First off I’m gonna say that i can’t believe these are unbelievable.. and for a comparison I’m putting these against my AirPods Pro’s which I’ve been using for 2 years.
Sound - Everyone’s go to in reviews.. these things do have some seriously killer sound, but they could use flap me high end and mid range refinement.. the highs are pretty clear, and they seem to have boosted the frequency above 10,000/12,000k a little too much and it makes them sound very harsh… mids, depending on what you’re listening to or playing sometimes disappear, vocals can be a bit light and lack depth so somethings can be a bit hard to understand and it just doesn’t have that natural warm sound. Bass.. these things do have some serious bass, especially if you get the right fitment.. I have been using AirPod Pros for 2 years so to compare the 2, it’s night and day with the Hecates blowing the airpods out of the water.. it’s an odd thing when you can hear the bass, and it’s like you have a set of over the ear headphones on, yet they do not overpower the mids and highs.. When you turn on “Gaming Mode” it’s a whole different ball game, and the sound is a bit more amplified in all areas but giving the bass frequencies a bigger boost without overpowering but remaining sharp.
Quality of build (case and earbuds) - Sometimes when handling the case and earbuds there’s a slight feeling of some cheaper plastic that was used with these.. it’s not enough to make you feel like you’re going to break them, but it’s enough to say “I gotta be careful”. The case is sturdy, it is pretty thick, but the carrying case that comes with it is very nice and protective, but getting the case in and out, is tricky, and sometimes the tops of the case will move as you pull it out. It’s got a pretty cool light show when you open and close it, but the wing design of how it opens, and the feeling of the plastic can make you wonder the longevity of the wings that open. The earbuds themselves feel sturdy, but again, like the case you get a sense of just not that strong in terms of durability, or longevity from constant use.
Battery Life - This is where they out for the Airpods, but doesn’t outdo some of its competitors. So far, I’ve gotten them to last anywhere between 5-7 hours. That’s without ANC, and transparency mode on. ANC, I couldn’t give you the life because these seal so well that ANC is almost pointless, but the transparency mode is fully adjustable in the app, so you can control how much you want to be able to hear around you. The one thing I did notice, is the right earbud was dying at a rate of 8-10% faster than the left one, but after a full depletion of battery life, 2xs, the earbuds lost battery life at the same percentage.
Call Quality, ANC, Normal and Transparency mode - I’m bundling these together to make it a shorter review.. one of the coolest features I have ever experienced, is when you make a phone call or FaceTime, the earbuds automatically turn on the ANC to block out every bit of noise around you, even if you’re on transparency/normal mode, and it is one of the best features these earbuds have.. I had no complaints from anyone who called me about being able to hear me (my Airpod Pros were the most awful for calling people unless they’re brand new) I never sounded muffled I never sounded like I was far away from the microphone, it was constant clearness. As I mentioned above, transparency mode, it’s superior over the Airpod Pros if you ask me, and having the ability to adjust how much transparency was killer. ANC, was also very superior against the Airpod Pros, because the Airpods you could tell it was trying to block out loud sounds with sending out sound waves which you could hear happening when in a environment with above average decibel levels of noise. With the Hecates, there was no traces of that at all. When ANC is on, it’s ON.. there is no question as it worked flawlessly when active, and when automatically turning on with phone calls.
Comfort - here’s is where they fall/fail to me.. I’m so used to the extreme comfort of the Airpod Pros, that trying to find a suitable replacement has been tough. Airpod Pros took into high consideration the shape of your ear where the earbuds sit, which is sort of a rectangular oval if you will, where it’s not sqaure, but it’s not an oval.. and that’s why the Airpod Pros have such comfort. The Hecates, we’re definitely watching that, because the Hecates have the same shape, and style of eartips and they are a serious resemblance to Airpod Pros when you look at them side by side. But let’s be honest, the Hecates look really really cool compared to the Airpod Pros.. but the issue I ran into, is the eartips were 3 sizes.. S/M/L.. I had to use the large because they secure into my ears a bit better, but the problem I had, is that the eartips for the Hecates are just a tad bigger than the Airpod Pro sizes, so the right was constantly needing adjusted to stay in place, or it started to come out and leak noise.. they were comfortable enough to wear for at least 5 hours before you may get a burning sensation, but not as comfortable as the AirPod’s, where I have worn them for 8 hours, of course with a 15min quick charge in between, without any pains whatsoever.. and for that reason, I had to unfortunately return them because I couldn’t get the fitment right and it eventfully made it a hassle to keep having to adjust, readjust to end up with them not staying put throughout the day..
Overall, I would recommend these for sure, because I loved them but the fitment/comfort issue is why I am returning them.. they are a fantastic set of earbuds that I wish existed a long time ago.. the only things I wish would change with these, is having a fully adjustable EQ in the app, improving the app as well (which is pretty bad and requires constant connection to even access them), being able to change the tap functions on the eartips (which has full adjustable sensitivity) and quite possibly making a set of eartips like they do for the NeoBuds Pro, where there are multiple eartips to chose from.. if they could refine these earbuds with those few things, I am pretty sure that Airpod Pros would be history..
