You know you make it big when you are reviewing a product that is virtually non-existent on the internet. Seriously, try to find something regarding the Wicked Reverb online – it’s not exactly easy. To our knowledge the only other page that mentions the Wicked Reverbs, is this post we published five hours ago. What that also means is that this is likely the only thing you are going to find about these headphones – and that is a little concerning, even for us. Just for your sake, we will try to be as thorough as we can about these; and by thorough we mean make up as many lies as we can. So joking aside, here comes a review about a product you can’t even find on Wicked’s website – the Wicked Reverb.
Out of the Box
Just like a bunch of other headphones that came from Wicked, these were packaged in a very interesting box and you get the sense just by looking at the box and name that someone is trying to compete against TheMacFeed Staff favorite Skull Candy. The box claims, “you might get complaints from your neighbors, but that’s the price that you pay for incredible sound.” What’s odd is that in the end, you don’t pay a whole lot for incredible sound. (More on that later) Inside the box, you find the headphones, a 1/4″ inch adapter and a six foot extension cord. The 1/4″ adapter probably feels the cheapest amongst any other ones we have seen (a theme that extends throughout the entirety of the headphones), but then again, those adapters are almost exclusive to the high-end headphones.
Design
Our headphones were blue with pattern (model Wicked Reverb Wi-8200); Wicked Audio also makes the Wi-8201 (red/orange) and Wi-8202 (black/white). Like the rest of the Wicked line, the Wi is the only part that matters technically speaking as the other two feature the same stats just in different colors. All three house the same 40mm driver rated at 20Hz-20,000Hz with an Impedance of 32 ohms. All three also sport the same six foot cable that extends from a y-style connector. The cups are pretty large (as they would have to be to house the large 40mm drivers) and feature a leatherette padding. The band sees the leatherette on the bottom, while the top gets a black and white Wicked logo. By far the most defining initial characteristic of the headphones is how “cheap” they feel. The headphones are large, but light and there are some easy explanations. The casing of the headphone is plastic, and not the hard plastic you see from something like the Shure headphones. The hollow plastic is easily seen and adjusting these headphones gives us a noise that makes us fear (and for good reason…) A couple of times when we placed these headphones in our bag, one of the cups came loose from the holster. Sure, this was nothing too hard to fix, literally just put it back in and it never occurred when we were just wearing them, but that’s still not a quality that we’d aim for. (If you have quality concerns, please read the last paragraph)
Isolation
There are some ventilation holes on the sides of each cups. While these aren’t open, there is some noise that seems to leak out. It’s not too bad, even at high volumes you really have to get close to the exterior of the headphone (we are talking less than two inches) in order to really notice this, but it’s more than the average closed over the ear headphone. You shouldn’t care about what the person next to you hears, because all you really care about is what you hear and don’t hear. In terms of isolation, these fair okay. They are not noise-canceling, but keep out at least ninety-percent of the sound depending on volumes. At higher volumes, we can definitely isolate ourselves nicely. Combine that with the comfort and we see a nice plane trip coming.
Comfort
Perhaps the lack of weight assists these when it comes to comfort. They are light, which is better than heavy we suppose? The leatherette isn’t the greatest feeling in the world (note to Wicked, please use a combination of sheepskin and rattle snake hide on your next headphone.) The above was a joke, but the following is not, at least for a sentence or two. In general we like the fit of these headphones. There is a slight angle to how the band meets the cups and that allows for them to stay on much better then some other headphones. Additionally, the weight can’t be faulted – we worse these for three hours without ever noting discomfort.
Sound
Fortunately build quality didn’t extend to sound. While these aren’t as colorful as the headphones exterior is – sound coloring is easily recognizable. Keeping in mind the all but obvious competition, the sound is actually what you would want it to be. If you are thinking about using these for critical listening, you are clearly reading the wrong post. If you are contemplating mixing with these, you are going to end up with some funky songs. If you are thinking about enjoying music (or any other audio for that matter) – go ahead, keep reading.
Bass
We start in reverse order because quite frankly the first thing you notice is the bass. It’s a nice contrast: the light and cheap plastic and than the booming bass. The contrast actually produces a shock, as we really didn’t see it coming at all (neither did any of our other random test subjects.) It’s not perfect, but it’s booming. Hip-hop literally allowed the headphones to vibrate against our head (that has to be bad for your ears.) While rock songs got a mix of warm guitars and punchy drums. The headphones are without a doubt bass heavy and while it borderlines the excessive amounts, we are pretty sure there are quite a few that will find these exactly what they are looking for.
Mids
All three spectrums suffer from a bit of muddiness and since the bass sort of just mocks any notion of imperfections with power, the mids suffer most noticeably. While it’s not problematic, it’s noticeable – no matter what you pay. Fortunately, it never produces a sound that is flat or hollow and the clarity in general is above par. Some of the time the Reverbs grace us with a mid-range that is beyond decent and dare we say, “sharp.” For some brief moments we forget that we are supposed to be exclusively listening to hip-hop and rock and are actually thinking that we can hear the intricacies of Stratavarious. Okay perhaps, we were overextending ourselves, but we always say that we think that the mids are successful if they help in bledning the highs and lows – and in that sense the Wicked Reverbs pass, in a very round about and non-sensical way.
Highs
They were never harsh, which is the first test we put them to. At times we feel they got flustered, but their main issue was the overpowering bass. Clarity was not as large of an issue after fifteen hours, but these are not made for monitoring even at that spectrum. Fortunately, the Reverbs avoided any graininess and in general preserved a decent representation of the sound. With any headphone that’s targeted at consumers who likely are more obsessed with bass response than clarity, we always believe that when it comes to the other two sides of the sound spectrum the a priori goal must be to not degrade the sound and in that regards, Wicked performed well.
Reflection
The depth of the headphones is a tad bit confusing. The bass gets decent depth from the soundstage, but the mids are shoddy to say the least. The hit or miss nature of the mid-range soundstage produces an experience within itself, but in the end we just sort of got used to getting some pleasant surprises at times. The sound is in a lot of senses what you hoped for, but not what you expected. We cannot stress that while we enjoy colored sound, not at the extent of destroying vocals and for that we think Wicked did quite a nice job.
Parting Words
If you read our review of the Little Buds, you’ll notice a lot of similarities. We found a decent earphone that’s greatest feature besides its price was its bass. With the Reverb, you also get the same story about comfort and to some extent build quality. And like the Little Buds, Wicked gives you a lifetime warranty – something that is incredible for the price. So that magical price: $19.99. Like the Little Buds, while we can pick at these headphones, we cannot say much in the face of that price. Currently they are on sale at FYE stores for that price, although they apparently regularly retail for $29.99. For $35 you can get a pair of earphones and headphones – each featuring decent isolation, generally good sound, a booming bass and a lifetime warranty. We believe Wicked has lost their mind and we recommend taking advantage of it before they regain their sanity…
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