Blukar K9201 Earphones Review

Last Updated: on November 6, 2023 by Jack

Blukar is an online electronics retailer that doesn’t have a large selection of headphones but has come out with a very cheap set of wired earphones – the K9201s.

They’re one of the biggest sellers in the budget earphone space just now; just look at the staggering amount of user reviews it has.

They’re probably somewhat overlooked by a lot of online headphone reviewers because they’re so cheap, but we thought we’d still get a hold of a pair and give our honest opinion.

Quick Verdict

A cheap and cheerful set of earphones that look great won’t break the bank and still give you a good casual listening experience.

They’re definitely better sound-wise than you would expect for such a crazy low price and probably about the best sound quality you can get for the money.

They lack the quality required for serious music fans, gamers or regular exercisers. They’re not designed to be put through their paces and any long-term use, but that’s to be expected at this price point.

We recommend them if you’re after a cheap, light, and comfortable pair of work or home-use headphones. If you’re looking to spend close to £5 for a casual pair, then start here as you can’t argue with the value for money they offer.

Design and Build

We found 2 colours available, which were silver and red. We went with the silver design to review.

Body

We think they look smart and have a nice and clean design to them thanks to the large shiny metal finish of the body. 

The metal housing feels sturdy enough and isn’t made of cheap plastic that you typically associate with entry-level earphones.

We gave the metal body a few knocks off stuff just to see if the design quality held up if they ever did accidentally end up being dropped or thrown off something, but to their credit, they did.

The body is also slightly larger than we expected, but that had no bearing on the overall fit or comfort for us, as seen further down.

Drivers

Even though they’re rocking a larger style body, the drivers themselves are 10mm (approx) single-unit drivers, which is pretty basic but to be expected because of their price.

Jack

One of the biggest letdowns of the design is the quality of the 3.5mm straight jack attached to the cable.

The first issue is that the plastic around the jack and the jack itself feels cheap and not very reliable. Giving the jack and plastic housing a little wiggle about doesn’t fill you with much confidence for long-term use.

Although we haven’t any long-term usage to report, if you read real user reviews online for these earphones, the jack seems to be one of the biggest sticking points for people.

The other issue with the jack being so cheap is that moving it about when it’s plugged into a device seems to cause distortion and create static in the earphones. That’s why we don’t recommend them for on-the-go or physical activity, as the jack is temperamental with movement.

Overall: A cheap jack that could be improved massively.

Cabling

The rubber cable is advertised as tangle-free by Blukar, and to be fair, it does feel thicker and less likely to tangle or twist than your average run-of-the-mill audio cable.

One thing that could be improved is the length of the cable itself being around 1m (approx), which is quite short as we’re used to the average being about 1.3m. That might not seem like much of an issue, but for PC usage, that extra bit of length would help.

We gave the cable a bit of a pull to see if there was any movement. The cable running into the body of the earphones felt secure and snug enough, but, like above, there seems to be a bit of an issue at the jack, with the cable being a bit looser.

Comfort and Fit

We had no gripes with the comfort and fit of the Blukar K9201s; we’ve only got positive things to say about them here.

Admittedly, they look a tad chunky and heavy, but that’s not the case. They’re actually quite light and give a comfortable, snug fit even with our larger-shaped ears.

You get 4 extra differently shaped rubber tips included if you want to try a different fit.

In terms of comfort, they were excellent for us and didn’t start to hurt, even when sitting at the computer with them in for an hour or so.

They still felt secure in the ear even when we tried running about outside with them in, though we can’t recommend them as an exercise pair because of the jack durability issues mentioned earlier.

Overall: They felt as comfortable and good a fit as you’ll find for in-ear headphones at this price.

Sound Quality

The sound was fairly straightforward and clean, with plenty of volume to it. It’s perfect for videos and podcasts as they sound good and clear. Music, on the other hand, was reasonable but didn’t have the clarity or kick to it that a music enthusiast would look for. For your average music listener, they’re fine for home use.

The bass was pretty average, but still sounded fine. It’s definitely not a strong bass sound, but only having a standard single driver, they’re not going to deliver any sort of powerful or enhanced bass sound. You can’t really expect to see anything other than a single driver for this price point.

You could probably get away with using them as a budget pair of gaming earphones or for work video calls, as they’re clear enough and have a passable microphone.

The Blukar earphones are not for audiophiles, but that’s fairly obvious because of the price. It’s hard to compare them with other models higher up, but they certainly outdo themselves from a sound-to-cost perspective.

Sound isolation was ok. It blocked out some background noises when out walking and didn’t require the volume to be turned right up as long as you get a good fit in the ear. There’s no noise isolation feature, as far as we can tell. They could be better at blocking out sound, but they still do a reasonable job of isolating sound for the price.

Overall: No arguments over the sound it produces for the price.

Controller with Microphone

It comes with a nice little handy smart controller, which isn’t very common for cheaper earphones, and the ones you do come across are usually a waste of time.

We were surprised by the microphone quality. It wasn’t crystal clear, but certainly better than we expected and adequate enough to use for calls. It didn’t sound muffled or like there was some white noise coming out the other end like we’re used to with cheap in-built microphones.

The plastic controller felt robust enough and uses 1 button to control all the music and call functions such as play/pause, skip/previous track, and answer/end calls etc.

Note: There is no function on the controller to change the volume level up or down.

The button on the controller worked fine when we tried it and functioned exactly how it should in our test. There were no issues with the single button sticking or causing any issues.

Overall: The microphone and controller are a useful addition to the design, with the only drawback being the lack of volume control on it.

What’s Included In The Box?

The packaging is as basic as you’ll find, coming in a thin, rectangle cardboard box that includes the following:

• Earphones
• Faux leather pouch
• 4 extra rubber ear tips

Specifications

• Type: In-ear, Wired
• Dimensions: 7 x 3.5 x 2.2 cm (approx)
• Weight: 40g (approx)
• Jack: 3.5mm
• Cable Length: 1m 
• Driver: 10mm (approx)
• Microphone/Controller

Who Should Buy Them?

The Blukar K9201 earphones are fairly similar to most entry-level wired earphones on the market in terms of design, but have a better sound than we expected, considering they’re so cheap.

There must be a reason why they have over 50,000 reviews overall for them across Amazon stores. We reckon the price is probably why they have so many purchases, but they still have to be decent to have so many positive reviews on top of that.

Recommended For: Budgeters looking for a reasonable-sounding pair of wired earphones for a home computer or device. You could definitely get away with using them for gaming or calls at a basic level.

Not Recommended For: Anyone looking to use them as an exercise pair or audiophiles. The jack’s durability isn’t strong enough to put them under any strain or pressure from physical activity. The sound quality is too basic for anyone serious about their sound.

Overall: The sound and mic quality are about as good as you can buy for the money. A basic pair of budget headphones that look smart and should last you a year or so as long as you’re not harsh with the jack. The extremely cheap price tag is the main appeal of these earphones.