Review Bose QuietComfort 35 Headphone Renewed | Mobile Accessories

Building on the company’s heritage of noise cancelling headphones, the Bose QuietComfort 35 feature both wireless and wired connection in addition to an enviable build quality and good sound performance – provided you like the “Bose sound”.

With a price tag which is considered fairly expensive in the consumer headphones world (~$380), the Bose QuietComfort 35 are a solid product with few flaws.

Disclaimer: the local press agency kindly loaned me the Bose QuietComfort 35 I used for this review.

TL;DR: recap

Pros	Cons
Sleek and appealing design Superb comfort Excellent active noise cancelling and passive isolation Plenty of battery life Upgradeable firmware (via app)	Cannot disable ANC No aptX support Non-replaceable battery Sound balance won’t appeal to everyone

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The Bose QuietComfort 35 come with a hard carrying case, a micro-USB cable to charge them, and a cable to connect them to various sources without Bluetooth. This cable has a 3.5 mm jack on one side and a 2.5 mm jack on the side which goes into the headphones, therefore you cannot use a cable with two 3.5 mm jack connectors and you are tied to using Bose’s cable. This is an inconvenience which could easily be avoided and a choice on Bose’s side that is difficult to understand, since it prevents users from using “normal”, more universal cables.

Design & Comfort

 You never change a winning team, so Bose stuck with a design which is very similar to the QuietComfort 25’s. Of course there are obvious differences, given the fact that the QC 25 were wired headphones and the QuietComfort 35 are wireless, but the overall appearance is almost indiscernible.

Earcups are made of machined aluminium and plastic, as is the headband. The latter is covered in Alcantara tissue with a generous amount of soft padding; the earpads are made of artificial leather. The structure seems to be resistant in its complex, although it appears a bit flimsy in a few spots (i.e. the hinges). The overall build quality is commendable, however, and the headphones seem to be built to last. They’re available in two colours: black and silver.

The Bose QuietComfort 35 weigh in at 234 g, which is not feather-light but neither too heavy to bear. In fact it’s still fairly little a weight for a full-size Bluetooth headset.

The QuietComfort 35 are fairly large, being over-ear headphones, but they come equipped with foldable hinges which help reduce the size and make storing them easier. I have one single complaint about this: if you keep them on your neck, they fold with the earpads upwards, which may be slightly inconvenient. I will get into more detail in an upcoming comparison article, but the Sony MDR-1000X do a better job at this.

There’s a small switch on the right earcup which can turn on the headphones and put them in pairing mode when long pressed. The side hosts three buttons: vol+, multifunction and vol-. Beneath them are two LEDs, one for battery status and the other for Bluetooth (we’ll get on functions later on), and the micro-USB port for charging. The 2.5 mm jack receptacle is on the left earcup.

As I already wrote in the Bowers & Wilkins P3 Series 2 review and in the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 review, my scalp is unfortunately very sensitive. As a consequence, wearing headphones often leads to lots of pain, unless I use some kind of cap or other very soft thing to interpose between my head and the headphones. Despite all this, I could wear the QuietComfort 35 for more than one and a half hours before feeling the urge of taking them off – quite an accomplishment! The earpads are soft and do not cause too much heat to accumulate, so these should be nice to wear in the hotter season.

Extra Features & Battery Life

Bose’s headphones are mainly renowned because of their noise cancelling abilities – they are among the best in this category and Bose itself marketed the first products with a noise cancelling technology. Now, the Bose QuietComfort 35 are an evolution over the QuietComfort 25, which were arguably the best full-size headphones made by the company. Not only do they keep every positive aspect intact, they also make noise cancelling better.

The QuietComfort 35 see a change in the way the microphones work: there are two now, so they can better pick up ambient noises and give an overall better noise cancelling experience. The microphones are on the same earcup, though, so you won’t have directional noise cancelling.
Noise cancelling won’t completely eliminate all sounds coming from outside, but it will just suppress lower frequencies, such as the rattling sound of a train or the drone of an airplane’s jet engine. If the passive isolation is good enough, you will not hear much of what’s around you – and this seems to be the case. I am writing this lines while being on a train and I can barely hear anything outside of the occasional high-pitched whistle of the train’s braking system. All other sounds just magically vanish. There’s still a bit of low frequencies which get through, but I suspect that’s because of bone conduction (my body’s bones directly conduct the sound to my inner ear).

The only caveat of the noise cancelling is the pressure it seems to create on the eardrum, which may cause fatigue after a while. There is no way to circumvent this as far as I know. What’s more, Bose does not allow to turn off noise cancelling while Bluetooth is on, so you can’t just use the headphones without ANC – you have to turn to the cable for that.

Bose developed a companion app for its Bluetooth products, Bose Connect. I tried out the Android version, which is anyway identical to the iOS one (and that’s a bad thing: it does not blend in well with the rest of the Android ecosystem). It’s a minimalist approach to a companion app, but a good one at it: the interface is simple and intuitive and all the features are just a tap away. The app allows to control music playback, to update the firmware of the headphones, to check the battery status and to edit connections. You can also set an auto-off timer and voice prompts (i.e. the headphones greet you and tell you the battery status when you power them on). Alas there is no equalizer in the app, so you cannot really tune the headphones to your liking from within the app.

The Bose Music Share feature allows you to connect two Bose wireless headphones to share music with someone else. The idea is great, but it is a bit limited (and limiting) given that only Bose product will work. That’s totally understandable, but not totally convenient in a multi-brand market.

Unfortunately the Bose QuietComfort 35 sport no aptX codec, but only AAC and SBC. Given that AAC is seldom found outside of Apple products, this means that most Windows and Android devices won’t be able to stream high-quality content to the headphones, but they will be limited to lower bitrate codecs. That’s definitely not a premium for premium headphones!

The multifunction button on the right earcup not only allows to play or pause, or to answer and end phone calls, but it activates the phone’s voice assistant on long press. It works with both Siri on iOS and Google Now on Android (I can’t assure it works with proprietary assistants as the ones by Samsung or Huawei).

Battery life is quite good, with the company claiming it to reach 20 hours. During my trials I could exceed that figure, but it of course depends on your listening volume. The not-so-good part comes now: the battery is non-user-replaceable, so when it will eventually die you won’t be able to take it out and insert a new one. The Parrot Zik does way better in this regard, having the battery tucked behind a simple removable panel. The second negative thing is the fact that the QuietComfort 35 shuts down when on charge, so you can’t use it wirelessly (and therefore have active noise cancelling) while you are charging it.

Sound & Specs

I usually burn in headphones for ~100 hours before using them, but in this case they had already undergone some burn in when I got them, as the sample has been used by various journalists around Italy. I used the Bose QuietComfort 35 both wirelessly with my Lenovo Vibe Shot and wired, with the Zorloo ZuperDAC.

Now, I usually include specs for the headphones I review, but Bose does not publish them. There are zero information about impedance, frequency range and sensitivity, among other things. This is a questionable behaviour in my opinion, but this is also a long-standing corporate stance which hasn’t interfered with Bose being one of the most renowned consumer audio manufacturers.

During my first hands-on experience I noticed the QuietComfort 35 offered a bass-centered sound, with bloated low frequencies. I do not know whether it was Bose’s demo tracks or any other setting in their demo units, but that bass bloat just isn’t that much in the review unit I got. Quite the contrary, in fact: bass, while not neutral anyway, often feels like it lacks impact and depth. These definitely aren’t a basshead’s headphones.

I will indulge in a bit of digression. Over the years I have noticed that bass-intensive headphones tend to be better for commuting, as the low frequencies coming from outside tend to tame the headphones’ bass. I found out this is also true for noise-cancelling headphones. The added emphasis on lows give the QuietComfort 35 the edge over better balanced headphones, as bass is better heard in noisy environments.

Soundstage seems a bit compressed when using Bluetooth, even though it’s decently wide for closed-back headphones; it really opens up if you connect the cable and disable ANC. Instrument separation also improves and sound becomes more natural. Detail retrieval seems to be better using the cable, too. When using Bluetooth instrument separation is decent, but it’s difficult to accurately separate sounds in more dense tracks. Stereo imaging is good, as you can easily pinpoint instruments in a good few tracks.

Sound is a bit dark and is generally not very detailed, even when the headphones are driven by cable. The “Bose sound” is heavy on bass, therefore this is to be expected. The result is a musical sound, which will please both electronics lovers and classical addicts (if they’re not too picky) and everything in between – a nice feat in itself. One thing I noticed, though, is that tracks often appear dull and lack depth below a certain volume threshold.

I’d describe bass as powerful, in the sense that it packs a punch and is more than a neutral-sounding headphone would offer. It’s not very deep, although it’s well controlled and it has a nice texture. It is rounded and it takes a central role on the stage. In Koyaanisqatsi, Philip Glass’ masterpiece, both the organ and Albert de Ruiter’s baritonal voice appear full and upfront. Pray for Rain by Massive Attack highlights the fast decay of bass, which makes in turn the rhythmic side better and more enjoyable.

Midrange is decently detailed and natural. I listened to Cesare Cremonini’s Maggese album and his voice is warm, with a nice presentation in front of the listener. Marmellata #25 (“jam number 25”) showcases the headphones’ ability to render the small nuances in the voice and the small details of the singer’s peculiar way of pronouncing words. In Vàli’s Dypt Inne I Skogen bass is actually more than one would expect from an acoustic guitar, leaving the midrange slightly behind. It is nonetheless an enjoyable listening experience.

What surprised me is the treble. It’s not overly detailed nor too much extended, but it’s very musical and quite natural. It’s crisp and airy enough, so it contrasts the bass a bit and opens sound. I prefer brighter sounding headphones, as I explained in the RHA T20i review or in the Xiaomi Piston Pro review, but I did not find myself wishing for more treble listening to Bose’s QuietComfort 35. It actually is a bit piercing and at times sharp, so what I wished for was a bit more resolution. It is otherwise fast and varying enough to come out as enjoyable most of the time.

A comparison with the Sony MDR-1000X and the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 will be published in a few days.

Final Thoughts

What you’re looking at is a very nice pair of headphones. Some have dubbed them “the best wireless headphones ever made”, but I beg to differ. The Bose QuietComfort 35 are really, really good, but only if you pit them against ANC headphones – and even then, they are not that good sounding if you compare them with other ~$350 wireless ANC headphones. Wired headphones around the same price (i.e. Meze 99 Classics) crush them on sound quality.

Given the commodity of noise cancelling and wireless, though, this is a price I’d be happy to pay – there’s nothing like hearing silence around you when you want to relax and listen to music. They are incredible in the way they isolate your from your surroundings, thanks to a winning combination of both effective noise isolation and active noise cancellation. The only comparable headphones I ever listened to in this regard were the Parrot Zik 2.0, which were even better – but also costed way more back then.

The BoseQuietComfort 35 are a solid product most will like – they seem to get just the right blend of all the elements to make them work very nice. Bravo.

reviews Jabra Elite 25e | The Wireless Earbuds Headphone

Offers a long battery life, but with rather stiff controllers

Hi there everyone,

Today i’m coming to you again today with a new review on the wireless headphones – the Jabra Elite 25e.


You may be looking for a new pair of in ear earbuds or simply the best Bluetooth earbuds on the market. I always say the best Bluetooth earbuds because I do think that Jabra are an exceptionally good brand.

Now for some reason to me the Bose brand of earbud just come across as a little bit fake. Now when I use this compelling term, it may seem that I joke but within i’m being quite honest.
The earbuds that I’m reviewing now come at a cost price that most people can afford, at $80.00, that’s not too much of a hike for me. The oval shaped tips are a second design to compare the round ear tips. For me they can be good, but what steals the cake is the longevity of the battery. It’s like it has unlimited hours on it.

If you were to ask me, what is the best wireless headphones ? I would quite happily respond, let’s find out!

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Features

Starting of with the design of the Jabra Elite 25e the plastic framing that wraps around your neck it is made of hard plastic but does have soft touch elements that can be felt. The bands are actually really stiff, so if you’re planning on training with these it can become uncomfy just because they tend to bounce on your neck. With soft bands it tends to act like a spring that sort of eats up that bounce ratio. The band is made of plastic with matte elements that does offer any bend. Now the plastic part of the band only goes around your neck. The extension wire with increase the speakers up to your ears. The design of the rubber ear tips are of the classic oval shape in which do not round off, for some people this can be better and for others not so liked depending on the shape of your ears. Being a Bluetooth design its high recommended against earpods with the cords. The Bluetooth device stops tangles and messy problems that can acquire in which corded devices cause. The classic oval shaped rubber earbuds are made by Eargels, a strong brand that makes rubber ear tips.

The first button is next to the left microphone that is the dedicated talk button. On the right hand side are a further 3 buttons to which control volume and pause play. Now the thing is with these buttons is they are a bit hard to push in because of that hard plastic framing we spoke about earlier. The battery is rechargeable Li-thion.

When pairing the Jabra Elite 25e there are popular available features. As you log into Jabra App You can be directed to an area that offers 4 menus on the screen, each reading something different to the other. The menu is Jabra Elite 25e, the second menu is message readout out, the third menu is find my Jabra, and the fourth menu is manuals. These features will allow you to read text messages and find your earbuds (most popular). Now this is within the Jabra app, so no matter what pair of Jabra earbuds you have, you can log in.

The battery has 18 hours of playback time which is long as, so to me that’s a total plus. Have the 18 hours of playback is where this piece of technical equipment takes off. That is a long period. To charge the earbuds there is a micro USB port within the plastic section that you plug the charger into and when they are charged the light will turn green.

Fitted with IP54 your in ear banded earbuds are protected from the forces of the wind. The wind can regularly carry tiny pieces of dust that will over time wreck your device. Because the device is protected with windproof technology you can run and train daily with no issues at all relating to weather.

Sound

The sound is good to that which when leveling up and down with mid to high range, the sounds are crisp and that which punchy when bass lined. At the highest level of volume there’s no distortion or inaccurate sounds that come through, and this is something that Jabra takes care with because they want their brand to be known as quality brand.

Tech specs

• Connections: Micro USB type B 2.0
• Width: 14.1cm
• Weight: 48 grams
• Operating distance: 10 metres
• Protection: IP 54 (wind protection)
• Bluetooth version: 4.1
• Connectivity: Bluetooth
• Profile: Handsfree
• Sound: Stereo
• Frequency: 20-20000 Hz
• Features: Voice guidance, voice control, vibrating call alert.
• Run time: 18 hours
• Stand by time: 528 hours
• Recharge time: 2 hours
• Controls: Volume control, answer, end, play, pause, next and previous tracks.
• Brand: Jabra

Overview

My overall opinion on the Jabra banded headphones are that they are a good portable listening device. I think all in all that everything works good together and it’s made to require the price.
They are meant for being dealt with and with the plastic band they are now even more durable.
They would be a great option for anything that’s dirty and work related.

How many people out there would be looking for a good earphone to pack to work with them? it’s not just about sitting at home and having the best pair of in ear earphones now is it.

But I can recommend these Jabra earbuds for more durable activities. Unlike other and more expensive earbuds, if you lose or break these you won’t have to face losing a lot of hard earned money.

So yes, bricklaying, roof tiling, if you work these hard working jobs and don’t want to listen to the outside world whilst you then here is a great robust package that offers a noise canceling piece of equipment.

Review Jabra Elite Active 65t Wireless Headphone | Mobile Accessories

Alongside being completely free from wires, the Jabra Elite Active 65t is also rated IP56 dust and water resistant. It also comes loaded with features and brings the promise of good audio and practicality to a segment that is still more gimmick than value-for-money.

Our Verdict

The Jabra Elite Active 65t is capable of delivering good audio performance and is packed with features like HearThrough, Google Assistant support, and more. Five hours of active playback time is as per standard, and barring the multi-pairing issue, the Elite Active 65t is an excellent overall package in this category. If you’re willing to make a big investment for wireless headphones and are willing to go the fully wireless way, the Jabra Elite 65t is the best that you can spend on at the moment. It is not really inexpensive at Rs. 14,999, which makes you wonder twice about buying them. That said, it ticks almost all the boxes that it promises to deliver, and that makes it a product worth keeping in your checklist.

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PROS

• Impressive, balanced audio performance
• Good clarity
• Truly wireless
• IP56 rated sweat and dust resistant
• The companion app is versatile

CONS

• Intermittent sibilance in upper-mids
• Weirdly difficult to open the case
• Multi-device connectivity issues

Jabra Elite Active 65t: Detailed Review

The Jabra Elite Active 65t aims at delivering good audio performance in the truly wireless headphones segment. While bound to become mainstream in future, this isn’t what the most prudent of us would invest in. The Elite Active 65t is priced at Rs. 14,999, and to justify its still-pretty-expensive price, Jabra has crammed in a bunch of features to make it more intuitive. Does that, then, make it one of the most impressive and innovative pair of wireless headphones you can buy, provided you are open to a bit of splurging?

Specifications
 
Impedance: 16 Ohm ±15% at 1kHz
Sound Pressure Level: 103 dB; SPL at 1kHz/1mW
Max power input: 8mW
Frequency range: 20Hz ~ 20KHz
Bluetooth: v5.0 

Audio Performance
 
The Jabra Elite Active 65t is not for those who prefer overpowering bass. The earphone is capable of delivering tight and clear bass, which is not overwhelming. This is reflected in Acid Rain by Lorn, in which when the intro breaks from electronica to thumping of the bass, the lows sound clean and prominent, even though there is a slight lack of thump. The lows are nicely detailed, but lacks a bit of depth owing to its drivers. As for segregation of the frequency range, the Jabra Elite Active 65t does well to avoid muddling of the upper lows and lower mids, or the upper mids and lower highs. 

However, there is a slight bias towards the brighter range of the auditory spectrum, because of which lower mids and certain sections sound attenuated. This happens particularly in tracks like Pull Me Under by Dream Theater and Enya’s Caribbean Blue. For example, in Pull Me Under, the soft electric guitar arpeggio that builds around the 2:38 mark isn’t as pronounced as it sounds in better (and admittedly more expensive) headphones by Ultimate Ears and Sony.

Stereo separation of audio is as it should be, but the soundstage could have been better on the Jabra Elite Active 65t. For instance, In Entangled by Lorn, the overall audio output of the headphones feels a tad narrow, and the intra-spacing of instruments is limited here. This has an adverse effect on genres like opera and jazz, in the sense that the sound is simply not as expansive as it would be in headphones with a better soundstage. As a result, there is a lack of flair and composure, particularly in tracks like Equinox by John Coltrane. In Bjork’s Hunter, the attenuated bass roll has a short stereo trajectory, which is characteristic to the Elite Active 65t. At this point (and this applies to a lot of tracks), extensive hours of listening does tend to make you feel a bit tired and makes the overall sound a bit too intense.

The mids are crisp, loud and impressively well-pronounced for a pair of earphones at this price bracket, although there is a perceivable case of intermittent sibilance. This is particularly evident in higher octaves of soprano and high-tenor voices like Michael Jackson and Axl Rose. For example, Guns ‘n Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle encounters the shrillness of sibilance prominently. However, this is intermittent and is mostly affected by high octave voices, since you would not experience the same in Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. The highs are a tad shrill, which makes hi-hat rolls rather annoying at times. For instance, in Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, a large part of the song sounds a bit too shrill, with the pitch at the high frequencies being a bit askew. This, though, is us nitpicking. The arrangement of the highs, lows and mids come together fairly pleasantly, and hold good composure and balance through a majority of genres – taking rock, metal and Bollywood as the three most popular genres of music most people listen to. The solid lows are good for listening at home, although since these have been made for outdoor listening, they should have fared better. It is also this that makes the highs sound more pronounced than what they should be.

Taking into account what it’s worth, the Jabra Elite Active 65t is one of the rarest breeds of truly wireless earbuds that produce sound that would definitely please the discerning buyer. At this price point, the range of options for you includes the Apple AirPods, Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay E8 and the Sony WF-1000X. Amid this competition, the Jabra Elite Active 65t delivers pleasant, measured audio that, while not having the most flourish and peppiness, offers good composure and brightness over most genres. It is also majorly free of distortions, and while it does have a few erratic flaws, it still makes for the best-sounding truly wireless headphones available in India right now.

Build and design
 
The Jabra Elite Active 65t is truly wireless and comes with its own carry case that doubles as its charger, as is the norm with these things. Even though the buds are made of plastic, both the charger and the earpieces are covered with a layer of silicone rubber to provide better grip. Since this is the ‘active’ variant of the Elite 65t, the added reinforcement truly ensures that the earpieces remain in place when you’re out jogging. The Active 65t is also IP56 dust- and water-resistant and it survived a few water splashes and a slight drizzle during our tests. The ingress protection, though, is mainly aimed at preventing accidental sweat damages.

Jabra ships the Elite Active 65t with a micro-USB cable and three varying sets of earbuds that it calls ‘EarGels’. You should be able to get a proper fit for the earpieces fairly easily, and in my experience, the earphones didn’t fall out even during strenuous activities. The fit, too, is fairly comfortable, and while you do remain aware of them, they don’t really intrude into your comfort. The passive sealing thanks to the earbuds is fairly good, which blocks out most ambient noise when you’re out. On overall terms, there’s really nothing to complain about here.

The microphone, despite the distance from your mouth, has been designed to pick up sound pretty well. What that translates to is clear calling performance, as long as your network would allow it. That said, it does become a spot of bother if you’re out in a market and making calls since the microphone is not unidirectional. Jabra, however, has clearly attempted to restrict the frequency response of the mic, which helps clean up incident audio by a reasonable margin.

I did accidentally drop the earphones and the charging case twice, but thankfully, neither has incurred any damage. The charging case is compact and easy to carry in your pocket. The opening of the case, though, is unnecessarily difficult and certainly hampers ergonomics. There is a small recess on the front of the case that looks like an easy-open ridge, but it’s not. It’s actually easier to open the case by supporting it with the thumb while lodging it in your palm and pulling the cap off. It is not an intuitive way, and this in turn risks in dislodging the earpieces from their housing, which is particularly hazardous when you’re in public transit.

Both earpieces have circular buttons on the back, which are responsive. The right button enables pairing, managing music playback and accepting/rejecting calls. The left earpiece has two buttons for controlling volume and skipping tracks, which are connected to a single circular disk. It’s difficult managing volume levels due to the button design as the earpiece is pushed further into the ear canal while doing so, and that is both uncomfortable and not ergonomic. Placing them on the top of the housing, as Bose did with its SoundSport Free earphones, or even on the bottom would have been a better usage choice.

Jabra Sound+ app and other features 
 
The Jabra Elite Active 65t connects with the Jabra Sound+ app, which adds to the device’s functionalities and provides over-the-air firmware updates. Setting up the app is easy and after pairing, you will see three main tabs on the bottom labelled Home, Device and Info. The Home tab has ‘Your Preference’, ‘Commute’, ‘Focus’ and ‘Active’ sub-menus, each of which is meant to tune the audio performance to presets, or ‘equalisers’. You can also manually set the equaliser, and even choose the amount of ambient noise allowed to enter via ‘HearThrough’.

Jabra’s HearThrough works exactly like Sony’s active pass filter on its new 1000X flagship headphone lineup. Double tapping on the right earbud enables it and amplifies ambient sound, which is particularly helpful when you need to pause music briefly to listen to your neighbour. You can choose the intensity of this from one to five, from within the app. Level five of HearThrough amplifies noise a bit too sharply, so we’d recommend avoiding it as long as you can.

The Jabra Elite Active 65t can handle two active connections between devices at any point in time. 
That said, while it does work, there are intermittent connectivity errors. In the dual-pairing mode, connectivity kept dropping, and you may also need to restart the earphones as the switching just doesn’t happen seamlessly. This is possibly an issue with how the headphones manage the connectivity switching and should be fixed in an OTA update soon.

Keeping the right earpiece’s button pressed for a second brings up the Google Assistant. The dedicated smart assistant button is becoming increasingly common now and it’s a good feature to have. I used it primarily for setting reminders and alarms, placing calls and listening to the news. There were no issues using the feature but there is also an option to use it with Siri when the device is connected to an iPhone. One can also switch to Alexa on an Android device, but only from within the Jabra Sound+ app. 

Battery life
 
Jabra claims that the earphones can deliver up to 5 hours of continuous audio playback. This is true when the audio level is set to 50 percent but crank the volume up to 70 percent and the battery decreases to four and a half hours of active playback time. This is about the same as what other products in its category provide, and you will need to charge it once every two days unless you’re careful about switching it off and not multi-pairing it with devices. The charging case is capable of topping up the earphone twice from nil charge, which comes in handy when you’re on the move. Charging the case itself with the earbuds inside takes about one and a half hours, with a 2A fast charger. Jabra could have cut-down on the charging time by using a USB Type-C port, instead of micro USB. In an effort to save additional battery and prolong usage, the earphones automatically pause audio playback when either one of the earpieces is taken out of the ear. It’s resumed when it’s popped back into the ear. 

Bottomline
 
The Jabra elite active 65t deliver good audio performance and brings various useful features while being a newcomer in the truly wireless earphone segment. While some may find the Rs 14,999 price tag a bit too much, we think that it’s justified considering the limited choices one has when selecting from completely wireless earphones. Additionally, given that almost all the truly wireless earphones available today from reputable brands carry more or less the same price tag at the Jabra, makes for a great value for money proposition.

Review Sony WH-1000XM2 Headphone | Mobile Accessories

Sony is flying high with this superb pair of noise-cancelling headphones…

Our Verdict: 5 Stars

Sony’s on a roll with its premium noise-cancelling headphones. This is another pair that’s going to be tough to beat

For

Excellent timing

Loads of detail

Refined, smooth highs

Punchy, confident lows

Impressive noise-cancelling

Against

Touchpad controls take a little bit of getting used to

With The Great British Bake Off returning to our screens, it only seems apt to start with a hi-fi based baking analogy.

Sony had all the right ingredients in place with its MDR-1000X headphones. They mixed excellent audio quality over Bluetooth with a splash of fine comfort and class-leading noise-cancelling. In Bake Off terms, Sony was the master baker, beating the likes of Sennheiser and Bose to claim a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2016..

But after barely a year in production, the MDR-1000Xs have been replaced by the WH-1000XM2s. The new cans feature a few more ingredients, which begs the question, has Sony enhanced the flavour, or has it over-egged the pudding?

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Build and comfort

Aesthetically, the WH-1000Xs look quite similar to the MDR-1000Xs but there are some obvious differences. The finishes have been changed slightly, with Champagne Gold replacing the original Beige. There’s still a Black option, but it’s not quite the same.

Sony claims that a change in the materials used for the headband and ear enclosures has resulted in a finish that looks more gun metal or bluey/grey. And we actually prefer it.

The headband and earpad cushioning carry across from the old model, which means comfort levels are still high and the headphones sit securely on your head without feeling vice-like.
The texture of the outer earpiece covers is a little rougher and makes them feel more tactile.

Sony has done a spot of consolidating with the WH-1000XM2s, but it has also opened up a couple of extra features for the user.

The Sense Engine and Personal NC Optimiser make a return, and although the auto calibration software pings out test tones as before, you may notice a couple of extra chimes just before it finishes the set-up process.

This signals that the integrated Atmospheric Pressure Optimiser has done its thing. A new feature for the WH-1000X, Sony has built a tiny pressure sensor into the left earpiece.

The theory is that a shift in atmosphere can upset the frequency balance of the headphones. Not only that, but the sensitivity of the microphones used for the noise-cancelling can also drop.

Noise cancelling

 

Now this doesn’t really matter if you’re listening at ground level, but what if you’re travelling in an aircraft? The sensor detects changes in atmosphere and applies a filter to compensate.

In practice, this means you need to run the calibration software every time you reach flying altitude and run it again once you’re back on terra firma.

Look around the edge of the left earpiece and you’ll see Sony has reduced the button count, so both the Ambient Sound and noise-cancelling features can be controlled by just one button instead of two.

Features

 

Sony’s Quick Attention mode also makes a return. With this function, you can reduce the volume level of your music simply by covering the top of the right earpiece, which allows you to get your bearings or hold a conversation. Move your hand away and the music returns to its previous level.

Playback is still controlled by the touchpad built into the surface of the right earpiece. The added texture on the surface makes swiping sideways to change tracks and sliding up or down to change volume more satisfying.

The controls feel a bit more positive on the new model, as does the double-tap required to play and pause music. On the outgoing MDR-1000Xs, these could be a little hit-and-miss.

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Sony’s Headphones Connect app, available for both Android and iOS, isn’t exactly essential, but it brings a level of extra customisation that’s worth investigating.

The app gives you access to Sony’s Smart Auto-settings, so whether you’re in a vehicle, running, walking or sitting still, you can customise the amount of noise cancelling and ambient sound you want to experience.

The headphones detect your movements through your phone’s gyroscope and automatically switch between different modes. It’s a clever feature and means you can enjoy the benefits of noise-cancelling, but with the added reassurance that you will still be able to hear some of the world around you.

Within the app, there are four different surround modes: Arena; Club; Outdoor stage; and Concert hall, and you can also play around with an equaliser to tweak the settings.

Sony’s DSEE HX audio processing can be completely turned off from the app too. The company claims this can upscale compressed music to near hi-res quality. In the MDR-1000Xs, it was permanently turned on, and in the new model we also prefer listening with the processing mode on.

However, turning it off comes in handy if you want to preserve the battery life. You can go from 20 hours to around 30, while still using Bluetooth and noise-cancelling. If you listen wired with just noise-cancelling switched on, that increases to a battery life of up to 38 hours.

Four hours should be enough for a full charge, while a ten-minute rapid charge can give you around one hour of valuable extra battery life. To help conserve battery in normal listening conditions, the Sonys automatically power down after five minutes of inactivity.

Sound

Performance-wise, the Sony WH-1000XM2s display all the strengths that made their predecessors so special. The noise-cancelling is still impressive, whether you’re trying to silence office noise or block out the rumble of an aircraft at 35,000 feet.

The sound pressure optimiser is a nice touch, and will probably help sell to more pairs, but from our ground-bound position, it’s difficult to judge whether it makes a huge difference.

The WH-1000Xs time well and are equally happy bounding along to an enthusiastic bout of house music as they are communicating the slower, more emotive melody of Sampha’s (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano.

Refined highs ensure the constant crashing of high-hat and cymbals during Idlewild’s A Modern Way Of Letting Go never threaten to sound edgy or bright, but there’s still enough of a spark to entertain. The song’s over in a flash, but the Sonys allow you to savour every moment of it.

Wide-ranging dynamics at either end of the frequency scale sandwich an impressive level of detail, and the result is that this musical package maintains your interest at all times and keeps you coming back for more.

Bass is weighty and full-bodied, but doesn’t sound sluggish. If anything, this new model sounds weightier and more confident in its ability. The headphones can plummet far enough to follow the deepest bassline, but they stop short of unbalancing the rest of the presentation.

Verdict

The Sony WH-1000XM2s stick to a tried and trusted recipe that works a treat. They’re a superb all-round package that excel in every area and that’s why we’d willingly pay every penny of their premium price tag.

A showstopping pair of headphones if ever we heard them.

Review Sony WH-CH500 Headphone | Mobile Accessories

Overall score: 84/100

Want a pair of wireless on-ear headphones that sounds great and won't need regularly charging? The Sony WH-CH500 is one of the best you can buy. Not only does the excellent sound have plenty of defined bass, you'll also get up to 20 hours of listening time from one charge. Even better, the sound can't be heard by those around you at all, so if you're a commuter you won't annoy everyone with your music! , they're great value for money.

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GHI Expert Verdict

An affordable pair of wireless on-ear headphones with great sound quality. Comfortable and with plenty of listening time, we think these are a worthwhile buy.

Ratings

• Ease of use: 4/5
• Design: 3/5
• Instructions: 3.5/5
• Performance: 4.7/5

We Liked

• The ear cups swivel so the headphones lay flat, making them great to take on the go with you
• Can be connected to your smartphone or tablet using Bluetooth or NFC
• Comfortable to wear for long periods of time
• You can control music and take calls or summon your voice assistant without removing the headphones

We Didn't Like

• There's no spare cable, so you can't use them when the battery is dead
• They're not suitable for exercise as they slip forward when jogging

All product information provided by the manufacturer is correct at time of publication.

Review of the Sony WH-CH400 Wireless Headphones | Mobile Accessories

Choosing the right headphones is about balancing sound quality, comfort, cost, and portability. The number one reason why people turn away from in-ear earbud headphones is because they don’t like the invasive experience of shoving objects into their ear canal. But you may not want to surrender portability so much as to ear full-sized headphones.

In the middle ground between those two options is where you’ll find ear pad headphones, one of the most common types of highly portable and easy-to-wear headphones. Ear pad headphones tend to have significantly larger drivers than the 8-10 mm drivers you find in earbuds, usually somewhere between 25 and 30 mm. Those larger drivers help support a more detailed range of mid tones, high tones, and bass tones, ensuring you can achieve sound qualities that aren’t possible with some smaller designs.

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Headphone Comfort

Anytime you’re selecting worn technology, you’re going to want to think about comfort. Sound quality goes without saying, but durability is a factor that might not spring to mind immediately. A quality pair of headphones can last for years, but whether or not your pair makes it past year one depends on the quality of its build.

Bulky headphones can cause strain to your neck, and most people have known the pain of wearing particularly cheap headphones for more than a couple of minutes. The quality of the sound matters little if the device rests uncomfortably on your body, pulls down on you in an awkward way, or is otherwise difficult to control.

As far as comfort goes, ear pad headphones are great for wearing in stretches of about four to six hours at a time. If you’re wearing your headphones literally all day long, then you’ll probably want to try full sized around-ear headphones instead. You’ll get a better bass response than you’ll get out of ear-pad headphones, and you’ll be better equipped for extremely lengthy periods of listening.

 

Noise Cancelling

Whether or not you want noise cancelling depends largely on the environments that you’re going to be listening in. People who place a premium on sound quality don’t appreciate that noise-cancelling changes the sound that you’re listening to. Sound cancelling is a lot like the anti-glare protection used on televisions, computer monitors, and similar displays. Anti-glare coating dampens the color of your screen, but without that coating the screen becomes totally impossible to view the moment one errant sunbeam strikes it.

Similarly, sound canceling features affect the sound you’re listening to, but your listening experience may be far worse if you don’t have that protection. For a highly controlled and quiet environment, you’re better off without sound canceling. But for everyone else in all other circumstances, it’s a critical feature to have.

Another factor that plays into sound cancelling is whether or not the headset has an open or closed design. Open-design headphones allow sound to bleed out from your headset into the environment, and force you to hear every noise occurring in your environment. Closed designs block sound from entering your headset, and block your headphone noise from being heard by others. That closed design also helps create a stronger bass response than you’ll generally find in open design headphones.

However, closed designs also produce more ear fatigue and as they provide noise cancelling, they also alter the quality of the sound you’re listening to. If you don’t need noise isolation features, then you don’t want them. But if you need sound isolation features, lacking them can be a deal breaker for whatever headset you consider.

Wired vs. Wireless

Wireless headphones used to have a problem with carrying high quality sound. Older generations of wireless headsets often relied on comparably primitive infrared connections. But modern Bluetooth 4.0 connections can carry far more data with far better range, ensuring you can stay cord-free without damning you to lower quality audio in the process. The only real tradeoff is that you end up dealing with a battery.

In terms of long-term use for headphones, it’s not difficult to say if a battery is better or worse than a wired design. When headsets die and fail, it’s overwhelmingly because during extended use, a short occurred somewhere along their wire. Dead wires probably kill more headsets than all other factors combined.

On the other hand, all batteries have a finite lifespan. After a year of regular use, your typical lithium ion battery will have lost as much as half of its total charge capacity. That means by the third year of use, you’ll probably need to replace any battery-powered headset. But three years of reliable use is far more than you can expect of many wired designs, especially for people who are logging hundreds of hours of regular use.

Manufacturer Specifications

In nearly all cases, reading numbers off of a page won’t tell you if something is going to sound good. Essentially every manufacturer will claim their product spans the full range of human hearing, from 20Hz to 20kHz. However, the qualities of those tones aren’t represented anywhere in that figure. How deep is the bass? Are the mid-tones crisp? The character of the sound provided by a pair of headphones is either something you have to experience for yourself, or seek out in a review.

As one final note, in the interests of portability, high impendence designs are something you’ll want to avoid. Higher impendence is an audiophile feature that will make your headphones louder, but will add hundreds in costs, and greatly detract from portability when you find yourself having to purchase a portable amplifier or digital-to-analogue converter.

Sony WH-CH400 Wireless Headphones

Sony’s WH-CH400 are ear pad headphones built to rest gently on your ears without covering them entirely. And that design helps make the CH400 some of the most comfortable fully-portable headphones on the market. They’re not quite as large as full-sized around-ear headphones, and it’s clear the CH400 are made to compete with earbuds for listening on the go. But for the niche these are intended to fill, it’s hard to find a better pair.

The CH400 have many distinct advantages over earbuds. They make use of exceptionally large 30mm neodymium drivers. They also use a closed dynamic design that will keep your calls private, your music unobtrusive. And for the built-in microphone, Sony made the wise decision of selecting an electret mic, which is the most powerful noise cancelling microphone on the market.

However, ear pad headphones aren’t ideal for blocking sound, so they won’t do a great job of preventing external noise from filtering into your listening experience. Additionally, you can anticipate a fairly large amount of sound will bleed into your environment. If those factors aren’t a concern for you, then you’ll find the CH400 are an extremely comfortable option, and the go-to choice for anyone who wants a portable pair of headphones, but doesn’t want to stick invasive earbuds inside their ears.

Battery Power

Relative to earbuds, one advantage of using a larger design is you have more space to pack a battery. More space for a battery will almost invariably mean a larger battery, and that’s exactly what you find with the CH400. The included battery supports up to 20-hours of continuous music playback through Bluetooth connections. A full charge takes about 4.5 hours through the included micro-USB cable.

And when you’re not listening, there’s 200-hours of standby time. That means with just one charge, you may be good to go for as long as an entire week.

However, it’s worth knowing that these hourly estimates are based on laboratory conditions. With real use, you’ll more than likely find closer to 18 or 19 hours of battery life. Nevertheless, 18 hours is an extremely impressive duration for such a lightweight pair of headphones. The only headphones on the market with longer lasting batteries or quicker charge times will cost you several times as much as Sony’s CH400!

Bluetooth Connectivity

Thanks to Bluetooth 4.0 support and the built-in microphone, the CH400 is extremely effective for hands-free calling. Sony’s latest generation of headphones have almost all used near field communication (NFC) technology, allowing you to setup your Bluetooth connection with one single press of a button. Anyone who’s endured having to create a Bluetooth connection through complicated technical maneuvers will immediately appreciate NFC. And the CH400 is no exception to the rule — just tap the “N” button, and you’ll have an immediate Bluetooth connection. 

Sony’s latest generation of headphones also have broad support Bluetooth 4.0 for the most powerful and reliable wireless connections, as well as a reasonably lengthy 30-feet of connectivity. Between Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC, the CH400 is as streamlined and as simple as wireless headphones can be.

Build & Design

Sony’s CH400 makes use of what has become a standard design for Sony. On the power connecting ear cup, you’ll find an independent volume control knob, as well as buttons for play, stop, and skip. For wireless headphones, you’re probably not going to be sitting with touching distance of the devices you’re connecting to most of the time. That being the case, these buttons can be unbelievably convenient when put to regular daily use.

The CH400 use a cordless design that feels virtually weightless when you’re wearing it. And the fully cordless design helps ensure these headphones are ready to last for years to come, all the while helping you enjoy a fully liberated wireless connection. In terms of design, the only real drawback to mention is that the ear cups aren’t made to swivel, which can help in finding a comfortable position on your head. However, it’s hard to hold that against the CH400 because swiveling is generally something you only see in bulkier designs. 

If you go digging into the manufacturer’s specifications you’ll find a full 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz frequency range, and 44.1 kHz sampling. But don’t get lost in the numbers – all you really need to know is that you’ve got CD-quality sound available to you here. The sound quality printed on CDs is roughly ten times better than your typical MP3 file, or roughly four times better than the sound quality you’ll find in paid Internet radio services. That means short of audiophile-level equipment, you essentially can’t do better for sound quality than you can with the CH400.

Extras

The only extra feature truly worth your attention is one-button connectivity to your favorite vocal assistant. Whether you’re using Android or iPhone, you just have to hold down the play button for one moment for you to grab the attention of your favorite robot butler, and start asking for directions, making calls, or initiating a new sound track.

Another feature you’re less likely to care about is support for SCMS-T content protection, which allows you to listen to certain types of DRM-protected files. But if you’re not familiar with SCMS-T, then it’s not a feature you need to know about. What you may care about is that the CH400 is available in all of Sony’s standard color options, which includes black, red, blue, and white.

Who Should Choose the WH-CH400?

Some people want headphones that are more portable than full-sized cans, but they don’t want to shove earbuds invasively into their body. Ear pads are the middle ground between those two extremes. And for ear pad headphones, Sony’s WH-CH400 are hard to beat. They’re packed with wireless connectivity features like Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and a powerful 20-hour battery. But they also don’t overlook a high-quality microphone or the importance of keeping sound quality high.
But ear pad designs aren’t made to be worn all day long. For four or six hours of listening, you probably won’t run into any issues with comfort. If you’re someone who spends all day wearing their headset, you’ll probably want to try an around-ear headset instead. But if you’re going through more average listening periods or you otherwise take listening breaks, Sony’s WH-CH400 is an excellent choice.