OneOdio A30 Review: Affordable Do-It-All Wireless Headphones

It’s not easy finding a set of do-it-all headphones. If it was, audio enthusiasts like me wouldn’t have multiple sets of headphones, with each meant for a different use case. It’s even tougher to find a set of do-it-all headphones when you’re on a budget.

The OneOdio A30 Wireless Headphones aren’t perfect, but they’re as close as you’ll find to an ideal candidate for an affordable set of headphones that can work multiple ways. Noise cancellation, wireless connectivity, and the ability to work in wired mode allow these to handle nearly anything you throw at them.

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by OneOdio. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.

Inside the Box

The headphones are the first thing you’ll pull out of the box, but they’re not the first thing you see. Instead, you’ll see the included carrying pouch, which ships with the headphones already packed inside. Everything else is below them in the box.

The OneOdio A30 Wireless Headphones ship with two cables: one micro USB cable for recharging the headphones, and one 3.5 mm aux cable for plugging the headphones in. Accompanying this cable is an airplane adapter.

Features

These headphones are wireless with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. As is typical for Bluetooth, the wireless range is 10 meters, or roughly 30 feet. They’re built around 40 mm drivers, so you can safely assume that these headphones deliver across the entire 20 to 20,000 Hz frequency range.

If you’re looking to get some work done in peace, fear not. The OneOdio A30 Headphones feature active noise cancellation, though the manufacturer doesn’t mention how many microphones it uses for cancellation.

You can use the headphones wirelessly or plug in the 3.5 mm cable to use them like standard headphones. Whether you use them wired or wirelessly, the active noise cancellation is usable. Use them wired, and you’ll get more battery life.

Build Quality & Comfort

Like the vast majority of headphones, the OneOdio A30 are built out of plastic. This keeps them relatively light at 268g (roughly 0.6 pounds), but they don’t feel flimsy at all.

The headband is plastic as well but has a soft cushion that goes between it and your head. This keeps the headphones from getting uncomfortable after you’ve been using them for a few hours.

The ear cups feature swivel mounts, allowing them to shift to fit you better. These don’t rotate 180 degrees, so they aren’t DJ-style headphones, but they do offer a decent amount of movement.

During testing, there were periods where I wore the OneOdio A30 Headphones for a few hours at a time. Looking at the build, I wasn’t expecting the headphones to be ultra-comfortable but was surprised at how comfortable they remained – even after three or more hours.

The controls are relatively straightforward. You get three buttons to control playback and volume, while a handy slider on the opposite ear cup turns ANC on and off.

The Testing Process

During testing, I used the OneOdio A30 Headphones both wired and wireless. Unless you have extremely detailed hearing, you won’t notice much of a difference between the wired sound and Bluetooth, so I won’t detail the variances in sound quality between modes.

For listening, I always kept the active noise cancellation turned off. We’ll mention more about this later, but keep in mind that all listening impressions are with ANC off.

Finally, I used a variety of sources. For music, I used my collection of lossless hi-res files as well as YouTube for testing how the headphones worked for video.

Sound Quality

I was a fan of the sound of the OneOdio Monitor 60 when I reviewed them last year, so I was slightly worried when I saw the box for the A30 mention bass. Generally, bass-heavy headphones make sonic sacrifices in other areas.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case here. While the A30 headphones do offer plenty of bass, they retain a natural, musical profile that reminds me of what I liked so much about the Monitor 60.

Listening to “Nobody” by Mac DeMarco, I was impressed with how well the midrange was represented. Highs were detailed, but not overly sibilant, and they didn’t have the “crispy” sound in the highs that budget headphones sometimes have.

Soundstage is impressive for the price as well. While at first I found the A30 to be somewhat narrow sounding, I realized that was more the mixes of what I’d been listening to. The more extreme panning in Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” revealed that these headphones can sound rather big with the right material.

To test the bass with a recording that isn’t naturally bass heavy, I listened to The Murlocs’ “Illuminate the Shade.” The bass was still there, just not overly so.

Watching movies and videos, voices sounded natural. Bass was there when you needed it – music, explosions, etc. – but voices didn’t have excess bass or rumble.

Noise Cancellation

As handy as the switch on the right ear cup was to turn ANC on and off, I wasn’t initially sure if it was on or not. This is because a nearby TV was on, and I could still hear parts of voices, regardless of which position the switch was in.

Noise cancellation was working as intended, but the OneOdio A30’s ANC is what I like to think of as “airplane ANC.” This means that if you’re on a flight, the noise cancellation will cancel out the low rumble of jet engines, letting you relax a little easier.

Unfortunately, that noise cancellation will not be as effective with sounds in the higher end of the frequency spectrum. This means that while you won’t hear the jet engine, you may still hear that a baby is crying on the plane. It won’t be as loud, but you’ll still hear it slightly.

Noise cancellation also has a noticeable effect on audio, reducing the volume when you enable ANC. is was the reason I disabled ANC for audio impressions – in case the Anc was also affecting the frequency range of the music.

Battery

The battery inside the OneOdio A30 Wireless Headphones has a capacity of 500 mAh, which sounds small when compared to phones and other devices – that is, until you look at the estimates OneOdio offers for battery life.

The vast majority of people using these headphones will use Bluetooth and ANC. These options together provide the shortest battery life of 15 hours, which is still impressive. Using Bluetooth without ANC, you’ll increase that lifespan up to around 25 hours. Connect using the included cable and turn on ANC, and you’ll get up to 45 hours of playback time.

Impressive as the battery life is, you’ll still need to recharge the headphones. Fortunately, as long as you’re using a power adapter that delivers the right amount of power, recharge time is only 2.5 hours.

Should You Buy the OneOdio A30?

Setting aside the do-it-all nature of the headphones for a moment, the aspect of them that impressed me the most is the sound, especially at the price of $62.99 after clipping the 10% off Amazon coupon. Most headphones in this price range have a built-in EQ curve that emphasizes highs and lows at the expense of everything else. That the OneOdio A30 Wireless Headphones retail a similar sound signature to the company’s Monitor 60 headphones is commendable.

Even though the noise cancellation isn’t perfect, it’s effective enough, and the ability to use it with the headphones in wired mode is a feature more headphones should have. If you’re searching for headphones that you can use everywhere, without spending a fortune, these should be near the top of your list.