Ankit earphones with g-bass
February 16, 2010 by Bill
Ankit earphones with g-bass
Reviewed by: Bill Henderson
ankit – making the earth cooler, one earphone at a time.
Price: Canada: $60 US: $50
If there is one area of the earphone market that is ripe for failure, it’s the mid-priced range. Why? Simply because there are a LOT of choices from very established audio companies. Even most high-end companies make a mid-level line for people with limited resources. It’s a much bigger market than the cheapie earbuds and expensive earphones that most people will not and/or cannot buy. Recently I was sent some earphones from Ankit, a new player in the this extremely competitive arena.
To their credit, Ankit has done is something those more ‘established’ companies haven’t done. Ankit has targeted the ultra-cool, teens and young adults with a line of earphones that are both affordable and very trendy looking. In fact I don’t think anyone over, let’s say, 40 years-old wouldn be caught dead wearing these designs. At least anyone who grew up by that age. But thats a good thing, because that’s exactly what Ankit is trying to achieve. These are not subtle, black, serious earphones. No, no, these are in-your-face designs that say, “You can take your boring earphones and…” well, you get the idea.
Ankit has released four different designs all based on similar specs. Each design is as different from each other as the internal specs are identical. The four designs- each with cute names – are: Teddy bears (Naughty Naughty), Snakes (Forbidden), Butterflies (Breakaway) and Skulls (Stay True). Each design has a complimentary button where the earpiece wires connect to the main wire. Only time can tell how well they will hold up under daily use, but the build quality looks and feels sturdy. The packaging is full of funny sayings and bright, bold illustrations. There is nothing serious about any of it.
Although Ankit is secretive about their specs – from listening, I am guessing that these earphones are based on dynamic drivers – as opposed to armatures – appx. 9 or 10 mm in size. This setup is known for its warmer, bass-friendly sound signature.
Ankit has developed what they call g-bass technology. They never say exactly what g-bass is, but I can tell you that the bass is quite nice without being overpowering. Its some of the cleanest I’ve heard, especially in this price range. Vocals are up front while the high frequencies tend to recede with increasing volume. On Don Henley’s song, “New York Minute”, the tinkling of the piano keys are not as sharp or defined as what you would hear on more expensive earphones. However, I seriously doubt anyone wearing these gives a rip about tinkling pianos or Don Henley. These are phones for the hard rock, pop and hip-hop crowd. Classic rock fans need not apply.
So how does more modern music sound? Let me say in full disclosure, that because I could not get a good seal with any of the supplied tips, there was little to no isolation and I could not hear any decent bass. So what I did was use a set of flanged silicone tips I grabbed from another pair of earphones. With those tips, the sound difference was like night and day. So that’s how I’m testing them – with the flanged tips. One of the three different sized silicone tips that Ankit supplies will probably fit your ear just fine. They are comfortable. My wife has no problems with them at all.
To test their g-bass, I listened to DJ Hell’s remix of Bryan Ferry’s “You Can Dance”. The electronic dance beat thumped away without giving me a headache. At a higher volume, I could feel it. That’s a good thing. Then I listened to Honeyroot’s chiller mix of “Blue Space”. It’s an electronic mix of chill-out space music. This song delivers all the bass anyone would want without exploding their brain. In fact, Honeyroot’s song “Falling” has an even a deeper bottom end which can rip cheap speakers apart. The Ankits handled this song just fine. However, there was a slight harshness in the higher frequencies.
Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” sounded muffled. The song just lacked any punch and trust me, this song kicks. It was more proof to me that these earphones are geared more to today’s mixes.
One side note: Ankin publicizes that they plant a tree for each and every earphone they sell.
Ankit has aimed their products right between the free earbuds that come with your iPod/iPhone and the more expensive $100 and up earphones. Its easy to say that they sound light years ahead of earbuds. Comparing them to the more expensive models get more complicated. I will say that these $50 earphones sound as good and sometimes better than some earphones I’ve heard that cost twice as much. Tack on the uber-hip designs and Ankin just may go to the head of the line in this market.
8/10
Tags: app, Canada, earphones, iPhone, OS, review
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Ankit earphones with g-bass
Article by Bill
Bill Henderson is iPhone World's senior reviews editor. He's a big fan of the iPhone and has been using it for over 3 years now. He works in graphics design and enjoys watching Corner Gas.
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