[michiganjfrog]

ITEM: OVC T20 / T25
SELLER: REALRIVAL_CN1 (eBay)
PRICE: OVC T20: 10 GPB (shipped), OVC T25: $23US + $6US shipping

Received receipt of my OVC T20's and T25's (finally). Paid on Feb 9th. Not sure when it was sent, not long after I presume, but they only got here on March 6th. Came by way of Vancouver (on the other side of the country) to get to Quebec. I also received my fake Sennheiser PX100's from another Hong Kong seller, and they were paid on Feb. 12. So I guess this may have something to do with Chinese new year.

PACKAGING:

They, like the T25's, came in the original box packaging, along with some sort of stamped certification card (all the writing on the packaging is in Chinese, except for the company motto, which is: "Listening Takes The World". Perfect English yes, but I'm still not sure what that means. They also came with a neat-o orange silicone wire wrapper thingy (that looks like a doggie bone), and an elegant grey leatherette drawstring pouch with OVC marked on it. That's probably classier than what Sennheiser provides! You can see photos of the earphones in the Gallery section. I noted the wires on the T20 were very slightly thicker than those on the T25, and a little more rubbery (flexible).

IMMEDIATE FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

My first impressions should be taken lightly, because mixed in there, is the fact that I've never used in-ear buds before (and I've only used these earphones for about 10 minutes). I started playing Teddy Thompson's version of Leonard Cohen's "The Future", a track with a bouncy groove, jazz horns and backup singers; the works. Sonically, my first impression was one of a quality sound. Almost no bass or warmth to speak of, but definite quality there. Crisp, clear, well defined sound, including good definition in the small amount of bass. Not the most musical presentation I've ever heard with headphones, but probably the best sound I've heard so far, with earphones (I've had all kinds of quality earphones from Sony/Aiwa and such, way in the past, for the last 2 decades). Despite this "neutral" quality, songs were still engaging, so it isn't a boring set of phones. I didn't have the Senn MX400's (see other review) on hand to compare, but I'm guessing these have more resolution. The tonal balance between the two is not very different. Dynamic contrasts are good, listening on my (frozen) Glacier.

As I said, I've never used in-ear monitor type earphones (these are known as "semi-IEM's"), and I had the feeling that these type are very dependent upon how you wear them. Playing a pure rock track, Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box", the lack of bass just wasn't very welcome. So trying to get more bass and warmth, I started corkscrewing them in, and that did definitely improve these two qualities (at the expense of some "crispness"). Again, the picture presented by the T20's were one of detail and resolution, players felt like they were in your head.

At the very first, the earbuds felt like they would fall out any second, until I really screwed them in my ears. After that, despite violent rocking of my head (that's how I listen to good music....), they did not come out, and even felt almost like they weren't there (despite the close up photos you always see, they are actually very small and light, in person). I noted this effect of microphony in the cable wire, which I'd read about. It's due to the type of earbuds, not the fact they are T20's. When the wire hits something (ie. as I'm shaking my head around like crazy), the vibrations are picked up in the ear. Not a huge problem but I thought I'd note it.

Again, I noted another one of the pecularities of (even semi) in-ear monitors, is that they are sensitive to the ear wax build up you may have. Although once I corkscrewed the buds in, the sound was stable despite the above-mentioned violent shaking of the head, it could eventually change depending on the ear wax shifting. I did not try other sizes of the silicone buds to see what difference it may have made, but for IEM's, I'd have to say removing your earwax and playing with the position can make a world of difference, a difference between fantastic, crisp, clean 3D sound, and sound that sounds like a 1940's radio blaring out from under a thick blanket. Also, I was reading about how one of these 2 models, the T20's perhaps, really require 48hrs burn in. So I expect the sound might get a lot warmer with more bass, once burned in.

Overall, I have no real complaints about these buds, and think they would satisfy many mp3 users. I don't know how they would compare to Creative EP630's or Senn CX300's, but I think OVC did a great job on these, and for the price paid, definitely worth it.


n.b. I am not able to provide a review of the (expectedly superior) T25 model, as the darn thing won't fit my adapter (it uses a 2.5mm plug), so I need to order an adapter first, as I have no more mp4 players with the 2.5mm jack.