Akko Verge S9 Ultra Gaming Headphones Review – Pretty, Lightweight And Bassy
Akko Verge S9 Ultra are a $69 USD pair of over-the-ear headphones with gaming as their main usage scenario, a 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound and with a lightweight construction of just 270 grams. Today we will review the Verge S9 Ultra and see how they compare to more traditional headphones made for music lovers.
Introduction
While this is not our first product reviewed from Akko, it is not even the first pair of headphones we review from them, having already expired the MA01 gaming headphones, made in collaboration with MoonsGeek. Verge S9 Ultra is an interesting pair because they have a couple of features I often see advertised and which may seem appealing to audiophiles too, not just gamers, so we shall see how those fit with S9. Akko products are available for purchase from Amazon, Akko Website, aliexpress and other outlets too, as Akko is mainly a keyboard / gaming designer and their products are very popular as well.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3SfqOjt
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c31I7TvT
Build Quality – Design
At their core, Akko Verge S9 Ultra are an over-the-ear pair of headphones with Type-C input, USB A adapter, and 2.4 GHz as well as Bluetooth connectivity, which means that they have a DAC and AMP built inside. The entire headphone is built around a 53mm Dynamic driver made with N52 Grade Neodymium driver, and they have an ultra-low latency in wired modes as well as the 2.4 GHz wireless mode.
More technically, Verge S9 Ultra is made with a SPL of 100 dB, an impedance of 64 OHMs and they also come with a microphone which has a sensitivity of -38 dB. You could say that Akko built inside one of the largest batteries seen on a pair of bluetooth headphones, and at 2000 mAh, it offers Verge S9 Ultra a battery life of 250 hours with 50% volume and the LED lights off, and you can consider them usable for a week and a half of gaming and productivity if using them at louder volumes or if you sometimes turn on the LED lights.
One of the technologies inside of the Verge S9 Ultra is using a 3-Chamber for the back of the drier acoustic path, a bit similar to what Ultrasone was doing with their S-Logic technology, and although there is no ANC, Akko designed the S9 Ultra with a thicker earcup, promising around 20 dB of passive noise isolation. Clamping force is quoted to be 4.12N, which judging from what other companies are doing seems to be on the higher side.
It seems that Akko built multiple presets inside of the S9 Ultra, and they also have a Dual-Core DSP processor, along with software to configure new EQ profiles for S9 Ultra. Overall, it feels like the headphones have too many features and too much goodie for too low of a price.
Subjective Usage
Wearing the Akko Verge S9 Ultra is a nice experience and most headphones could learn from them. Earpads are soft and feel nice, while the headband offers them proper support, but likely the best part is the ultra low weight and natural clamping force, making them feel superb on my head. The fact that you can attach or take off the microphone is also super nice, as I don’t like having it always, but sometimes it would come in handy.
The whole headphone isolates with around 10 dB of passive noise isolation or less and leaks quite a lot of sound to the outside, but it is closed back, and the pressure relative isolation is very high, so even with quiet music playing, you get quite a lot more passive noise isolation. Having the tactile actual wheel to control the volume is so satisfying and useful, that is exactly where I would touch to change the volume and it really works.
Signal is instant with the 2.4 GHz dongle, and it is actually happening on the moment, which makes S9 Ultra the best low latency implemented pair of gaming headphones ever designed thus far. Basically, if you’re using them wireless and if you have something that happens instantly, you hear it instantly, with less than 6ms of delay, which is less than one frame for me. USB Cable and DAC mode is also instant, and there is no 3.5mm aux mode, or passive mode. There is a difference in the sound quality via dongle or USB cable, and USB cable sounds considerably better, but ergo, at least wireless is actually instant, and the difference is quite a bit less than most headphones with this kind of tech offer.
Sound Quality
Pairings – You cannot really pair Akko Verge S9 Ultra with anything besides your computer, or something like Khadas Mind 1, or else use their 2.4 GHz wireless dongle adapter.
I am quite surprised by how good they sound via the wired input, but also the wireless one. If I didn’t know that wired sounds much better, I would already say they’re superb for the price, since they are so cheap also. But via the wired connection, they can compete with the likes of Kiwi Ears Serene or FiiO JT7 both of which are pricier options.
Overall Signature – At their core, Akko Verge S9 Ultra are a basshead, bassy, warm and bloomy sounding pair of headphones with a warm vocal range and a bit of treble prickle that gives them just enough top end presence to keep things interesting. Only the music mode is really listenable, using all of the other modes sound quite off. Especially the surround mode sucks out the midrange and creates a thin, sharp sound.
Bass – At the low-end, S9 Ultra reaches 20 Hz easily, and has a strong presence between 40 Hz and 80 Hz, with still an elevated presence of the bass all across the low-end. It even bleeds a bit into the midrange, giving it thickness, warmth and extra pump, making S9 Ultra a heavy sounding pair of headphones. This works well for gaming, giving all effects body, presence and an impressive, explosive presentation. Even for games like Star Craft 2, it is a nice pair of headphones with a wide soundstage and good precision but playing Bioshock infinite is a real pleasure with the S9 Ultra.
Midrange – vocals are warm and thick, with a strong emphasis on male voices, thickness and instrument body. This means that most instruments with a heavy or chugg tone will sound forward, full and obvious. Female voices are not as forward or present, but they are not subdued as the midrange has a dip right in the middle, but makes a comeback around 5 kHz, which gives enough presence and life to female voices to keep songs interesting, and even thinner male voices sound present and emotional.
Treble – Verge S9 Ultra has a rolled off treble that has just enough presence around 7 kHz to 9 kHz to give music cymbal sound, but it is not very present above this. Treble extension is more present for the wired connection, but even so it is not very present. It is enough for pop, EDM and commercial new music, or for games, but not for rock and metal.
Dynamics And Textures – Dynamic range is compressed heavily with the dongle, where textures are compressed also, bringing forward all details to the same loudness, which can help a lot with games as it makes the background effects louder and gives more punch and presence to distant sounds. This being said, using the wired USB mode, dynamic range is a bit wider and there’s less compression. Overall, for their price and design compression is intended and not an issue. Textures are generally slow and a bit sloppy, which gives a satisfying plump bass and body to all instruments and effects S9 Ultra is playing.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Sound is consistent at all volumes, and S9 Ultra can go a bit louder if wired than wireless, but the difference is not very big. What does change is the control and dynamic range, indicating that to achieve the battery life they have, Akko likely did some voodoo magic with S9 Ultra and they eat just enough to get loud, but can sound better if more power would be fed into them, like it happens when using them wired.
Soundstage – Staging is quite natural, not overly wide or deep, but not narrow either. You can get a bigger soundstage in all the other sound modes other than music, but voicing and midrange is so colored that it feels off even if the staging is much wider.
Value – Conclusion
With a true-to-purpose design, Verge S9 Ultra delivers an excellent gaming pair of headphones, cheap, effective and fun to wear. They are FAR too rich in features and extras that it feels unfair to the market, but marketing is never a fair game and if Akko can deliver those at this price, all the more power to gamers and those who enjoy a commercial, pop or EDM music style.
I like Akko Verge S9 Ultra for their top sound, comfortable fit, excellent design, feature-rich design, deep bass, detailed midrange and although compression is always present, that is the intended design for S9 Ultra and I believe they deliver on all promised features nicely being a strong recommendation for gaming, EDM, Pop and commercial, new music.
PROs
- Really good feature set
- Excellent build quality
- Comfortable for long hours of usage
- Top microphone quality and you can even remove the mic
- No latency when used via the wireless dongle adapter
- Nice colors
- Deep bass with a detailed voice
- Natural soundstage
- Multiple sonic modes
- Works really well for games and commercial music
- Long battery life
- Lightweight
Cons
- Sound quality is better via the wired usb input than it is with the wireless dongle adapter
- Besides music, all the other sonic modes are very colored in tonality
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3SfqOjt
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c31I7TvT
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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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