The Alpha & Delta D2 is a no frills sports ear buds. Costing at around $25, the D2 is aimed squarely at sports enthusiast on a tight budget.
We got the D2 together with the crowdfunded headphones – Alpha & Delta JAAP. We will be making the comparison with the JAAP in the article.
We had come across budget IEMs that had offered us quality beyond the price tag. Did the D2 surprise us too? Let’s find out.
Build Quality & Comfort
With its smooth matte rubber casing, the earbuds are lightweight and feel nice to touch.
The first impression upon wearing the D2 was how natural it takes on the shape of my ear. I felt it gave a better fit and is more comfortable than the JAAP.
As with most sports earbuds, the over-the-ear configuration is a must-have. It can be tricky to wear earbuds with over-the-ear fit sometimes. However, the D2 does not have this issue. The cable that arches over the ear is flexible. This allow us the IEM to quickly wrap around our ear.The angle of the nozzle, combined with the soft memory wire provides an intuitive “wearing” experience.
The angle of the nozzle, combined with the soft memory wire provides an intuitive “wearing” experience.
I was delighted with the overall ergonomics and its build quality.
It reminded me of the much more expensive Brainwavz B200 to a certain extent.
Sound Quality
In terms of sound quality, it is very much like the JAAP except the bass is less emphasized. The D2 has a narrow soundstage.
The overall bass response is decent. You get a better lower bass response than the mid bass response. The sweet sound of the cello comes through nice and clean. For EDM songs, the mid bass is unable to bring the appropriate amount of punchiness to the table.
In general, there are no problems with the vocals on the D2. But some details were found lacking in certain songs that the other IEMs is able to bring out.
Over in the highs department, the treble is easy on the ears but once we reach the upper treble region, it sounded slightly bright. We ran a test on a segment with electronic violin distortion and it turned out slightly scratchy.
Overall, the D2 has a neutral sound signature. The sound separation between different layers is decent but it can sound slightly clustered in songs with complex layers.
Although the D2 has average sound quality, it has a good amount of musicality. It covers Dance, Electronics and Classical songs well but much lesser for Rap music.
Technical Specification
- Driver unit: 10mm Dynamic Driver
- Impedance: 16 ohm
- Rated power: 1mW
- Frequency Response: 10 Hz- 20 Khz
- Speaker Sensitivity: 95 +/- db/ mW
- Cord Length: 1.2m
- Plug: 3.5 mm
Conclusion
The D2 is a capable sports earbud with good comfort and a snug fit. The affordable price range, combined with the build quality, makes the D2 a sturdy IEM that you can chuck in the bag without much worry.
The sound quality is average at best but I would not be too worried about it. I mostly use it for casual music listening during my run where I don’t focus on the quality of the music as much.
If you are looking for IEMs at the same affordable price range and are not concerned with the sports aspect, you should check out
- Good ergonomics
- Sturdy enough and cheap enough to be chuck in a bag
- Good musicality
- Average sound quality