Post by solderdude on Jan 24, 2016 16:13:38 GMT
Beats Studio Wireless Noise Cancelling Bluetooth headphone.
This is the Beats studio version. It has 2 features you don’t see on most headphones.
It has a wireless bluetooth connection as well as Noise Cancelling.
Because wireless becomes more ‘important’ and convenient every day more and more bluetooth headphones are marketted.
There are less Noise Cancelling headphones around than there are with bluetooth in it.
Noise Cancelling usually comes with the downside of low level hiss which can be audible in quiet passages.
Some background info about Noise Canceling is found in the measurements of the Bose QC25.
The Noise Cancelling part can NOT be switched off so an audible but not ‘sharp’ noise will always be heard in quiet passages.
Another downside is … the battery needs to be full.
Empty battery = no music even when the music source still plays on.
Fortunately all it takes is a micro USB cable to charge it. Everyone taking their tablet or phone along on a trip is most likely to pack a charger as well having the same micro-USB plug.
The Beats Studio Wireless has both features. There are many more headphones around that combine these features ranging in price from €100 to €500 for the most common brands.
Sony MDR-ZX550BN €90
Philips SHB8850NC €120
JAM Transit City €130
Sony MDR-ZX770BN €160
Plantronics Backbeat Pro €200
Sony MDR-ZX770BN €240
Sony MDR-ZX750BN €250
Samsung level On wireless €250
Sennheiser MM 450-X €260
Sennheiser MM 550-X Travel €280
JBL Everest Elite 700NC €280
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 On-ear Wireless €350
Beats Studio Wireless €350
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless €450
Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 €480
Then there is also a plethora of cheap headphones around with the same funcionality.
The Beats Studio Wireless is one of the most expensive ones.
Beats isn’t very popular in the more audiophile circles and there is a general detest for its sound and marketting BS.
Of course, when one forks out a substantial amount of money there is the question of diminishing returns. In other words is it worth the money.
One thing to keep in mind here is that we are talking about a hype marketted brand.
Because of this the price performance ratio could be worse than with a lower profile marketting machine behind it.
Comfort is good, the clamping force is leaning towards the higher side. This is to be expected because the headphone is heavier than one without batteries and extra parts. Also to get a good ambient sound reduction a good clamping force and well sealing ear pads are a must.
The earpads themselves are comfortable and soft. They don’t feel ‘sweaty’ after a while.
I like the styling of this headphone, all black no screaming white/red beats logos etc.
The matt black finish looks really nice and is a great way of being fingerprint/smudge free.However, the material is prone to show little scratches and scuff marks quite easily.
The name suggests it is a studio monitor but it may look like crap pretty quick when it were to be really used in a studio and tossed around like a rag doll.
With headphones it is all about the sound though.
Tonally it is actually quite good. Well balanced and accurate. Not the typical overblown bass one would expect from a Beats.
The bass is tight and goes deep and is never bloated nor overblown. There is a good integration with the mids. Mids themselves sound good an balanced. There is a good clarity and the sound is quite dynamic. Impressive on a first listen for sure. It has ‘hifi’ qualities for sure when it comes to bass and mids.
Then there is also the treble … well this is where the headphone doesn’t really do that great.
Yes, the treble is there and is perhaps even slightly elevated but not sibilant.
It has a 'metallic' character to it, quite unnatural, it is of a questionable and ‘cheap’ quality that doesn’t gel with the the rest of the sound quality.
The problem lies in the upper treble part. This is not ‘elevated’ too much but the quality is just poor. Everything up there sounds quite similar … tsshhh, tssshh without any ‘definition’ nor any finesse to it.
In my experience this most likely isn’t caused by the driver themselves. I suspect the quality of the ADC, signal processing and DAC is the root cause of all of this.
It sounds like the treble that is sometimes found in the cheapest of the cheapest MP3 players.
There are much more measurements and additional info about this headphone HERE <- click it and you will be taken there
You can lower the amount of treble using a tone control which helps in reducing the amount of treble and bring it more in line with the rest. Alas the lack of definition and finesse becomes even more obvious.
For me the positive sides on this headphone are:
Looks, fit and finish, earpads, portability, bass and mids quality, good clarity, dynamic sound, not ***led nor closed-in sound.
The negatives are:
Background noise from noise cancelling is audible (soft low frequency noise). Weird sounds when moving your head due to attempts to counteract those sounds.
Noise reduction is decent but not nearly as good as that of the Bose QC25 I tested as well.
Can’t switch the noise reduction off.
Depending on batteries. Doesn’t work on TRS jack when the battery is depleted.
The limited bandwidth which nullifies the (supposed) higher quality of hi-res files. It is pointless to go beyond red-book CD quality.
The biggest downside for hi-fi afficianados/addicts is the treble quality.
When it plays louder it starts to sound ‘rough’.
Is it worth €350 ?
When money is no object and a ‘fashion statement’ of wearing expensive wireless Beats in public is a nice pick. It doesn’t have tons of buttons on it cluttering the looks of some of its rivals. For those users/owners this (and most other 'fashion phones') could be 'YES'
When the sound quality is of the most importance then I can honestly say it is a NO
The always present background noise is also killing it for me.
The bass, mids, tonal balance etc are all O.K.
Too bad the treble quality is nowhere near the other qualities.
This is the Beats studio version. It has 2 features you don’t see on most headphones.
It has a wireless bluetooth connection as well as Noise Cancelling.
Because wireless becomes more ‘important’ and convenient every day more and more bluetooth headphones are marketted.
There are less Noise Cancelling headphones around than there are with bluetooth in it.
Noise Cancelling usually comes with the downside of low level hiss which can be audible in quiet passages.
Some background info about Noise Canceling is found in the measurements of the Bose QC25.
The Noise Cancelling part can NOT be switched off so an audible but not ‘sharp’ noise will always be heard in quiet passages.
Another downside is … the battery needs to be full.
Empty battery = no music even when the music source still plays on.
Fortunately all it takes is a micro USB cable to charge it. Everyone taking their tablet or phone along on a trip is most likely to pack a charger as well having the same micro-USB plug.
The Beats Studio Wireless has both features. There are many more headphones around that combine these features ranging in price from €100 to €500 for the most common brands.
Sony MDR-ZX550BN €90
Philips SHB8850NC €120
JAM Transit City €130
Sony MDR-ZX770BN €160
Plantronics Backbeat Pro €200
Sony MDR-ZX770BN €240
Sony MDR-ZX750BN €250
Samsung level On wireless €250
Sennheiser MM 450-X €260
Sennheiser MM 550-X Travel €280
JBL Everest Elite 700NC €280
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 On-ear Wireless €350
Beats Studio Wireless €350
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless €450
Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 €480
Then there is also a plethora of cheap headphones around with the same funcionality.
The Beats Studio Wireless is one of the most expensive ones.
Beats isn’t very popular in the more audiophile circles and there is a general detest for its sound and marketting BS.
Of course, when one forks out a substantial amount of money there is the question of diminishing returns. In other words is it worth the money.
One thing to keep in mind here is that we are talking about a hype marketted brand.
Because of this the price performance ratio could be worse than with a lower profile marketting machine behind it.
Comfort is good, the clamping force is leaning towards the higher side. This is to be expected because the headphone is heavier than one without batteries and extra parts. Also to get a good ambient sound reduction a good clamping force and well sealing ear pads are a must.
The earpads themselves are comfortable and soft. They don’t feel ‘sweaty’ after a while.
I like the styling of this headphone, all black no screaming white/red beats logos etc.
The matt black finish looks really nice and is a great way of being fingerprint/smudge free.However, the material is prone to show little scratches and scuff marks quite easily.
The name suggests it is a studio monitor but it may look like crap pretty quick when it were to be really used in a studio and tossed around like a rag doll.
With headphones it is all about the sound though.
Tonally it is actually quite good. Well balanced and accurate. Not the typical overblown bass one would expect from a Beats.
The bass is tight and goes deep and is never bloated nor overblown. There is a good integration with the mids. Mids themselves sound good an balanced. There is a good clarity and the sound is quite dynamic. Impressive on a first listen for sure. It has ‘hifi’ qualities for sure when it comes to bass and mids.
Then there is also the treble … well this is where the headphone doesn’t really do that great.
Yes, the treble is there and is perhaps even slightly elevated but not sibilant.
It has a 'metallic' character to it, quite unnatural, it is of a questionable and ‘cheap’ quality that doesn’t gel with the the rest of the sound quality.
The problem lies in the upper treble part. This is not ‘elevated’ too much but the quality is just poor. Everything up there sounds quite similar … tsshhh, tssshh without any ‘definition’ nor any finesse to it.
In my experience this most likely isn’t caused by the driver themselves. I suspect the quality of the ADC, signal processing and DAC is the root cause of all of this.
It sounds like the treble that is sometimes found in the cheapest of the cheapest MP3 players.
There are much more measurements and additional info about this headphone HERE <- click it and you will be taken there
You can lower the amount of treble using a tone control which helps in reducing the amount of treble and bring it more in line with the rest. Alas the lack of definition and finesse becomes even more obvious.
For me the positive sides on this headphone are:
Looks, fit and finish, earpads, portability, bass and mids quality, good clarity, dynamic sound, not ***led nor closed-in sound.
The negatives are:
Background noise from noise cancelling is audible (soft low frequency noise). Weird sounds when moving your head due to attempts to counteract those sounds.
Noise reduction is decent but not nearly as good as that of the Bose QC25 I tested as well.
Can’t switch the noise reduction off.
Depending on batteries. Doesn’t work on TRS jack when the battery is depleted.
The limited bandwidth which nullifies the (supposed) higher quality of hi-res files. It is pointless to go beyond red-book CD quality.
The biggest downside for hi-fi afficianados/addicts is the treble quality.
When it plays louder it starts to sound ‘rough’.
Is it worth €350 ?
When money is no object and a ‘fashion statement’ of wearing expensive wireless Beats in public is a nice pick. It doesn’t have tons of buttons on it cluttering the looks of some of its rivals. For those users/owners this (and most other 'fashion phones') could be 'YES'
When the sound quality is of the most importance then I can honestly say it is a NO
The always present background noise is also killing it for me.
The bass, mids, tonal balance etc are all O.K.
Too bad the treble quality is nowhere near the other qualities.