Activo’s triple-driver earbuds are back in black with a big bundle discount

Activo, the lifestyle brand of Astell&Kern, has announced a new version of its Activo Volcano wired earphones.

The spec is the same as before but you can now get them in black. And to mark the release, the firm has also announced a new player/headphones bundle that gives you the Activo P1 Hi-Res Audio player and a set of Volcano headphones for just £299.

That's a decent saving – the RRP for the two products bought separately is £209 higher – but annoyingly it's for the original silver-finish Volcanos, not the new black variants. And the P1 retains its very white finish.

Activo Volcano headphones: key features

The Volcano headphones are wired IEM-style earphones with triple dynamic drivers, and while they resemble Activo's Q1 IEMs there are some significant differences, including a much lower price.

The drivers are slightly smaller – they have one 8mm and two 6mm drivers – and they don't have the brass housings of their siblings, with polycarbonate being the chosen material here. But another upside is that they're lighter.

Frequency response is 20Hz to 20kHz and the Volcano earphones come with a 7-core silver-plated copper and 5-core oxygen free copper wire hybrid cable. That cable is a two-pin design with 3.5mm, 4.4mm and USB connectors.

Activo says that the Volcanos deliver "deep, resonant bass and a rich, immersive sound experience". I can't vouch for that as I haven't tested these ones yet, but I did test the Q1s and found them to be hugely enjoyable – even more so when boosting the lower frequencies a touch.

The Activo Volcano Black earphones are available now for £99 (about $133 / €113 / AU$200) from Amazon and from Activo directly.

The Activo Starter Bundle is only available from the Activo website. It's priced at £299 (about $403 / €342 / AU$612) – saving over £200.