The SuperEQ Q2 Pro is the newest pair of TWS earbuds developed by the Shenzhen-based manufacturer and yes, it’s a sub-brand of OneOdio. But there seems to be enough creative freedom since the SuperEQ headphones or earbuds can have a fairly different sound signature than the OneOdio devices.

The design of the Q2 Pro also does not follow on the footsteps of the OneOdio F1 or F2 considering that we’re dealing with a pair of pea-shaped earbuds, while the general trend is to follow Apple’s design directions. The SuperEQ Q2 Pro is also featuring the ANC technology which is incredibly difficult to pull of on TWS earbuds and even more challenging on a pair of inexpensive earbuds.

The manufacturer is confident that the earbuds can manage to deliver a good sound experience, with the ANC being able to cut up to 35dB of environmental noise and the Transparency mode does allow the possibility to amplify the surrounding sound, so you can listen to people talking without having to pause your song.
As expected, the battery life is advertised as being very long (eight hours with ANC enabled on a single charge) and I did see that the Q2 Pro earbuds do take advantage of the Bluetooth v5.2. Whether this will mean a better connection is something to be seen, so let’s put the SuperEQ Q2 Pro to the test and see whether they’re able to offer a better value for the money than its competitors.

Table of Contents

Build Quality and Design

I have noticed that most manufacturers have slowly, but surely migrated towards the traditional-looking earbuds design (without the wires, obviously). And that’s because it’s easier to add more internal components (or bigger batteries), while still remaining very comfortable to wear. So, I was surprised to see that the SuperEQ Q2 Pro preferred the pea-shaped look and I was interested whether they managed to make the earbuds comfortable. Each Q2 Pro earbud is a bit larger than some other devices from the competition and that’s mostly due to the addition of ANC, but it was curious to see that at 1.0 x 1.0 x 0.8 inches (or 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.0cm), they’re essentially the same as the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 94 (another pair of ANC TWS earbuds).

After putting the Q2 Pro in my ears, they won’t fall off since I used the suitable pair of silicone covers, but some fatigue will set in after a couple of hours of continuous use (this type of design limits the amount of anchor points). You can keep them on even for more time if you don’t have to constantly change the track. I did like that the neck of the earbuds is not very long since this way, you don’t have to push them far into your ear canal and cause irritation. The good news is that SuperEQ used touch-sensitive areas to allow you to control the functions of the earbuds. A single tap on any of the two earbuds will Pause / Resume any track that’s playing and, in case of a call, it will also answer it or end the call (so be careful to not accidentally touch the earbuds during an important call).

Two taps on the left or right earbud will return you to the previous track or skip to the next one and tapping and holding on the left earbud will allow you to switch between the available modes (ANC and Transparency mode). But, there is no volume control and, since I started to see it successfully implemented in far cheaper models, this needs to be a standard feature, so most users will not be happy that it’s missing. I need to mention that the touch-sensitive area is a bit particularly designed. And what I mean by that is that SuperEQ decided to put a fairly large golden S surrounded by a golden ring and all I want to say is that it looks very close to the dollar sign.

I am sure that a lot of people will like it, while others may find it a bit amusing. Can you use the SuperEQ Q2 Pro while working out? Indoors, yes, outdoors, I suggest against it because they can fall off quite easily. Unless the manufacturer adds some hook-type silicone tips, don’t wear your expensive earbuds while jogging since you will lose them sooner or later. I saw that the manufacturer says that the Q2 Pro are IPX5-rated which means that sweat and some light rain will not have an impact on the earbuds, but don’t wear them while showering or swimming.

The Charging Case

The earbuds do come with a surprisingly compact charging case (it measures 2.5 x 1.6 x 1.0 inches or 6.5 x 4.0 x 2.5 cm), so it will easily fit in a pocket. The case is covered by a black matte finish and it does rely on a USB-C port to recharge the internal battery. And we are dealing with a 370mAh battery which should suffice for a full day of using the earbuds (with a few quick recharges). The lid of the case is easy to open and close, there are dedicated areas for the earbuds and they easily slide in, without preventing the full closing of the lid.

I did like that there are three LED lights on the front and yes, they will show you how much battery is left in increments of 30 percent. It’s not ideal, but still better than having a single LED that simply shines randomly, as I saw on some newer models from other brands.

Internal Hardware and Connectivity

The SuperEQ Q2 Pro are equipped with 12mm dynamic drivers which are quite large for a pair of TWS earbuds, but I did see very similarly-sized dynamic drivers on the Coumi Freedom Dots and the ANC-860, the former being one of the best inexpensive earbuds that I have tested until now. So, these drivers could help with the fullness of the sound and the volume. The support for the Bluetooth v5.2 is a welcomed addition, although it won’t really make that much of a difference from previous generations in terms of range.

Yes, the maximum distance remains 30 feet and, considering that the SuperEQ S1 supported the Multipoint feature, allowing you to connect the earbuds to two sources at the same time, I hoped that the Q2 Pro would have it as well. Unfortunately, this feature is still missing on earbuds that don’t cost an arm and a leg. In terms of codecs, there is support for SBC and AAC, the more common ones.

supereq-q2-pro-earbuds-bluetooth — Source: SuperEQ official website.

Sound Quality and ANC

The ANC technology (active noise canceling) and the earbuds don’t really make a great combination because even if it’s an excellent implementation, you’re still at the mercy of the quality of the sealing that you’re able to achieve with your ears. So, using the wrong eartip or simply moving your jaw can dramatically decrease the efficiency of ANC. To add to this, the budget-friendly TWS earbuds will mostly just insert some white noise and call it a day. After enabling the ANC on the SuperEQ Q2 Pro (there seems to be a single microphone dedicated for this feature), I could immediately hear a slight hissing noise and the sound of my keyboard taps immediately got less loud.

The hissing noise will remain present for the entire time ANC was on, so I usually preferred to listen to music with ANC turned off. As with both OneOdio and SuperEQ headphones, I do prefer the more natural sound of music without ANC to alter some of the frequencies. The good news is that the ANC ON mode is not that different from when it’s disabled, so there is little impact on the sound quality. This also means that a really loud room will not be silenced by the SuperEQ Q2 Pro, only the lower droning sounds.
That’s still useful for long train rides or while traveling by plane, but to truly be able to cancel the sounds around you, you do need to invest in a more expensive device, such as the Sony WH-1000XM4 (or the older Sony WH-1000XM3).

To check the sound quality, I first ran some ‘more technical’ tests to see how the Q2 Pro are build to handle various frequencies and how well the engineers managed to create a proper 3D sound stage. The first test checks the quality of the drivers by playing a (low frequency) sweeping tone and, ideally, there should be no buzzing. The sound was surprisingly clean with only a bit of buzz at the very low-end frequencies, so the Q2 Pro were great in this regard. Next, I ran a driver matching test and the sound remained centered (it felt like it was in the center of my head), but be aware that this is not really the best test to be undertaken on earbuds since the level of insertion in your ear can and will have an impact on how well you hear your music.

Lastly, I played a binaural song to check how well the earbuds are able to create a good 3D sound stage. I noticed that the ANC will have absolutely no impact on the 3D sound stage reproduction, which is good news and it does seem that the SuperEQ Q2 Pro are a capable pair of TWS earbuds. I could tell where every singer was positioned, the intensity of their voice, the instrument differentiation was good and everything felt very balanced.

Wireless – Normal Mode, Ambient Sound and ANC

Besides the tests that check the technical aspects of the earbuds, I also listened to some songs to better understand what audio experience you can expect from the SuperEQ Q2 Pro. While listening to a low-bass-focused song (such as Zhu – Faded) it showed that there is a good sound reproduction, the bass goes fairly deep and it’s properly divided from the rest of the frequencies.

I admit that I would have liked a bit more rattle, but the earbuds still sounded good. With ANC on, there isn’t an immediately perceptible difference, but, if I were to nitpick, I would say that the sound stage is slightly narrower. The mid-bass songs were alright, the sound reproduction was fair, there was a good instrument differentiation and I heard no difference with ANC on or off. Before moving to mid-range-focused songs, I played ‘Laurel – To The Hills’ and, while the bass was constant regardless of ANC on or off, I did notice that the violins at the beginning were less dramatic with ANC on.
Now, the mids were alright, nothing special here and I saw that they do get easily dominated by the bass. I liked the treble-focused songs since the higher frequencies were properly defined, but not too colorful to induce fatigue. So yes, the rock music sounds really good, even though the focus is a bit more towards bass – it’s still a fairly balanced pair of earbuds. I also had to check the ‘Empire of the Sun – Alive’ for that nauseating sibilance and it’s definitely very much noticeable, but not really painful.

Call Quality

A good call quality is not as common as you may think in the sub $100 TWS earbuds space, but, as I saw with the SuperEQ S1, the call quality is excellent. It’s actually more than that because the caller asked me what I did that I sounded so much better than usual. My daily driver is an iPhone 12 and it has very good microphones, but it seems that the SuperEQ Q2 Pro sounded even better (apparently have a better microphone), so kudos to SuperEQ in this regard. I need to mention that I could also hear the caller really well.

supereq-q2-pro-call — Source: SuperEQ official website.

Battery Life

I rarely take seriously what the manufacturers claim in terms of battery life since it’s most likely an inflated statement, but I got to say that I was taken by surprise by the SuperEQ Q2 Pro. They say that with ANC off, we should get up to 11 hours and in my tests, I did get a bit over 10 hours with the volume level set at 70%. I don’t what how they pulled it off, but it is very impressive. With ANC on, we should get about 8 hours and again, the claim is very close to real-life performance since the battery got depleted after a little over 7 hours.

The Conclusion

I know that the budget-friendly TWS earbuds market is so oversaturated that probably the only beacon one could follow is known brand names. That’s not really an advantage for the fairly young SuperEQ company, so why should one give the Q2 Pro a chance? Because the manufacturer has actually managed to create a balanced device with only a few shortcomings. The battery life is amazing, the sound quality is very good for its price point, the ANC works up to a certain degree, the call quality is excellent and they’re fairly comfortable to wear. So, the SuperEQ Q2 Pro TWS earbuds definitely stand out of the crowd and are worth checking out.