OneOdio Pro M in test: Studio-quality headphones at a bargain price?

The OneOdio Pro M is the third pair of headphones from the Chinese manufacturer to reach our test lab within a very short time. Despite the Pro name, the current representative is cheaper than the A30 ANC or Fusion A70. In doing so, they want to combine the benefits of a wireless Bluetooth headset with the benefits of a wired gaming headset. Our test reveals whether this endeavor succeeds and how the OneOdio Pro M sound.

Technical data

Scope of delivery

With the Pro M, OneOdio once again relies on a compact outer packaging that hardly turns out bigger than the headphones themselves. Said headphones once again find their place in a black leatherette carrying case complete with a red cable pull. Besides the obligatory manual and safety instructions, there are two small plastic bags in the scope of delivery, which house the required cables.

In the case of the Pro M, these are a micro-USB to USB-A cable for charging the headphones, a short 3.5mm dual jack cable including a Y-crossover, and a 2-meter jack cable including an integrated remote control and boom microphone for using the headphones on PCs and notebooks as a true headset.

Design and workmanship

The OneOdio Pro M rely on an eye-catching and modern design, which has certain parallels to the Beats headphones of the Apple subsidiary. Once again, the manufacturer installs very large ear cups, which come along with a glossy round-cut look on the outside. Individual design elements on the earpiece are silver, while the outside of the headband is accented with a red seam.

The inside of the temple, covered with generous and soft faux leather, is bright red and catches the eye directly. The same goes for the pads on the inside of the ear cups, which are also red.

As for the material, OneOdio once again primarily uses plastic, which is due to the low price tag. As a result, the entire construction seems a bit wobbly and is accompanied by an audible and noticeable rattling during fast movements. Only the headband can be adjusted in a total of ten steps with the help of an aluminum strut, and the adjustment works quite precisely and smoothly. However, the headband can only be pulled out by a maximum of three centimeters, which might not be enough for users with a large head.

On the other hand, we like the Pro M’s hinges, which not only allow the ear cups to rotate 90 degrees, but also allow them to be tilted 180 degrees horizontally. This allows the headphones to be worn comfortably around the neck while also saving space in a backpack or bag.

On the bottom of the left ear cup, OneOdio places the micro USB input that can be used to charge the headphones. The Pro M are operated via a total of three buttons on the back of the right ear cup, while a 3.5 mm jack cable can be connected on the bottom.

Wearing comfort and operation

The OneOdio Pro M are primarily over-ear headphones, with wide ear cushions that fit over the ears. Even for medium-sized ears, the space offered (inner height: around 4.5 cm, width: 4 cm) is quite tight, though, and users with larger hearing organs will have to live with the headphones resting on their ears.

However, this hardly affects the wearing comfort, because there is hardly anything to complain about here, even when wearing glasses and in continuous use, due to the soft and about 1.7 cm thick synthetic leather cover. The same goes for the comfortable headband, which is extremely pleasing with its soft padding.

However, the Pro M are not really airy. In other words, in late summer outdoor use, heat quickly builds up under the ear pads, leading to sweaty ears (and unsightly stains on the artificial leather). On the other hand, the weight of around 239 grams is pleasant and ranks in the good midfield.

The OneOdio Pro M offer the usual fare in terms of handling. The upper plus and lower minus buttons control the volume with a single tap and enable switching to the previous or next track when held down for a second. The center multifunctional button has considerably more functions. For example, playback can be started or paused, and incoming calls can be accepted or ended. If you hold the button down for three seconds, the corresponding voice assistant is activated. The MFT button also triggers Bluetooth pairing, which the headphones confirm with a short beep.

However, the buttons only work when you use the headphones in wireless mode. In combination with the included jack cable, the built-in in-line remote control is used, which comes up with significantly fewer functions. It has a rotary wheel on the right to increase/decrease the volume, a slider to mute/activate the microphone, and a button to start/pause playback. Unfortunately, this only works in conjunction with a smartphone. Controlling audio playback in Windows doesn’t work with it, strangely enough.

Features and battery life

With its possible uses in wireless Bluetooth or wired mode, as well as in headset mode on PC and notebook, the Pro M proves to be extremely versatile. Thanks to Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, the wireless headphones always work reliably, even though the manual strangely and incorrectly refers to Bluetooth version 5.2.

Nevertheless, the connection’s stability and range of about 10 meters are absolutely respectable. Multipoint is also offered so that the headphones can be used with two audio sources at the same time. This works quite reliably after the first pairing.

In wireless mode, the Pro M are powered by the 1,000 mAh battery, which is supposed to last up to 80 hours according to the manufacturer. Although we could not quite reach this value in our test, the battery runtime is more than satisfactory. At full volume, the headphones lasted for around 70 hours, while we could almost reach the specified runtime (77 hours) at 50% – excellent. Charging via micro-USB isn’t quite as fast, though; it takes around two and a half hours to charge the completely depleted headphones to 100 percent.

Nevertheless, the OneOdio Pro M, especially in combination with the microphone, are primarily aimed at gamers. This is already indicated by the extremely limited selection of Bluetooth audio codecs, since only AAC and SBC are offered here. Accordingly, the audio quality in Bluetooth mode is minimally worse, but we will get to that in a moment.

Audio quality and microphone

OneOdio relies on particularly large dynamic drivers in the Pro M, which offer a stately diameter of 50 mm. 32 ohms of impedance provide more than good volume, while the frequency band is the standard 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

As with the Chinese manufacturer’s other headphones, the current model is also tuned for the highest possible listening pleasure – so no one had better expect neutral headphones for audiophile applications. Accordingly, the basses are emphasized in the foreground, but also offer a convincing dynamic that skillfully differentiates between normal basses and low basses.

In terms of highs and mids, the Pro M are fortunately much stronger than the last OneOdio models we tested, even though the high mids are still the Achilles’ heel of the headphones. Nevertheless, voices are clearly understandable, only distorted guitars or other quite bright instruments are somewhat in the background. Especially at high volume, the bass develops a considerable pressure, which should please fans of electronic music – however, the dynamics also suffer, while especially quiet details are lost.

When used in wired gaming mode, or on a PC/notebook, a very similar picture emerges. Despite the emphasis on bass, the important footsteps of the opponents can still be perceived well, especially when playing shooters. However, you have to leave things in the village here: The Pro M cannot quite keep up with a real gaming headset at a similar price. Fortunately, the audio quality only drops minimally in Bluetooth mode, although fine details do not come out quite as well. In return, the maximum volume is a bit higher.

Microphone

Both in wireless and wired mode, the OneOdio Pro M have a built-in microphone. However, you can safely forget about the built-in Bluetooth microphone. Due to the noise-canceling microphones, the user’s own voice is strongly cut, so that even whole words are often swallowed. The Bluetooth mic also ranks in the lower average in terms of dynamics and is hardly usable even for short conversations.

The situation is different with the boom microphone on the jack cable, which is used on the PC. It offers good to very good intelligibility, while background noise is satisfactorily suppressed. However, a reverb is omnipresent when transmitting the voice, which hardly has an impact on the acoustics. For those who only occasionally use a microphone for communication, the Boom Mic should probably suffice.

Conclusion

Measured against the quite reasonable price, OneOdio delivers a quite coherent overall package with the Pro M Studio headphones. Of course, due to the materials used and the build quality, they can’t quite keep up with more expensive competitors, but they offer good wearing comfort and a wide range of possible uses.

The audio quality is on a consistently good level and should especially please fans of bass-heavy music. If you can live with the flaws, you will get a lot of headphones (or headset) for comparatively little money with the OneOdio Pro M.