Review: Co'caine Headphones - Sound Clash

Posted by Dexter K.

Thursday, 27 December 2012 00:04

Introduction

Co'caine is an up and coming company making headphones and phone accessories. They are part of the HIS family who makes video cards and other accessories. As such there is not much to write about, except for the fact that they are looking at making a splash with a bold name in the headphones market. Will this gamble pay off? We will see in this review.

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Lets go ahead and see what Co'caine says about their headphones.

co:caine Headphones

The new German headphones brand co:caine does not only come out with stylish accessoires – co:caine headphones do also convince sound lovers with an exceptional sound quality.

There is a co:caine for each and every style: simple and precious or colourful and bold with individualistic patterns.

Street art fans can now rock a collage of black and white graffiti with co:caine's Urban Style headphones. Featuring an all-over wrapped design, this style is 'in your face' and a sheer statement maker for street walkers.

co:caine - Get High on Music

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And the numbers

Type: Headphones
Frequency response: 20 – 20.000 Hz
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Cable length: 1 + 2 = 1.5m
Jacks: 3.5 mm

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A Closer Look

The box of the Co'caine headphones is quite interesting since there is no plastic that covers the headphones themselves. I'm not sure if the retail packaging differs but hopefully they come covered in bubble wrap or packing peanuts by whatever company you purchase them from.

Opening up the box you get a pair of headphones and that is about it. No cable extensions, no manuals, no stickers. Of course this keeps down the price since you do not pay for items that you do not need.

The build quality of these headphones are fine but nothing to write home about. I would really have liked more padding on the headband. It is very hard and can become uncomfortable after awhile of wearing them. The earpads are fine but as a personal preference I would have liked them to be cloth instead of fake leather. But the point is pretty much moot since you cannot even remove these ear pads without having a pain of a time at putting them back together.

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One of the best features of these headphones is the braided cable with a metal connector at the end. Connections are very well made since they have a large piece of plastic at the end that connects into the headphones, and a metal connection at the 3.5mm end.

Comfort with the Co'caine headphones is average. They become uncomfortable after an hour or two of use even when adjusted properly. There is no pinching from the headphones pressing against your ears since the ear pads sit around the ears. As noted before, the headband needs a bit more padding which adds to the lack of comfort in long sessions. I would consider these fine for a train ride or something that is somewhat short, but long sessions need more padding.

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Testing Methodology

For testing we will be testing only on the PC platform since I feel that it gives better overall sound quality. We will be examining the headsets performance in Music, Movies,and PC games.

Before running these tests, the headphones were properly burned-in, in order to bring out the full characteristics of the sound. This is done in order to allow the speakers in the headphones to burn-in since they often sound different out of the box, than when you burn them in for 20-50hrs. After the burn-in period, all tests were conducted.

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Music

Music testing is done with the Siberia V2 CS:GO headset being driven by an Asus Xonar DX sound card, all music is formatted in FLAC at 256kbs bitrate. Different music albums were used in order to get a feel for how the set would perform on different music genres. All music was tested at a neutral preset on the sound card in order to show what out of the box performance is like, without catering to a individual music type since very few people only listen to a single type of music.

The first album I used was Aly & Fila - Rising sun which is a Trance/ Techno album. Testing this album I was very much surprised with the sound quality in the mids and lows. Everything at those ranges came in extremely clearly throughout listening. Although as the album progressed and more highs were introduced I felt like the highs needed some work. At times they can become a bit muddy with other ranges occuring at the same time. But, that is not to say it was a bad sound, just something you need to keep in mind. I would say that this sort of music shines with these headphones since the beats are pounding and solid, but not overwhelming.

Next up is the Folk album Bring Me your Love by City & Colour. This album is used in order to give a good sense of the mids and highs, as well as some input on the finer details in guitar chords and other sounds. Small details throughout this album need some work. They are there and you can notice them, but when carefully listening they are not super finely detailed. Since these headphones are of the closed variety the sound feels a bit more forced in the sense that there is not much room for the sound to expand, and it simply goes straight into your ears. The sound is fine, but certainly not what I would consider ideal.

Next up we pick up the pace of the music and feature the A.F.I. Album, Art of Drowning.This album has been notorious for overwhelming headphones due to quick beats and a fast pace. Did the Co'caine headphones fall flat on their faces? In small instances, yes. But for the most part they were able to keep up and gave some solid sound quality. The soundstage was not the best but you can not expect it to be with a closed pair of headphones. Overall I enjoyed the sound quality throughout this album but wished that things were just a bit more refined.

Finally we took a look at the Rap album K.O.D. by Tech N9ne.Just like the other albums, the problem of sounds mixing was present. Over the course of the album the bass shows that it can be pounding but not overwhelming. Lows are solid throughout this album, but I do wish that other sound ranges came in a bit better. Mids are present but come through slightly muddy, highs appear in the same manner. A cleaner, more crisp sound would be ideal but they are still worth using to listen to music.

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Movies/ Video

Lots of people use their headphones when they watch movies or their favorite TV shows. Testing is done by watching Blue-Ray rips of the following series at 720p or 1080p on the VLC media player.

Life

This BBC/ Discovery channel is simply stunning visually and audio. Everything from small footsteps to big roars come in crisp and clear throughout the series. Since sounds do not happy extremely fast like they do in music it gives these headphones a chance to shine with its sound quality. The listening experience is quite good and certainly up to the task.

Band of Brothers

This HBO mini-series gives a breattaking look at a group from the 101st airbourne during world war II. Positional audio is good with these headphones, as well as details like gunshots. But once gunshots and explosions occur at the same time it can cause slight issues of muddy sound and ranges mixing. These instances are not every time they occur at the same time, but they do happen.

Being quite an amazing series, Band of Brothers was a perfect fit for a war experience.

Lets also take a look at gaming on these headphones.

Since these headphones are made for gamers lets see how good this unit actually performs in a few games.

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PC Gaming

Lets go ahead and take a look at a couple games with fantastic sound quality.

Counterstrike: Global Offensive

Over the years the Counter Strike series has been notorious for needing perfect sound if you want to excel. Sound quality in CS:GO is simply great. These headphones can keep up to those high standards that the CS series set. Gunshots and footsteps are very accurate. If someone is reloading around a corner it is very easy to pick up and will keep you alive. They might not be the best at sound reproduction, but they sure do the job well.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

A big huge immersive world is a great way to describe skyrim, the sound in the game is quite immersive as well. Moving throughout the Skyrim world was a great experience. Everything from a dragon flying in for the kill to a metal sword hitting a metal shield , sounds were accurate and of good quality. Music in the game was also of good quality.

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