Ever since Beats by Dre proved that headphones can be as much an expression of personal style as a way to listen to music, audio companies have been looking for ways to dazzle your eyes and ears. Marshall uses its iconic guitar amp-inspired design language to give its headphones a retro-cool vibe, while Urbanista and Apple use bold color choices to make choosing a pair of headphones as personal as choosing a T-shirt.
But when it comes to wireless headphones that send a visual message to those around you, it’s pretty hard to compete with Meters by Ashdown Engineering, a line of British headphones that boast a working analog volume meter on the outside of each earbud, like you’d find on an old-fashioned amplifier from the 70s.
Is the $350 Meters OV-1-B-Connect more about the meters or the music? Skeptics might be surprised to learn that they are much more than a gimmick.
Terrifying design
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
The first thing you notice about the Meters OV-1-B-Connect is their enormous size. It is partly an optical illusion created by design. The headphones are only about a quarter of an inch thicker than the average set of over-ear headphones, but the ear pads extend out from the earcups and the shafts are large, curved pieces of aluminum that wrap around the back half of the headphones. Combined with the heavily padded headband, the Meters look incredibly chunky.
They get a little smaller when you fold the hinges, but not much. Fortunately, Meters includes a sturdy carrying case.
Heavy, but comfortable
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
At 13.4 ounces, the Meters are definitely among the heaviest wireless headphones you can buy. Only the Apple AirPods Max, at 13.6 ounces, are heavier. But due to the large amount of padding on the ear pads and headband, they are surprisingly comfortable. They’re not comfortable to wear all day, but they’re definitely comfortable enough for a few hours of continuous use.
Less noise, less silence?
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
Active noise cancellation (ANC) is notoriously difficult to do well. Many headphone manufacturers have tried their hand at this, but only a few – such as Sony, Bose and Apple – have passed the test.
The meters have built-in ANC that you activate with a switch on the right earcup, but you have to use it judiciously. It does a great job of killing low-frequency sounds, like the white noise of a loud fan or the rumble of traffic, but if you’re already in a fairly quiet environment, it introduces a very noticeable hiss. It’s best to leave it off unless you really need it.
Great sound
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
It would be tempting to write off the Meters as a joke product because of their distinctive volume meters, but they actually offer superb sound quality. With the factory settings, they give a warm but balanced signature, not too heavy on the bass, with nice definition in the mids and highs. If your phone happens to support aptX HD (a wireless standard for streaming better-than-CD audio), you’ll get an impressive amount of detail, with a soundstage that’s intimate yet layered.
If you want to tweak the EQ, the Meters app gives you a five-band EQ to mess around with, but unfortunately, there’s no way to save your settings — something Ashdown should definitely fix with an update.
But as good as they sound, they don’t perform any better than other wireless headphones at this price point. Sony WH-1000XM4, Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and Marshall Monitor II ANC are better choices for sound quality.
Those meters
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
Those volume meters — the whole reason for buying a set of meters — are a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, they are undeniably cool. You can change the color of the backlight in the Meters app to match your mood (outfit?) as well as the brightness.
But if you’re hoping to show the people around you your active listening session while the meter hands are actively bouncing around, you’ll need to crank up the volume—which is dangerous.
Ashdown seems to understand that this will be a temptation and warns owners against it: “This can be considered a safety feature for concerned parents and carers. Listening to loud music for long periods of time can of course seriously damage your hearing.”
Frankly, using a set of visible volume meters as a way to keep your kids listening at safe levels is a terrible idea, especially when there are products on the market that automatically limit headphone volume to safe levels, removing the need for active monitoring of any kind.
Besides, who’s going to spend $350 on their kids’ headphones? Never mind, I don’t really want to know the answer.
So. if the meters aren’t an effective way to protect the user from loud noises, and if getting the meters to bounce in a way that is visible to others requires dangerously loud volume levels… well, you get what I mean.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for wireless ANC headphones that make a bold statement to those around you, the Meters OV-1-B definitely fit the bill. But perhaps more than any other headset I’ve seen, your money will go into what others can see, instead of what you can hear.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn