Traditionally, I've always been a firm believer in sticking with corded headphone options! In the early days of Blutooth Audio the quality was almost always noticeably less than traditional corded options. However, there's been a lot of advancement over the years with impressive products like the iFi xDXD I figured it was finally time to give wireless headphones a listen.
Regrettably, I didn't find my self too impressed with the Crabot headphone. While I'm sure there are brands at this price point built well, this certainly isn't one such brand.
The plastic housing feels cheap and flimsy. The buttons are quite stiff and noisy, the sorta work most of the time. The Blutooth connection works as does the cable. Functionally I can't quite say how much of a difference the ANC made as I couldn't quite get a good seal on the headphone.
In fact, in terms of sound quality I can't say the Crabot sounded good either. There was an excessive and loose bass response alongside a muffled mid range and over emphasized top end. In fact it's presentation even distorted voices mid call, so the call quality wasn't even on par with my cell phones ear speaker. Frankly I found my Koss Porta Pro to be more convenient, better sounding and better built than this headphone despite costing less.
Each headphone paired easily with cell phone and seamlessly switched from calls to media within and well beyond a reasonable range of 15 feet or so.
The Sennheiser features a physical interface with hard buttons and toggle switches which I personally enjoyed and found more straight forward and intuitive.
In terms of comfort I found the Sennheiser smaller with a cozy snug fit and a lot of passive isolation, an functionally the HD 4.50BT set's it self apart by feeding speech and other discernible noise from it's mic into call or media audio. So with the ANC activated I was able to clearly hear my content but also still hear the world around me, albeit at a much quieter but still very discernible level. Overall it did a good job isolating me from ambient noise while still allowing me to hear important sounds within my environment.
I also find the HD4.50 BT easier to commute with as it folds up more evenly and has a small compact mesh case it fits within.
The Audio Technica ANC 700BT was physically larger but noticeably lighter, with a looser fit. An despite the looser fit I did find the ANC700BT provided more active isolation. So in busier environments it excelled at maintaining clarity at all times.
Rather than buttons, toggles and switches the ANC700BT features all controls built into the earcup. An often times a lighter more decisive touch allowed for quicker response from this system.
While I didn't find it more intuitive, quite a few friends who tried both headphones did prefer the embedded touch controls. Finding them to be overall faster and easier to use.
Finally the overall call quality on the Audio Technica was clearer given the more aggressive noise cancellation. An while it does fold, it does so some what cumbersomely and fits into a very generic draw string case. So I didn't find it as easy to carry with me day to day.
Overall I found the HD 4.50 to be a bit dark, thick and more intimate over the brighter, more energetic and lean sounding ATH ANC700BT. Both benefited from some EQ and overall the HD 4.50BT remained a funner listen with the ANC700BT more resolving.
Out of the box I would say the ATHANC700BT was more detailed with the HD 4.50 having a richer tone.
Though how do they compared to similarly tuned cheaper wired headphones.
Starting with dark, thick and intimate. I found the E-MU Purple Heart noticeably more precise and open sounding, more resolving of detail, having better mid range clarity and low frequency texture compared to the HD4.50BT. With the HD 4.50BT sounding slightly muffled, closed in sounding and sometimes boomy in comparison.
So the question becomes is the convince worth the loss in sound quality. While EQ is able to help correct the HD4.50 it still doesn't perform as well across the board as the E-MU Purple Heart does.
On the flip side however, I found that the ATH ANC700BT did compare favorably to Sony MDR V6. Both offer a brighter, leaner more clarity focused presentation. An while the MDR V6 is ever so slightly more resolving and more precise in it's presentation, I did feel that ultimately with EQ the ANC700BT was a happy middle ground of both sound quality and convenience. Plus the Active isolation on the ATH ANC 700BT is much better!
While EQ will never give it a thick intimate presentation, it does help balance the overall tonal presentation and help align it with what you the listener prefers. So you get both exceptional call clarity, the convenience of wireless and a rather detailed but still enjoyable listen.
So in conclusion, if your in need of a wireless headset, limited to big box brands and your not opposed to using some EQ I can recommend the Audio Technica ANC700BT!
As always, your experience my vary and please leave any additional questions and comments you have below!
For this review I wanted to start with the most accessible brands I could! So I picked up a Sennheiser HD 4.50 BT from my local cell carrier, got an Audio Technica ATH ANC700BT from an industry friend after seeing it for sale at one of my local electronic shops and finally got a Crabot C5 after a very brief Amazon search.
That said, two of the products I did purchase on my own and the third from Audio Technica was a review sample sent out to me at no cost in exchange for my thoughts of it.
Non the less, my aim for this was to just take a brief look at some very well known options. There are a LOT of options for bluetooth headphones and I felt a good place to start was with brands I could find easily in brick an motor stores or from a very brief search. Especially given that I don't own or have much experience with bluetooth headphones.
As for pricing, right now the HD 4.50 BT sits around $80 and ANC700BT around $150. However I acquired both back when they were closer to their MSRP price or $199. The Crabot was and is still around $50. I felt it was a good addition to this review to see how a cheap product from a unknown but well rated brand on Amazon compared to products from established manufacturers.
When Buying Blind Backfires
The plastic housing feels cheap and flimsy. The buttons are quite stiff and noisy, the sorta work most of the time. The Blutooth connection works as does the cable. Functionally I can't quite say how much of a difference the ANC made as I couldn't quite get a good seal on the headphone.
In fact, in terms of sound quality I can't say the Crabot sounded good either. There was an excessive and loose bass response alongside a muffled mid range and over emphasized top end. In fact it's presentation even distorted voices mid call, so the call quality wasn't even on par with my cell phones ear speaker. Frankly I found my Koss Porta Pro to be more convenient, better sounding and better built than this headphone despite costing less.
I would certainly recommend either starting with a known brand if your short on time and need something quickly. Or doing some research if you have the time and want to find the very best deal. So given it's all around horrid performance I will be focusing purely on how the ATH ANC 700BT and HD 4.50BT compare to each other moving forward.
Build Quality and Function
Both the ATH ANC700BT and HD 4.50BT have a good in the hand feel. Plastic is light weight but not flimsy, gimbals and headphones have a smooth swivel and just enough flex to accommodate larger heads.
In terms of comfort I found the Sennheiser smaller with a cozy snug fit and a lot of passive isolation, an functionally the HD 4.50BT set's it self apart by feeding speech and other discernible noise from it's mic into call or media audio. So with the ANC activated I was able to clearly hear my content but also still hear the world around me, albeit at a much quieter but still very discernible level. Overall it did a good job isolating me from ambient noise while still allowing me to hear important sounds within my environment.
I also find the HD4.50 BT easier to commute with as it folds up more evenly and has a small compact mesh case it fits within.
Rather than buttons, toggles and switches the ANC700BT features all controls built into the earcup. An often times a lighter more decisive touch allowed for quicker response from this system.
While I didn't find it more intuitive, quite a few friends who tried both headphones did prefer the embedded touch controls. Finding them to be overall faster and easier to use.
Finally the overall call quality on the Audio Technica was clearer given the more aggressive noise cancellation. An while it does fold, it does so some what cumbersomely and fits into a very generic draw string case. So I didn't find it as easy to carry with me day to day.
Sound Quality
Now each of these headphones differed quite drastically with how they presented sound.Overall I found the HD 4.50 to be a bit dark, thick and more intimate over the brighter, more energetic and lean sounding ATH ANC700BT. Both benefited from some EQ and overall the HD 4.50BT remained a funner listen with the ANC700BT more resolving.
Out of the box I would say the ATHANC700BT was more detailed with the HD 4.50 having a richer tone.
Though how do they compared to similarly tuned cheaper wired headphones.
So the question becomes is the convince worth the loss in sound quality. While EQ is able to help correct the HD4.50 it still doesn't perform as well across the board as the E-MU Purple Heart does.
While EQ will never give it a thick intimate presentation, it does help balance the overall tonal presentation and help align it with what you the listener prefers. So you get both exceptional call clarity, the convenience of wireless and a rather detailed but still enjoyable listen.
So in conclusion, if your in need of a wireless headset, limited to big box brands and your not opposed to using some EQ I can recommend the Audio Technica ANC700BT!
As always, your experience my vary and please leave any additional questions and comments you have below!
