BQEYZ BQ-10 (DSP EDITION): A Different Take
The product that will be featured in this review is from the audio company that I really admire since late 2010s as one of their products does really impressed me until now that it was so well-tuned with good technical performance as if that it wasn't belong on its intended market segment where it was situated but rather on higher tier at that time. We are talking about the BQEYZ and its highly regarded model, the KC2 and to this day, there are still some people who really have some good feedback and leave some lasting impressions about that product.
As we all know until now, BQEYZ has not released a product under $30/£26 since 2020 with the introduction of the first model from their Season series, the Spring. And finally, they released their latest entry-level product and what we have here is the BQEYZ BQ-10 and it has a single driver configuration but it has some unexpected added twist on it.
BQEYZ implemented a large 12 mm dynamic driver in a dual-chambered structure with newly-improved PET (polyethylene terephthalate) diaphragm that is known for its malleability, high tensile strength and some resistance from thermal and chemical reaction. The PET diaphragm along with the oxygen-free copper coil will deliver a deep and textured impression on its low frequency and then, clear and well-extended high frequency.
The driver was then encapsulated in a composite shell chassis consisting of resin material on its cavity base and a CNC-milled aluminium alloy faceplate which was anodised and brushed to give that one-directional pattern of its glossy finish surface with new logo etched on it. The shell sizes are of a medium size and their design is inspired from their previous models, the BQEYZ Summer and BQEYZ Topaz. It has a 0.78mm 2-pin as its interlocking mechanism for its detachable cable.
When it comes to wearability, this set offers a comfortable fitting into my lugholes as I conduct a long listening session that I don't encounter any listening fatigue or some sort of discomfort due to the weight of the earpieces are quite well-balanced as it is stuck and sealed firmly. The passive noise isolation of this one is pretty good as it was able to block some unwanted external noises from the outside.
Seemingly that BQEYZ is taking a different direction on this one as aside from offering a standard termination end on its stock cable, they also opted to offer a USB Type-C DSP variant but first, I will describe its overall build quality. The cable is called BQEYZ C01 and it has an oxygen-free silver-plated copper in parallel construction which offers a smooth and stable transmission of audio signal and it is somehow flexible and has a decent resistance from entanglement. Since this is a DSP-type cable, it has a built-in DAC chip inside and it also has an HD microphone with small physical hardware console with basic media buttons at the right part that can be used for playing music, voice command over a video game or receiving calls. As for the information about its DAC chip, it uses a KTMicro one, probably a KT0210 which has DSP for advanced audio processing functionality like EQ, range compression and nose filters, and it also integrates a USB 2.0 functionality that can support a full-speed mode.
As for its product packaging, like all BQEYZ sets, it offers a substantial amount of accessories that were bundled into its packaging box.
These are the following contents that were included inside of its packaging box:
- Pair of BQEYZ BQ-10 IEM transducers.
- A DSP stock cable
- Three (3) pairs of atmospheric ear tips in different standard sizes.
- Three (3) pairs of reference ear tips in different standard sizes.
- Carrying case
- Paperwork like Q.C stub and user's manual.
Since this is a DSP-Type cable, it supports devices like smartphones, laptops and tablets as long as it supports USB audio and it is also fully compatible with all known software OSes like Windows, Linux and Android that can decode up to 24-bit 96kHz on PCM format only.
When it comes to its sound profile, the BQ-10 has a mild U-shaped sound profile which has “warmish-neutral” tonality for how all the frequencies were presented at almost equal level and somewhat in a neutral manner across its sonic spectrum.
LOWS/BASS:
Certainly, it has a very balanced bass response with a fairly moderate amount on its sub bass presence while having an adequate texture on its mid bass section to give that sufficient note weight on some instruments and vocals. And overall of its bass response, it conveys a punchy, tactual and a tad ring out sounds of it.
The sub bass grumble and reverberation that were generated from instruments like drum machines, synthesisers and low tuned double-basses are fairly felt to its resonance depth. The quality of mid bass texture on this set will deliver that groove, dense and ample fullness on bass-clef instruments and some male vocals. Bass guitars sound raspy and sombre while the double-basses have a broader and sonorous sound on them, and bass kick drums have a pounding and resonant sound on every stroke on its drum head. The male vocals like basses and bass-baritones, have this almost natural timbre as they are known for their rich and deep resonance sound as they have this dense and wool-like sound from their singing voices.
MIDRANGE:
Quite a balanced, clear and sufficiently rich sounding, that's how I perceived the general sound quality of its midrange. The midrange of this one will be more versatile to almost all types of vocals and some instruments will sound full and rich with an organic manner particularly on percussives, brasses and strings.
On the male vocals, baritones of types will sound smooth, warm, steely and rich as it affects the tonal characteristics of its subtypes from light baritone to noble baritone registry, while the tenors have a brassy, spicy and a bit bright sound with some heft and volume on them that spinto, dramatic and heldentenor types will sound natural and well-bodied voices, and then the countertenors have a velvety and tender sound from their distinguishable falsetto vocal projection. As for female vocals, contraltos sounds full bodied as they have that rich, plush and smoky tone from their chesty vocals, mezzo-sopranos have that copper, velvety and a tad piquant vocals on them, and the sopranos have creamy and sweet vocals as they sound quite captivating to my ears.
Regarding instruments on how they sound, almost all of them sound very natural with a nearly correct tonal colour for each instrument. Strings instruments like guitars, cellos and violins, they sound balanced, lustrous and sweet respectively while the brasses with the likes of trumpets, trombones and horns, in a corresponding order, are producing a full, rounded and clear sound. Then on woodwind instruments, piccolos sound clear, concert flutes sound graceful, clarinets sound melodious and saxophones have mild and rounded sound. And finally on percussives, snares hits harder as it has that preciseness of its sound while tom-toms have that rounded, sustaining and warm resonance on its sound, field drums have that stately sound as it has full-bodied and a tad gleaming sound and then on kettledrums, they sound heavy with an added resonant on them.
As for pianos, they sound more balanced as they have a sweet, rich and ample warmth tone on them.
HIGHS/TREBLE:
Clearly that treble response of this one is on the smoother, balanced and quite airy as it has a mild accentuation on the upper-mids up to presence treble on pointing out the clarity and definition on vocals and notational attacks on instruments while having a non-harsh, a minimal amount of piercing and an absence of shrillness on its overall sound.
As I mentioned that it is quite airy and given that this is a dynamic driver which makes it even more impressive, it can produce a sufficiently airy treble extension with a good amount of harmonics along with an enough intensity of its sparkle. Cymbals sound lustrous with some added glistening tone on every stroke while hi-hats have that short sustaining and buzzing sound, a bell-like sound on glockenspiels and an ethereal sound on celestas.
SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:
The perceived head stage of this one projects a fairly expansive sound field as it has a reasonably width span on its lateral points, a fairly good height and immersive depth within my aural sphere. It presents an atmospheric-like on its stereo imaging with good layering of frequency tones from instruments and vocals with a fairly clean separation on them.
The coherency of its driver is pretty consistent on delivering a fast transient response particularly on the feedback of its bass quality and clarity on the overall sound. The resolution capability of this one is fairly resolving on how it highlighting a solid presentation of varying loudness on its macro-dynamics on both choral and instrumental lines while the its micro-details has a good definition on extracting nuances, subtleties and grains from an audio track like reverb tail, vocal ends and attack notes on instruments.
PEER COMPARISONS:
HIDIZS ST2 PRO
- HIDIZS latest entry-level product with similar driver configuration and also in the same product profile.
- It uses a smaller dynamic driver with a composite diaphragm made of PEEK and PU material and it was also encapsulated in a compound shell structure consisting of resin and metal alloy.
- Its packaging box is loaded with accessories like ear tips, a carrying case pouch and even an adapter.
- The included stock cable is actually better than BQ-10’s DSP cable while it is also constructed with high purity OFC, it utilises an ESS flagship USB DAC which has more support on audio formats like DSD and higher sample rate up to 384kHz.
- The ST2 PRO has a V-shaped sound profile as it has more boomy and authoritative bass response, a recessed but warm midrange and then a bright and airy treble response.
- As for its technical performance, this set is quite pretty average from intimate sound up to less resolving resolution capability particularly on micro-detail retrieval.
TANCHJIM ONE
- One of TANCHJIM’s sets with a comparable product profile with BQ-10 as it has a single driver and DSP chip on its cable.
- It has a dynamic driver with composite diaphragm consisting of PEEK and PU material and then encased in cylindrical metal alloy shells.
- As usual for a TANCHJIM product, it is fairly packed with accessories as it offers two types of ear tips.
- It uses an unspecified DSP chip on its USB type-c cable for audio processing but like the BQ-10’s DSP Cable, it can decode only up to 24-bit/96kHz of PCM format.
- It has a U-shaped with a more warmer tonality if it is compared to the BQ-10 as it has a similar mid bass texture but it has more clearer sub bass presence, a bit more recessed yet warmer midrange and a tad more gleaming treble response.
- Regarding its technicalities, this set has more intimate head stage, a bit unrefined layering of its soundscape but still offers a decent separation on its two-dimensional stereo presentation of its imaging with a bit less resolving on its micro-dynamics.
In conclusion of this product review, I'm quite excited when I obtained of an information that BQEYZ will released a more affordable entry-level product as for the past three year, they release a number of products which were usually price at over $100/£82 and now at last, they release a product which is now price at under $50/£41 that will be more affordable to some budget-conscious audio enthusiast who want experience a BQEYZ-style of tuning. While this set is quite different compared to the other previous BQEYZ sets as it has a different take on this product as it appears that this one will caters towards mobile users that uses a typical modern smartphone which majority of these devices doesn't have a headphone jack feature by implementing an audio chip inside of its USB type-C which offers a clear and detailed sound quality from an efficiently-designed IEM earpieces with good quality driver that are able to deliver it. All I can say is that this set is indeed one of the price-to-performance ratio products out there on how it provided a fine sound quality on both tonality and technical performance.
The BQEYZ BQ-10 is now available on some selected e-commerce stores, you can check out these non-affiliated links that I have provided.
BQEYZ STORE LAZADA ( For Southeast Asian market):
https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/bqeyz-audio
BQEYZ STORE ALIEXPRESS:
https://bqeyz.aliexpress.com/store/1101322858
HIFIGO:
https://hifigo.com/products/bqeyz-bq10
Here are my other reviews of BQEYZ products.
SPECIFICATION:
MODEL: BQEYZ BQ-10
IMPEDANCE: 40Ω
SENSITIVITY: 113dB
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5Hz – 40KHz
CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M
PIN TYPE: 2-PIN CONNECTOR (0.78MM)
PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm, TYPE-C
DRIVER UNIT(S): (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER
PROS:
● Affordability for budget-minded audio enthusiasts.
● Well-built composite shell chassis.
● A utilitarian and industrial design of its shell that minimalists will certainly agreeable to their design preferences.
● It offers a comfortable fitting while having a good passive noise isolation.
● Fairly well-accessorised of inclusions like ear tips and a storage case
● It includes a decent stock cable with DSP functionality with HD microphone
● A pleasing well-balanced sound profile.
● Punchy and tactile bass response.
● A very balanced with sufficient warmth yet clear midrange.
● Produces a natural and nearly correct tonal colour on most vocals and instruments
● A well-balanced and lustre presentation of its treble quality with good airy extension.
● It projects a roomy and atmospheric head room
● Good resolution capabilities for both macro-dynamics and micro-detail retrieval.
CONS:
● Not for bass-heads and also not for treble-heads.
● Wishing for better stock cable in terms of build quality and choice of material
● The DSP audio chip is quite capped as it can only decode a sampling rate up to 24-bit/96kHz with a limited audio format as it can only play standard PCM-based file containers like CD-DA, WAV and FLAC.
● Its audio chip cannot support advanced audio formats like DSD, and it doesn't also support MQA unfolding (if you are a MQA enthusiast).
TRACKS TESTED: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)
Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *
Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**
Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **
Mountain - Mississippi Queen *
Queen - Killer Queen **
Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*
Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'
Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'
Pearl Jam - Daughter **
Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *
Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*
Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *
New Order - Blue Monday *
The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *
The Madness- Buggy Trousers *
Metallica - Motorbreath **
Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *
Destiny's Child - Say My Name *
Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *
Mozart - Lacrimosa *
New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *
Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*
Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *
Exciter - Violence and Force *
Diana Krall - Stop This World **
Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*
The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**
Suzanne Vega – Luka **
Lauren Christy – Steep *
Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *
Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*
Type O Negative - Black No.1 *
Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **
Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *
Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *
P.S.
I am not affiliated to BQEYZ nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.
Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to ELLE ZHOU of BQEYZ for providing this review unit as a loaner unit. I truly appreciate her generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.
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