Arctic Sound E352 Wood Enclosed Headphone Review

A Closer Look At The E352 Headphones

The Arctic Sound E352 headphones are said to be high-end ear buds and are a bit different than what you’d expect as the enclosure is made from wood and they have a rather large driver coil. Arctic Sound says that this combination allows for high quality audio output with warm and natural sound. Not a bad deal for $69.99 if they work as advertised.

When using the Arctic Sound E352 you’ll more than likely toss them in the nylon carrying case that comes with the ear buds. The carrying case was rather small to make it portable, but you can still quickly wrap up the cord and get them safely stored.

The Arctic Sound E352 comes with three different sized sets of ear cups and the speakers come with the medium ear cups installed out of the box. The instructions that come with the ear buds spend some time explaining the importance
of choosing the proper size cup to fit the user’s ear, for best sound
and ambient noise filtering capability. This might not sound like a big deal, but when you are in noisy environments like an airplane it really does impact the audio quality. The ear cups used on the speakers are made form ‘ultra-soft’ silicone, which feels nice, but as with all things silicone they pick up lint and anything that could possible cling to silicon. We found the medium size that came with the Arctic Sound E352 ear buds to fit perfectly and were the ones we used. We did try both the small and the large sizes and they were easy to pull off and to install a new one.

At first it looked like the wooden speaker enclosure was fake, but after looking at them closer in good light we could tell that they aren’t faux wood. We aren’t sure what type of wood the housing is made from, but it has been stained a dark color and then covered with a hefty dose of clear coat to protect the finish. They put so much on it that you can’t see the dips and striations that are often seen in wood grain. We wish it had more wood striations showing through to highlight they are made from real wood. At the rear of the speaker housing Arctic Sound drilled in a small hole that serves as the tuned bass reflex port. Remember the Arctic Sound E352 ear buds have a 10mm speaker in them and the speakers are capable of pumping out the bass as a result.

With the silicone ear cup removed we can get a closer look at the metal housing that physically holds the speaker. The Arctic Sound E352 ear buds have a 10mm speaker that has a rated frequency response of 18Hz to 22KHz with
sensitivity of 104dBmW and total output of 15mW. This is more than enough range and power to satisfy most audiophiles and most certainly the average consumer. The cable for the ear buds is 1.3m long, which is a little over four feet in length. This length was more than enough for use and we gave it a try with a Microsoft Zune HD with the player in our pocket, backpack and an over the shoulder messenger style laptop bag.

After using the Arctic Sound E352 ear buds for a little bit the sound of a few of my favorite songs seemed a bit off. It then hit me that the ear buds lack any markings on them that show which is the left and right speaker. Rather than having the AR in the cable for Arctic Cooling it would have been nice to have them place functionality before branding. This is something that you’d expect to see on a cheap set of headphones, not a pair that have an MSRP of $69!