AXS Audio Professional Wireless Earbuds Review – Technical Knockout
The AXS Audio earbuds are yet another new TWS entrant, this time from a SoCal-based company which proclaims that its 84-year old founder, Rikki Farr, is a legendary audio producer of live concert audio for Dylan, Prince, et. al. Per the web, Mr. Farr does have a colorful past as concert promoter, manager and all-around scenester. (He’s also the son of a UK heavyweight champ who fought Joe Louis at Yankee Stadium and lost a controversial decision on points. But I digress). Putting aside the question about whether it’s savvy marketing to tout that your earphones are tuned by a guy older than Biden, the AXS are a very compelling product.
Appropriately-featured for the $150 pricepoint, including ANC, BT 5.2, 8-10hr. battery and wireless charging. AirPod-derived design and plastic construction are generic but solid; charging case is nicely pocketable and connection up to 40’ or so is flawless. Touch controls are, for a change, logical and responsive despite an odd latency before commands register. The tiny touch panels, however, are too small for fat fingers. There’s no app, though the stock tuning doesn’t demand EQ.
I tend to think that this stem-down design, while lightweight and comfortable, doesn’t seal as well as bud or barrel-shapes, but isolation is good and ANC works well by TWS standards—an IPX4 rating is specified, and these are suitable for outdoors or gym use. Unlike many TWS, these get plenty loud without audible distortion.
The AXS immediately impresses with a bell-clear, slightly bright tonality and really excellent imaging, even if soundstage is fairly intimate and narrow, albeit with good height. Signature is sorta “reverse V-shaped”, with slightly dialed-back but well-sculpted low end, forward, prominent midrange and crisp high end which shows some sparkle but eschews harshness. Subbass is well short of basshead levels, but palpable, quick and very, very musical. Note texture is on the lean side, almost like a BA, with short attack and decay and seamless transition from highs to lows, without odd peaks.
These aren’t as analytical or hyper-detailed as say, the Klipsch T5—there’s some de-emphasis of the highest frequencies—but drumheads retain a nice snap and piano keys are reproduced accurately. The AXS seem optimized for vocals—female vox in particular are placed center-stage and a few steps in front of the other performers, which gives a live-in-nightclub feel to acoustic fare. Perhaps because of the narrow stage (or smaller drivers?) they do struggle a bit with more complex arrangements (the string passages on “A Day in the Life” and Buffalo Springfield’s “Expecting to Fly” sounded congested), but straight guitar rock had a ton of jump and jive. They deftly navigate the delicate balance between being an exciting listen and sounding artificially boosted.
Compared to mainstream players like Apple or Galaxy Buds +, the AXS trail in tech but perform on another level sonically, with a much less compressed, more natural timbre. My favorite audio-oriented TWS like the Cambridge Melomania or Lypertek Tevi are closer matches—the Cambridge has a richer, more vinyl-like tonality, but trails in the technicalities (instrument separation, driver coherence, bass quality, etc.), while the Tevi sounds bigger and more expansive than the AXS, with more air between performers, but presents less microdetail and high-end refinement.
The recent, well-tuned Grell TWS1X rivals the AXS for audiophile-accuracy and instrument placement and also presents a wider soundstage but is rather more laid-back and has much inferior fit and UI; except for denser orchestral fare I preferred the louder, livelier (and slightly cheaper) AXS overall. Finally, the AXS register as better value than the (quite capable), comparably-priced Status Between Pro, which has woolier bass and lacks the AXS’s driver control and focus.
A lot of the new TWS products that pass through our greedy mitts seem like works-in-progress, with glitchy tech, conspicuous design flaws and/or polarizing tunings. AXS however, seem to have emerged from the womb fully formed—these are well-engineered, mature-sounding buds. Now, given (I hypothesize) that most consumers prioritize design and tech features, I’d expect that in the future AXS will trot out more distinctive shells, multipoint, auto-pause and other such gimmickry. However, AXS has nailed the hard part—these buds sound damn good and are very highly recommended.
Disclaimer: these were sent to us gratis for review by AXS’s very professional PR firm. Check out the AXS Audio website.
