Meet the KWORLD S28 Elite Gaming Earphone (not a typo; that is exactly what is on the box.) Headphones boasting ‘BASS ULTRA BASS’ and adjustable sound effects via interchangeable back caps. Truly the headphones must be the next level of audiophile prowess, with built in sounds effects and not only bass, but ultra-bass as well!
In reality, the S28 headphones are an above-decent set of in-ear headphones bogged down in a lot of marketing and advertising terms. The headphones manages to remove plenty of the usual problems you will have with a set of headphones, however you probably won’t notice due to having to look through all of the useless additions.
So after removing the headphones from the simple-yet-effective packaging. Inside you get the S28 headphones themselves as well as three sets of differently sized earbuds, useful as one of the memory foam earbuds that come with it was distorted beyond repair on my model. You also get two sets of back caps for ‘adjustable sound effects,’ though more on that later.
The headphones themselves are simple enough. They come in a blue/black design and have all of the usual amenities. The cables and jack are gold-plated, there are in-line controls for volume and a microphone and phone button for taking calls. Volume is strangely built as a slider rather than buttons, which while different feels fluid to use and won’t get knocked by your shirt. There is also a Nokia/not Nokia switch on the in-line control, because Nokia phones apparently require a separate design.
I wasn’t expecting these headphones to be great but they surpassed my expectations. The sound is better than plenty of in-ear headphones I have owned. While the ‘ultra-bass’ is not as ultra as many would like, bass is punchy without being overbearing. On higher volumes the treble can get sharp, almost painful to the ear, though that was through a computer, though that is the unlikely use of these headphones and through phones and consoles this sharpness wasn’t present.
There are also plenty of other positives about the design. The rubber ribbon cabling makes the headphones harder to knot and is resistant to stretching, though a belt is attached for when you want to wrap them up. The buttons feel good to use, and the volume controls, as said earlier, feel fluid and are not prone to bumping against the shirt. A bit more cable would be nice, you only get 1.2m to play with which is a bit short for taller people such as myself, and a clip for the inline controls would have also been welcome.
My biggest issue with these headphones is the ‘sound effects,’ made possible through the interchangeable back caps. What they do is beyond me; to my eye they are just different coloured and there is no extra technology in them. To my ear they also do absolutely nothing, changing a plastic back should, in my knowledge, not change a thing. So after a quick hunt online to find out what exactly they do I came up with absolutely nothing. It feels like a cheap marketing lie. It is nothing more than aesthetics.
The S28 are slightly above-average headphones in bad packaging. If you want good sounding headphones then I would recommend these. But the marketing hype and, in my opinion, outright lie about the sound effects messes with my opinion of them, and for that I can only give them a 6/10.
You must be logged in to post a comment.