Ortofon, while not being a huge contender when it comes to earphones, have recently rolled out their new line of IEM's with their newest edition being the e-Q5. Their younger sibling, the e-Q7, was well known by many for it's beautiful construction and beautifully balanced sound signature. Ortofon looks to follow up with the younger of the two with the e-Q5, said to bring very similar sound at a slightly lower tiered price tag. The official description of the e-Q5 is that The balanced armature driver delivers highly transparent sound in the entire frequency range. So, are these earphones worth their weight in aluminum? Read on for the full review of the Ortofon e-Q5 to find out.
As always, let's take a quick look at what Ortofon includes in the packaging. Before the write up of this editorial, I snooped around to find out what the e-Q7 came with, which happened to be a very classy and large box paired with a leather carrying case. Unfortunately, Ortofon has removed both of these in turn for a smaller and more ergonomic package. The e-Q5's come with a aluminum carrying barrel, a few sets of different sized ear tips (small, medium, and large), as well as a few filters and a filter removal tool in case you ever wanted to swap out the filters in the nozzle.
With the Ortofon e-Q5's, the L shaped earphone design used in the e-Q7's is gone and features a more cylindrical style design. The earphones themselves are made entirely of aluminum and catch the eye a lot more than some of the other boring earphones that I have tried. Since they are made out of aluminum though, they can show scratches pretty easily and don't offer much scratch protection. That being said, the e-Q5's are very durable and can take a beating quite well even after a few minor drops to solid concrete. The cable is made out of rubber entirely and even though it isn't the most tangle resistant earphone that I have experienced, it still features a little bit of a hassle when it comes to knots and twists. The cable splitter can be found in the middle of the cable and very much like the audio jack, the splitter features Ortofon's logo embossed in black rubber. In case anyone was wondering, the audio jack is gold plated.
Now, my medium sized ears can sometimes have trouble when it comes to comfort and fit. While the e-Q5's did block out a lot of noise, it performed best when being used in conjunction with my Final Audio Design Heaven A medium size tips. The e-Q5's were very comfortable to wear for long periods of time and blocked out a great deal of ambient noise. For those who love to wear there earphones over the ear, these are cross compatible, and can be worth facing down or over the ear. As far as micro phonics show, I found a very mixed bag with the e-Q5's. When wearing hanging down I found that there was a decent amount of cable noise, although not too the point to where it interfered with my listening experience. Now, when wearing over the ear, there was absolutely no cable noise to be found and this is the reason I almost always wear my earphones over the ear.
Now we have the most important aspect of the IEMs, the sound quality. The e-Q5's come equipped with a balanced armature driver, and from my experience, balanced armature drivers usually offer a more balanced sound spectrum, and although dynamics can also be balanced as well, they seem to have a more full bodied sound. The sound signature of the e-Q5's are balanced and analytical, especially in the midrange and the high end, with low end surge lacking. Let's first begin with bass. Extension, while being very good, did begin to roll off at the lowest of lows. Also, there was a good amount of sub bass rumble. Unfortunately, since lower end frequencies are quite laid back with very little impact and don't produce enough power for bass lovers to fully enjoy it. Mid bass was also very good and while still not being very powerful, did in fact have a very good amount of detail and clarity. In fact, if you are a person who loves and deep and fulfilling bass, I suggest to look elsewhere, as you will not enjoy the balanced signature that these offer.
Thankfully, the e-Q5's make up for weak bass with excellent midrange and absolutely outstanding highs. Starting with the midrange you will find a very detailed sound. In my opinion, the midrange was a tad bit forward, but not big enough to the point that it overpowers the treble. The midrange was in no way thick and screamed detail and clarity, just like the bass, but with a lot more power than the bass. The treble was easily the most impressive part of the e-Q5's, with richness and bloom (bloom meaning very detailed and analytical) being the most noticeable. Extension was very good and I did not find a lot of roll off even at the highest of frequencies. High end treble was fantastic and in my opinion stood out the most against everything. Another thing to note is that higher sounding vocals stand out very much and are very noticeable, in all types of genres. Lastly, soundstage was pretty good and had a decent amount of depth coupled with a pretty good amount of width.
So, what do I think of the e-Q5's in terms of pure sound quality? Well, to sum things up, richness and clarity were featured in every frequency level, with the most forward being the mid and high end frequencies. While bass was very laid back and not as powerful as I would have liked, the e-Q5's make up for that with very balanced sound all across the sound spectrum. Overall, the e-Q5's are a excellent set of cans and have some pretty spectacular audio quality. Bass lovers will definitely not enjoy the lower end frequencies, but when it comes to listening to rock metal, and any other genre that excels in high and mid range frequencies, the Ortofon e-Q5's will not disappoint.
Rating: 4.5/5
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