The SoundMagic E80D proves that wired earbuds aren’t dead and buried yet — here’s why

I have always had a soft spot for wired earbuds. I find myself longing for the simplicity of plugging in my headphones for my commute — and avoiding that awful feeling of having forgotten to charge your buds, as well as the superior sound quality that comes with a good pair of wired earbuds.

This is where the SoundMagic E80D ($45) comes in. For a fraction of the cost of a similar quality pair of wireless earbuds, the E80D really impressed me with the rich audio balance thanks to the built-in DAC — a rarity on wired headphones. The simple but sturdy design is pleasing to the eye, and a USB-C connection means you don’t need to worry about adapters for most modern phones.

There were a few imperfections with the audio — the bass isn't as powerful as I would have liked, and the noise isolation doesn’t work as well as I expected, even with low levels of background noise. The low overall volume meant that some tracks could sound less clear than I was hoping for.

Despite this, I found myself reaching for the E80D more often than my cumbersome over-ear headphones. For less than $45, this is still one of the most versatile ways of listening to your digital music collection on the go, and should be considered one of the best cheap headphones. 

SoundMagic E80D review: Specs

SoundMagic E80D review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A pair of wired earbuds, with an integrated DAC
• Who is it for? Those with a USB-C port on their phone, who aren’t fussed by a wire on their headphones during their commute or relaxing at home
• What does it cost? They are in the mid-range for a pair of wired earbuds, at $45 on the SoundMagic website
• What do we like? Fantastic sound quality worth at least double the price tag, supported by a comfortable fit
• What don’t we like? They’re lacking in punch, with a soft overall volume and fairly weak bass.

SoundMagic E80D review: Price & availability

The E80D is available for $45 from the SoundMagic website, or £39 in the U.K. on Amazon. placing it at a good price for mid-range wired earbuds. The quality is excellent for the price, putting it up there with earbuds like the EarFun EH100 ($99).  The E80D is currently the one of the most expensive in-ear offerings from SoundMagic, but the company also offers alternatives with both 3.5mm jacks and USB-C connectivity — for example, you can pick up the SoundMagic E11D for the same price, which offers similar sound quality, albeit with some improvements on volume.

SoundMagic E80D review: Design

The E80D opts for a straightforward design, with silver aluminum dominating the look. The buds themselves are small and simplistic, with metallic embellishments to give them a plain, formal look. This is by no means a bad thing, as the earbuds look very low-key while wearing them. They look and feel sturdy, with enough substance to not feel like they are hollow plastic shells, while remaining incredibly light.

Taking the earbuds on the go is great, thanks to the tangle-free 3.9ft cable which allowed me to run the earbuds to my backpack. The cable is a transparent plastic, revealing the wrapped wires underneath, and feels durable in use. Fans of more colorful headphones will be left disappointed by the almost formal, metallic look —  in this case there are other cheap wired earbuds like the Panasonic Ergofit ($10) which offer some poppier color options.

There are a couple of aspects of the overall build which I am not a big fan of. Firstly, the onboard volume control feels clunky — the tube-like control unit has hard to press buttons that are difficult to quickly reach. It is also placed quite highly on the wire, which can be a little awkward on the go.

Also, the USB-C port is housed along with the DAC adapter, which is in a small unit on the end of the cable. It is quite bulky, and might not fit in some devices — when using it on my laptop, I had to move some other cables around to ensure there was space on either side of the USB port, which is usually not a problem.

SoundMagic E80D review: Soundstage

One of the most impressive aspects of the earbuds is the wide soundstage — you will get a lot out of these earbuds if you’re a pop and acoustic music fan who wants to hear the fullest extent of more epic-sounding tracks, thanks to the onboard DAC. I heard details on “Caesar on a TV Screen” by The Last Dinner Party that I haven’t experienced on headphones triple the price, particularly in the more grandiose high-points of the song. The same can be said for Mitski’s “Bug Like An Angel,” which sounds amazing on the E80D thanks to the soaring vocals. 

However, I feel like elements of songs started getting lost in louder or more electronic songs, like Charli XCX’s “Brat”. The distorted synths on “Von dutch” were also held back by the E80D's lack of power. Some dance or electronic tracks, like Arca’s “Prada,” sounded great on the earbuds, but I found that more distorted or complex tracks suffered.

SoundMagic E80D review: Bass

Cheaper earbuds tend to overemphasize bass, but sometimes the E80D goes too far in the opposite direction. As someone who is learning to play the bass guitar, this was really disappointing as I wasn’t able to listen to bass by ear in some tracks, which was frequently overpowered by the drum beat — where the bass riff should be one of the foremost elements of the track, such as in Joy Division’s “Transmission,” I felt like the bass was often overpowered by more background elements of the song.

The earbuds lack any companion equalizer software, so I had to use my device's built-in EQ settings to try and get some more bass out of the earbuds. The end result still lacked some punchiness that I would have liked, but I was able to get them closer to my preference — your mileage may vary.

SoundMagic E80D review: Extras

The E80D features noise isolation, which essentially uses the silicone ear tips to seal your ear from outside noise. This is the best you can get without forking out more for full ANC earbuds, like the Sony WF-1000XM5 ($119) or the OnePlus Buds 3 ($99), but I really missed having full ANC when using them. It works decently well indoors and in low-noise environments, but I had to crank up the volume to about 90% during my commute to get enough clarity on the sound.

Other additional features include a handy traveling case, a great addition to an already fantastic value-for-money earbud set. Topping it all off is a built-in microphone, which I was really impressed by — it offers comparable quality to my laptop microphone, and taking calls on the go did not garner any complaints on the other end, unlike some other earbud mics out there.

SoundMagic E80D review: Verdict

There are a lot of reasons to choose wired over wireless, and the E80D is of exemplary quality. The onboard DAC works wonders at transmitting some of the richest sounding tracks I have heard for just $45. A lack of a punchy bass was a disappointment for me, and there are cheaper headphones that handle this better like the Panasonic Ergofit ($10).

It’s a close match between the E80D and the E11D, the two USB-C with DAC wired earbuds from SoundMagic. In my testing, I felt like the E11D had fewer issues with volume than the E80D, but lacked some of the richness that the E80D, but this comes down to personal preference. 

Ultimately, you can’t go too wrong with picking up the E80D. They are an exceptionally good value pair of earbuds, that goes to show that having a wire on your headphones isn’t always a bad thing.