Viotek Aqua USB-C Headphones are a budget friendly accessory for smartphones with no audio jack (review)

Got a new Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL? How about an Essential smartphone? Moto Z? If you own any of these smartphones you know the 3.5mm audio jack is going extinct. No matter how much you love your wired headphones, your favorite manufacturers simply don’t care and either want you to go wireless or use their dongles and adapters to use your wired headphones. There are plenty of you who know wired sounds better than wireless. There’s also a wide group of people who hate charging their smartphones, let alone accessories. While wireless headphones are great, they’re easy to lose, pricey and require battery power to enjoy music.

Viotek, a third-party accessory maker on Amazon, was one of the first companies to make a wired set of USB-C headphones. The Aqua USB-C headphones are currently listed on Amazon for a very reasonable $19.99 with free shipping included. I picked up a set to test with my new Google Pixel 2 XL and Moto Z 2 since I like to use wired headphones at the gym and when I don’t want to check if my wireless headphones are charged. I also hate using the included USB-C to 3.5mm audio adapter, mainly because they’re easy to lose and I already lost one of mine. So are USB-C headphones as good as 3.5mm wired headphones?

Let’s get into the Viotek Aqua USB-C headphone review.

The wired earbuds from Viotek come with a nice build. For $20, you’d imagine getting a plastic set of earbuds like you get from Apple, Samsung, and LG with the free earbuds included with smartphones. However, the Aqua USB-C earbuds come in ceramic housings that are small and luxurious looking. They’re lightweight which makes for comfortable wearing, easy on the eyes and are connected to a wire with a USB-C connector for listening to music through your USB-C only smartphones. If you’re a Galaxy Note 8, S8 and S8+ owner, you can also use these earbuds with your phones as well even though you already have a 3.5mm audio jack. The only downside to the USB-C connector on the earbuds is it is large. If you have a thick case on your smartphone, it might be hard to squeeze in the large connector.

For your money, you actually get quite a few accessories in the box that give you even more value. You get a phone finger holder, similar to a popsocket, a hard case for storing your Aqua earbuds, and a very nice set of ear tips in a well-organized case. I’ve paid several hundred dollars for earbuds that didn’t come with a case for storing and organizing earpieces as well as the Viotek Aqua buds accessory kit.

The red ear tips are memory foam cushions, while the black ear tips are soft silicone. Both fit small, medium and large ears and seal out background noise.

My first impression of the sound performance of the Aqua earbuds was: loud, detailed, maybe too detailed in highs, and quick and punchy. Without adjusting the equalizer on my phone, I listened to the headphones in this stock setup for a week to give them a fair evaluation. After about 10 hours of usage, I noticed the earbuds warm up and loosen a bit but still were a bit too rich in the highs. The highs were a bit ear-piercing so I swapped out the soft silicone tips for the memory foam ones. That simple swap made a huge difference. The foam tips absorbed the highs to the point where they balanced out and allowed for the lows to shine through. I noticed an immediate difference and realized I had paid for headphones that cost 5-10 times as much that didn’t sound this good. The advantages of transferring music over USB-C shows its value with these buds. Music is louder, more detailed and more enjoyable to listen to. I’m extremely pleased with this purchase even if I don’t agree with manufacturers deciding to do away with the 3.5mm audio jack. If these Aqua earbuds are a preview of the USB-C earbuds to come, I look forward to the day when Sennheiser, Earsonics, Shure, Westone, and HiFiMan come out with their respective flagship USB-C headphones that cost near four figures.

The fate of the 3.5mm audio is certainly out of our hands. If Samsung decides to eliminate it in next year’s S9 and Note 9, we probably won’t see it ever again on another smartphone. Its life is limited but the horizon of USB-C headphones looks bright. The Viotek Aqua USB-C earbuds are a great example of affordability, comfort and nice aesthetics. The should have been included with the earbud-less Pixel 2 and Pixel 2Xl smartphones, but are quite affordable on Amazon for $19.99 with free shipping. All around, the Aqua earbuds are a great value when you consider you don’t need to charge them, they sound great, have a very nice build, come with great accessories and work with your USB-C smartphones.