UGreen Max5c: $25 NC Headphone Review

[GeekyBastard]

My wallet's live reaction rn:

 

[Count Arthur]

My wallet's live reaction rn:

View attachment 408111

You don't have to buy them; even a bargain costs money.

As a lifelong sufferer of "hot ear", it's all moot anyway. I can't wear closed backs, no matter how good they sound or how much of a bargain they are.

 

[GeekyBastard]

You don't have to buy them; even a bargain costs money.

It's too good a deal for me, only around 18.6 dollars on Taobao... Hard to resist

 

[sulfuriq]

It's too good a deal for me, only around 18.6 dollars on Taobao... Hard to resist

Bought 3 for my boyz

 

[ZZdown]

Do these support analog input (3.5mm) thru the USB-C port? Use case - Airplaine infotainment systems.

Before you ask me what I am smoking, I recently found out this is a thing. Got Poly Surround 80 that came with 3.5mm to USB-C cable. Was confused at first but it works. At first I thought they are simply using some of the USB-C pins for analog in, BUT the headphones do require to be powered on to listen to the analog in, unlike some other ones that have analog jack, so maybe there is some sort of ADC in play in the cable (no clue really)

 

[sulfuriq]

Do these support analog input (3.5mm) thru the USB-C port? Use case - Airplaine infotainment systems.

Before you ask me what I am smoking, I recently found out this is a thing. Got Poly Surround 80 that came with 3.5mm to USB-C cable. Was confused at first but it works. At first I thought they are simply using some of the USB-C pins for analog in, BUT the headphones do require to be powered on to listen to the analog in, unlike some other ones that have analog jack, so maybe there is some sort of ADC in play in the cable (no clue really)

 

[delta76]

@amirm the last PEQ does have a Q factor, I used 1.
If it is not then the score for your EQ is inaccurate.

Usually, BT SOCs provide plenty of EQ capabilities including Dynamic range compressors, therefore the tuning should represent the intent of the designers.

Here are some thoughts about the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

Notes about the EQ design:

• The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
• The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
• A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
• The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve (and other constrains) with a fixed complexity.
  This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score, start your journey here or there.
  There is a presentation by S. Olive here.
  It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be therefore more neutral.
• The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF and maybe at HF).
• The range around and above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
• I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
• With some HP/amp combo, the boosts and preamp gain (loss of Dynamic range) need to be carefully considered to avoid issues with, amongst other things, too low a Max SPL or damaging your device. You have beed warned.
• Not all units of the same product are made equal. The EQ is based on the measurements of a single unit. YMMV with regard to the very unit you are trying this EQ on.
• I sometimes use variations of the Harman curve for some reasons. See rational here and here
• NOTE: the score then calculated is not comparable to the scores derived from the default Harman target curve if not otherwise noted

OK L/R match.

I have generated two EQs, the APO config files are attached.
For the price it could be a nice way to experiment with EQ etc.

Score no EQ: 66.6
Score Amirm: 89.1 (great effort)
Score with EQ: 99.1


View attachment 407913
Just for the sake of it I used Amirm's EQ as a starting point as it had most of the EQ points.
The issue is that the the score optimization requires the regression slope to be as close to 0 as possible therefore it decreased the LF to achieve this.
It probably not as good as the one above for most people for this reason, it illustrates the issue with solely optimizing for the score.

Score no EQ: 66.6
Score Amirm: 89.1
Score Amirm optimized: 100.9

View attachment 407911

isn't this one of the highest score with EQ?

 

[Marc v E]

My wife bought some Ugreen noisecancelling wireless earbuds some time ago. She's very happy with them. I wouldn't be surprised if they measure well too.

 

[ZZdown]

There is zero info about analog input in this video.

 

[Weeb Labs]

Here is some additional information:

• Making use of the USB audio mode increases the maximum volume and locks the EQ mode to "Bass" while still allowing one to use the ANC.
• Setting the ANC mode to "Ultra" eliminates the sub-bass rolloff.

 

[sulfuriq]

There is zero info about analog input in this video.

 

[carlcamper]

Just got this. The sub-bass roll off is dependent on how good of a seal you have with your ears, so this actually gets proper deep bass when correctly positioned!

 

[sulfuriq]

This headphones has an awesome mic...

 

[Deckard01]

Can we somehow with the Ugreen adroid app to fix the basss issue or need Roon as Amir does? Thanks

 

[Vict0r]

Cheapest I could find them for was EUR 31,37 on Aliexpress, but that was good enough for me to give them a try. Impulse buy, only because of this review.

 

[jd holloway]

Any major difference between the "Ugreen Max5" and the "Max5c?

 

[Weeb Labs]

Additional measurements of the Bass and Jazz EQ presets. These don't exhibit the sub-bass rolloff, so it may be a fitment issue.

 

[USER]

Additional measurements of the Bass and Jazz EQ presets. These don't exhibit the sub-bass rolloff, so it may be a fitment issue.

View attachment 408947

Fascinating. I can confirm that I did not have sub-bass in the classic setting and that Amir's graph represents well what I was hearing. (I had written notes regarding the frequency response before I sent them in.) More, he used EQ and was able to confirm his own results. Because of this I don't think fit was the issue here. The classic preset results on that squig.link page do not show the drop-off either. Perhaps the ANC settings change the response as was proposed above.

Here is a comparison to Amir's results. I have no idea what the therollo9 set-up is so I am only looking at whether there is sub-bass or not and disregarding other differences.

 

[Weeb Labs]

Fascinating. I can confirm that I did not have sub-bass in the classic setting and that Amir's graph represents well what I was hearing. (I had written notes regarding the frequency response before I sent them in.) More, he used EQ and was able to confirm his own results. Because of this I don't think fit was the issue here. The classic preset results on that squig.link page do not show the drop-off either. Perhaps the ANC settings change the response as was proposed above.

Here is a comparison to Amir's results. I have no idea what the therollo9 set-up is so I am only looking at whether there is sub-bass or not and disregarding other differences.

View attachment 408950

I believe you may be correct. The specific ANC mode is not specified in the additional mesurements that I found, so it may well be that Ultra was selected. Hopefully this will be addressed with a firmware update.

 

[Mojo Warrior]