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OneOdio A10 Upgraded 2022 Version Review Hybrid ANC Headphones

Monday, October 24, 2022

 
Better than some expensive brands, OneOdio's new A10 upgraded version is very good indeed for the price, delivering superb long battery life, good sound and active noise cancellation with transparency mode for talking to people without taking off the headset!
 


The OneOdio A10 upgraded version has a 2 hour charging time with quick charge support. You can achieve a battery life of 34 hours at 60% volume with ANC ON and up to 44 hours with ANC OFF. You can also use the headphones ANC function without playing music. With just ANC enabled, the battery life is 49 hours.
 
The A10 upgraded version uses 40mm dynamic drivers with low impedance (32 ohm) and high sensitivity (94dB), which allows you to drive the headphones from a smartphone with adequate volume without the need of a headphone dac amplifier. 



On-board the earcups, there are several physical plastic buttons, which are clicky, responsive, raised and separated, making them easy to locate. There is also a USB-C port and headphone jack for wired mode, as well as battery status led and ANC status led. The A10 is also equipped with call functions to answer/end/reject calls, as well as three-way calling, which lets you put a current call on hold to answer a new incoming call
 
Button controls include: play/pause, skip to previous/next, volume up/down, ANC, Transparency mode and normal mode which disables ANC. By default, the headphones are set to normal mode. As far as design, the OneOdio A10 upgraded version uses a traditional plastic headband yoke with a cool LP record/cd rainbow diffraction styling on the faceplate seen on other OneOdio headphones such as Monitor 80 and Monitor 60. The yoke allows the earcups to tilt up an down. You can also rotate the earcups around and fold the earcups inwards, thanks to the built-in metal hinge. The hinge makes a satisfying snapping click keeping the earcups securely in place. 
 
The earcups main body is made of textured anodized metal, while the faceplate housing is made of plastic. The OneOdio A10 upgraded version has a classic ratchet style headband with secure clicky notches to keep the headband adjusted securely at a specific height. The height adjusting slider is plastic but reinforced with a metal band. Total weight of the headphones is 303 grams.


The A10 have comfy PU leather earpads and feature a noticeably thick layer of padded fabric on top of the driver. The driver padding is very thick, which is okay to prevent the ear from rubbing against the driver but, it also decreases the depth of the earcup. This isn't typically an issue but a deeper earcup increases the resonance of the bass. All that said, the earcup depth of the A10 upgraded version is adequate (2cm). Dimensions of the earpad inner hole are 4cm wide and 6cm. The outer dimensions are 10cm high x 7.5cm wide.



Included with the OneOdio A10 upgraded version is a nice looking and functional carry zippered case with water resistant fabric outershell and hardshell internal structure to protect against bumps and impacts. The zipper metal slider pull tab is rubberized. The actual seam of the zipper has a standard coil design with no waterproofing; hence the zipper is not water resistant. 
 
There are cable accessories included too. The cables are unbranded but feel good quality made, thnaks to the rubberized plugs. The charging cable weighs 10 grams and measures 78cm. The audio cable weighs 11 grams and measures 1.1 meters.


The OneOdio white logo on top of the case is heat printed. The internal lining is made of micro fiber fabric and features an elastic belt to prevent the headphones from shifting inside the case. There is also a short lanyard cord built-in on the outside of the case. Another neat feature about the A10 carry case is that it is an empty shell so, you can use thew case for storing other tech gear, which is nice. The case weighs 150 grams 


As far as audio/ sound performance, the new A10 upgraded version has the same 40mm drivers but they sound better than the old A10, thanks to the dual chamber design which separates the bass from the midrange and treble frequencies. Best quality is naturally achieved via cable connection which also has the benefit of almost zero latency - perfect for gaming. The volume output is similar in bluetooth and wired mode. There is no distortion at max volume and no distortion when turning on ANC. For bigger sound stage immersive sound though, it is best going for 50mm driver headphones like the Studio Hifi.
 
Potential deal breakers
  • Longevity due to the folding hinge mechanism, which is inherently a weak point of folding headphones.
  • PU leather pads heat up the ears and can make them sweaty - same drawback with all PU leather headphones
  • ANC does not work in wired mode
  • Does not support absolute bluetooth volume
  • No mobile app support; hence no EQ, no button remapping
  • Cannot be used whilst charging in bluetooth mode but, you can use them whilst charging in wired mode

Selling points
  • Effective active noise cancellation
  • Dual chamber driver
  • Very good passive noise isolation - very little sound leakage at 100% volume
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Hybrid ANC performs better than feedforward ANC headphones
  • Ambient mode for situational awareness
  • Premium packaging and presentation
  • 10 minute quick charge = 2 hour playtime
  • ANC function doubles as a bass booster (on the older A10 ANC, it diminished the bass response)
  • Folding earcups 
  • Metal folding hinge and metal earcups
  • 90 degree rotating earcups - useful when laying on desk or around the chest
  • PU leather increases passive noise isolation and keep ears toasty in winter
  • Supports multipoint connection to two devices
  • Dedicated standalone ANC button
  • USB-C charging
 
As far differences between the original A10 and new A10 upgraded version, you can tell the difference between the old A10 headphones and new A10 by the packaging box (says Hi-Res "focus A10" on the new A10). The earcup metal plate is also different. It has a shiny mirror finish on the old A10 and brushed matte anodized finish on the newer A10. You can buy the new A10 upgraded version from amazon and OneOdio and get 20% off using code ONE20%SP (website only).

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