Tonino Lamborghini Quantum HL-01 review

Antonio “Tonino” Lamborghini, son of the man responsible for some of the world’s most iconic supercars, is better known for his company’s luxury smartphones, but has now expanded into audio with the Quantum in-ears, with the Quantum HL-01 sitting at the top of the range.

The angular design of each earbud was undoubtedly inspired by the aggressive lines of a supercar. The Tonino Lamborghini “Raging Bull” logo is boldly located on each one, emblazoned on a red shield. They sit on your outer ear at an angle, relatively flush to your ears, and we never had any problems with comfort. Tonino Lamborghini has been generous with its silicone tips, providing two pairs of each of the three different sizes. This means you’ll have a spare should you lose a set.

You also get two pairs of foam tips, which were our favourites in terms of comfort and isolation. These expand in your ear canal, providing a more solid seal. A tight fit will be important for bass production as well as isolating you from ambient noise. We found both kinds of tips comfortable and were never concerned about the earphones becoming dislodged. You also get a hard carry case.

The HL-01 uses a Kevlar-reinforced cable that felt tough yet light. It also remained tangle-free during our testing and we were pleased to not hear any microphonic noise caused by the cable rubbing against our clothes. The same material is used all along the 1.2m cable, including for the Y-shaped cabling to each earphone. The left earphone’s cable also has a three-button iPhone-compatible remote. The cable terminates in a straight 3.5mm headset jack that also felt like it could handle wear and tear.

Each earphone is relatively large, partly to accommodate the HL-01’s dual drivers. A 7mm driver is tuned to deliver the mids and treble, while a second 13mm ring-radiator driver is responsible for delivering the lower frequencies. Combined, this delivers a wider frequency response than most headphones, especially in the lower range at 5-23,000Hz.

Listening to our jazz test tracks we were pleased by the tight and warm bass. The sound of the bass guitar in Menahan Street Band’s “Make the Road by Walking” sounded particularly impressive. Mids and trebles were also well controlled, providing good detail without becoming harsh or bright. Vocals were also handled delicately. The HL-01, however, sounded a little thin for a pair of headphones at this price. The overall sound lacked some of the exciting depth we were expecting.

The Tonino Lamborghini Quantum HL-01 sound reasonable and are comfortable to wear. There are plenty of accessories and tips to get a good fit. If you like your headphones to have the aggressive design of a supercar these are a good choice, but for the price we expected slightly better sound quality. For less money we preferred the sound of the M by Maxell MXH-DBA700S.