Cresyn C510E Review

These impressive, slightly unusual, open back earphones have a dual chamber design and come with Comply foam tips included. Find out how they perform in our Cresyn C510E review.

Cresyn produce several sets of earphones and headphones that fall into the mid to lower priced end of the market. The C510E is rather confusingly marked as having an RRP of £39.99 while being available for less than £20 at the time of writing. The question is then, how do they perform relative to their price tag?

Premium Packaging

As you can see from the photos in the slideshow at the bottom of the page – much effort has been placed in the presentation of the C510E earphones. Magnets hold the hinged box together in the center – ‘breaking’ the box open reveals the earphones inside. The box is very high quality & feels like the packaging that you should get from a premium product.

Inside, you’ll find the earphones nestled inside one half and the eartips in the other half of the box. With the earphones you get 4 sets of silicone ear adaptors, a storage pouch and a set of Comply foam eartips.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Comply, they produce highly acclaimed ear tips in a variety of types, sizes and fittings. Many people prefer the foam option over regular silicone type. The foam used is very soft and squidgy. Once on the earphones, you make them small by squeezing them, then insert them into your ear as normal. Once in your ear, you need to hold the earphones in place for a few moments while the foam expands back to its original size – filling your ear to create a fully custom, tight fit. While you can freely buy these and add them to any set of earphones – this is a very nice bonus to find included in the box as standard.

The Cresyn C510E earphones have open backs – this allows the speakers to move more freely and sound more natural. It is also worth noting that open back headphones and speakers are normally only available to audiophiles willing to spend vast sums of money – these break that rule. Cresyn are also pushing the fact that these have a dual chamber design to help create a more overall balanced sound. The quality of the earpieces themselves is very good – very nicely finished indeed. The silicone cable isn’t as flexible as it could be and is a little prone to kinks and tangles. While the jack plug and cable splitter are both nicely finished, combined with the cable, do feel a little on the cheap side (more inline with the sub £20 price).

During testing, we tried both the standard silicone and the Comply Foam ear tips. Some users have noted on Amazon that they prefer the silicone type, we however prefer the Comply Foam option. The fit you get with these is exceptional – this has the bonus of being incredibly comfortable, creates a great audio seal & makes them very secure. This level of comfort also makes them feel very light for long periods. During use, there is very little microphonic noise transfer from the cable to your ears – much lower than you find on most earphones on the market regardless of price.

It is also worth noting that because of the open back design of these in ear headphones, they are not noise isolating. This means that you can hear external noises & people around you can hear your music playing in an annoying tinny way.

The Sound Of Open Back Earphones With Dual Chambers

While the marketing speak for the Cresyn C510E earphones may sound like a bit of a gimmick, they do effect the sound character…quite a bit. First off, we preferred the Comply foam tips – so all comments are based on using them. On first listen, the sound is a little muddy, soft and dull. However, if you address this with a little EQ everything changes completely (see the listening notes box below for EQ details).

The open back allows the music to breathe in a very natural way – spacious and dynamic. The bass is big and warm – not boosted or artificial, very natural sounding. While the mid range has plenty of detail, even with added EQ it still lacks a little snap or punch. The treble is again very natural – not over enhanced or harsh at all. The sound is nicely balanced across the full range with plenty of weight to power it along. While the sound comes across a little softer than many punchier earphones, they are still capable of hammering out rock, dance and dubstep with the best of them – when the bass drops, you will pull a face (we all did).

Cresyn C510E Review Conclusion

So then, onto the verdict. There are no two ways about it, the Cresyn C510E earphones sound fantastic – big, balanced and natural all at the same time. The cable quality does let them down a little, and you need to keep in mind that these do leak sound. For less than £20 they are an absolute steal – at this price the cable is forgivable and the sound is frankly, unbelievable. The audio happily competes with earphones in the £30-40 range and does not in anyway reflect the sub £20 price tag. These are a must buy for anyone serious about how their music sounds.