QoA Queen Of Audio Adonis IEMs – Looks Matter, But Sound

QoA Queen Of Audio Adonis IEMs – Looks Matter, But Sound

QoA Adonis is a midrange IEM released by QoA and priced at 190 on the official website, and 180 USD if you purchase from Linsoul. This means that they will be compared with IKKO OH1 Meteor (140 USD), Optimisation Elements OElements Tita (170 USD), and BQEYZ Spring 2 (170 USD). 

 

Introduction

QoA or Queen of Audio is a new Chifi company, and in a relationship with Kinera, although I could never understand if they are parent-daughter, partners or just have some employees that work at both companies. At any rate, the overall support is great, the company has good products on the market so far, and is widely appreciated with Chifi lovers. Since they are queens, they go for aesthetics too, but try to balance the looks with sonics well. 

It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with QoA Queen Of Audio, I am not receiving any incentive for this review or to sweeten things out. I’d like to thank QoA for providing the sample for this review. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it. The purpose of this review is to help those interested in QoA Adonis IEMs find their next music companion. 

 

Product Link

You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/2ZwnLZ9

If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3GA2AGA

And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3Ewtn4N

 

Packaging

First things first, let’s get the packaging out of the way:

The package of the Adonis is actually great, but the carrying case is by far the best part, as they come with a pleather case that’s solid and has enough space inside for a Bluetooth Receiver like BTR5 2021, or a smaller DAP like Hiby R2. The number of tips is good, and Adonis uses normal tips, so you’re free to use any aftermarket tips. 

They come with two types of tips, black and blue, and the tips are 3 in size for each type, so 6 pairs of tips in total. 

 

Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort

Since this is my first time reviewing a QoA IEM, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a new Chifi company, but the actual product is very fine. The IEM shells are made of wood for the shell, and a resin face plate. This basically means that they should have a better sonic than any of the competing Chifi IEMs that come with plastic or full resin shells. The cable that the QoA Adonis comes with is a full 8-Core 5N OFC + Silver Plated cable. The internet website description on QoA doesn’t make it much more clear what’s up with the cable, but knowing they used a combination of Silver Plated + OFC cables is good. 

The main company QoA seems to be proud to be selling is HIFIGO, which I worked with in the past, and who are delightful, but they are also available through Linsoul, which are cool too. The best part is that they’re easily available from our usual Chifi markets, and this means that it is easy to get one in your ears. Speaking of which, they fit quite well, the shells are ergonomic, rounded all around, and you can barely feel them, even if you have small or medium ears. The bore or sonic tube is slightly shorter and allows mainly for a medium-shallow fit rather than a deep fit. The default tips are fairly good and for the review I have not replaced them with any aftermarket tips. 

The cable is ergonomic, fairly flexible and looks good in person as well. The only area where I want to complain with QoA Adonis is the driver flex. I had them connected with FiiO BTR5 2021, and with FiiO UTWS3 a few days ago, while doing a general cleaning of my house, and while I had a blast, I really suffered from mild driver flex which made work needlessly complicated. Especially since I had my hands dirty, touching the IEMs to adjust them was a big no-no, and I lost the fit often enough for it to be annoying. 

The cable being attached to them via a 2-Pin connector is a good thing, it is easily replaceable with common alternatives. QoA Adonis actually isolates fairly well from the outside noise, in between 20 and 25 dB, and they leak very little, making them fit for performance and music listening too. The tech inside, based on a Knowles BA, a QoA BA, and one custom Dynamic Driver means that you’ll have to use average sources for powering them, and while I don’t recommend entry-level sources in any pairing, QoA Adonis is fairly easy to pair, and is not uber-sensitive to hiss, but they pick it up if present. They don’t need a lot of power to be driven well, so FiiO BTR5 2021, Tempotec E35 Sonata, and Earstudio eS100 MKII are all perfect for driving Adonis. 

 

Sound Quality

While I boast about the IEMs being easy to drive from easy sources, to give them a fair chance to shine their best, I am actually powering Adonis from Astell & Kern SE180, Astell & Kern SP2000T, iBasso DX300 and Lotoo PAW6000. From those sources, they feel really well driven, and have an excellent amount of energy, plus detail. The overall sound can be described as neutral with a fun bass, V-Shaped, wide and airy. Adonis has a good amount of detail, is fun to listen to and while it is sparkly, it doesn’t go overboard into being fatiguing. 

The bass of Adonis is clean, deep and natural in speed. It is also fairly clean, with a good amount of nuance. It can keep up with Queen Kona and other Technical Death Metal bands like Infant Annihilator, so they are quick enough for most music you can imagine listening to. The bass has enough substance and extension, enough overall depth to work well with Mori Calliope and her “guh”, plus enough depth for Eminem as well. Since Adonis is V-Shaped, you can hear the bass more forward than the midrange, but the bass that is audibly most forward is a combination of middle bass rather than sub-bass or upper bass that would otherwise color the sound. 

The midrange of Adonis is warmed up a bit by the bass, with a slightly lower midrange emphasis, but with a good amount of clarity and instrument separation. When turned loud, there’s a stronger dip in the middle of the midrange, and both the lower midrange and the upper midrange tend to peak, so the sound gets more aggressively V-Shaped. There’s no veil in the midrange of Adonis, and the whole sound ends up being plenty fun, with a good amount of clarity. We get a really euphonic and musical presentation from Adonis, and Hawthorne Heights sounds as sweet as it sounds bitter, Adonis being able to convey the full range of emotions in my favorite Emo music. 

The treble of Adonis is slightly hot, and the V-Sahped character is audible here, as the upper midrange and the lower treble are emphasized, and the treble sounds clean, but slightly hot. This is great for detail, and Adonis is able to render a good amount of air in music too, but the treble can get loud, especially if you listen to them loud. Adonis is best listened to at quiet and medium volumes, rather than loud. 

 

Comparisons 

Given the very stereotypical price of 180 USD Adonis can be found at, I picked some competitors that are priced similarly, including IKKO OH1 Meteor, OElements Tita, and Spring2, all of which are really popular nowadays. 

QoA Adonis vs IKKO OH1 Meteor (190 USD vs 140 USD) – Meteor is a really warm and thick sounding IEM, with a good amount of lows, extension in the lows, and with a good presence of voices. By comparison, Adonis sounds more V-Shaped, has more sparkle in the treble, has more air, and better instrument separation. Adonis sounds more focused too, which helps a lot if you’re looking for details, and OH1 Meteor sounds deeper always. At the end of the day, the question revolves around whether you value a thick and warm sound, or want a V-Shaped experience more, as Adonis will be the V-Shape to your fun, where OH1 will be the thick cream butter delight that kicks your day into motion.  

QoA Adonis vs BQEYZ Spring 2 (190 USD vs 170 USD) – Spring 2 actually has a fairly similar sound compared to Adonis, and the comfort is similar enough between them for me to be able to recommend both equally. The biggest difference here is in the bass, where Adonis has a more natural bass, thicker, larger, deeper and fuller sounding. Spring 2 tends to be brighter, with more emphasis on detail. Thanks to this, Adonis also seems to have a softer, more wet treble that’s more euphonic and easier on the ears, especially with poorly recorded music. Spring 2 extracts more details from music, but Adonis is more euphonic and musical at the end of the day, and the extra bass helps a lot if you’re listening to some bumpy tracks and if you want to grind the experience as hard as you can. 

QoA Adonis vs OElements Tita (190 USD vs 170 USD) – We have a much warmer, thicker sound coming from Tita. They also have a simpler design, and a more limited dynamic, plus a more limited headroom, but the overall detail and clarity is great on both IEMs. I prefer the overall comfort and ergonomics on Adonis, as they fit better in my ears, and I’m not the biggest fan of straight-down, due to the added cable microphonic noise coming from them. Adonis tends to have a wider soundstage, more and better instrument separation, more detail and clarity, plus a brighter, more neutral sound, Tita being warmer and better for thick and lush music, Jazz and Room Music. Adonis is better for atmospheric music, rock, metal, EDM. 

 

Value and Conclusion

We can say for sure that the value of Adonis is pretty good, and it relies both on its sonics, but also the build quality, excellent ergonomics and comfort to achieve a great value. This is not a bad thing, as many good sounding IEMs can be quite uncomfortable, and this leads to people dropping them, as it happened to me with the IE800 IEM from Sennheiser, an earphone I loved, but had to stop using as it was causing me sores inside my ears. 

At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a really high quality IEM from the Chifi market, if you price both ergonomics, a clear, clean sound with good sub-bass extension, a good amount of detail, and a fairly wide soundstage, QoA Adonis will surely satisfy you, and at their current price, they are one of the best options out there. 

 

Product Link

You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/2ZwnLZ9

If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3GA2AGA

And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3Ewtn4N

 

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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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