audiosplitz: Sony

Sony WS413 Walkman - First Look

February 11, 2016

CES 2016 - Portable Music Summary

January 10, 2016

The start of the year always heralds a packed week in Las Vegas where the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) hits full swing. The 2016 edition is no different. We summarize all the latest in the portable music scene.

Sports
Jaybird - The Freedom Wireless and X3 Wireless earphones. What is new is that these 2 units will be app driven. Check out our coverage on these sports in-ears.

JBL - The UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate is a partnership with Under Armour. Apart from checking your heart rate at the touch of a button, there's a sweat-proof IPX5 rating and it comes with a 12-month MapMyFitness subscription. These Bluetooth clip-ons have a 5h battery life, go for USD 250 and will be available in Spring 2016.

The Sony WS414 Walkman promises a design that is salt-water proof and dust-proof. The 32g unit has an 8GB config, comes in black / ivory / blue / lime green and is available from March.

Totally Wireless Earphones
Although announced a while back, Bragi, Earin and Kanoa all proudly displayed their totally wireless earbuds. The Bragi Dash fitness-oriented device has 4GB storage and touch controls to track your jogging performance.

Bragi Dash

Earin's super light 3.5 gram unit have a simple design that comes with a nifty charging capsule. This SGD 349 (USD 250 - 300) unit is already in production and we're currently reviewing this unit. Stay tuned!

Earin

The Kanoa offers water-resistance, a 6h battery life and hits the shops in May. USD 300 for these.

Neckband Headphones (Around-The-Neck Phones)
JBL - The Everest Elite 100 Bluetooth earphones rest around your neck and come with active noise canceling (ANC). They come with a 6h battery life and come in black / white variants. The Elite 100 will cost a fair USD 199 and will hit the shops in March.

LG - The successful Tone series continues its legacy with the launch of the Tone Infinim (HBS-910) and Tone HBS-810 Ultra. They appear to have a better battery life than its predecessors and will be available in black / silver / rose gold from February in Asia.

Sony - The h.ear in Wireless is a Bluetooth neckband headphone, which is powered by a 9mm driver unit. Interestingly, there is a regular minijack for a connection to your source device when the battery runs out. Available in May.

Audiophile
Audeze - The SINE On-Ear Headphone, designed by BMW DesignWorksUSA, are supposedly the world's first on-ear planar-magnetic headphones. This translates to the promise of the sound of a larger model despite its lightweight leather-clad 230g frame. These wired cans go for USD 500 and are already available. Oh, and the Lightning cable is an option.

Technics - The EAH-T700 is one solidly (think aluminum) engineered pair of over-ears. The 470g weight put us in a fix as this is a unit likely meant for the home rather than to be used on the road. Powered by a 50mm dynamic driver and 14mm 'super tweeter', they promise a more than decent level of sound quality. The price is also more than decent at a heart-stopping USD 1,200.

Noise-Canceling
Sony - h.ear on Wireless NC is as it says. Despite being a pair of digital noise canceling Bluetooth headphones, it still offers an impressive 20h of battery life. They are available in the same colors as its wired brethren released last year. Available in May.

In-Ears

Noise Canceling Immersion Part 1 - Sony MDR-EX750NA

January 04, 2016

Sony released a new audio product lineup called h.ear earlier in September 2015 of which the noise canceling h.ear in NC (MDR-EX750NA) earphones is one of. As Part 1 of the Noise Canceling Immersion series of articles, we dive in to see how this SGD 199 unit fares.

Pros (+): Effective noise canceling; Trendy looking; Easy on the wallet.
Cons (-): No volume controls; Overly long cable.

Design
The unboxing was done on a pre-production unit as you can see from the pink cross placements, likely meant for the product name.

Opening the flaps at the bottom allow you to slide out a solid black box with a lid that opens like a book. Flip this to unveil the earphones proper. Out of the 5 available colors available, we received the vibrant Viridian Blue.

On opening the white plastic layer by a tab, this reveals the full packaging contents consisting of:
- Sony h.ear in NC earphones
- Charging cable
- Clip
- Plug adaptor for in-flight use
- Silicon Eartips (SS / S / M / L) - we're gonna guess 'SS' stands for super small?
- Carrying pouch
- User guide

The h.ear in NC is relatively heavier than conventional in-ears at 27g and that's excluding the cable heft. The bulk is from the battery unit (yes, the item that looks like a chewing gum stick) which weighs 16.3g while earbuds themselves are pretty lightweight at 5.1g.

I felt the cable was excessively long at 1.5m, at least if your usage is for commuting and you'd rather avoid cable tangles as far as possible.

Features
The Sony MDR-EX750NA automatic AI noise canceling is undeniably the main selling point of this unit. They include two noise sensors, one exterior-facing and the other sitting on the underside next to the flange tips. These will detect, analyze the ambient sound and automatically select the most effective of 3 noise canceling modes for your needs. The modes in question are A. Airplane, B. Bus/train and C. Office environment. We talk more about its effectiveness later.

Moving down the cable, the Y-connector is actually a 5.4g control unit which features the power switch to activate the noise canceling. When flicked on, the status LED will be green and there will be an accompanying beep.

At the back, we get a multi-function button that controls the playback and calls for Android and iOS devices. It's great that Sony made it platform neutral but the flipside is there are no volume controls. Oh, and the tiny hole is the microphone for answering calls.

Close to the end of the cable is the battery unit. Its base consists of a rubber piece that swivels away for the charging cable to connect to the micro-USB port.

Performance
Out of the 4 ear tips available, the Medium ones suited best so this was a constant in our tests. I gotta say that comfort-wise, the MDR-EX750NA ear buds fit is great for an extended period (1h or so) of listening.

We tried the noise canceling in two areas:
1. Inside a controlled environment (a car) where Stereolab's Parsec was playing in the vehicle.
2. At the back of a bus where the engine is revving frequently.
In both conditions, we did not play music in order to test the active noise canceling.

The result is that the Sony h.ear in NC gave a slightly audible hiss. Sound-wise, while the high frequencies are still easily heard, the bass from Parsec is reduced considerably. The noise canceling is pretty effective.

Audio quality was then tested when the noise canceling was on. Hozier's Take Me To Church provides a good level of bass as I would expect from a pair of Sony in-ears. However, the vocals didn't come across too cleanly for my liking.

The provided grey clip is recommended to be placed above the control unit as per the user guide. We'd have to say this is certainly needed if you want to significantly reduce the microphonics when you are walking. Without the clip, I was able to hear a knocking sound on each heel strike.

The charging unit contains a single LED which lights red when charging. According to the specs, charging time is approx 2.5 hours for a decent 16 hours of noise canceling usage. If time is a constraint, a 1 hour quick charge will give 10 hours.

The typically efficient and detailed Sony user guide illustrates the charge remaining based on the blinks seen. It can tell you whether the charge is full (3 blinks), mid (2), low (1) or empty (blinks for 30s with a 2s beep).

Overall
Sony's colorful h.ear in NC product is clearly geared for a trendier demographic. While it has no volume controls, there are clear benefits where you get a competent noise canceling pair of earphones in a competitively priced package.

Audio Sources
Parsec - Stereolab (Tidal 1411kbps FLAC) on Samsung Galaxy S4
Take Me To Church - Hozier (Tidal 1411kbps FLAC) on iPad Air

Where To Buy

If you like what you have read, do feel free to support me by buying from Amazon via this affiliate link.

Credit to Sony, WE Communications for an evaluation unit.

Noise Canceling Immersion - A 3-Part Series
Part 1 - Sony h.ear in NC (MDR-EX750NA)
Part 2 - Bose QuietComfort 20 (QC 20)
Part 3 - Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H3 ANC
The Verdict

Bang & Olufsen

Noise Canceling Immersion - A 3-Part Series

December 29, 2015

Beats

2015 Holiday Gift Guide - Portable Audio

December 20, 2015

As Christmas beckons and 2015 comes to an end, let's take a look at some great portable audio gear you can gift for your loved ones. Not sure what to get? Fret not! We break down a few choices for each persona.

Merry X'mas folks!

Fashionistas
1. Beats Solo 2 Wireless (SGD 490)
This model is a head turner with the variants like the Active Collection (for sports lovers), and Luxe Editions (for a more premium look) being recently released.

2. Sennheiser MOMENTUM On Ear (M2) (SGD 319)
The MOMENTUM series is helluva looker and why change a proven formula? And they haven't, given its design has been around since 2013.

3. Master & Dynamic MH30 (SGD 549)
This New York company is certainly going places with its premium design. Want something novel? It ain't seen very much in Singapore (yet).

No Cables Please (Wireless)
1. Bose SoundLink on-ear Bluetooth (SGD 379)
The OE SoundLink is one of the best in the wireless on-ears category for sound delivery. The price is very decent too.

2. Sennheiser URBANITE XL Wireless (SGD 419)
They are great headphones for street wear and high quality sound over Bluetooth makes for good icing on the cake.

3. Sony MDR-1ABT (SGD 499)
A good choice for a multitude of reasons - It's comfortable, it supports aptX and LDAC codecs and it's a Sony.

Sports Lovers
1. Jaybird X2 Wireless (SGD 259)
These rank right up there for sports earbuds. They are highly customizable and the Comply foam tips offer great noise isolation and fit.

2. LG Tone Active (SGD 189)
The space-age looking TONE series has been a killer product for LG. What better way to improve it than to make a sports variant?

3. Jabra Sport Coach (SGD 248)
It's pretty hard to find an effective product that gives an integrated software and hardware fitness solution.

Users On-The-Go (Noise Canceling)
1. Bose QuietComfort 25 (SGD 529)
The QC25 blocks off sound to the extent that you feel you're in a world of your own.

2. Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 (SGD 699)
This is a premium looking pair to be seen with. Oh, and it's great to use on an airplane where the engine hum is just taken away.

3. Sony h.ear in NC (MDR-EX750NA)
This really light pair of in-ears works wonders on the train. Once you flick the switch on, the train grinding sounds are magically reduced.