We’ve seen a ton of different sports-focused earbuds over the past year or so, and Brainwavz is known to release a pair or two — or ten — of its own, many of which we have reviewed. The company is back yet again with the Brainwavz BLU-Delta in-ears, which are a wireless pair of headphones aimed at both general use and sports.
Brainwavz has been a bit hit and miss for us, however they’re generally decent at the price. These headphones come at $50, which is relatively cheap, but still a lot of money for some — especially those looking for specific-use headphones. We put the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones to the test to see if they’re worth even the $50.
Design
The design of the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones is fine, but nothing to write home about — they generally look like Brainwavz’s other headphones, offering a sleekish black look with the Brainwavz logo on the end. Down the right side of the cable, you’ll find a decently large in-line control module, which offers a basic three-button setup with volume up, volume down, and a multi-use play/pause/phone call button. From that module, you’ll also find a microUSB port, which is used for charging the headphones.
Unlike some of Brainwavz’s other headphones, the cable is covered with a simple plastic, and seems somewhat flimsy — like you could break it at a moment’s notice. Still, the plastic used for the in-ear units themselves seems pretty well-made despite being plastic.
In the box, you’ll find a range of different accessories, including a microUSB charging cable, a total of three pais of eartips, one pair of Comply memory foam tips, and a nice clamshell-style case. The inclusion of the nice case and Comply tips here is very nice, especially at this price point. We see far more expensive headphones that don’t come with as good of an accessory package all the time.
In general, the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones look fine, but they seem a little cheaply made. They redeem themselves, however, with the awesome selection of accessories.
Comfort
The headphones are a little more comfortable than average in-ear headphones, and the inclusion of the Comply memory foam tips really helps.
Even without the Comply tips, we found that the headphones were generally well-sized enough to stay firmly in place, which is a rare occurrence for in-ear headphones — often you’ll find that in-ear headphones fall out a lot while running and moving, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for these headphones.
Still, after some time the headphones will get a little uncomfortable. The in-ears are a little on the larger side, and that can be felt.
There is one more downside to the comfort-level of these headphones, and that’s largely to do with the somewhat heavy control module. On top of the fact that the control module is decently heavy, the placement of the cable clips prevents you from really doing much about it — which is a bit annoying.
In general, the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones are quite comfortable, however the control module is too heavy.
Sound
On to the most important thing — sound quality. Thankfully, on these headphones the sound quality is pretty nice. In fact, the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones are well above what we expected. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re perfect.
Let’s start with the bass — which does struggle a little. While there’s a good amount of the bass that’s there, it’s not as deep or smooth as we would have wanted, and the result is a somewhat thin sound overall — which is not what you would want.
The midrange, on the other hand, is decently well-tuned. There does seem to be a slight bump in the higher mids, which is a little badly place, and it results in the headphones sounding somewhat radio-like.
The high-end is nicely tuned, and most of the frequencies we would want from the high-end are there, though we could use a little more of the ultra high-end.
In general, the headphones handle mids and highs a lot better than bass, and it shows — there’s just not enough bass to go around. In other areas of the sound quality, the headphones are fine — they don’t distort until you’re listening a little too loudly, and the stereo separation is about average.
Performance
The Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones perform decently well, but we did experience a few skips and bumps along the way — but not problematically so. The headphones feature Bluetooth 4.1 and offer a range of 10m, or 33ft — which is pretty standard for a pair of headphones like this.
The battery life on these headphones sits at 8 hours of playing time, which is also pretty standard. We would expect more from on-ear headphones, but for in-ears, that battery life is fine.
To sum up, the performance on the Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones is average — nothing more, and nothing less.
Conclusions
The Brainwavz BLU-Delta headphones are far from perfect, but they’re not bad for the price. They offer a decent sound, a good-looking design, and are decently comfortable. Unfortunately, they have shortcomings that seriously hold them back — like the lack of bass and the frustratingly large control module. If you’re looking for a pair of sports buds that also sound great and come at a low price, you’ll probably like these, but you can do better — like the $40 Monster Clarity HD in-ear headphones, which offer plenty of bass.
| Store | Price |
|---|---|
 |
$36.50 |
| Brainwavz | $49.50 |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 20kHz | Active noise cancellation |
No |
| Driver size | 8mm | Noise attenuation | No |
| Driver type |
Dynamic | In-line controls | Yes |
| Design |
Closed | Microphone | Yes |
| Sensitivity | 100dB | Eartip material | Gel/memory foam |
| Rated impedance |
16Ω | Magnet material | Unknown |
| Total harmonic distortion |
Unknown | Water resistance | No |
| Rated input power |
Unknown | Battery life | 8 Hours |
| Maximum input power |
Unknown | Wireless distance | 10m (33ft) |
| Wireless connection |
Bluetooth 4.1 | Cable length | N/A |
| Wired connection |
No | Case type | Hard case |
| Detachable cable |
No | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | Unknown | Colors | Black, silver, red |