So this is the Hippo Boom Plus. It’s meant for mobile devices, has 32 Ohms of impedance, and a very cheap price to compete with the Xiaomi’s very own RM50 pair of Piston earphones. Budget is all that matters here, but how does the Hippo Boom Plus compete?
The packaging is a tad funny, as it has some sort of triangular facet design, and is actually quite difficult to remove the earphones themselves from the packaging.
Once you open the packaging, remove the piece of plastic and it reveals the contents inside – a soft velvet pouch, som eartips, and the coil of cable.
I do admire how the packaging is done, it’s certainly not something cheap to do, as all of the pieces are revealed in what reminds me of a diamond-ish shape.
As for the included pouch however, it has the standard 70mm width and a 100mm height, just like any other included pouches. This is something that many budget earphones are missing, as I would really want to store my earphones at a convenient space.
Also, you get 4 sizes of eartips in total. Though it is not included, Hippo does recommend you to use the Hippo foam eartips for a better listening experience. I strongly believe that Hippo could have included a pair of those foam eartips just to attract more customers on buying their foam eartips. Marketing strategy 101?
[nextpage title=”Additionals”]
Generally earphones for mobile couldn’t get anymore additional features other than the in-line controls, microphone, and maybe even a companion app to get the – supposedly – most out of your pair of earphones.
The Hippo Boom Plus is no exception, as this pair of earphones comes with a nice little microphone and a single-button in-line control that has very nice tactile feedback. However Hippo has imprinted a calling sign on the button, which clearly isn’t the only function that this earphone does.
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
I took the Hippo Boom Plus all the way to Citta Mall few days ago, while waiting for my mom and sister to go crazy with the Clarks warehouse sale (I’m not a fan of shoes, obviously) and I just sat along the benches beside the very obnoxious and lengthy queue.
First off the bat, noise isolation isn’t as good as other earphones around this price range. The good news is the cable friction doesn’t affect the experience at all.
Taking this earphone out and about was a joy. It’s light, and definitely doesn’t tire out the ear canals even if I wore them for hours. The single in-line button is great if you pair it with Poweramp like I always did, and you can basically have the 3 most important functions – start, previous, and next, and you don’t have to take the phone out.
Determining left from right is simple enough as you have the in-line controls hardwired onto the right side of the earbud. Nice.
As far as the listening test goes, I tested this pair of earphones with my usual devices – laptop, desktop speaker amplifier, and the OnePlus One. The listening test brought in a very mixed perception of what the Hippo Boom Plus truly brings.
First off, Hippo advertised something they claim to have is extended rich bass. It definitely is rich in bass – perhaps a little too rich. The usual suspect in bass-listening being Adventure Time by Rogue is just way too heavy – it’s punchy and leaves quite a great aftermath. The bass reverb however is excellent, I can really feel how the bass goes up and down on the Hippo Boom Plus.
Trying something with a little less bass, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper feels like her voice just got muffled – like a listening to her singing through a piece of paper with small little holes poked on it. Another similar test was Skyliner by the BBC Big Band, and the trumpets definitely felt muffled too.
A little Nu Jazz like Shoot Him Down! by Alice Francis is a little more pleasant, thanks to her deeper voice. However, the bass is still too strong and it just starts to cover up her vocals most of the time. For a little fun test – I went with Salome by Andre Rieu and An Accent Beyond by Portal 2’s OST, the bass is just way too unbearable.
[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]
So overall, I think the Hippo Boom Plus comes down to these – are you looking to get a pair of earphones that gives you an immense amount of bass at a low with a single-button in-line control? If yes, the Hippo Boom Plus is the only one for you. If you’re looking for something with a more balanced sound with the in-line buttons, the Xiaomi Piston earphones (which we reviewed) are for you.
Priced at RM99 over at Jaben Malaysia, it’s really not that expensive. Compared to the Xiaomi Piston earphones, you’ll have to pay RM50 for the earphones, and if you’re buying one unit alone, you’ll have to pay RM25 for shipping. If and only if you are going to buy two of the Xiaomi Piston earphones is when you’ll save that RM25. And it also takes about a week in the most ideal cases. Bummer.
Thanks Jaben Malaysia for letting us review the Hippo Boom Plus!
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