Some could say that these headphones really deliver a ‘Bang’ for their buck!
At $499, the B&O Beoplay HX aren’t cheap headphones. They carry the Bang & Olufsen tag (which does account for a slightly inflated price), but then again, the Beoplay HX are a solid piece of gear. They’re over-ear, active noise-canceling, have 40mm audio drivers, and come with an impressive 35-hour battery life. If you delve down into the details, they sport metallic accents too (although the body is primarily plastic), and even have a much better-looking protective case than the AirPods Max. Feature-for-feature, the Beoplay HX seem like they were designed to compete with the AirPods Max… and probably even win.
The wireless over-ear headphones have the highest battery-life in their category (with the AirPods Max falling short by 10 hours, and the Sony WH-1000XM4 by 5). They’re outfitted with ANC (active noise-canceling) on the inside, and when the feature’s switched off, the headphones last well beyond 40 hours on a single charge. The headphones come in black (with an all-white variant launching in a month), featuring a body made from recycled plastic, capped off with a radial-brushed aluminum disc. The ear-cups are made from lambskin with a memory foam interior, while the headband uses a combination of cowhide and knitted fabric… and the adjustable sliding mechanism is all-aluminum, offering low-tolerance, sleek adjustability like the AirPods Max. However, unlike the AirPods Max, the Beoplay HX are pretty traditional with their UI, with buttons on the left and right ear cup and even a touch-sensitive panel on the right side. The headphones support Bluetooth 5.1, although there’s even a 3.5mm jack if you’re a bit of a purist!
Much like its cute Pikachu earbuds, Razer once again proves that it can make cool headphones without slapping three snakes and RGB onto them. According to Engadget Chinese, the latest product to benefit from this cleaner design cue is the Razer Opus,...
Audio cancelation is nice. It’s nice, however, indoors. Step outdoors and audio cancelation can be a dangerous thing. I remember almost getting hit by a bus ten years ago because I had headphones on, and didn’t hear the massive vehicle heading towards me. That’s where immersive, isolated audio can be somewhat of a drawback. What’s the solution? A pair of headphones that have the ability to adapt to where you wear them.
That’s what the HB-V70 are. A pair of around-ear headphones that allow you to switch between open-ear-control and active-noise-canceling, the HB-V70 are great for indoors, helping cancel out ambient noise around you, and are built for outdoor use too, courtesy of the open-ear technology that allows you to listen to your music as well as ambient noise around you, keeping you aware of your surroundings. Not only do they allow you to toggle each of the features, the headphones even let you decide how much cancellation or open-ear control you want, allowing you to choose a balance that works for you. The headphones use a series of outward-facing microphones to record ambient audio around you. Noise-canceling mode cancels out that audio, while open-ear-control lets it through to the listener. This dual setup is perfect for when you need to listen to two channels of audio together. You could be a pedestrian, listening to music while also listening in on ambient noise around you, so you don’t get knocked over by a bicyclist or a pedestrian, or you could even use this dual setup in the music industry, while listening in to two channels of music… one channel being your own, an electric guitar or synth, and an external channel i.e., your fellow bandmates. The power of being able to augment your hearing by listening to both personal and public audio simultaneously, and also going back to good-old-fashioned noise-canceling when you want is unique, make the HB-V70 a truly versatile and able pair of headphones.
The HB-V70 headphones are designed to protect you and look out for your safety, while enhancing your listening experience. HB-V70 offers both Open Ear Control (OEC) to be aware of ambient noise and high-end Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) for immersive sound. Based on your surroundings, YOU have control over both your listening preferences and your listening needs.
The key features of this headphones include: Listening safely with ‘Open ear control'; You can focus on music with ‘Active Noise Cancelling'; Create your own sound with ‘Equalizer'; It sports an Intuitive Touch Interface; Includes Motion Recognition feature.
Open Ear Control (OEC) technology captures ambient sound through external microphones and plays it back through the headphone’s internal speaker. Essentially an advanced speaker function, OEC allows hearing of external sound as if your ears were uncovered, even when they are completely blocked by the headphone set.
OEC technology is not as simple as capture and playback. All microphones and speakers have different frequencies to capture/play sound and without tuning, distortion would render playback un-listenable. Through meticulous acoustic tuning, sound has been rendered to truly mimic open ear hearing.
Active Noise Cancelling pro-actively neutralizes sound captured through microphone, using an anti-noise wave. HB-V70, is unique in that, it houses two microphones per headphone speaker and is capable of neutralizing both external noise and noise created within the headphone cushion.
HB-V70 provides a dedicated Equalizer app to customize frequency characteristics. Personalizing your sound, the frequencies can be adjusted to match your unique listening preferences.
Compatible with both Apple Siri and Google Assistant, HB- V70 helps you reach your digital assistant on-the-go. With a dedicated button, activate the voice recognition service with one touch without taking out your smartphone. All digital assistant functions are recognized including dialing-out and audio navigation.
Through motion recognition, HB- V70 doesn’t require you to stop or resume audio playback. An imbedded sensor recognizes when HB- V70 is removed from your ears and automatically initiates pause and when the headphones are back in place, playback automatically resumes.
Find buttonless control with an intuitive touch interface located on the headphone. Play/Stop music, Next/Previous song and volume Up/Down is possible with a simple touch or swipe motion.
HB-V70 is capable of both wired and wireless operation. Connect with the wired cable when battery life is low.
Multi-pairing compatible, HB- V70 can remember up to two paired devices at one time.
The headphones features adjustable bands that are crafted from soft and durable leather. The clean button finish with intuitive LED indicators add to the timeless design.
You do know that Parrot makes more than just the AR.Drone, right? It was at CES earlier this year that we first caught a glimpse of -- and subsequently began geeking out about -- the Parrot Zik by Starck. For those unfamiliar, these headphones are jam-packed with enough technologies to make even the geekiest audio lovers smitten. Priced at about $400, they feature Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth connectivity, on-board capacitive touch-control, active noise cancellation, head detection, a jawbone sensor for speech and Parrot's audio-enhancing DSP app for iOS and Android -- not to mention a striking design by the renowned Philippe Starck.
This isn't the first time Parrot and Mr. Starck have worked together, but this does mark their debut in the portable audio market (as opposed to home-based speaker systems). In the case of this review, not one, but two Engadget editors spent some time testing the product. So, do they impress? More importantly, are they worth the $400 asking price? You know the drill: meet us after the break where we'll lay it all out.
Remember those cool-looking Parrot Zik wireless headphones we saw back at CES? Well, now we have a date and a price for you Philippe Starck fans out there. Announced at the Hong Kong launch event earlier today, these NFC-enabled, active noise cancelling Bluetooth cans will be available globally in August, with the US getting a price tag of $399 before tax (and for those who care, you'll be able to nab one in Hong Kong for HK$3,399 or US$440). During our brief ears-on, we certainly enjoyed the Zik's great audio quality, noise isolation and the intuitiveness of its swipe gesture input. While the battery is swappable, note that this expensive package only comes with one cell (accessible under the magnetic cover on the left can) that typically lasts for around five hours, so road warriors will need to chip in about $30 for a spare one. Alternatively, product manager Theodore Sean (whom we had the pleasure to interview at CES) pointed out a unique and handy feature that sort of bypasses this problem: you can still use the Zik as a pair of passive headphones using the included 3.5mm audio cable, but without any battery juice left, you obviously won't be able to enjoy the noise cancellation function (on a plane, for instance) or even make phone calls.
