Zealsound HDE-300 Wooden Earphones
Designed with a natural wood housing to produce a warm resonating sound quality.
The combination of aluminium and wood offers a refreshing step away from mainstream plastic earbuds.
Features
- Real wood earphone housings
- Long braided anti-tangle fibre cord
- 10mm neodymium magnet drivers
- Inbuilt microphone for hands free calls
- Gold plated phono connector
- cable clip and spare earbuds included
1Intro
The worlds finest musical instruments and the best high-end speakers share something in common, they are all made of wood. Not because it’s easier or more cost effective to make products in wood, it’s because wood has unique acoustical properties that plastic can and never will be able to emulate.
So, we have wooden speakers and wooden instruments, why not wooden earphones too? It may be that the wooden housing is just too small to overly affect the sound, but hey, at least there is one less piece of plastic on this planet – That has to be a good thing.
2Design
The Zealsound HDE-300 wooden earphones come in a no-thrills plain cardboard box accompanied by a nice Hessian style drawstring bag. There is definitely a very natural and eco feel to the packaging, spoiled slightly by the plastic blister inside which contains the earbuds and accessories.
The additional accessories include 2 spare sets of earbuds. A larger and smaller set than the buds that come pre-fitted.
Also included is a small clip that you can connect to the cable. This allows you to position the lead for hands free calls and also helps restrict noise from movement.
The barrel shaped wooden earphone housing is slightly thicker and deeper than most plastic earbuds, but still relatively lightweight. They fit really well and I think the combination of polished wood and anodised aluminium give them a really premium look.
There is just one aspect of the design that I’m not too keen on and that’s the length of the cable. This may suit some, but for me it’s just too long, at 53 inches, you could literally tuck your Smartphone or mp3 player into your sock.
3Specs
- Driver: Dynamic 10mm Neodymium
- Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz
- Maximum input power: 10mW
- Sensitivity: 99dB±3dB
- Impedance: 16Ω
- Connection: 3.5mm gold-plated jack
- Cable length: 53 ” / 1.35m
4Sound and Performance
The hands free calls button and integrated microphone work well, the audio is clear and of a good volume. Unlike some other earphones I’ve tested, this button doesn’t appear to have the ability to skip audio tracks with a double click. This is a bit of a shame, as it’s a feature I find useful when training.
As for the audio quality, I was highly impressed, especially considering the low budget price of these earbuds.
They sound rich, roomy and very well balanced throughout the volume range. I’m unsure if this has anything to do with the wood housing, but I’d like to think it does.
5Verdict
As far as the looks and the sound quality go, these ZealSound wooden earphones are spot on and great value for money. There are some improvements that can be made, such as a double tap feature on the hands free call button to skip audio tracks and the cable could be made way shorter in my opinion. Neither of these two small issues are deal breakers, and while I may not choose these as my regular gym earphones (currently the Mrice E300’s) I’d certainly favour them for general use out and about.
I hope you enjoyed this review, if you did, please share it socially or leave a comment below – Thanks!
