Bluetooth headphones
The convenience of wireless Bluetooth transmission for headphones is undeniable — it ‘cuts the cord’ between your device and the headphones themselves, imparting freedom and the general disentanglement that is of particular use when on the move. But there’s a problem with Bluetooth — it’s not made for audio, and its audio bit-rate hasn’t improved in 10 years. Consequently any form of Bluetooth transmission involves downgrading from CD-quality to something lower, often converting on the fly. Even the higherquality aptX codec (which requires an aptX-compatible sending device as well as aptX in your headphones) only achieves about half CD-quality. So we encounter three common problems with Bluetooth headphones — soft sound quality, wireless connection issues, and inadequate volume available to overcome background noise on a commute.
So our winners here are two pairs of Bluetooth headphones that really don’t sound like Bluetooth headphones. And Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless, at $799.95, also offers a profoundly luxurious design, with a touch of aviator to the stainless steel sliders, plus the luxury of leather for the earcups and headband.
The technology is extensive. The Bluetooth connection includes NFC pairing, and offers that higher-quality aptX codec, if your Android device supports it. There’s a Voicemax microphone in there, so you can use these to make and receive calls. They charge via a common microUSB socket, so you’re unlikely ever to be at a loss for a handy cable. Plus there’s one thing that took us by surprise — they also include active noise-cancelling, and not selectable, but always on. And that noise cancelling comes to the rescue for the problem of Bluetooth volume — by providing a quieter background, music can be easily heard even when assaulted by external traffic or plane rumble. We might have wanted a tad more level for some quiet recordings, but the quiet background meant we were always able to hear things fully — and played music at a lower level than we would on non-NC designs. Their sound is open and airy, with a lovely balance across the frequency range, a nice touch of bass emphasis and delivering rich and real vocals.
We did find a certain sensitivity to vibration — in the back of a bus, jolts and shudders could cause pops mainly in the treble, so that vocal notes and cymbal shimmers could receive a temporary wobbling. But they’ll be fine for the smoother rides on trains and planes, while use at home was a great pleasure, fulfilling everyday tasks while enjoying personal music or an educational podcast. As a high-quality high-tech design, the Momentum Wireless headphones are not cheap, but they are a great success, especially in showing how the limitations of Bluetooth can be beaten. More info:
www.sennheiser.com.au