INTRODUCTION

   Sight and sound are arguably the two most important human senses and so naturally people like to judge most things based either on how they look or how they sound (well ok some things like the McLaren MP4 or the Lamborghini Aventador obviously combine both). Because of that it comes as no surprise that whatever is available out there in the market from clothes, shoes, accessories and up to bikes and cars focuses primarily on looks and then everything else. When it comes to certain devices however like headphone sets things are quite a bit more complicated since not only do you have to take into account how they look but you also need to take into account how they sound and with so many offerings in the market that's not very easy. Worry not however since this is where we come in and so today we will be taking a look at the EP02 HD headphones designed and manufactured by a new player in the field called alienvibes.

   The co-founder of alienvibes, Michael, enjoyed his variety of music. Michael loves to attend live concerts, clubs, beach parties, BBQ’s and other social gatherings where the music is rocking. “How on Earth would I rock magnificent sound back home without disturbing the peace?” Attentively, Michael had a chance to meet with a few Engineers, DJ’s, Designers and Product Analysts during the promotion of alienvibes Speaker Systems. During the exploration, Michael received full support developing affordable quality headphones for audiophiles. Though it wasn’t an easy task to keep affordability and quality combined, the team devoted themselves day and night for over half a year developing extremely decent headphones. During the establishment, the team achieved and transformed the essence of music into a quality tangible product. Articulating sounds of the universe to impress aliens with the ideal vibrations.

   The EP02 is the first massive attempt by alienvibes to enter the global market but although they are a rather small company that doesn't mean that they have thrown anything less than thousands of man-hours and lots of resources in design and development. The result of all that is a high quality over the ears stereo headphone set made by durable hi-grade materials featuring two pro-grade 40mm drivers (20Hz-20KHz frequency response/110dB+-2 sensitivity) under the hood along with an in-line noise-cancelling microphone. Design-wise AlienVibes seems to have taken some tips from Beats by Dr.Dre which actually turned out to be a good thing since the end result is really very sleek. Still we like to judge headphones mostly based on their sound quality rather than looks since looks is something that always comes down to personal preference/taste (then again so does sound but in a much smaller degree) and that's what we're going to find out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The box of the EP02 has two product pictures at the front and rear showcasing the two main colors available.

A few words about the company along with the features list are placed on the right side.

On the left side we see the contents of the bundle along with the specifications and available colors of the EP02.

The headset is placed inside the storage/carrying case while the rest of the bundle sits inside a small cardboard box.

I was surprised to see such a rich bundle from alienvibes so aside the EP02 headphones you will also receive a storage/carrying case, airplane adapter, 3.5mm to 6.3mm gold plated adapter, two AAA batteries, 3.5mm cable, 3.5mm cable with in-line microphone, cleaning cloth and the user’s manual.

THE EP02

The exterior of the EP02 is made primarily by glossy plastic (fingerprint magnet i like to call it) and they weight a total of 295g.

To get a better idea on how large/small the EP02 headphone set is we placed it next to the somewhat compact Jabra REVO wireless.

The AlienVibes logo is placed on the exterior of both earcups however on the right side we also see the power on/off switch. The logo on the left side is also the mute sound button.

Moving to the left earcup we see that behind the logo is the battery compartment (unfortunately the EP02 is not re-chargeable) and on the base lays the 3.5mm cable port.

The earpads are quite large and are covered by leatherette.

L/R markings are printed on the interior above both earcups.

alienvibes has placed the infinity symbol on each side of the headband (don't really know why).

The headband is extendable on both sides by a total of 6cm (3 on each) but there are no visible increment markings.

The headpad is also covered by leatherette and is quite soft.

Typically the company name is placed ontop of the headband.

The in-line noise-cancelling microphone is very conveniently placed and also features a large push to talk button.

All of the 3.5mm connectors are gold plated just like the 6.3mm and airplane adapters.

Thanks to the foldable design the EP02 can fit nicely in the storage/carrying case.

Aside having the company logo printed at the top the storage/carrying case also has an large carabiner clip.

CONCLUSION

   We let the drivers of the EP02 by alienvibes burn-in for a total of 27 hours in order to get the most out of them during testing but in the end it took us less than a few minutes to realize that the sound quality was miles ahead from even our wildest expectations. You see not only did the EP02 produce plenty of rich and deep bass but it's mids were quite accurate with very clear and natural highs. Of course we've seen even better headphone sets like the AIAIAI DJ/Studio or the Jabra REVO Wireless but for a first try by a company new in the field the audio quality is almost superb. The only thing I’d like to see from a self-powered headphone set would be a volume controller but that's not the case so although you need batteries to use a set of wired headphones you can't control the volume level directly from them. Of course both the foldable design and the available color selection showcased in the above picture are also very good additions to the EP02.

   With a current retail price tag set at USD149.99 inside the USA (Purchase Directly from Amazon.com) the EP02 Elite HD Noise Cancelling Headphones are worth every penny although it may not be wise for a new manufacturer to venture above USD100 since many consumers will most likely choose something carrying the logo of one of the large players in the market for that price. That's not to say that there aren't better solutions out there but they will cost more to deliver the same sound quality (build quality you just might find something better at the same price tag) and not everyone can spend over USD200 for headphones especially nowadays. Unfortunately alienvibes products are not available in the EU as we speak but since they are still a new manufacturer i doubt they could make the EP02 available in quantities inside the EU as well. Bottom line the EP02 is as good as it can get for that price and although we would like to see a volume controller and perhaps wireless connectivity as well (featured in future versions probably) they are still walking away with our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Accurate/Natural Mids/Highs
- Deep/Rich Bass
- Plenty of Volume
- Foldable
- Noise-Cancelling In-Line Microphone
- 3.5mm To 6.3mm Gold Plated Adapter
- Airplane Gold Plated Adapter
- Gold Plated Plugs
- Design
- Carrying Case
- Price (Compared To Similar Solutions) 

CONS

- Uses Plain AAA Batteries (Not Rechargeable)
- No Volume Controller
- Only Available Inside The USA (Currently)
- Price (For Some)