"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen featured in their fourth album, "Night at the Opera," and is a song that hits the highs, mids and lows. What better way, we thought, than to test Rockjaw Audio's Alfa Genus V2, a pair of earphones that come with three tuning filters that can keep the sound natural or enhance the treble and the bass.
Look and feel
With the Alfa Genus V2, Rockjaw has interestingly moved away from the wooden design seen in the Alfa Genus. The earpieces are finished in metal all the way through, but still manage to be pretty light. In the box, the earphones come with the bass fliters screwed in, with the treble and neutral filters placed in dedicated slots. The Alfa Genus V2s also come with three pairs of silicone ear tips, one pair of bi-flange ear tips and two pairs of Comply foam tips. We don't think there's a single pair of ears on this planet that won't accommodate these earphones.
The cables are tangle-free and live up to their name. There's also a handy clip that come with the earphones to keep the cables clipped to your clothing. If you're searching for a pair of earphones with a mic, then feel free to add the Alfa Genus V2 to your list.
The sound
After 20 hours of play time that Rockjaw recommends to break the earphones in, we picked a song that featured a mix of highs, mids and lows to see how different the sound is with each of the filters on. We picked "Bohemian Rhapsody," and were really impressed with the results.
With the treble filter on, the sound seemed sharp and edgy, to make a Queen reference, it cut like a knife.
The guitar sounded crisp as did the vocals and the chorus. That said, the sound definitely did justice to the lower frequencies. The bass was thin compared to what the song sounded like with the gold filter on, but there was still enough to keep you grooving.
How sharp the trebles can get with the appropriate filter on really shines through once you've switched to the gold natural filters. With the gold filters on, we doubt anybody would have much to complain. Everything sounds just like it should, but one can't help but feel like the level of separation isn't as clear with the gold tips on.
The silver bass tips are where things change dramatically. With the bass filters on, the lows are delivered with aggression. There is a solid punch to every kick-drum beat. When compared to the natural filters, it's very surprising to see that the bass-y lean to the tuning doesn't really affect the rest of the frequencies. Sure, the crash the goes with the "Thunderbolt and lightning/very, very frightening me," doesn't ring through quite as much as it did with the treble filters on, but the song still remains the same.
Verdict
Its staggering to see the kind of engineering that went into these earphones. To the naked eye, all three filters appear no different from each other and it blows our mind the kind of precision that must have gone into the design. Add to that Rockjaw Audio is just a little company based out of a little town in the UK, we're just left flabbergasted. We tip our hats to the good people at Rockjaw and remain forever in awe of the Alfa Genus V2.
The Rockjaw Alfa Genus V2 is priced at Rs. 4,999 and one can buy them online through headphonezone.in or through the manufacturers themselves at rockjawaudio.com.
