Astell&Kern Activo Q1 in-ears offer an affordable audiophile alternative

(Image credit: Activo / Astell & Kern)

By Carrie Marshall

published 10 December 2024

in News

Quick Summary

Activo, the consumer arm of Astell&Kern, has launched new hybrid in-ear monitors with custom copper cables.

They're a fraction of the price of A&K IEMs with an RRP of £299 / $349.

Activo, the consumer sub-brand of audiophile firm Astell&Kern, has followed the launch of its Activo P1 Hi-Res music player with new, high quality in-ear monitors.

The Activo Q1 IEMs are built in association with South Korean designer Dita Audio and promise crystal-clear sound and punchy bass.

They have the same white colour scheme as the P1 player, and are built around a hybrid driver setup – a single Knowles balanced armature driver, and Dita's brand new PM1+ 9.8mm dynamic driver with brass housing.

Where Astell&Kern IEMs can be pretty pricey – typically around four figures – these are much more affordable, with an RRP of £299 / €399 / $349 (about AU$595).

Activo Q1 IEMs: key features and pricing

In addition to the hybrid drivers, Activo has leant on Dita's expertise in cable design.

The cables here are US-made MOCCA2 cables, a custom design made to Dita's specification that uses 32 individual strands of Cardas ultra-pure copper conductors per cable. The cable comes with both 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm single-ended plugs to cover all your audio sources.

According to Activo, another key feature is increased windings on the voice coil to enhance "the richness and smoothness of lows and mids". The Knowles driver us claimed to take care of "augmented, airy highs".

Frequency response is 20Hz to 20kHz and sensitivity is 109dB/mW @ 1kHz. Impedance is 31 ohms.

The package also includes an Activo x Dita-branded Tanos Systainer case and five different earbud tips.

The Activo Q1 in-ears are available now from Amazon.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).