OneAdio is back with an upgrade on its Focus series of headphones; it"s a brand you may remember from last year when we reviewed the Focus A5 Hybrid ANC and rated it highly for quality as well as the asking price. Now they are back with the Focus A6, and we take a look and listen!
Disclosure: OneOdio provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval.
As I said with the previous hands-on, I"m no audio buff, but I do know the difference between good and bad-sounding speakers and headphones. I currently own the Edifier 360DB speakers paired to my PC through a Toslink, which was an upgrade from the very much older Creative MegaWorks 250D-THX after they stopped working.
I switched to the Focus A5 from my own Audio Technica ATH-SR50BT with an impedance of 32Ω, simply because I think they sounded great (in my opinion). I use them with my computer when I don"t want to disturb my neighbors late at night.
The packaging arrived unscathed this time, all the way from China. The packaging is white, while the Focus A5 has black packaging. It"s a minimal affair, with the headphones sitting inside a cardboard cutout, which is also protected with a plastic sleeve. Underneath the headphones is another cardboard box that contains the documentation and the USB charging cable..
What"s in the box
- 1 x OneOdio Focus A6 headphones;
- 1 x USB Type-C charging cable
- User Manual
With that out of the way, here are the specs:
| OneOdio Focus A6 | |
|---|---|
| Model: | A6 |
| Driver: | 40 mm |
| Audio Technology: | AAC, sbc, LDAC |
| ANC | -48dB Active Noise Cancellation |
| Frequency Response: | 20 Hz - 40 kHz |
| Sample Rate: | 96kHz/24bit |
| Impedance Range: | Up to 32 Ω |
| Bluetooth Version: | 6.0 |
| Bluetooth Profile: | HFP/AVRCP/A2DP/BLE/SPP |
| Transmission Range: | >10 m / Bitrate: 990k |
| Maximum Transmit Power: | 4.64 dBm |
| Wireless Freq Band: | 2402 MHz-2480 MHz |
| Battery: | Li-ion Polymer Battery (500 mAh) |
| Charging Port: | USB-C |
| Input Power: | 5 V ⎓ 600 mA (3.7V 1.85wH) |
| Charging Time: | ≈ 1.5 h (10 mins charging offers 10 h playtime) |
| Playing Time: | ≈ 75 h (ANC OFF) / ≈ 45 h (ANC ON) |
| Weight: | 240 g (0,52 lb) |
| MSRP: | $69.99 |
Design
The Focus A6 are completely black except for a gold trim on the outer ear cups flanking the gold colored OneOdio logo. The whole outside of the ear cups surrounding the logo feels like a tiny vinyl record, which is both pretty cool and looks great. Unlike on the Focus A5, there are no ventilation slits on these cans.
| Focus A6 | Focus A5 |
|---|---|
For some reason, OneOdio decided to flip the controls the other way around, so it might take some getting used to if upgrading. However, all of the controls are still on the right cup, with access to the volume controls at the bottom, which also double as prev/next track when holding down the volume up (next) or volume down (prev) for longer than 2 seconds. I would have preferred a double click on prev/next as navigating through tracks can be time-consuming due to the two-second pause, with the rinse, repeat between each action.
Above the volume rocker, there is a Multi Function Button (MFB) which is also the power button; tapping once pauses or plays tracks, holding the button down for longer than two seconds powers the Focus A6 headphones on or off.
The Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) button is located above the MFB, which is disabled by default upon powering on the headphones, tapping it once enters transparency mode, tapping again enters ANC mode, and once more disables both ANC and transparency back to "normal" mode. The ANC mode has been upped a bit from the Focus A5 from -45dB to -48dB.
Full instructions on button use can be found here, as the user manual is not linked on the product page, which is something I also fed back to my contact at OneOdio.
Usage
Just like my experience with the Focus A5, the Focus A6 headphones sound really great. The Focus A6 don"t get quite as loud as the Focus A5 for some reason, considering they have the same diameter 40mm drivers, I had to use the OneOdio app on my phone to sort of get them sounding similar to the Focus A5, this meant putting them on "Bass Mode", or "Super Bass Mode," yes there"s an app for that. I even tried connecting the older Focus A5 headphones to also check out the equalizer with them, but I discovered they will not connect to it and are unsupported.
The app, which only connects when you have paired via Bluetooth on the phone, lets you control the headphones instead of fiddling with the buttons, which is always a bonus!
I used a combo of Amazon Music and Tidal for my testing on my PC and phone since they both offer lossless formats, which is what I would need to really test out the LDAC performance of these "cans". I also used them with YouTube playback, with the latter returning an acceptable quality.
Controls verdict: Great! (in combination with the app)
Comfort
The first thing you can see is that the Focus A6 (on the left in the above image) are smaller than the Focus A5, and they are also a little narrower with the headband; however, this does not result in discomfort; they also weigh a slightly 10 grams less as well.
After wearing and listening to music for over two hours while I am working, I wouldn"t say that I "forget" I am wearing them at all, but perhaps more importantly, they don"t bother me. The headset does not feel tight on my fat head at all. I did a comparison pic up above.
Comfort verdict: Great!
tl;dr highlights:
- AI-Based Adaptive Noise Cancellation
- LDAC Audio Technology
- Bluetooth 6.0
- 75-Hour Battery Life
- Transparency Mode
- Low Latency Gaming Mode
- Hybrid ANC: -48dB
- Fast Charging: 10-Minute Charge, 10-Hour Playtime
Transparency mode
Just like with the previous Focus A5 review, I also tested the transparency mode by playing a YouTube video on my phone of Jimmy Carr roasting a South African heckler, and with the volume right up and holding it near to my left headphone, I could follow along as if I was listening to music through my computer speakers with someone talking. I also tried transparency mode while someone was visiting, and even with the volume down lowish that person had to talk quite loudly for me to understand them from about 1 meter (3 ft) away.
Noise canceling
Right now in the Netherlands, the weather has been pretty good these past two weeks with temperatures reaching 34°C (93,2°F) where I live, so I usually have my portable airco on through the night in the south-facing bedroom, which gets sun all day. While watching TV with the headphones connected over Bluetooth and using Noise Canceling mode, I can confirm that it really does drown out the 54-62dB airco noises really well. It"s like magic!
If I had to complain about these headphones at all, it would (still) be the two-second pause for previous and next track. Other than that, I can"t really fault them. They are comfortable to wear (even after two hours of having them on, and while I am writing this mini-review), and they sound great.
Overall verdict: Good!
If I hadn"t heard the Focus A5 headphones, then I"d probably pick these up. The app sort of lets you change the equalizer to closely resemble the Focus A5 as I mentioned earlier. Still, the app is only supported when connected to a phone, so you"re out of luck when using them with a TV or a Receiver, because then you just get the standard mode of the Focus A6 without all the bells and whistles of the app.
Right now, these headphones can be picked up on Amazon for only $59.50 when applying the coupon below during checkout. Or on the official site with our custom coupon.
- OneOdio Focus A6 $59.50 Amazon U.S. (use coupon USSPPR15 for 15% off)
- OneOdio Focus A6 at the official website (use coupon NEOWIN15 for 15% off)
Please be aware that the above coupons expire after July 11.
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