Intro
Contents
At Alpha Audio we have never tested Soundmagic products before. While this brand has been around since 2005. We thought it was time to change that. A few e-mails and phone calls to Soundmagic UK and voila. Postal Magic… We have a Soundmagic.
Soundmagic originated from the vision of acoustic design engineer Tony Xu. Now 2005 is a long time ago, but fortunately the brand has not been idle during that time. It has won several awards, including What Hi-Fi?, Stuff magazine, T3, Trusted Review.
We at Alpha Audio are naturally very curious. Are Soundmagic’s products really that good? And why have you heard so little about this brand in the Netherlands? It’s time for a review.
Globalization
We see more and more Hi-Fi products from all corners of the world. Much comes from the corner of Asia and that’s not at all crazy. Because that’s where most of the electronics are made.
So is Soundmagic. With the internet and the integration of payment systems, it has become child’s play to buy stuff from America, Japan or China. It’s just delivered to the door. No problem.
And so there are quite a few audio brands, which are simply not known to us, but do very well in China, for example. And these brands are just fine to order online. Also Soundmagic.
Bluetooth connectivity
The Soundmagic E11BT has a few features that will not go unnoticed. This gives us a very long battery life. According to Soundmagic, a fully charged battery is good for sixty hours of listening pleasure. Sixty hours is unprecedentedly long, but whether we’ll make it is questionable.
The E11BT does have a neckband, which contains the battery. This can also be clearly felt from the weight. So who knows, those sixty hours might be realistic.
We discover that the ends of the in-ears are magnetic. This is typically something that someone has thought about. Probably because that engineer was annoyed by in-ears swinging in all directions.
If we take a closer look, we see that the driver housing incorporates 10 mm drivers and the latest Bluetooth v5 connection. This would – according to Soundmagic – ensure a constant music reproduction of CD quality. Hmmm… cd quality via bluetooth? We’re gonna go through it.
Only pairs
With a small controller on the left, we switch on the E11BT and put it in pairing mode. Something strange strikes us here. There’s a female English voice saying, “Power on.” Then pver switch to a Chinese lady who says in poor English: “Pairing mode”.
Huh?! Why would you do that?
Luckily we can quickly connect to an Apple Iphone 7 and start listening. We use Spotify for this. This combination is the most commonly used. A Smartphone with Spotify, on the go. Of course we will let the Soundmagic E11BT play for a while. We do this a good night long, 8 to 10 hours playing with the rock classic playlist. The new edge is finished and we can start testing.
