Fresh N Rebel Clam Ace 2 Headphones Review – Liliac Dream Flowers
Fresh N Rebel Clam Ace 2 is a 99 USD pair of over-the-ear bluetooth headphones with advanced noise canceling, 100+ hours of playback and Audiodo Personal Sound Enhancements through MySoundApp. Today we review the new Ace 2 and explore how they compare with other similarly priced headphones, as the 100 USD price range is usually rather busy for IEMS but not quite as busy for over-the-ear headphones.
Introduction
This is our first review exploring a product from Fresh N Rebel, a company I know literally nothing about so far. They do have a crab with open pincers as their logo, and they do have a ton of entry-level products in their store, in multiple colors. The most expensive products Fresh N Rebel is selling are some party speakers that I hope to review as those would be an interesting comparison to the Tronsmart bang Max that I like a lot. Back to today’s product, Fresh N Rebel has multiple headphones in their store but the Clam Ace 2 seems to be the most premium one they sell.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4eiJzdl
Build Quality – Design
Clam Ace 2 are a pair of headphones that combine multiple technologies to deliver a complete product. The list includes the adaptive hybrid active noise canceling system with an ambient sound mode with quick access. This adds the My Sound App+ Audiodo personal sound for deep customisation of the sound, and 100+ hours of playtime.
Inside the earcups there is a module that detects when you take off the headphones and which will auto pause the music, very similar to what I’ve seen on the Sennheiser Momentum series of headphones. Because that module is really bulky and adds something inside the cups, I am usually not a personal fan of those, but I saw people who appreciate it as a feature.
Quoted battery life is 100+ hours of playback with the ANC off and 60 hours with ANC On. Charging the Clam Ace 2 for just 10 minutes should give you 8 hours of playback, making them super reliable for long hours of usage. Some of the things that I do like include the addition of the physical volume wheel and tactile buttons, which make using them much better than headphones with touch control. While this is also a feature, I want companies to drop the assistant button, as I don’t want a button to invoke Siri or Google Assistant, but it does exist on the Clam Ace 2.
On a more technical level, Ace 2 supports USB Audio DAC and uses a Bluetooth 6.0 connection. You will need the special apps to make the most out of them, and there really isn’t much info otherwise about the DAC, AMP modules or even driver size, so we shall judge them based on the actual performance.
Subjective Usage
Although the Liliac color is very feminine, I find the comfort and build quality of the Clam Ace 2 to be superb, they have a very thick set of earpads, thinner but enough padding on the headband, tactile controls for volume, ANC and playback, and also a ball joint that connects each cup to the headband which allows for more lateral adjustment than most headphones I’ve ever worn. While the headband is also very flexible, there seems to be a stainless steel insert in the headband that offers structural support and quality to the headband.
While I’ve had the experience that a lot of new headphones are too tight for my big old melon head, Clam Ace 2 is large enough at about the midway point of the size adjustment, so they will fit someone with a smaller head as well as someone with a larger head than mine. While the thick earpads offer them an excellent feeling and they have plenty of space for my ears, the headband has a bit of a hotspot at the top of my head regardless of the size adjustment, as it has a thinner padding. Both have a rubbery material that covers the padding which offers a better seal on the earpads, making the whole passive noise isolation feel higher than most headphones.
While pressing on the right earcup acts as the play/pause button, pressing on the left cup acts as the ambient / ANC button. Left and right markings are inside the headphones, and they made me remember why I dislike this sensor that detects when they are being worn, as if I pressed stop, I do not want the music to start as soon as I put on the Clam Ace 2 headphones. Battery life is plentiful, and you would have a hard time depleting them within a week, while performance is top for the wireless connection and I experienced not a single connection loss with them. You’ll be using the volume wheel just to set the digital volume of your phone as Clam Ace 2 does not have an internal volume and it is not an analogue volume wheel but a digital controller.
Noise canceling performance is much higher than with most headphones, and it does not seem to damage the sound while passthrough has far less additional noise than most headphones, so both have a spectacular performance. There is no driver flex and for my ears they are comfy, but they are a more clampy style of headphones, made for an active lifestyle that includes gym and they can be a bit heavy. Total passive noise isolation is around 10 dB, transparency can achieve enough amplification of the ambient noise to make the headphones feel as if you are not wearing headphones, while ANC increases the noise cancelation to about 25 dB, a spectacular performance for any pair of headphones.
The software part is very simple, but a bit hard to find the app, as it is named Fresh N Rebel rather than my sound, and audiodo is an additional part of the app. Unfortunately, it does not work very well for me, and it caused the sound to tilt the L R balance heavily, despite my hearing the sound better without it active, and it made the sound quite sharp and bright, while I don’t necessarily like that tuning more, nor does it sound more natural. While the headphones sound a bit boomy by default, it feels like if you are really patient, you might like the results. I really wish that the company would force a way of the effect to sync between ears because regardless whether I hear the tone differently, music sounds really broken if it is EQ’ed differently for each ear and it also sounds different every single time I take the test, so it is not quite that consistent for me. Because the app makes me think, or it by itself thinks that there is a tilt in how I hear the voices, it causes vocals to play louder in one ear every time I configure it, so I would just stick to traditional EQ, pre-defined profiles or custom profiles as provided by Fresh N Rebel rather than Audiodo as their processing seems to not work as well for me and as it is right now there’s no way to force their EQ to be the same for both ears, or edit the profile for fine tuning.
Sound Quality
Pairings – This is a bluetooth pair of headphones, so I have driven them using my S24 Ultra Samsung smartphone, Khadas Mind 1 Mini PC, or FiiO Air Link to transmit the Bluetooth signal.
Overall Signature – Clam Ace 2 has a rather high maximum volume with a good control, even up to max volume. While ANC and Transparency does not damage the sound, the USB DAC wired sound is extremely different from the Bluetooth sound. Bluetooth only has AAC and SBC detected by my sources, so that means that the BT performance is quite limited, it compresses the sound both for the dynamic range, resolution and also treble extension. While the USB DAC mode has none of the limitations and sounds far more balanced, more natural, less colored and better in resolution, it is much quieter at maximum volume, which is exactly the other way around than what you’d expect.
Tonality via USB DAC – You will hear a rather balanced, clean and crisp sound via USB DAC, which has a clean, crisp voicing, very good treble extension and a high resolution. Ace 2 sounds respectable, it has plenty of resolution and while bass is present, it is tasteful and does not veil the rest of the sound. It feels like this is the way it should sound by default, while on Bluetooth there’s always some kind of EQ applied over the sound. Bass extends down to 20 Hz and can be a bit boomy for songs like Pitbull – Timber, but it is far more balanced for songs like Mori Calliope – Mera Mera. Max loudness on wired USB DAC connection is limited to about 90 dB which is very low, and they will not get loud.
Tonality via Bluetooth – Bluetooth maximum loudness is around 110 dB, which is far more reasonable, they feel more than twice as loud compared to the USB DAC volume level, and they sound smoother, darker and far more veiled with bass taking a more central stage via Bluetooth, the whole headphone vibrates on my head when bass hits, and the whole sound is very colored. While the sound is very dark, boomy and bassy, it works really well for techno, EDM, Phonk and the type of music you might blast at a gym. In this mode, it does not work well for rock and metal music, having too much bass and too little treble. Happily, you can EQ it a lot if you want, and there are custom EQ profiles available that allow for + or – 6 dB of adjustment for the Clam Ace 2. Anything with female voices will be superb, especially pop and commercial music, like Yfu Baby or Pussycat Dolls.
Value – Conclusion
You can purchase the Fresh n Rebel Clam Ace 2 for 99 USD, and I feel like I spent too much time on the review considering their price, as they are a very fine piece of headphones for the money, and they perform spectacular for what you might need at this price, including bass depth, bass quantity, ANC performance and overall build quality as well as comfort.
If you’re a girl, or if you like colorful products, you will enjoy the Clam Ace 2 as you can purchase them in a plethora of colors, and even with all my whining, the sound is great, they have a lot of room for EQ and even if Audiodo does not work for me, it might work for you, and they also have simple EQ profiles for you to enjoy. For 99 USD, they sound much better than any other feminine or colorful pairs of headphones that have this type of design and commercial market approach.
PROs
- Very good sonic performance and high maximum loudness via Bluetooth
- Very long battery life, reliable fast charging and good build quality
- Comfortable and with enough space for my ears inside
- Great for gym and an active lifestyle
- Connection quality is top notch
- Can work as a USB DAC via wired mode
- Superb colors and design
- Bassy and full sound via Bluetooth, impressive and bombastic
- Great price performance ratio
- It has OTA or Over-The-Air firmware updates
Cons
- Sound is very different between bluetooth and wired
- No LDAC or aptX support detected by my sources
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4eiJzdl
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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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