Noontec Rio In-Ear Headphones Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Available for around £25, I feel that the Rio is marketed as a much more premium style product given its overall design and marketing, which falls in line with similar offerings from rival brands.

Conclusion

What we come away with here is that given the price and rated specs, the Noontec Rio doesn’t live up to the expectations set. They are however acceptable earphones all the same and deliver a nicer experience than some bundled earphones that ship with smartphones and music players. Yet I think it would be wise to have a listen to others in the same price range to make a judgement for yourself.

Noontec have provided us with an excellent package, but executed it with less than excellent sound quality and there are better sounding, but perhaps not better looking options for around the same price. I understand that audio is a subjective thing since we all hear things differently, but to my ears they didn’t offer the kind of performance that I expected when reading the specification on the box and reading about them on the official website.

Pros

• Excellent package and contents
• Quality use of materials on both product and pouch
• Generously sized pouch that can hold more than just the Noontec kit
• Unique tangle free flat cable design
• They are £25

Cons

• Poor soundstage, too fatiguing to listen to for any decent amount of time
• Ear tips are too flimsy to be useful at isolating outside noise and providing a decent seal around the ear canal
• Poor mid and high frequencies. Symbol instruments get muffled in the distance
• Bass is not tight, it feels loose and/or woolly

“Great style and a reasonable price tag may be more than enough for many, and they’re a decent upgrade from bundled headphone kits that come with smart devices these days. But if you want more punchy performance, you may want to shop around.”

Thanks to Noontec for providing this review sample.