[Mini review] The strongest cost performance at 4,999 yen? Listen to balanced "Aki-Light" earphones – AV Watch

Intime brand hybrid earphones "Aki-Light Balanced" which e☆Earphone has been selling since February. It uses a 2.5mm 4-pole balanced cable, and while it supports balanced connections with high-quality sound, the affordable price of 4,999 yen (tax included) is attractive.

The intime brand is known to people who go shopping for events such as "Potafes" and e☆earphones, but it is a relatively new brand that some people are unfamiliar with. there might be Founded in 2016, the Ozeid brand is said to have developed high-resolution earphones by making the most of the electric ceramic technology that the founder himself has acquired over the past 30 years and his own sound sensibilities. The brand name intime means “best friend” in French.

In the summer of 2018, the intime brand launched the 3,999-yen SORA-Light. It is a model with a new tuning of the sound quality and weight reduction of the high-resolution earphone "Aki" (released at the end of 2016) that uses a unique ceramic tweeter. Even now, it is in the top weekly purchase rankings of e ☆ earphones almost every week, and the so-called “U5000” (5,000 yen or less) is gaining popularity as a product with excellent cost performance.

The "Aki-Light Balanced" introduced this time is a limited production model in which the stereo mini cable of "Aki-Light" is changed to a 2.5mm 4-pole balanced cable. Unusual for the price range of the U5000, it is characterized by its support for high-quality balanced connections. Although the earphones are directly attached and the cable cannot be replaced, it is possible to realize this price by suppressing the cost accordingly.

It's quite cheap for balanced earphones, so I was wondering, "What about the sound?" I personally liked the sound of Aoi-Light Balanced.

I sometimes use 2.5mm 4-pole balanced earphones "Co-Donguri Balance" (Charaku Onjin, actual sales 4,600 yen), but this is very good when the individuality of the sound matches the tendency of the music you want to listen to. While listening to it comfortably, I felt that the clarity and reverberation of intense rock and orchestral music were unsatisfactory (previous review article).

On the other hand, Aoi-Light Balanced can express everything from thick and heavy bass to delicate high frequencies, and basically matches any genre of music. Compared to the unbalanced connection, the stereo feeling and clarity of the sound heard from the left and right earphones is high, and it is a great deal to get a clean "balanced connection-like sound" with a wide sound field for about 5,000 yen.