QCY Crossky C30 Open-Ear TWS Earbuds Review – Darkly Through The Looking Glass
The $50 QCY Crossky C30 were supplied by the company for my review and I thank them for that.
I admit that I’ve been immersed to an unhealthy degree in pondering the imminent demise of Democracy and consequently haven’t posted much or had much passion for audio gear. Fortunately, listening to our erstwhile tsar ranting about dog-eating Haitians proved to be a cathartic moment—like an alcoholic waking up in a pile of broken beer bottles, I was inspired to turn off the TV and resume some measure of healthy geekdom. So, in some small way, the arrival of the Crossky C30 helped keep me from falling into the abyss.
Back here on Planet Earth, the C30 is yet another $30 offering from QCY, who seem to be the new uber-budget player-du-jour. Solidly built, with a refreshingly compact charging case, the diminutive C30 are also very lightweight and comfortable. However, the tiny touch panels are hard to locate by touch and not very responsive, while the control scheme of multiple touches isn’t very intuitive.
No volume control is offered; there’s an accompanying app which enables some preset EQs and a gaming mode, but is otherwise inessential. Rated battery life of 5hrs. is sub-par, and no ANC or hi-rez codecs are offered.
The UI quirks wouldn’t matter much if the buds sounded good, but unfortunately they succumb to the inherent limitations of many open-ear design—inadequate volume, low bass output and vague imaging. The C30 need to be cranked all the way up to be audible (at lower volume they sound unnaturally thin and almost bass-less); at their best they have a bright mid-forward tonality with lean note texture, but not much extension at either end.
There’s no shrillness or distortion; clarity is pretty good and there’s some sense of soundstage width, but instrument placement is imprecise and micro-detail is wholly lacking. They’re sorta like listening to a mono tabletop radio; it’s not offensive, but neither is it high fidelity. Well-executed open-ear designs like the Oladance Wearable (review here) perform on a totally different level, albeit at a much higher price, while the flawed-but-promising OneOdio Open Rock (review here) have a richer tone and present a lot more musical information.
Sonically, the C30 actually hew closer to bone conduction models like the Naenka Runner Caller (review here), which also suffer from inadequate volume and lack of low end, though the Naneka have a more natural tonality and are the more detailed listen.
The Crossky C30 aren’t without their virtues—they’re cheap, lovely to look at and wear and work surprisingly well for phone calls and likely have some appeal to the form-over-function crowd. However, they need a bigger engine under the hood—QCY would have been better served to eschew some of the clever design touches and invest more into the sound quality. Serious listeners, even those that eschew traditional in-ear models, will not find these worthy.
Disclaimer: these were sent to us for review by Violet at QCY. You find the QCY’s product page here.
My less-than-glowing review notwithstanding, we do hope she continues to send products our way—QCY’s over-ear models like the HC3 show a lot of promise, IMHO, and deliver a lot of bang for the buck.
Specifications QCY Crossky
