Headphone Zone x Oriveti OD200 IEM review

The build quality will impress you the moment you pull the earphones out of their foam casing in the box. These are heavy and mean business, built out of aircraft-grade aluminum and sporting a black metal finish. The fit is good and the cable goes around your ears. The shape does not clearly show the side, so you need to check the L and R markings before wearing them. The first time I set them up the other way around, and had to pull out the two-pin connector from the earphones and swap. Also, I have to admit that these days I rarely use wired earphones and that means managing the cables can be a bit of a hassle. But the braided wires make it easier and you get the sense these won’t fray out soon.

I spoke about the weight of the earphones and that’s thanks to the 9.8mm Beryllium Coated Full Range Dynamic Drivers which are inside each of these earplugs. And they sing a different tune from most earphones you are used to. It is all grace as the drivers along with the Oriveti OD200’s unique Dedicated Airflow Distribution (DAD) design create the kind of sound profile that makes you want to listen to your favourite songs again so that you imbibe them in a whole new light.
For instance, as I started testing I heard four different versions of Telisi Rama, but in-ear monitors like these give you the perfect feel of how different singers render the song with their styles.

This was also when I Interchanged the tuning nozzles and realised the difference in the audio profiles they bring in. The black ones that come connected to the earphones have a more open signature while the silver ones that come separately in the box have a slightly restrained feel. I preferred the original one for sure.
The OD200 offers a perfect balance for those like me who don’t like too much of anything. It is with vocals that this IEM comes to its own. I was blown away by the version of Ain’t No Sunshine by The Persuasions. It was almost like I was in some Harlem speakeasy listening to Jerry Lawson render this classic without instruments breaking his flow. But then with Ichu’s Leno Verde, my ears were as if they were caught in the middle of some Brazilian carnival with instruments going off in different directions, and the explosion of strings, percussions, and aerophones. With some numbers, you feel as if the earphones are playing it down before it just changes tracks to give you the real impact the mixer wanted you to feel. The bass is energetic but without a flourish that seems like a synthetic boost, while the treble has an edge without sounding squeaky.

IEMs that offer a perfect balanced audio. (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)

I had to go back to a classic like Careless Whispers to check if I had missed something during all those sultry summer nights I spent listening to the song on my BPL music system. With Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song, I also realised that the Oriveti OD200 offers a sense of space because of the extra large drivers. This also makes the listening experience more natural and without any software-driven excesses we are used to on many earphones these days.

On the box, the Headphone Zone x Oriveti OD200 had a sticker that showed the pricing at Rs 19,999, and I would have paid that money without batting an eyelid given the quality of the audio this one produces. But Headphone Zone is actually selling this at Rs 9,999, which is a steal. This is a great opportunity for aspiring and closet audiophiles to come out and bite the bullet. Tell the world proudly that you don’t want to make any compromises when it comes to your music.