones that feature all the bells and whistles such as surround sound or inline audio controls, these aren’t them. Instead, what you get here are headphones with one function and one function only and that is to deliver terrific sounding audio.
The unit I received are black with red ear cups. The cups are decorated with black graffiti like graphics while the top padding is covered in white graffiti with the Wicked Audio logo on top. It’s not exactly the type of headset I would have bought on my own as it’s a bit too flashy for my tastes, but I will say that it is pretty nicely done and does have a unique look to it.
Because the Reverb is very inexpensive, I didn’t really expect too much when it comes to materials. The whole unit is pretty much made out of lightweight plastic that has a hollow feel to it. It doesn’t have that expensive feeling weight to them but then again, you have to remember that these come in at under $20. The plastic used is pretty raw and unpainted so that adds a bit to the inexpensive look of them. However, the use of plastic does have its upside. The Reverb is super light and wearing them for long periods of time doesn’t make your ears tired or hurt. It also helps that the ear cups are huge and fit perfectly over your ears with plenty of room available.
Speaking of the ear cups, they are very nicely padded with a good amount of cushion. They are wrapped in a felt like material so they are pretty comfortable when you have them on and at least to me, they don’t itch at all. The top of the band is also padded nicely with a leatherette like material making the Reverb quite comfortable overall when using them.
The cable on the Reverb is just 4ft long making them a bit short for but luckily, they also included in the packaging, an extension cable that makes it a whole 6ft longer making the whole thing about 10ft long along with a 1/4 inch adapter.
Usage
Not much to say here except just plug it in and your good to go. There are no controls on it so you’ll have to control everything through whatever device you are using these on. I tried them out on both my computer and my iPhone.
Sound quality was pretty good with bass that was really deep and thumpy. The highs and mids aren’t quite as high as they could be, but overall sound quality is still excellent for headphones in this price range.
Again, despite all the plastic on the Reverbs, comfort is very high and because of how lightweight they are, I had no problem keeping them on for long periods of time. Because they are also over the ear cups, they don’t make my ears hurt over time like in-ear and on-ear units do.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Wicked Audio Reverb is a great headphone for the price. It’s not anything revolutionary nor does it do anything fancy like being able to control your audio player, but it does do one thing right, and that is make your music sound great. Despite the fact that the Reverb is very inexpensive, you would assume that the sound quality would suffer because of this, but it doesn’t.
You really can’t go wrong with these if you are looking for a terrific sounding headphone at a very low price. They are comfortable, lightweight, and loud. I can’t really complain about the build quality and the fact that they are made of plastic, seeing as you can buy these for under $20. For that amount, they are actually quite good. They sound just as good as anything you’d buy for over $100.
