Rock Jaw Audio - Alfa Genus V2 Review
Hey guys!! Welcome to my blog. This is my first attempt at trying to write a full review on one of my recent purchase Alfa genus V2 by Rock jaw Audio. I am not an audiophile by any means but a casual collector of budget headphones/IEMs. What draws me to these is the craving to listen to my favorite music at the highest possible quality and nothing else.
Rock Jaw Audio as I read from the box and in the reviews is
a young British based company based in Scotland. It proudly says “British
Engineered”, I had worked for a long time with Land Rovers & Jaguars and I was
sure it is going to excite.
I grabbed these at Headphone Zone - Phoenix Market City in
Chennai (India), I have started to follow these guys through their web portal www.headphonezone.in and they are doing a great job in bringing some excellent
Headphones to India at affordable rates.
I had purchased lot of IEMs of course on a budget and it is
not so often that you come across a model which stuns you with sound quality.
Before this I was highly impressed with Side firing Sony
IEMs and Klipsch S4i (called Jamo in some markets) and has always considered
them the best IEMs under 100$ budget. Alfa Genus does not disappoint in fact it
is going to me favorite for long time to come.
Build Quality
It is hand made with Ebony wood and aluminum, I am sure wood
was chosen for acoustic reasons. The craftsmanship is amazing on these, the
cable is solid and tangle free, the 3.5mm jack is right angled and should not
have any problem in inserting into smart phones with case.
Accessories/Features
What really drew me to this one is the Tuning Filters with
which you can change the output characteristics. Another model which offers
this feature is RHAT10i, again a young Scotland based firm but the price is 3
times higher. Alfa Genus retails for RS.4999 in India (approx 75$).
As claimed by Rock Jaw
·
Silver – Bass enhanced
·
Gold – Neutral
·
Black – Treble enhanced
As found by me!!
·
Gold – Bass enhanced
·
Silver – Neutral
·
Black – Treble enhanced
The IEM
itself is shipped with Silver filters ON and the packaging shows as below, so
there is no way I could have done a mistake.
The packaging really does not reflect the quality of the
product which is awesome. I had a tough time getting the filters out from the rubberized slots. I will write about the sound quality after a quick
coverage of the Accessories/Features.
You get a nice integrated mic with Play/Pause & answer calls feature, some reviews claim that it does not work with ios devices but I own an Android phone and it worked well. The only gripe is that the button is flush with the housing and it is slightly hard to locate it when attending calls but the size and positioning is perfect.
You get a nice integrated mic with Play/Pause & answer calls feature, some reviews claim that it does not work with ios devices but I own an Android phone and it worked well. The only gripe is that the button is flush with the housing and it is slightly hard to locate it when attending calls but the size and positioning is perfect.
You get three
sets of additional ear buds - small, medium & Large, two sizes of comply
foam tips, one pair of white one which gives a combination of small & big
ear buds, a nice small carrying pouch and a shirt clip.
This time I went
for the combined small & large buds which can allow deep insertion and also
breathe a bit to avoid resonance inside your head.
Sound
Quality
Silver
Filter (default)
As told
before what makes Alfa genus special is the sound quality, so how is the sound like?
The frequency response is very good, the package claims 20 to 20,000 Hz but
more than the specs what matters is how it sounds with your favourite
music.
It is low
impedance IEM rated at 16 Ohms and can be easily driven by your smart phone/iPod
etc
With the
silver filter you get a
- Rich mid range which makes the voice rendering so good and live
- Clean & plenty of tight bass which does not bleed into the mids & highs
- A slightly accentuated High frequency response which makes the High frequency notes from Guitars, Violin Streaks & Drum Cymbal hits so crisp & clean
To me the
highlight is the treble response which is so nicely accentuated and is not on
the harsher side. It instantly appeals when you start hearing it which is also
presented with good bass and perfect mids and also makes instrument separation
great.
IMO such a
feat can be achieved with dual drivers (one for low frequency & one for
high frequency), I have Audio Technica ATH-IM70 which has a very smooth
presentation with dual drivers, Alfa Genus is instantly more appealing than
ATH-IM70.
Rock jaw
claims 20 hrs for burn in time before the IEM sounds perfect, I guess had done
around 10 hrs as I write this review and I could see the sound is getting more
rounded and a slight improvement in volume levels especially with the gold
filters.
All the
details above are with Silver filter which seems to be perfect for me, now over
to the SQ with Black & Gold.
Black –
Treble enhanced
This filter
cuts of the bass completely and it enhances the treble to brilliant levels, not
of use to me but it might suite for completely string based recordings. For my
kind of songs I had to boost the low frequency at 63Hz to 8db, 128 Hz at 8 db, and
250 Hz at 4 db and all other freq set to 0 db on my Neutron Music player App to
listen to my favourites.
The left & right balance
and volume levels are good but I think I will not be using it any more. I get a
balanced sound & excellent treble response in the Silver filter itself!!
Gold – Bass
enhanced
This has
been a disappointing filter so far, I tested the filters at the shop itself and
what I found is
- There is a shift in the balance between left & right, I interchanged the filters from left to right and the sound shifted to the other side. Guessing defective filters we (me and the shop guy Akshay) tried filters from another unit and it is the same and the other IEM also behaved the same, really surprised on what could be the issue ? Rock jaw any answers?
- It gets rid of the treble and enhances bass to very high levels, but could not enjoy much as the volume level goes down, I had to go full volume on my Fiio X1 player which goes to very high volumes with other headphones/IEMS, the volume level on my smart phone was very low.
The sound
out of the box with the gold filters was very muddy but it improves over a
period of time, but the shift in balance is a strange one.
It pairs
well with my ibasso DX50 High resolution music player and my Samsung galaxy S6
with Neutron app. I had applied the Eq settings from my ibasso DX50 to my
Neutron and was very pleased with the results.
It sounds a
bit tinny with my Fiio X1 player and equalizer adjustments can help it alleviate a
bit, IMO it boils down more to the player than the Alfa Genus IEMs.
To sum it up
I can guarantee you will find your music
collection will get new life after you hear on this IEMS. Just make
sure you feed it right !!
If you are
ripping MP3s from your CDs make sure it is above 320 Kbps format, buying songs from iTunes
already ensures it has a decent bit rate. Lossless formats like FLAC/ALAC/WAV
can make it only better.
Pros
- Well balanced excellent SQ, you have to spend at least three to four times to get the same SQ in Over ear headphones and IMO still some models can be short of Alfa genus presentation. You get portable Audiophile level sound in a neat package at affordable price
- Excellent fit & finish build quality, made of ebony wood & aluminum unlike other companies which uses plastic & metal
- Integrated mic and nice set of accessories
Cons
- The volume level with the gold filters and the balance shift?!
- Can be very revealing with smart phones having poor inbuilt DAC, I tested with Lenevo S90 with Neutron app and teh sound is not that great
Alternatively there are two lower
priced models Arcana V2 at Rs. 2999 & Hydra V2 at Rs 3999 which has similar
wood & aluminum construction but without filters.
Well done Rock Jaw !! I am already a
big fan of your company.
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