Okay Geek Farm
WeSC Maraca headphones review
Ricardo Trejo
I was first turned onto the WeSC brand after watching the movie 500 Days of Summer, in which the main character (Joseph Gordon Levitte) sports a pair of classy Bongo headphones. Since then I’ve been wanting to check out any pair that the company’s worked out, but I figured I’d start from the bottom, getting a feel for the build quality of all the WeSC headphones line. Today, we’re going to be looking at the Maraca’s.
Features
- Over the ear-headphones
- Dual 40mm Drivers
- 20 - 20,000 Hz frequency
- 3ft. audio cable extension
- 3.5mm stereo plug
Our Impressions
WESC Maraca’s — Dark Shadow (color)After unboxing the Maraca’s and taking out the headset, along with the booklet and 3 ft. audio cable included, I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. While most of WeSC’s products all have this unique, vintage appeal about them, once I held the actual product in my hand and got to run my finger alongside the ear cups and the headband, I just wasn’t feeling the magic. Perhaps it had to do with the plastic nature of the entire build, or maybe how small they felt in my hands, but I felt like I could accidentally break them if I wasn’t too careful.
Wearing them was a whole other problem for me. Just to preface this, I have a pretty small head and when it comes to headphones I usually adjust them just a tad bit bigger than the tightest’s possible size. And while adjusting the size on the Maraca’s is easy enough, as metal sliders are both snug and tight, not allowing them to change or slip while you’re wearing the headset, I never could get them into that “sweet spot” for optimal comfort. Writing this review, I regret not taking a picture of me wearing them, since looking into a mirror it was easy to see that no matter how I configured the size I just couldn’t get the darn things to sit right on my head. Which brings me to another issue: the ear cups.
Are they comfy? Yes. The cushioned padding that rests on your ears are very well made, however they don’t create a seal. This is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, especially those who actually care about music and getting to listen to every beat and note of their collection. Since the ear cups are rectangular in nature they are naturally flat on each side, and with the sizing issue it’s near impossible to get them to cover your ear completely. What happens specifically is that the ear cups don’t bend with the curvature of your face, and so when placed on the wall of your ear the bottom of the ear cups just sorta hang there. Try covering your ears with your hands but place them flat, without cupping them — this is what the Maraca’s do, and it’s more than annoying!
Once I was able to get a decent fit on my head (by pushing down on the ear cups), the sound performance was pretty good. Not astounding however, since songs with heavy bass, such as DeadMau5 and Daft Punk, didn’t come in as strong as I head hoped, though the Maraca’s were more than enough to handle songs with tunes in the high’s and mids; artists such as Panic! at the Disco and The Submarines. There’s not a lot I can say about the audio portion of this review since continued listening takes so much out of you that it’s unbearable — what with the comfort issues.
Overall
All in all, my experience with the Maraca’s were less than pleasant. But just to make sure that I wasn’t crazy about feeling completely negative against this headset, I had a couple of different people wear the headphones around the office to see if I was the only with the size issue and, nope, everyone else experienced one of the ear cups not covering their ears entirely. And in terms of a quality listening device, the Maraca’s aren’t my first choice by a long shot. While the looks are definitely what will draw people in, looks shouldn’t be the deciding factor to get these as everything else about them will fight against you.
Pro’s
- Vintage look
- Cheap and affordable
Con’s
- Uncomfortable to wear
- Audio leaks due to design
- Bass is almost non-existent
Where to Buy
MSRP: $70
This review was done by Ricardo Trejo, who was given a pair of Maraca headphones by WeSC
