BQEYZ Winter IEMs – Gracefully Skating Musical Notes
BQEYZ Winter is a $239 USD pair of IEMs or in-ear monitors, with a beautiful shell that resembles an ice skate rink, detachable cables, bone conduction drivers, and with multiple cable options. Today we will review them and share more about their sound, but also compare the BQEYZ Winter to other similarly priced IEMs, including HarmonicDyne Devil (199 USD), ThieAudio Hype2 (299 USD), IKKO OH10s PhotoChromic IEMs (199 USD), and Kiwi Ears Quintet (219 USD).
Introduction
BQEYZ is a company from China that never failed to impress me, and which always delivered some of the best sounding, best built IEMs that I’ve seen and heard, despite not being quite as popular as Kiwi Ears or 7 Hz. Somehow, they stay under the radar, although in this stealth they’ve been increasing the quality of their products, making better sounding earphones, and the main reason they aren’t pushed as much is that they don’t do exclusives for certain shops, compared to other brands which do have exclusive models for a certain shop, while BQEYZ keeps a certain degree of autonomy. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and YouTube channel.
I’d like to thank BQEYZ for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion. This review is a description of my personal experience.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here – https://amzn.to/49HiQTX
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here – https://amzn.to/3SGIOzW
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here – https://amzn.to/49CBMDf
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
BQEYZ always makes solid IEMs, and Winter is no exception, as this one comes with a fully metallic shell, anodized surface, and with complex tech inside. We’re talking about high frequency bone conduction drivers, Aluminum alloy shells, and 12mm dual cavity dynamic drivers. The bone conduction unit is developed in-house by BQEYZ, and it has mainly the role of adding midrange and high frequencies rather than bass like most bone conduction units.
The dynamic driver by itself is magnificent, it is a 12mm, large dynamic driver with a PAR diaphragm, which is more elastic and flexible than traditional LCP diaphragms. There is more space between the magnets and the U brackets, to increase the movement space and allow for better resolution from the driver. The two drivers, dynamic and Bone Conduction are arranged in coaxial design, and they have similar sizes too.
Since we’re looking at bone conduction, regardless of the frequencies it impacts, the tips will be very important and for the Winter we have three types of tips included in the package, Atmosphere, Reference and Memory Foam. The Reference tips generally sound the best. The cable is 1.2 meters in length, and you can order the Winter with multiple plug types, including 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm single ended and 4.4mm balanced.
The impedance of the Winter is 38 OHMs, and it is less sensitive to hissing and background noise than IEMS with a lower impedance, but the SPL is kept high, at 113 dB, so they are very easy to drive. For this review I’ve paired the Winter with a selection of sources including FiiO K11, HIDIZS S9 PRO Plus Martha, FiiO BTR15, HIFIMAN EF600, Hiby Digital M300, Shanling UA1 Plus, and Drop + xDuoo TA-84. There is no need for a very strong source, and Winter doesn’t scale a lot with the source, so any dongle does just fine, but I noticed that it is not very sensitive to noise, so they will be easy peasy to drive regardless of what you’re using at the end of the jack.
Subjectively, wearing BQEYZ Winter is a nice IEM, the shape is super ergonomic, there can be driver flex if you push too quickly or too strongly on the IEMS, despite the large number of ventilation holes. There is a good amount of passive noise isolation, and low leakage. One drawback is that I have been unable to get a proper seal and comfort with any of the supplied tips, and only got get the Winter to sit in my ears using ddHIFI ST35, everything in the BQEYZ Package slipping right out of my ears the instant I place them in.
Sound Quality
For how much BQEYZ hypes the bone conduction driver, I was expecting a sound that is brilliant and bright, but BQEYZ Winter sounds balanced, natural and soft-ish with a full and rounded bass, natural sounding midrange, and with a smooth, clean treble with good extension, but a natural amount and sharpness, even at times softer presentation than most of the competition. With Winter, it feels more like BQEYZ went for a sound that resembles the quietness, and calm of snow, rather than a blizzard and the brightness of the snow. To be honest, my reviews have a certain process and order. First, I take photos, then write the review. This is why I didn’t take photos of the Winter with the ST35 tips from ddHIFI, despite using them. While writing, I typically make the title based on very short impressions with a product, but with the Winter I used a placeholder title, the one you’re reading, which seems to have become exactly the way I describe the IEMs.
The bass of the BQEYZ Winter is clean, detailed and smooth, with a full and rounded presentation, lush and deep explosion / impact. The bass has an extension as low as 35 dB audibly, with most of the bass energy starting in that sub-bass area and extending up to the 50 Hz area, which means that the bass has a really punchy and proper weight / amount for all music styles. I was just writing about the Spirit Torino Twin Pulse, which have a bass that is present only when the song has it, and BQEYZ Winter actually adds some bass to all music, so even rock and metal will have a healthy bassline, some low end play and nuance, and EDM / Pop / Dubstep music has the low end boosted with some extra punch, but it still isn’t where basshead typically lies. In fact, BQEYZ Winter is delightfully bassy, but there’s no bass bleed in the midrange, there’s no too much, and most importantly, there is no distortion in the bass. The transient response of the low end is natural / soft which means the bass doesn’t have grain or a texture to it. This creates the feeling that the bass is a bit slow and simple, but it is lush and pleasing, with no fatiguing elements and just a pleasure to listen to.
Most of the music happens in the midrange, and BQEYZ Winter has the characteristic softer / slower transient response that we’ve heard in the bass, creating a midrange that is smooth, full, warm and enjoyable with most music, focusing on nuance and musicality rather than harshness and forced resolution. For the price range, Winter has good detail, it never feels lacking, especially compared to the market, but it doesn’t shove the details down your ears, rather it presents them together with the music, in a grain-free, non-fatiguing setting which allows you to enjoy all music styles equally. The staging is natural, with just the right amount of space between you and the listener, instruments are played all around you as the listener, and the stereo imaging is fairly good. Instrument separation is decent, with a good tonality. There is no special emphasis on the lower midrange or the upper midrange, so both male and female voices are presented equally present and forward.
With how many claims BQEYZ made about how bright and clean the treble will be, I expected the Winter to replace the brightest of the IEMS I heard, such as Final Audio A8000, but somehow Winter doesn’t come even close, and is in fact, relaxed, clean, smooth and lush, with a silky treble that’s easy to enjoy even with songs like Crossfaith – Blue, where the treble is barely present, you hear the cymbal crashes, but they’re played as part of the music rather, flavors rather than distracting parts that fatigue you. We have a good level of dynamics and fairly good headroom.
BQEYZ Winter sounds similar across volumes, it stays controlled, smooth, silky and enjoyable at all volumes. The only one exception I hear is at extremely high volumes, where it becomes more aggressive, somewhat brighter and with a much stronger bass, but the sound is still controlled, distortion-free and clean, with no grain and no harsh elements. Even bands like Brokencyde sound nice from the Winter, and it feels like the perfect IEM to calm down metal and rock, or make Jazz even smoother and more fluid.
Comparisons
BQEYZ Winter vs HarmonicDyne Devil (239 USD vs 199 USD)
The build of the HarmonicDyne is as solid as that of the Winter, both are full metal, but Winter offers slightly better passive noise isolation, while HarmonicDyne has better comfort and pairing with tips, as with Winter none of the default tips fit my ears, and all of them have a silicone that is not sticky enough, while HarmonicDyne has stickier tips included with their IEMs, and this works well for my ears.
Sonically, Winter is a really clean, soft, smooth IEM with no grain, and a balanced overall sound with just the right amount of everything to sound lean and natural, while HarmonicDyne has a bassy, warm, thick and lush sound with no fatiguing, just like BQEYZ Winter, but with a lot more bass. The decision here is simple, if you like Bass go with the HarmonicDyne IEMs, while if you want a more balanced and natural listen, go with BQEYZ Winter.
BQEYZ Winter vs Kiwi Ears Quintet (239 USD vs 219 USD)
Quintet has a more ergonomic shape, is lighter and fits better, having a more ergonomic cable from the factory, and more ergonomic tips. Both IEMs are easy to drive, they are about equally sensitive to the source and both isolate about as well from the outside noise.
The sound of the Quintet is a bit odd, with an unnatural midrange, and with a sharp, bright treble and midrange, good dynamics, and a slightly forced resolution / clarity, offering clarity beyond its price point, at the cost of sounding a bit off in the timbre and overall presentation. BQEYZ Winter has a lower perceived resolution and detail, but that comes with a silky smooth treble, more natural presentation, and refinement which makes BQEYZ Winter sound mature and clean, detailed, but not fatiguing, it is an especially sweet and natural presentation. If you want the ultimate resolution possible for the money, go for the Quintet, while if you price a laid-back, relaxed and clean sound with no fatigue, go for BQEYZ Winter, it is going to deliver you to your armchair and give you a trip in a dreamy land with nothing to disrupt your enjoyment even if you go for savage metal and rock.
BQEYZ Winter vs ThieAudio Hype2 (239 USD vs 299 USD)
The ergonomics of the Hype2 are better than those of the Winter, it is a smoother, lighter IEM with better tips included in the package, and it sits more secure in my ears with no wearing fatigue. Both IEMs are about as easy to drive, although Hype 2 is much more sensitive to the source quality and will show hissing, source noise, source distortion and generally source problems really easily.
Sonically, Hype2 goes for a really similar sound compared to the Winter, both are balanced – natural but Hype2 is more midcentric, Hype2 focuses on details more, sounds sharper, brighter and draws in more texture, having a much quicker transient response, but also more grain. The soundstage is quite a bit larger as presented by Hype2, while BQEYZ Winter sounds more rounded, more balanced, more natural, less grainy, more laid-back, smoother and silkier overall, with a softer impact, softer transient response and softer sound in general.
BQEYZ Winter vs IKKO OH10S Photochromic (239 USD vs 199 USD)
The build of OH10S is less comfortable than that of the Winter, as with Winter you can get good comfort if you replace the tips with aftermarket options, but OH10S is far larger, heavier, being one of the largest and heaviest IEMS I reviewed to date, so comfort will be tricky with them. The cable of OH10S is also less flexible and more tangle-prone than that of BQEYZ Winter, and OH10S is a bit more sensitive to source quality, hissing and distortion, being harder to match with a source.
Sonically, the two are polar opposites, OH10S is a bright, analytical sounding IEM with a natural texture presentation, strong, present and forward treble, and with full sub-bass, going for an electronic music friendly signature, that emphasizes detail and resolution, and delivers a performance far above its price point. By comparison, BQEYZ Winter offers a much softer sound with a more relaxed treble, silky presentation for cymbals and high-end elements, going for refinement, a mature presentation and no fatigue as the central elements of its sound. The choice is obvious, OH10s is for those detail seekers who get a rush of adrenaline when they hear everything, while BQEYZ Winter is for those who want to have a laid back and smooth experience.
Value and Conclusion
With a price point of 239 USD, BQEYZ Winter is a midrange IEM in pricing, but it has a really clean, relaxed and laid back sound with a silky smooth presentation, a natural soundstage, being a uniquely refined and mature offering for the money, so they are totally worth the asking price. The cable is great, and you can get the connector you need, and if you grab a pair of aftermarket tips, you’ll be set for fun.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for an earphone with a fully metallic shell, but which isn’t heavy, easy to drive, and which will sound good with all sources, having a soft, grain-free, clean and relaxed sound, BQEYZ Winter is a fully recommended purchase and an exceptionally high price / performance ratio you can grab right now.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here – https://amzn.to/49HiQTX
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here – https://amzn.to/3SGIOzW
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here – https://amzn.to/49CBMDf
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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