Microsoft Surface Headphones review: An excellent debut
Our Verdict
While they don't rise to the standard set past Bose and Sony, the Microsoft Surface Headphones are a pleasant surprise with solid sound and noise cancellation.
For
- Spacious soundstage
- Adaptable dissonance cancellation
- Innovative dial and touch on controls
- Excellent connectivity
- Comfy and premium design
- Supports multiple Bluetooth devices
Against
- Battery life is lower than the contest's
- Cortana app is necessary for nigh features
- Bass can come up on too strong
Tom's Guide Verdict
While they don't rise to the standard set by Bose and Sony, the Microsoft Surface Headphones are a pleasant surprise with solid sound and dissonance cancellation.
Pros
- +
Spacious soundstage
- +
Adaptable noise cancellation
- +
Innovative dial and impact controls
- +
Excellent connectivity
- +
Comfortable and premium pattern
- +
Supports multiple Bluetooth devices
Cons
- -
Battery life is lower than the competition's
- -
Cortana app is necessary for most features
- -
Bass tin come up on too strong
Riding on the success of the Surface brand, Microsoft has expanded its accomplish into the audio space with the Surface Headphones. Engineered in-business firm by the Surface team, these agile racket-cancelling cans borrow much of the same pattern elements as the product'southward calculating brethren, while bringing along dynamic sound and unique controls.
The result is a stylish set of cans with solid sound operation and surprisingly potent active noise cancellation. Just can the Surface Headphones compete against category savants such as the Bose QuietComfort35 Ii and Sony WH-1000XM3?
They're close, which is why they initially fabricated our lists of best headphones, best wireless headphones and all-time noise cancelling headphones. Just newer models take since replaced the three-year-one-time Surface Headphones.
Microsoft must have taken discover. It just unveiled the Surface Headphones two, a follow-upward to the pair in this review with a longer bombardment life, improve ANC levels and live caption applied science.
Design
Combining adaptive ergonomics with durable build quality and a sleek platinum end, the Surface Headphones are an attractive pair of cans. My but wish was that they came in the same sexy Blackness color scheme as the Surface Pro 6. But their truthful beauty is in the details, and the Surface Headphones have several that you'll spend fourth dimension admiring.
The cans' construction consists of aluminum (extenders), plastic (ear cups) and steel (headband). Each ane of these components is firm and pliable, ensuring the pair survive whatever corruption you put them through. The soft-touch on exterior feels swell, plus the metal and plastic give off a overnice shine gene that plays into the headphones' premium appearance.
Adding to their charm is the silver Windows logo, which is more eye-catching than Bose's and Sony's imprints. The distinct arc above the ear cups also makes the headphones stand out when worn. Final, the headphones maintain a uniform build. Every component looks molded together, different the Bose QuietComfort 35 Two headphones, where you tin see just virtually every screw in the frame.
Combining adaptive ergonomics with durable build quality and a sleek platinum terminate, the Surface Headphones are an attractive pair of cans.
Microsoft bundles its cans with a handful of accessories, including an auxiliary and USB Type-C cable that come beautifully displayed inside a chic, woven travel instance. The control sail slipped inside with the accessories pouch is a crafty touch most owners volition appreciate.
Comfort and Fit
At 10.2 ounces, the Surface Headphones aren't particularly light. And then again, neither is the QC35 II (viii.2 ounces) nor the Sony WH-1000XM3 (nine ounces). In whatsoever case, the Surface Headphones offer the same relaxed comfort as the device'southward adversaries.
Permit'southward offset with the soft memory foam around the ear cups. It's plush and has a pillowy experience that'due south soothing on the ears. The WH-1000XM3 has an oval cutout, while the Surface Headphones boast a large, circular cutout.
The latter is more benign for two reasons: It accommodates wider ear sizes and prevents the padding from applying pressure to the cartilage in your ears. Unfortunately, this likewise provides little breathing room, creating a hot, sweaty environs for your ears. It can go muggy upwards at that place if you article of clothing it for more than one-half of the twenty-four hour period.
MORE: Best Headphones - Top Earbuds and Headphones
The headband has firm padding, which ensured the headphones locked onto my skull. Playing with the extenders was cardinal to achieving a snug still comfy fit. In one case settled on the correct notch, the headband conformed to my noggin without applying unwanted pressure. I wore them for about 5 hours daily without ever feeling fatigued.
Intuitive Controls
The Surface team members outdid themselves past incorporating dial controls and a bear on interface on both ear cups. The volume knob on the right raises sound when dialed forward and lowers sound when turned backward. The left knob works the same to accommodate active noise counterfoil. Each operates readily and precisely.
1 of my favorite features of the WH-1000XM3 is the touch console, and I was stoked to hear that the Surface Headphones wield the same trait. The luxury of managing calls and music playback from either side is convenient. The tap gestures are elementary to larn: play/pause (tap once), respond call/skip song (tap twice), previous track (tap iii time) and actuate Cortana/turn down call (long press).
I as well discovered y'all tin initiate the play/pause function by performing round gestures on the pad. While the Surface Headphones controls are responsive in execution, I thought the inclusion of swipe gestures on the WH-1000XM3'south controls immune them to piece of work more than smoothly and better optimize the technology.
Completing the command scheme are an sound jack, charging port, battery notification button and ability push below the correct ear cup. Holding down the latter for xx seconds volition factory reset the headphones.
More: Best Dissonance-Cancelling Headphones
There's also a smart-pause feature that stops music whenever you lot're taking the cans off your head – something Plantronics has done with its BackBeat Go serial for many years. It'southward pretty accurate and pauses media when you're removing one ear cup for those moments when yous have to interact with the outside world.
Agile Racket Cancellation
Microsoft has initiated serious steps to make its sound silencers special – integrating eight microphones into the design to produce thirteen levels of active noise cancellation. Four of those are beamforming mics that assistance improve voice clarity. The technology works well for neutralizing sound, but it's not as refined as Bose's or Sony's.
Most of the ruckus effectually me was silenced when I sported the headphones exterior. I could barely hear any rush-hour traffic when heading to the subway, and the sound of aroused commuters was muted on the train ride home. Wind was an unavoidable obstacle with the WH-1000XM3, simply not with the Surface headphones. The mics weren't affected by drafty conditions and let me mind to Spotify when I was out and nigh, much like my feel with the QC35 II.
The active dissonance cancelling works well, but it's non as refined as Bose's and Sony's.
The Surface Headphones come up programmed with an Ambient Noise mode, directing external audio from your surroundings into the headphones. It'southward a clever feature that'south also institute on the WH-1000XM3, which comes in handy when you want to hear ecology fracas or someone talk, but but at depression volume. I wasn't able to identify certain noises when I was blasting music. There was also some noticeable hissing in the background when I was enabling the mode.
Racket Isolation
The Surface Headphones ' noise isolation is skilful, merely the QC35 Ii and WH-1000XM3 do it better. The headphones blocked about lxx percent of sound in the streets. Even so, I walked through rowdy crowds unbothered, although I was interrupted by church bells. Structure sites and nearby ambulance sirens besides pulled me away from my music. Indoors, I could barely hear my door buzzer or girlfriend chatting with her mom on the telephone.
Audio Operation
Does the sound quality on Microsoft's headphones friction match what Bose and Sony offer? No. Nor should whatever audiophile expect that. Be that as information technology may, the Surface Headphones do an impressive chore of delivering powerful bass and spacious audio for an immersive listening experience.
Revving upwardly the audio are forty-millimeter, gratis-border speaker drivers that Microsoft claims are "engineered for rich, clear acoustics." Information technology's a fairly accurate claim, although the sound profile places more than emphasis on the low stop. That being the instance, it only seemed correct to test some hip-hop and rock songs.
Frequencies were well-counterbalanced on the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Wing," creating a lively atmosphere spearheaded past crashing howdy-hats and energetic riffs. The headphones elevated the sound performance of N.W.A.'due south "Alwayz Into Somethin'" by placing the spotlight on the song's entrancing, high-pitched synths without compromising vocals.
Frequencies were well-balanced on the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly," creating a lively atmosphere spearheaded by crashing hello-hats and energetic riffs.
The headphones exercise become a flake overzealous with bass at times. Records like The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Get" presented plenty of smash, only the guitar portions created some distortion. Mids and highs on the Jackson five's "I Want You Back" were hidden behind the vocal's iconic bass line. The groundwork vocals had no presence during the chorus, leaving Michael Jackson's voice to comport the unabridged vocal.
One merchandise-off with having such powerful sonics: noise leakage. Lots of sound bleeds out of these cans. At max volume, my girlfriend could really place what I was playing from several feet away. Information technology also managed to disrupt my true cat'southward daytime nap. Using the aux cablevision was a quieter solution, in spite of the fact that bass and volume sounded much lower than when it was in wireless mode.
One trade-off with having such powerful sonics: noise leakage.
Cortana App
The Cortana mobile app has a plethora of settings to configure, command and prepare the headphones. Yous'll stumble upon shortcut sections to engage Skill actions (organize emails, weather updates); link to music services (Spotify, iHeart); connect to calendars (Outlook, Gmail); and all-time of all, customize the soundstage.
Opening the Equalizer carte gives you access to five sound presets – Classical, Jazz, Flat, Pop and Rock – as well as the option to create and salvage your ain sound profile. Tweaking the different frequencies for each preset helped amend instrument separation and vocal clarity, especially on bass-heavy tracks. Being able to relieve these changes to a contour and carry it over onto another media device is dope.
Digital Assistants
The Surface Headphones back up Cortana, Siri and Google Assistant. Long-pressing either affect pad or saying the proper wake phrase (like "Hey Google Assistant") activates the feature and lets you shoot out commands. All three operate similarly, though Cortana extends functionality to additional services and skills. Having the ability to get LinkedIn updates, monitor stocks and create voice shortcuts is sweet.
The Cortana experience feels more fluid on Android than on iOS and macOS. Siri often struggled to recognize my voice at times – information technology somehow mistook "Play 'Black Star' on iTunes" for "Play Plex." My Pixel 3 XL was more cognizant of commands and registered well-nigh without a hitch.
Battery Life
Microsoft promises up to xv hours on a full accuse. It's a sufficient amount for a week's worth of moderate listening, but withal comes in shorter than the QC35 II (20 hours) and WH-1000XM3 (30 hours). Just the combination of Cortana and ANC take a toll on the bombardment. Luckily, using the headphones in wired manner gets y'all 50 hours of noise cancellation.
MORE: nine Cheap Noise-Canceling Headphones (Under $200), Ranked Best to Worst
The Surface Headphones gave me 11 hours of listening time right out of the box, which was great for three days of consequent listening. USB Type-C charging is another clutch feature most will appreciate. I received a full accuse in nearly an hour and a half. Meanwhile, the WH-1000XM3 requires close to 3 hours for 100 percent battery life.
Call Quality
Taking calls on the Surface Headphones is a mixed affair. They perform amend than the WH-1000XM3, just not likewise as the QC35 II. Conversations on Skype were clear – non so much on telephone calls. Ii friends said my voice sounded muffled when we were chatting outside, and thought I was on speakerphone. However, the mics picked up vocals better in quieter areas. My girlfriend heard me fine when I chosen from inside the apartment, but she could tell I was on a headset, due to some minor hissing in the background.
Connectivity
Pairing the Surface Headphones was seamless. You're instantly placed into pairing fashion when you power them on for the first time. Even cooler is the power to pair them with up to 10 devices simultaneously. Unremarkably, this causes problems between audio sources, only I was able to stream Spotify from my Pixel 3XL smoothly while decision-making playback via my MacBook Pro.
As seamless as the connectivity is, it's a bummer to see Bluetooth 5.0 missing from the Surface Headphones' spec sheet. Instead, you get Bluetooth 4.2, which still promotes stable connectivity and up to 30 feet of wireless listening. Information technology'due south worth noting that headphones surpassed this range and hitting the 35-human foot mark before dropping out.
Bottom Line
First impressions are everything, and the Microsoft Surface Headphones offering more than enough bells and whistles to capture your interest. They have the firepower and features they need to challenge Bose and Sony, but still crave a few more upgrades in the sound and noise-cancelling departments earlier they tin can be considered to be a truthful threat.
Noise cancelling aside, these cans are a notable feat in headphone engineering that shouldn't go ignored. The pattern is stalwart and upscale, making them a sleek companion for any Surface or MacBook. I also liked the fast charging, intuitive controls and broad soundstage.
All things considered, if you want future-proof headphones with dependable noise cancelling and strong audio performance, the $350 Surface Headphones are a noteworthy pickup. Simply know that for the same cost, y'all can go better ANC and audio from the QC35 Two and WH-1000XM3.
Credit: Microsoft
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/microsoft-surface-headphones,review-5963.html
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