ADATA EMIX I30 - Bass and some more Bass!!
ADATA is a brand famous for its high end DRAM and NAND Flash products but recently they've come up with something new to venture into the territories of audio devices by launching three dedicated audio products. Carrying the XPG branding ADATA launched the XPG EMIX H30 and I30 headsets and a SOLOX F30 amplifier which are strictly aimed at gamers and promise to deliver ground breaking performance and comfort with catchy designs.
Today thanks to ADATA India I have with me the XPG EMIX I30 in-ear Gaming earphones which is the smaller cousin of the H30 which is a full sized over the head gaming headset.
Priced in at $80 the XPG EMIX I30 sports over-sized 13.5mm monomer drivers with a total impedance of 32Ohms and a design that fits snugly in ear canals rather than taking the over the head approach like most of the conventional gaming audio products do. Also the product features a patented 5.2 channel surround sound experience through the use of inner vacuum tubes that imitate a spatial effect.
Whats' in the Box!?
ADATA brings the XPG EMIX I30 in the new XPG theme packing that they've been following since their new XPG Gammix S10 M.2 SSD with a black and wine red colored box having an an abstract X imprinted in the backdrop along with the product image in the front. The XPG logo and and product name are clearly specified on the top and bottom side respectively along with some feature highlights.
On the side we have a list of all the contents inside the box and the back comes with a well labeled image of the earphones displaying the changeable ear tips, 5.2 surround sound, in-line controls etc. Its a good packaging and over all justifies the the theme and motive of the product.
Open the box and you'll get everything snug fitted nicely inside a thick black cardboard box which slides out of the outer cover. Content wise we have the EMIX I30 earphones, a splitter cable for connecting to PC and laptops, three different sized ear tips, a splitter adapter or airplane adapter, a user manual and a hard top carry pouch which looks quite premium and can house the earphones along with a few of the provided accessories for traveling.
A Closer Look
The ADATA XPG EMIX I30 are physically quite large compared to normal in-ear earphones and are made up of premium grade plastic shells which looks like metal due to the kind of paints used. The black and red color scheme is what we expect from a XPG line product and so we get the same in the I30 aswell. Also these earbuds boast a 13.5mm driver made out of durable yet reactive monomer materials compared to the 10mm neodymium drivers that we generally come across in products of this category.
An inner vacuum tube allows EMIX I30 to transfer sound in a way that creates a convincing spatial effect. The elastic materials that line this tube move inwards and outwards based on frequency, allowing for a wider range than that offered by standard, non-reactive earphone designs. Each earphone has a micro-subwoofer embedded for bass boost, and together these designs create an impressive surround effect.
Coming with a 1.4m long silicon coated non braided cable the EMIX I30 has an in-line mic and control switch that serves a range of purposes such as receiving/declining a call, playing or pausing a track or even switching to the next track. Since its a single button one needs to get used to using it since everything depends on how many times you press the button for example, a single press will pause and restart music playback and also answer calls or end them, press twice to skip to the next track when playing music and three times to skip back to the previous track.
Connectivity wise the earphones use a four pole 3.5mm jack which is gold plated for enhanced signal transfer and better signal reception and transfer for clearer audio. This makes the product universally compatible with almost every device you can think of including gaming consoles, cell phones, tablets and a PC which puts in a widely useful category and not just a gaming oriented product.
Time to Hit the Cords!
Gaming Performance
Since the ADATA EMIX I30 aims at gaming, obviously, we tested it with some of our all time favorites, Crysis 3 and Battlefield 1 for its excellent blend of audio, Middle Earth: Shadow of War for its pitch perfect environmental sounds and Forza Horizon 3 well simply 'coz I like that game!
In Crysis 3 we had no issue whatsoever in listening to or understanding what Prophet was saying and noises were fairly distinguished in the heat of battle but were sometimes overpowered by the bass! Battlefield 1 came out fully immersive especially when it came to sitting inside the battle tanks or listening to aerial bombing happening across the field. In Shadow of War we could really feel the voices coming from different directions and interestingly even though the bass on this earphone is heavy and its an earphone and not a headphone I could pinpoint locations of the enemy easily enough. The engines of Bugatti or Lamborghini never revved any better and we were blown away by the deep bass these cups had to offer but again in game chats or when a briefing is going on the background music overpowers it due to the heavy bass that these earphones have to offer.
Overall these earphones are great for gaming especially those that make use of deep bass and treble but you can find yourself at lost when at full volume playing games like CS:GO where in-game chats with your teammate are a vital part of the gameplay since the bass will overpower it. I found the 50%-75% to be the sweet spot of volume with these and you can sail through any type of games with this settings or else 100% is just too much for certain genre of titles.
Also the mic is static free and picks up noise at low levels, a bit of a nasal comes in but with a bit of an adjustment that can be taken care of. Its an in-line mic so you can easily adjust its orientation and placement as per your comfort but for me it worked best in its default placement only.
Music, Movies & Miscellaneous Stuff!
For movies and music I plugged in the EMIX I30 into a ALC 1220 codec based audio solution on my PC motherboard and also we tested it with an Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 7 for music playback. Firstly we went in for a wide variety like the dialogue intensive Schindler's List & 12 Years a Slave to high pitch titles like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Fast and the Furious 8, all came out in exceptional quality.
Bryan Adam's Heaven and some of my all time favorite Bollywood songs sounded great with exceptional lows accompanied by a good treble. Eminem Legacy and Rap God were as clear as they can be with bass nearing perfection for a gaming headset, even at full volume songs from 3 Doors Down, Motorhead or Metallica didn't crack displaying the true power of the 50mm drivers that it uses. The only issue that one might face is with the mids here since they tend to get over shadowed by the lows and the high bass which is quite common for gaming headsets but this can be overcome by compromising upon the loudness and decreasing the volume to around 75% which most users can since those 13.5mm drivers are quite loud anyways.
My Verdict
Whenever a brand steps into unfamiliar territories it is bound to stumble and fumble but with ADATA I'm pleasingly surprised with what they've done with their EMIX I30 in-ear gaming earphones and not headphones as its mentioned on the box! Considering its their first dedicated audio device they've done a better job than most of the veteran brands in the field especially when you consider the entire package that this product has to offer.Looks wise the EMIX I30 is really well designed and build using a red and black color theme that would please most of the gamers out there albeit matching their gaming setups. The accessories that it comes bundled with are useful and make it a much more holistic approach with a special mention to the hard carry pouch which completes its on the go gaming and mobile approach. The 5.2 surround sound effect works well & the 13.5mm drivers are really loud and loud enough if you dial down the volume to decrease that bass and treble for watching dialogue intensive movies or playing games that rely heavily on in game chat and briefings.
"ADATA EMIX I30 is a step in the right direction with some very impressive features up its sleeves. It sounds great, looks solid and does exactly what it should for a gaming earphone but is plagued only by its high price tag!"
Pros -
- Bass heavy
- Sounds great in games, music and movies
- Comes with good number of accessories
- Good build quality
Cons -
- Bass is overpowering at times
- Single button for all the functions
- Cable is non-braided
- Price tag is too high
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