It’s been five years since Focal launched its first wireless headphones, Listen Wireless. The price was affordable, by Focal standards, with a price tag of around €270. With good and potent sound, just a tad harsh. Active noise cancellation, on the other hand, was lacking. The Listen Wireless was a real addition to the headphone …
Thanks to more mass production-friendly methods and the fact that planar magnetics have some advantages over ordinary dynamic drivers, planar magnetic headphones are becoming more common in the slightly higher price ranges. But there aren’t many earbuds built with this principle. There are several reasons for this. The diaphragms are almost weightless foil layers of …
A good pair of headphones needs an amplifier to drive them. We’re not talking about low-cost headphones for a hundred Euros or so – they’ll probably do fine with the headphone output of your existing amp, and you might even get acceptable quality from the output of a laptop. But more expensive headphones deserve better. …
When I tested Sennheiser’s previous top-of-the-range earbuds, the IE 800 S, I was impressed by the well-defined and detailed sound. To my ears, they had only one noticeable weakness: dynamics. No matter how good an amplifier I plugged them into, they made a slightly anaemic impression – even at high volume. That was a bit …
Nura has managed to make a name for itself in a very short time. That’s because they don’t do things like everyone else, but carve out their own path. First we got the NuraPhone headphones – a pair of over-ear headphones with a earbud in the middle of each earcup. A hybrid of earplugs and …
It’s not often that I get to review earbuds. Or any audio products for that matter. My hi-fi enthusiast colleagues are much better at that than I am. But every once in a while, a product comes along that really speaks to everyone, and that’s when I get to give it a try. Such a …
It’s not as if the world needed another set of headphones. In fact, wireless headphones are the product category with the most choice in the entire home electronics industry. Nice wireless ANC headphones for virtually no money, on the other hand, are further apart! And that’s exactly what the Creative Zen Hybrid is. They look …
Do you want Dream Sound with a capital D, while it wouldn’t occur to you to pay tens of thousands for a stereo system? How about a pair of high-end headphones instead? Now I’m not talking about headphones for people on the go who want to block out the noise while they’re on the train …
PLEASE NOTE. Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless will be available in stores on August 23, but can be pre-ordered from August 9. The development has been rapid in noise-cancelling headphones, and once a year the manufacturers launch an improved top model that outperforms its predecessor. Unless you happen to be Sennheiser, that is. Here things have …
Just recently, Sony launched LinkBuds, a completely new type of product. Namely, a pair of wireless and completely open earbuds. The idea was that they could stay in your ears all day, as sound from the environment gets through while you listen to audiobooks, podcasts, news or even music. And while you’re fishing, in the …
Spending thousands of euros on a pair of headphones isn’t something I consider foolish anymore. It’s what you’ll have to do if you want a pair of Audeze LCD-5, and I’ve come to understand why you’d want to. Sound is truly a passion, and the fact that you can get a listening experience superior to …
Bang & Olufsen makes some of the most beautiful products we know, not least when it comes to headphones. Like the Beoplay HX, which has memory foam ear pads covered in lambskin. Nor should we forget the top-of-the-range Beoplay H95, which oozes luxury galore with both ear cups and case in solid aluminium. Because of …
Which headphones or earbuds did you last buy? Most likely they were wireless, as over 80 percent of all headphones sold in 2021 were. And I understand that, because I have several pairs of wireless earbuds and headphones myself. They are convenient, not least because modern phones completely lack a headphone output. And wireless can …
When Shure launched their first noise-cancelling headphones, the Aonic 50, I was more than excited. Superb sound quality, EQ in the app and great fit. The noise reduction was only so-so, but it did what it was supposed to. Shure had simply nailed it on the first try! What I missed most was the ability …
Every time Sony has launched a new top-of-the-range wireless noise-cancelling headphone in recent years, they’ve been their own worst competitor. But as long as they made something better than its predecessor, they knew they had a winner. And I brought out the superlatives myself when I tested the WH-1000XM4 in the fall of 2020. But …