Ikko ActiveBuds: i’d call it an “AI MP3 Player+Dumbphone”

First and foremost, thank you to IKKO for providing a test unit.

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Unboxing:

The unboxing experience was quite good, my only critique would be the cheap cable

The packaging is almost completely paper/carton, which is nice from an environmental standpoint.

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Content:

– 4 sets of Foam Ear Tips (S, M, L, XL)

– 3 sets of Silicone Ear Tips (S, M, L)

– A very short USB-C to USB-C cable

– A few plastic screen protectors

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Only the Case itself was inside a small plastic bag

9/10 – great

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Build:

Nothing to special in terms of materials Glass for the display and plastic for everything else, but not the cheap kind, everything feels solid and nice to the touch.

there is a tiny bit of springiness to the sliding mechanism, but it doesn't feel flimsy at all.

The buds sit in their little shell nicely, but the magnet is not quite as strong as i would like, so they do take a second to put in properly.

8/10 – feels nice and robust

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Comfort:

IKKO includes a nice selection of tips, both silicone and foam, so there should be a nice fit for everyone.

The IEMs themself fits rather shallow, so if you dislike the deep fit of some other IEMs, these should work for you.

Overall, I can't complain, I forgot I wore them for hours.

Nozzle size compared to Moondrop May, quite small

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But due to the nonstandard oval shape 3rd party tips might have seal issues. I tried the May tips on the ActiveBuds and had no issues, I assume as long as the tips are soft enough this is fine.

9/10 – a bit shallow but perfectly good

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Case:

The case comes with a nice looking 1.8" OLED Display and runs on a modified version of Android 8.1 which provides a lot of inbuilt features and a ton of customizability and moddability.

Interface:

The interface is intuitive, well-designed, and operates smoothly with minimal bugs.

the only actual issue I found was that you must wait a second before pulling out the IEMs otherwise they might not pair.

8/10 – intuitive

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AI Capabilities:

The device includes ChatGPT 4o + DAN (Do Anything Now). The AI works well as expected from ChatGPT, typically taking a few seconds to respond.

The inclusion of DAN is a weird but very welcome addition since ChatGPT tends to be a bit overcautious with sensitive topics.

For those who don't know DAN (Do Anything Now) is basically a text you write before your first prompt to make ChatGPT roleplay as DAN, who has no filters and will tell you anything you want (within his power) even illegal or dangerous things, even though I strongly recommend you don't use him for anything illegal, he may be helpful (or fun) if you want to talk to AI about sensitive topics.

Translation:

Dual Earbud Mode: It worked fine for me, in a few English ->German (and vice versa) test conversations I had. The German translation is a bit rough, but it gets the point across.

Real-Time Mode: I tried to watch Chinese, Russian and Japanese news reports, but it didn’t work at all because they just spoke way too fast for the Buds to keep up, slower conversations worked pretty well.

Overall, I think the Translation feature can come in handy on vacation, but it simply is to slow for anything more

7/10 – a bit slow but good

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As a Phone:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use them as a Phone replacement since I don't have a free Sim-card, but I did read about people using This device as a Dumbphone.

The Device can do phone calls and SMS.

I could see the ActiveBuds as a nice Travel phone.

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Bonus category:

Modding

The best part IMO.

Since the case runs on a modified version of Android 8.1 you can basically install any compatible APK with a bit of tinkering.

it's fairly simple you just have to use ADB to install a file manager and now you can install any compatible APK you want.

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No. 1 priority I’d say is an Appstore to ease APK installation: I used Uptodown since it has a nice version selection for Apps.

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No. 2 a PEQ, I got Power EQ to run (you will have to use an older APK), but since it is only a trial version this might not be an option for you, so the next best thing was HIBY Music for me, since the integrated PEQ works nicely and has an import feature which supports Squiglink auto EQ.

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No. 3 a browser is also nice to have since it allows you to look for APKs on the Web without having to transfer them from your PC.

Also, this opens up all the usual content consumption options, for example you can watch YT via the website.

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No. 4 install whatever you want, I'm sure there are a ton of more creative people out there who can really make great use with this little device.

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You can also install a few light games, and they run quite well, tho the tiny display does make it hard to hit some buttons.

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As a “proof of concept” I just Installed a modded version of Hill Climb Racing.

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10/10 – easy and potent

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Sound Quality:

Unfortunately, the praise ends here, the sound quality out of the box is straight up bad.

My current daily driver is the Moondrop MAY and the comparison is just unfair, I also own a few 20€ IEMs(Truthear Hola and Tangzu Waner) and the active buds couldn't even come close to those.

EQ:

Since I couldn't stand them in their stock state I decided to EQ them, luckily the stock EQ App is pretty competent with 10 bands, but I decided to us HiBy’s PEQ anyway since more options are always better.

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Technicalities:

Soundstage is good for IEMs; imaging is not very precise, and details rarely shine through.

5/10 good soundstage/no Detail

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Bass:

Bass is tastfully done and doesn't feel muddy despite the lack of upper frequencies, it feels a bit untextured tho.

EQ isn’t really necessary here.

7/10 – good but a bit untextured

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Mids:

sound weird, the lower midrange bump makes Male vocals sound fuller but the quite severe lack of upper Mids makes them sound blunt and female vocals almost completely disappear in the mix.

EQ ended up largely solving the weirdness. Still a bit blunt and undetailed, but completely serviceable.

No EQ 2/10 – no females allowed

With EQ 6/10 – serviceable

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Treble:

almost nonexistent past 8-9k, this makes them sound very boring and undetailed as a whole.

I guess it makes them easier on the ears tho.

Not even a PEQ could save it, Here I had to fiddle myself but no matter how much I boosted it, the upper treble just didn't arrive at my eardrums, so I just left it as is.

I'm not sure if this is a hardware limitation or maybe something to do with the apparently pretty limited SBC and AAC codecs (I'm no expert on the mater tho, this is just what I read on a bit of research)

2/10 – no treble to be found

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I used Squiglink’s AutoEQ to Harman IE 2019

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Active Noise Cancellation (ANC):

(Here I had a few issues and IKKO suspected my unit was broken so they sent me a replacement unit, but unfortunately the result didn’t change.

Just be aware that IKKO claims my result with 2 units is not normal, so take this with a grain of salt.)

ANC and ambient mode were almost completely unusable to me because it produced a very prominent hissing.

Also, the sound got even worse, I'm not sure if it was because of the hissing or if the Fr changed, but everything just sounded extra bad.

If you ignore the hiss the ANC is pretty good and with some normal volume music, it basically is completely quiet around you.

Ambient impressed me the most, I didn’t expect everything to sound as natural as it did.

X/10 – Broken?

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Specs:

SCREEN
– 1.8-inch AMOLED, 326ppi, 500nit

CHIP
– Quad-core 1.4 GHz

STORAGE

– 32GB + 2GB RAM

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LOCATION
– GPS + BDS

MOTION SENSOR
– 6-axis sensor chip

WATER RESISTANCE RATING
– Earbuds: Sweat + Water Resistant (IPX4)

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CONNECTIVITY
– Bluetooth 5.3
– Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
– SIM card (4G internet)

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AUDIO
– 10mm silicon crystal ceramic material driver (Dynamic Driver)
– Frequency range: 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz
– Sensitivity: 102dB

MICROPHONE
– 1 microphone in case, 6 microphones in earphones

NOISE CANCELLATION
– ANC up to 48dB
– ENC for voice call

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BATTERY
– Earbuds: 7.5 hours standard battery life, up to 70 hours with charging case
– Charging case: 168 hours standby, 12 hours battery life

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FORMFACTOR
– Case Size: 63 x 50 x 24.8mm
– Single Bud Weight: 3.7g
– Case + Buds Weight: 86g

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Improvements I would like to see:

– Better stock tuning

– included PEQ

– SD card slot for expandable storage

– User replaceable battery for longevity

– A file manager and external app store for easier app management

Most of those Issues are fixable via software, so I believe IKKO still has a chance to make this a good overall product.

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Pros:

– Unique product

– Good build quality

– Highly moddable due to Android

– Good interface for daily use

– SIM support, making it a potential phone substitute/Dumbphone?

– Good Stock EQ

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Cons:

– No User-replaceable battery, limiting the usual lifespan to around 3-5 years (IKKO does offer replacement, so this is extendable)

– Poor stock sound quality

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Value / Recommendation:

At $300, the product is expensive and not worth considering if you're looking for good Headphones; However, if you're open to using EQ, the sound quality becomes acceptable. Given that this is currently the only product in its category (to my knowledge), I can definitely recommend it to tinkerers who enjoy experimenting with new gadgets, since it has a lot of potential due to the open Android-based OS. It's also worth mentioning that IKKO aims to provide Updates every 4-6 weeks, so many of the issues I had might be solved later on, since most of the issues I had seem like they could be solved via software, I could definitely see this product being a lot more attractive in the future.

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Thoughts:

As a tech enthusiast I had a blast playing with this device and I'm sure there are a ton of people who would too, but as an Audio Enthusiast I simply can't accept the "OK at best" Sound quality.

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TL; DR

Bad Headphones/Potent Gadget