It's no secret I'm a great lover of music, especially when I can find great ways to enjoy it.
I'm always on the lookout for a good set of headphones. I'm a bit of a headphones snob, in that most headphones fail to impress me. They usually lack the richness I know is available in digital music today.
where it’s @
The Phiaton Chord Wireless MS 530 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones require a music device with a Bluetooth connection for wireless use or a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for wired use. A USB port on a computer or power adapter is required for charging. The headphones retail for $299. More information is available at phiaton.com/chord-m….
I've been trying out the Phiaton Chord Wireless MS 530 Active Noise Canceling Headphones. These Bluetooth-compatible headphones are built to work with smartphones, so people can make and accept calls on them.
I have to admit, I was skeptical at first of the Chord headphones. At first glance, they seemed a bit bulky and heavy.
As it turns out, the headphones had a lot more to offer than I expected.
The Chord headphones have a black, plastic headband that ends on either side in brushed aluminum, which holds each headphone. The headphones are mounted so they move freely, allowing them to hug the ears better and block out ambient noise. The headband and headphones are covered in thick padding that has a very soft, leather-like cover. It makes the Chord headphones very comfortable to wear.
The controls and ports are along the rims of the headphones. One headphone has the call button for smartphone controls, the play/pause and volume button, the USB charging port and the power button. Two small holes between the power button and USB port and the play button and call button mark the microphones to be used during phone calls. An LED light next to the USB port shows blue when it's on or red when it needs charging.
The other headphone has a noise-cancellation switch and a headphone jack. The headphone jack is one of the best features of the Chord headphones. It works with the included audio cord, which has play/pause and volume buttons on a remote and which allows the headphones to be used even if they are out of power. It's a great bonus.
The headphones include active noise cancellation, which essentially is made to dull some of the brassiness of the upper notes and registers while producing a richness that blocks out ambient noise. The feature is turned on or off by a switch on the side of the one of the headphones.
Honestly, I wasn't overly impressed with the noise cancellation feature. While it did block out a lot of the background noise, the headphones themselves helped with that a lot. The noise cancellation dulled the upper register a bit too much for my liking, leaving the sound a bit dull compared with how it sounds without noise cancellation, at least with the broader-range music. It works better with pieces like pop or "oldies," which tend to have a higher register and a little brassiness at the top.
The battery life on these headphones is exceptional. With the noise cancellation on, the headphones can go 18 hours between charges. Without the noise cancellation, they can go 30 hours. I played the headphones for three days after a full charge, and they still had some battery life left in them. They only take a few hours to recharge.
The Bluetooth connection with these headphones is impressive because it can be used by two devices at the same time. As a test, I played the same song on a phone and a tablet. It would only pick up one signal, so you didn't have songs playing over each other. However, if I paused the song on one device, after a second or two of not receiving a signal, the headphones automatically switched to the other device and picked up the music that was playing on it. So you could move from a phone to a computer to listen to music with only a second or two pause in between.
The key to these, as with any headphones, is the sound. Without question, the sound is excellent. Even without the noise cancellation, I was extremely impressed with the sound from these headphones. Upper tones are clear and not brassy, for the most part. It depended on the song being played, but I had few instances to complain. Any brassiness easily could be remedied by turning on the noise cancellation. Bass tones are deep and reverberating, as they should be. The real test is in the midtones. In this case, the midtones are rich as full, covering a broad range. It gives a lustrous sound to the entire piece of music, be it a recent pop song or a moving refrain from a symphony. Yes, classical music through these headphones is simply astounding.
The headphones receive phone calls with the touch of the Call button. I easily could hear those who called. They couldn't hear me quite as well, though. I suspect that's because the microphones were set fairly far from my face in Bluetooth mode. The microphone is a bit closer on the remote when using the audio cable.
Do I have any complaints about the Chord headphones? Well, yes. They're a bit bulky and heavy. My first impression was right in that regard. They're 0.64 pound, which isn't over-the-top heavy, but it's heavier than most headphones I've tested. I wear headphones for a long time, even when I don't have the music playing (usually because I'm too absorbed in work to take them off). After a while, I did start to notice the weight a bit. But they weren't so heavy to stop using them. They just sound too good.
These headphones surpass most of those I've tried out, both in features and in sound.They definitely appeal to the music lover in me -- they're a great way to enjoy great music.
Melissa L. Jones can be reached via email at mljones72@me.com.
SundayMonday Business on 04/13/2015