Cleer Enduro 100 headphone review
Bluetooth 5.0 with aptx HD, Google Fast Pair, Siri invocation, and USB-C connectivity put these headphones comfortably into state-of-the-art category.
I liked the Cleer Enduro 100 headphones the moment they emerged from their slightly complicated, but classy packaging. The styling and colors are unique and attractive, and more importantly, they sound very, very good. The feature set is also state of the art.
My one caveat is that one tester—the one with the big head, aka me—found
them somewhat uncomfortable to wear for very long listening sessions.
DESIGN AND SPECS
The Cleer Enduro 100 are packed with the latest tech features, including Bluetooth 5 with its longer range, greater bandwidth, and native handling of Apple’s AAC codec; aptx HD codec support for high-resolution and low-latency audio playback; and Google Fast Pair 2.0 for quick connections with Android devices. You can also invoke Siri on IOS devices with the push of a button.
Throw in a Type-c USB port and NFC pairing, and I can’t think of anything—apart from active noise cancellation, which would put these cans in a different category—that the company missed. I’m sure I’ll hear from you if there is.
Style is in keeping with the best of the times as well. Cleer opted for two unusual but elegantly attractive color schemes: slate and putty, and putty and tan. The headphones are decently light at around 10 ounces, a 10-minute charge via the USB-C port promises 13 hours of playback, and a three-hour charge will supposedly see you though 100 hours. I can tell you they got darn close to that just sitting around switched on without me listening to them; in fact, after two weeks under light use, they were still running on the charge they had right out of the box.
As far as the actual sound-producing devices, the speakers are a 40mm nonferrite design. For more on that, and the hysteresis not using iron supposedly prevents, read my Dali Rubicon 6 loudspeaker review ( go.macworld.com/ rbn6).
Cleer outfits the Enduro 100 with three
control buttons and a power button. The outer two are used to increase and lower volume, while the center multi-purpose button is used to switch to the next track in your playlist (double-click), the previous track (triple-click), and to invoke Siri on an IOS device (press and hold). There’s also a status LED, and while the unit will pair automatically for the most part, you can also force pairing by holding the power button, or use the NFC surface on the back of the left ear cup.
While the Enduro 100 don’t have a dedicated 3.5mm jack for a cable, they do offer wired listening via the USB-C port, and Cleer puts a Type-c-to-3.5mm cable in the box. There’s also a Usb-type-a-toType-c cable for charging. Cables might seem quaint, but they’re a must for airplane entertainment systems and for listening to uncompressed audio—be it in the studio or elsewhere. You also get a drawstring pouch to carry the headphones and cables in.
Speaking of airplanes, the Enduro 100 don’t offer active noise cancellation, as I mentioned earlier, and they don’t block as much ambient sound as in-ear