OneOdio Focus A5 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphone with LDAC Review – God Save The Queen

The $69 Oneodio Focus A5 is a circumaural TWS headphone with an extremely efficient battery that offers ANC and BT 5.4 with the high-resolution LDAC codec; its very strong sub bass will generate polarized listener opinions.

The OneOdio A5 Focus was provided unsolicited by the company for my review and I thank them for that. You can get it here. Audioreviews.org does NOT participate in the OneOdio’s affiliate program.

Introduction

OneOdio out of HongKong is a company that offers head-/ear/microphones and accessories, innovative products at budget prices, aiming at the younger Hi-Tech consumer rather than the aging (pseudo-) audiophile (like me). They have been around for 10 years, are omnipresent in the usual e-marketplaces, cater to half the world, and claim to have sold >100 Mio items worldwide.

We collectively have already reviewed a few of their products (which you find here), and the overall tenor is “cheerful, good, and affordable”.

The OneOdio Focus A5 is a circumaural (“around ear”) Bluetooth 5.4 headphone with ANC transmitting in the high res LDAC codec (and also in the usual AAC/SBC). Lots of features for $69.

Specifications Oneodio Focus A5

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the headphones, a USB-C to USB-A charge cable, and the usual paperwork. I wished the company had included a storage bag. The A5 features 40 mm drivers behind relatively roomy earpads with ok depth (I have large ears and the cups fit well), though the pleather material made my ears a bit sweaty after longer periods. The memory foam underneath is soft (enough). Caliper pressure is on the medium side. The A5 is comfortable for me, in contrast to the Sennheiser HD 25, for example.

Most of the headphone’s outer structure is made of polycarbonate, e.g. earcups and headband, but the latter is reinforced with a metal layer for stability and has pleather padding for comfort. The earcups’ hinges are also made of metal. The headphone is foldable.

Although I don’t have real complaints about the build, the headphone appears to be a bit delicate like, let’s say, a Dyson vacuum cleaner. Haptically, it cannot keep up with the ruggedness of a Beyerdynamic phone. On the good side, its build makes the A5 rather light.

There is no connectivity for a headphone cable. Since the battery is not serviceable, the A5 will become landfill, prematurely. I’d prefer a compartment for sliding a rechargeable AAA battery in. TBH, nobody does this anymore.

There is no headphone cable connectivity: wireless only! The A5 Focus offers the high-res LDAC codec, ANC/ambient sound, and gaming mode (faster driver speed at the expense of sound quality). ANC is basic and works ok, best for filtering ambient sound at low frequencies, but has problems with voices in talk radio. Cannot compete with Bose (at 6 times the price).

An enormous battery life is given in the specs: 45 h with ANC and 75 without (I did not test that long to be able to confirm this claim). If only half true, you certainly don’t need the (included) charge cable on your overseas travel.

Last word is on operation: the standard buttons are sitting in the back of the right earcup (like on so many other brands): which is awful for finding my way. But hey, where else should the buttons be located?

Tonality and Technicalities

I listened to the Focus A5 with my iPhone and MacBook Air, either connected via its built-in Bluetooth in AAC, or with the FiiO BT11 Bluetooth transmitter in LDAC. The tonality is characterized by a healthy bass and an even stronger sub-bass.

The sub bass dominates the whole sonic image, it is tangible and tactile, it rumbles and drones around your ears. A very energetic low end, punchier than George Foreman in his hay day. If you don’t like that, you can stop reading now.

On the downside, that sub bass is really slow and can’t follow fast passages. Like George Foreman today.

This monstrous sub bass lets the mid bass appear unfocused which it actually isn’t, though it is also not the tightest. In fact, ignoring the sub bass, the mid bass attack is quite “normal” and decent. The low end does not smear into the into the vocals, which are rendered rather well….that sub-bass is quite a bit away from the lower midrange, frequency wise.

The sub bass rather superimposes itself on these well defined but lean midrange notes. Although there is good separation between voices and low-end, my mind is drawn away from the midrange to that rumble.

Voices are quite (and surprisingly) natural, a bit on the lean side, but well defined and well placed in 3D space. Midrange resolution and clarity rises and falls with low-end action. In less bassy pieces, they are both really good. Luckily, that sub bass does not influence the treble, which also has a good extension and decent resolution.

Treble is well extended and surprisingly well resolving. Cymbals are crisp and clear, at least as long as the bass player is on his break. No shrillness or graininess found.

The low end adds depth to a super tall soundstage of average width and contributes to a suprisingly good spatial reproduction. You think you are at a live concert, even at a studio recording. When listening to a live recording, you are somewhere up by the stage.

Imaging is outstanding for the $69.99, and so are separation and layering. Individual musicians can be really place in space. That’s where the A5 overachieves. Dynamics is excellent: brass and horns have an excellent attack. Timbre is also quite good.

Concluding Remarks

Is the OneOdio a good headphone or not? This really depends on the individual. It could have been almost an audiophile BT headphone on a budget, wasn’t it for that monstrous uber low end, which you either love or…not. Technicalities of the headphone are pretty good. The Sex Pistols would have loved using the A5 for reproducing their music. Perhaps!

Until next time…keep on listening!

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