Queen of Audio Pink Lady In-Ear Monitor Review

The Lady in Pink

Introduction:

QOA was established in 2019 as a sister company of Kinera. It continues Kinera’s technology and R & D experience and incorporates its own innovative ideas in the positioning of products. From entry products to high-end ones, QoA uses Sonion and Knowles drivers ensure stable quality. The concept of QOA is to provide high-quality and value-for-money products, and always pays attention to details. Before the product is released, it is tested by professional testers, so that each new product can offer users a new experience.

The QoA Pink Lady is an In-Ear Monitor with a Hybrid Driver Configuration, which features 2 BA’s (Balanced Armature) Driver + 1 Dynamic Driver.

An interesting fact about the brand is that they are using cocktail names for naming of there IEM’s, same like they did for the Pink Lady.

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank Steve from Queen of Audio for providing me this sample for review purposes. I am not affiliated with Queen of Audio beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.

Price:

The actual retrial price for the QOA Pink Lady is 119,00 USD. For more information’s please visit the link below;

Queen of Audio Official (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/queenofaudio/

Package and Accessories:

The standard packaging is not finished yet so I will update this information as soon as I receive it.

QoA will come with the following contents/accessories; 

• 1 pair x Queen of Audio Pink Lady In-Ear Monitors
• 1 pcs x detachable cable with 2-Pin 0,78mm male connectors
• 6 pairs x Silicone Ear Tips
• 1 pcs x Zipper Case

The zipper case made of pleather in light-brown color that came with the QoA Pink Lady is of high quality and sport the product branding.

Design, Fit and Build Quality:

The QoA Pink Lady features a semi-custom acrylic shell in Pink color, which has a solid build quality.

As I have mentioned before, the Pink Lady is an IEM with a 2 way – hybrid driver configuration and features 2 BA (Balanced Armature) Drivers + 1 Dynamic Driver. The 2 BA’s are pretty small and are positioned near the sound nozzle, while the dynamic driver is in the center of the monitor shells.

The Lady has a very nice faceplate design that sports the stylish QoA logo.

On the rear of the monitor shell is a small vent.

The top of the Pink Lady’s monitor shell is featuring the 0.78mm diameter 2-Pin connectors.

On the top of the sound nozzles are two bores for the 2 way configuration.

The detachable cable of the QoA Pink Lady has a nice braided design with a black PVC isolation. The cable is approx 120cm long and fairly soft (I don’t like too stiff cables).

The 2-Pin male connectors have a metal housing in black color which sports also left (blue) and right (red) ring indicators.

The cable of the Pink Lady has flexible heat-shrink ear guides on both sides for extra comfort.

The braided cable of the Pink Lady has also a y splitter and the chin slider which are also in black color.

The 3.5mm TRS headphone plug has a straight profiled metal housing which is in black and with a QoA logo on the top.

Fit and Comfort:

The semi-custom monitor shell of the QoA Pink Lady is pretty comfortable and was fatigue-free during some long listening periods (approx 2-3 hours), while the performance in terms of noise isolation is on an average level.

Technical Specifications:

• • Driver Configuration   : 2 BA Drivers + 1 Dynamic Driver (Hybrid Driver Configuration)
  • Impedance                 : 17ohm
  • Sensitivity                   : 112±2db
  • Rated power               : 3mW
  • Frequency response   : 20 Hz – 20 kHz
  • Connector Type          : 2 pin
  • Cable                          : detachable 3.5mm with 1.2m length

Drivability:

The Queen of Audio Pink Lady has fairly low impedance of 17Ω and a sensitivity of 112dB, which makes it quite compatible with relative weak sources like Smartphone’s, Tablet’s and DAP’s with weak amplification.

Equipment’s used for this review:

IEM’s              : QoA Pink Lady, FiiO F9 Pro, TFZ King II
DAP&DAC’s  : QLS QA361, iBasso DX220, Cayin N5II, Xduoo XD-10 Poke

Albums & tracks used for this review:

• Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Otto Liebert& Luna Negra – The River (DSF) – Binaural Recording
• Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Wav 24bit/88kHz)
• Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Elton John – Your Song (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• David Bowie – Black Star (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Eric Clapton – Unplugged Album (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• B.B. King – Riding With The King (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• London Grammar – Interlude (Live) (Flac 24bit/88kHz)
• Aretha Franklin – I Say a Little Prayer (Wav 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
• Laura Pergolizzi – Lost On You “Live at Harvard and Stone” (Wav 16bit/44.1kHz)
• No Doubt – Hella Gut (Spotify)
• Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Twerl – Lishu (Spotify)
• U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Opeth – Windowpane (Wav 16bit/44kHz)
• Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Slayer – Angel of Death (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Spotify)
• Lorde – Royal (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Photek – The Hidden Camera (Spotify)
• Tom Player – Resonace Theory (16bit/44.1kHz)
• Massive Attack – Angel (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Portishead – The Hidden Camera (MP3 320kHz)

The Sound:

The QoA Pink Lady is an IEM with a V shaped sound signature that shows a slightly warmer than neutral tonality. The bass is deep, full bodied and warmish; the midrange is soft and musical, while the treble region is slightly bright and has good extension.

The Bass:

The subbass of the QoA Pink Lady shows good depth and quantity. It doesn’t have the sort of rumble you can hear with basshead IEM’s, however the extension is sufficient and on a good level. The tonality is warm, bold and soft, while the control is pretty good.

The QoA Pink Lady was very successfully with deep and complex bass passages we can hear on tracks like Gogo Penguin’s “Raven, Massive Attack’s “Angel”, Lorde’s “Royals” or Photek’s “The Hidden Camera”.

The Pink Lady was able to present the subbass and its elongation in Lorde’s “Royals” between 30-36 seconds in a quite clear manner.

The midbass of the QoA Pink Lady have a moderate level of quantity and intensity. The midbass hits soft and is not as dominant as the subbass region, which is the reason for its average effect.

The midbass are fairly pronounced, from instruments like the cross drum, up to the trumpets, while the general presentation is musical and entertaining. This makes the midbass presentation of the QoA Pink Lady very successful with genres like Pop, EDM or Rock music.

Instruments like bass guitars or the contrabasses are shown with a good amount of warmth, depth and thickness.

The bass of the QoA Pink Lady is in general soft, warm, well-bodied and entertaining. The bass is neither very fast nor too slow and can be described as moderate fast and tight.

I like the natural and gentle way in which the dynamic driver produces the bass of the Pink Lady.

The Midrange:

The midrange of the QoA Pink Lady has a close to warm, full body, soft and musical character. The transparency and airiness are not very high and can be described as moderate in quantity. There are no negative conditions such as sibilance or harshness.

Vocals:

The vocals are coming from the front and the instruments from behind, which shows that the QoA Pink Lady is successful in terms of vocal and instrument separation.

QoA has a good lower midrange depth, warmth and thickness, which makes the male vocal presentation more realistic.

The lower midrange is fairly emphasized, with the exception of bass intensive situations. In bass intensive tracks, the lower midrange can bleed in to the bass which may reduce the emphasis and detail in the lower midrange.

Male vocals have good depth and fullness, while the detail retrieval pretty high for a IEM in this price category.

The QoA Pink Lady gives male vocals in Elton John’s ‘Your Song’, Eric Clapton’s “Layla”, David Bowie’s “Black Star” or Dave Gahan’s “Kingdom” in a very musical and pleasant tonality. One of the plus points of Pink Lady is that male vocals doesn’t sound veiled.

The upper midrange of the QoA Pink Lady shows an average level of intensity and airiness. That’s why female vocals are more detailed than male vocals.

Female vocals are sounding slightly warm, transparent and vivid. It is possible to hear every emotion and details such as sadness, enthusiasm, sharpness and softness in the vocals. The female vocal performance of the Pink Lady is above average due to the extension and detail retrieval of the upper midrange. It is very enjoyable to listen to female vocals because of the sibilance and fatigue-free presentation.

Instruments:

QoA Pink Lady has a warmer than neutral, fairly vibrant, musical and smooth instrument tonality.

Instruments like piano are slightly bright, pronounced and vibrant, while the brightness and intensity is increasing from the midrange towards the upper midrange.

Acoustic guitars have warmish, bassy and musical tonality. The violins are slightly bright and fatigue-free, while the violas are warm and emotional. Wind instruments with a thick tonality like the saxophone and tuba are very successful in thickness and depth due to the good subbass tuning.

Upper Midrange & Treble:

The upper midrange has a pretty soft, slightly warm and bright tonality and shows a good intensity.

The upper midrange transitions are in general smooth, without to show any remarkable harshness or sibilance.

QoA Pink Lady is quite controlled and soft in presentation, even in the upper midrange transition of metal music. I think that the Pink Lady will be a sought-after IEM for those who have upper midrange sensitivity.

Since the upper midrange is pronounced, it is possible to hear details and extensions from violin to flute, from female vocal to the pianos.

The QoA Pink Lady has a smooth, slightly warm and bright treble presentation with a soft character. The Pink Lady’s treble has enough airiness and sparkle to prevent congestion and muddiness.

The lower treble (presence) shows more quantity and intensity than the upper treble (brilliance), while the emphasis from the lower treble to upper treble is decreasing in a controlled manner. This makes the QoA Pink Lady to a fatigue-free and musically successful IEM with almost any music genre.

Instruments like hi-hat in metal music are slightly pronounced, while the extension of this instrument is in general short.

Crash and ride cymbals also come from the background, while their extension is longer than the hi-hats. The treble extension, intensity and quantity of the QoA Pink Lady are on an average level.

The treble is neither very detailed, nor too dark, while the detail level is quite enough for most genres.

The Soundstage:

The QoA Pink Lady has a suitable soundstage for a fairly precise instrument placement. The soundstage has an average width, while the depth is pretty good for an IEM at this price category.

Some Short Comparisons:

QoA Pink Lady versus TFZ King II:

The TFZ King II is an in-ear monitor with a fun, V-shaped sound signature that features sweet / lush midrange, a fairly deep and fast bass, and a fairly controlled treble presentation.

The QoA Pink Lady sounds fuller and warmer than the TFZ King II and is showing noticeably more subbass quantity and depth, while the King II has the upper hand in terms of speed.

The midrange of the TFZ King II is slightly more recessed compared to the QoA Pink Lady.

The male vocal presentation of both IEM’s is deep, thick and slightly veiled. The Pink Lady has the upper hand in terms of female vocal performance due to the more pronounced, transparent and detailed upper midrange character.

The QoA Pink Lady has a stronger upper midrange and treble intensity compared to the TFZ King II. The Pink Lady is more slightly successful than the King II in terms of upper midrange and treble extension. The treble of the TFZ King II is slightly more recessed and not as airy or detailed.

The sound stages of both IEM’s are sufficient for the placement of instruments and vocals. The TFZ King II has the upper hand in terms of soundstage width, while the QoA Pink Lady is showing more depth.

QoA Pink Lady versus FiiO F9 Pro:

The FiiO F9 Pro has a mildly V shaped sound signature with a fairly linear bass response and good midrange/treble detail and clarity reproduction.

The FiiO F9 Pro has an average performance in terms of subbass depth, while the QoA Pink Lady shows a better subbass depth and extension. The F9 Pro has a slightly advantage in terms of bass speed and tightness. The midbass impact and

The midbass impact and slam effect of the QoAPink Lady is higher. The FiiO F9 Pro sound more linear & flat in response.

The midrange of both IEM’s is balanced and transparent. The lower midrange of the QoA Pink Lady has better depth, which makes it more successful with male vocals. Female vocals, on the other hand have are fairly detailed with both IEM’s. The female vocals of the F9 Pro are more prone to sibilance, while the Pink Lady shows a warmer, fuller and more emotional presentation.

The upper midrange and treble region of both IEM’s has good intensity, while the F9 Pro shows slightly more intensity and better extension. The treble presentation of the QoA Pink Lady is more controlled, smoother and musical.

The soundstage of the FiiO F9 Pro shows better width, while the QoA Pink Lady has slightly better depth.

Conclusion:

The QoA Pink Lady is a delightful In-Ear Monitor that combines entertainment and detail in a musical way, as opposed to thin and to neutral sounding audiophile IEM’s that is only focused to the detail. The beautiful monitor design and the useful zipper case are also some nice additions.

Pros & Cons:

• + Very Musical Tonality
• + Good Detail Retrieval
• + Vocal Performance (Both male and Female)
• + Beautiful Design
• + Good Cable and Nice Zipper Case

• – Treble extension is a bit short
• – The bass speed could be slightly better (Metal Music)