The Rovking V1 are basic in-ear headphones. They're lightweight, compact, and stable enough for sports use. However, they feel cheaply made and not durable. They have subpar sound and poorly block the ambient noise of loud environments.
Our Verdict
Decent for mixed usage. Although they have a poor sound reproduction, they're lightweight, compact, and stable enough for sports use and regular everyday activities.
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Minimal leakage.
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Lightweight and stable design.
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Cheap build quality.
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Poor audio reproduction.
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In-ear fit not comfortable for everyone.
Not designed for the critical listener. They have a poor sound quality, a closed in-ear design that limits soundstage, and they're way too bass-heavy.
Average for commuting. They don't block as much noise as some other in-ear headphones but, depending on the volume at which you play your audio, the passive isolation could be sufficient.
Above-average budget sports headphones. They lack a decent control scheme, but they're small and easy to carry around on your person, wherever you go. They also have a stable ear hook design that prevents them from easily falling out of your ears during exercise.
Decent for office use. They have weak noise isolation and will only block some of the office chatter. However, they won't be audible to the people around you even at higher volumes.
Decent for home theater use. They have no latency but a short audio cable. This means the lack of range won't be ideal for watching TVs on your couch unless you have an audio cable extension cord. They also have a below-average sound that's a bit too bass-heavy and drowns out voices when watching videos.
- 6.2 Mixed Usage
- 5.2 Critical Listening
- 6.4 Commute/Travel
- 6.7 Sports/Fitness
- 6.3 Office
- 6.4 Home Theater
- Updated Aug 01, 2016: Review published.
- Updated Jul 30, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 27, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Test Results
The Rovking V1 are simple and straightforward in-ear headphones. They come in an understated all-black color scheme and have a hook design that gives them a more sporty appeal. However, the hooks, like the build quality of these headphones, look thin and a little cheap.
The Rovking V1 have a regular in-ear fit that may not be comfortable for everyone. Their ear-hook-like design means the audio cable will go behind your ears, but it's very thin and does not affect their comfort level. However, the tips will put a little pressure on the ear canal, which can get bothersome during long listening sessions.
The Rovking V1 have a decent control scheme that provides a call/music button and a volume switch. It's not optimized for all phones, but the switch remembers your previous volume level on iOS devices. Unfortunately, this doesn't give you full control over the volume, which can be a little frustrating. Also, the buttons are a little small.
The Rovking V1 are above-average stable headphones. They have an ear-hook design that provides a bit more stability than standard in-ear models. Sadly, the hook design is as thin as the cable, which may not be sturdy enough to keep the headphones attached to your ears during high-intensity exercises at the gym.
The Rovking V1 are very portable headphones. They easily fit in most pockets, bags, or purses, and they're small enough to carry on your person without hassle. Their hook design doesn't add much bulk to headphones when folded. They don't come with a case or pouch, which is slightly disappointing.
Build quality is average. These headphones are sufficiently lightweight, and the earbuds are dense enough to handle a couple of drops without getting damaged. However, the audio cable is ordinary and of average thickness, which may not be as durable as some of the rubberized or flat cables that other in-ear models have. Their ear-hook design is also very thin and cheap.
Average isolation. Since these in-ears don't have active noise cancellation, the provided passive isolation is quite impressive. They achieve good isolation in the treble range and above-average isolation in the mid range. In the bass range, they achieve about 4dB of isolation, which, although quite impressive for a passive design, is noticeably inferior to what high-end active noise cancelling headphones can achieve.
Excellent leakage performance. The majority of the leakage is happening between 2KHz and 7KHz, which is on the wide side compared to most in-ears. However, the overall level of leakage is so low that it wouldn't be an issue in almost all situations.