The Ei8htball EX811 earphones are aimed directly at the smartphone market as an upgrade from the packaged in ear headphones. Find out how these beautifully designed earphones perform in our full Ei8htball EX811 review.
Every once in a while, a new exciting brand pops up, seemingly out of nowhere. UK based Ei8htball (Ei8htball website) have done exactly that and are offering a product that really does stand out from the crowd. The EX811 are their first set of earphones to be launched – there are more products planned for the future, for now though, lets see how the EX811 earphones look close up.
Beautiful Packaging
Packaging on the whole, doesn’t normally impress. However, before you can get your hands on the Ei8htball EX811 earphones, you are greeted by the beautifully designed box. The design layout is exceptional and the materials used are very high quality – giving you an Apple style product experience. The magnetic front flap opens to display the earphones inside and gives you a run down of the specifications. The packaging looks so incredibly luxurious and high quality that I can’t make myself throw it away!
Once opened, you are greeted with the normal foam block with earphones inserted and open section containing a bag of 3 sets of silicon ear adaptors. They don’t come with a storage pouch or case, which we feel would have been a good addition, but this is by no means a deal breaker.
Exceptional Design
Simply put, these are beautiful. The overall appearance is clean, but has very nice touches of high quality detail throughout the construction. The earpieces themselves are made of a solid yet lightweight metal construction that are finished to a very high standard with a detailed, painted finished. At the back of the earphones is a small hole to allow air to vent during use – we suspect that this influences the sound of the lower frequencies & the overall driver response, but more on that later. On the open end of the Ei8htball EX811 earphones is a (very) fine mesh to prevent any gunk from entering the inner workings.
The white cable is of the woven type. It does seem to kink and tangle a little in storage – but in use is very light and doesn’t seem to grip to clothing at all. Mounted inline, on the left side, is a microphone and control button (for call answering and play/pause). This works flawlessly for us on an Android device, and the positioning to the side helps the microphone pick up your voice very well. This control unit is built and finished very nicely – it feels solid & again looks very nice indeed (see slideshow below).
The gold plated 3.5mm jack and cable re-enforcement where the cable splits are both of a similarly high quality, looking and feeling like they will both take a lot of abuse.
The included silicon ear adaptors are incredibly comfortable – and for us, fitted much better than many other earphones that we’ve tried. The comfortable fit combined with the lightweight cable means that they are well suited for long listening sessions minimizing ear fatigue.
The overall appearance of the Ei8htball EX811 earphones is stunning – they look and feel like earphones that should cost at least double the price.
Incredible Sound
If all of the above wasn’t good enough, just wait until you put them in & play your favorite music through them!
The Ei8htball EX811 earphones sound good, really very good. You could even tempt me to use words like amazing, stunning or even…awesome.
Getting straight to the point – the bass is big, controlled & goes very low. Highs are spacious, airy and incredibly clear. Where we think these really start to shine is the mid range. They retain plenty of punch and snap which helps snare drums crack whilst also allowing vocals to sit up and be heard clearly.
Beyond the sound character, the EX811 earphones have a fantastically responsive dynamic range that allow you to hear an amazing amount of detail. You can clearly hear reverbs, delays and pick out individual vocal harmonies – you hear the music as it was truly intended to be heard.
When this level of clarity is combined with a well balanced frequency range – the results are frankly stunning. Speaking from a personal point of view, I am now using these out of choice over many other much more expensive earphones.
Ei8htball EX811 Review Conclusion
Coming in at under £30, the Ei8htball EX811 earphones offer exceptional value for money. The level of clarity and detail in the sound really sets these apart from other earphones in this class. the overall sound is truly stunning and the attention to detail at every stage of production is noticeable making them sound as good as they look.
We feel that we also ought to briefly mention the SoundMAGIC E10 earphones here as they’re positioned within the same playing field. We think that the Ei8htball EX811 earphones look better, are manufactured to a higher standard and most importantly sound better than the E10’s. On the surface the differences between the two sets may appear to be fairly minimal – but when combined, the Ei8htball earphones are a much better all round package.
If you want a set of fantastic sounding, lightweight, comfortable earphones for everyday smartphone use – you need look no further, these are the earphones for you.
Pros:
- Beautiful design
- Impressive detailed sound
- Punchy mid range & deep, deep bass
Cons:
- No case
- Cable can tangle in storage
Review Summary:
Sound - great overall sound for the money. While the bass is full & tight, it could be a little deeper. Mids could be a little more natural.
Design - great design and attention to detail.
Quality - build quality is very good, although the woven cable can tangle in storage
Value - excellent value for money, however, we feel a storage case should be included.
Listening Notes:
Molecule Man - Liquid Stranger
Amazing deep and clear sense of space - incredible detail in reverbs, effects and delays. The stereo image is really wide with precise placement. When the bass comes in - its big & low but still retains detail and space across all other frequencies. The top end is really open giving the whole track excitement and drive.
400 Lux - Lorde
Again, another very spacious track - reverbs are sparkly clear and the snare has a great snap to it. Stereo detail is very good - you can pick out individual backing vocals. The bass is low but still allows the rest of the track to balance on top. The reverb is king - you don't often hear this detail on other earphones.
Life - Ludovico Einaudi
Very open and spacious at the start - detailed reverb, you can also detect movement in the string section before they start to play. Every part of the string section can be clearly heard - and in places, individual instruments can be picked out. There are no issues of excessive mid range boost or honk that can sometimes occur with Einaudi's heavily piano based music.
Shine On You Crazy Diamonds (Parts 1 - 5) (2011 remaster) - Pink Floyd
Great sense of space and detail in the intro - every element can clearly be heard. The swirling guitar has great definition and the drums are clearly placed in the stereo image. Overall the track is well balanced - the EX811 present this track very well...other earphones can unbalance the lower end.
EQ notes
After listening to a lot of different genres of music we found the following eq tweak* helped the Ei8htball EX811 in ear headphones shine even more:
- Bass: +1
- 400Hz: -1
- 1k: 0
- 2.5k: +1
- 6k: 0
- 16kHz: +1
*Tests done using a Sony Xperia Z and Google Play Music as the audio source. Quoted Eq settings may not suit all devices.
| Model | Manufacturer | RRP (£) | Available Colours | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EX811 | Ei8htball | 29.99 | 4.2 |
Agree sound is great, but after a few months the cables linking and tangling is a MAJOR problem. In the end, for practical purposes, I’ve had to go back to cheaper buds with plastic cables
Yep the tangling is an issue – made worse by the lack of storage case.
As I seem to be accumulating more and more earphones without cases (manufacturers pay attention), I bought myself a load of cheap cases like these: earphone cases
If you neatly coil them up after every use and put them in a case – they will be much better behaved!
I agree with the main review . Having bought a pair ,they have brought me far closer to the music than I thought possible and at the price they are an awesome bargain .
The only improvements I would like to suggest to the Eightball company would be an L shaped 3.5mm jack and an alternative cable cord protection material ( its strong and doesn’t cause interference to the sound- but it looks naff when kinks are visible ), then hopefully you’ll get the market recognition you thoroughly deserve.
Having had these excellent earphones in both sound and quality for a few months now I find a little care can eliminate any tangle problems. Simply using the plastic tie after every use means no more problems in storage or when you want to whip them out plug them in and play your tunes. Fab purchase at the price and never leave home without them. Cheers ei8ball
Frustratingly, these don’t seem to be available anywhere any more. Not new anyway.
Hi Joe – I’ve had a quick look as well, it looks like you’re right. They don’t seem to be available at the moment from Amazon which is a shame.
Hopefully they’ll have more in stock soon!
Hi
the black colour are available (03/10/16) directly from ei8htball website, cheaper too at 19.99, i just ordered some.