Beyerdynamic’s $1,200 Wireless Earbuds Still Come With Wires

Those who kick about the sound quality of wireless earbuds are missing the point . There are obviously better sounding earphone options out there , but it ’s the convenience of telegram - free flyspeck earbuds that consumers have sweep up . Beyerdynamic ’s 2d generationXelento Wirelessthinks it can bear both : wireless convenience with audiophile quality sound , but we have some fear .

The most obvious number with the $ 1,200 Xelento Wireless earbuds is that you ’re paying $ 1,200 for wireless earbuds that technically are n’t completely wireless . Like some of the earliest ‘ wireless ’ options to hit the market ( before the launching of truly cable system - free option from Earin , Bragi , and finally Apple ) , the Xelento Wireless buds — the office that really sit down in your spike — are tethered by two short wires to a neckstrap that holds the batteries and Bluetooth hardware .

So while they do n’t need to be physically connected to a smartphone or other audio root ( which is still an choice if you opt for the$1,000 Xelento Remote rather , or grease one’s palms a freestanding five pole Pentaconn cable to plug in the buds to a hifi organisation ) it does n’t experience right to refer to them as truly wireless . The one advantage to this approach is that it means the bud themselves can instead prioritise size , quilt , and audio ironware , instead of own to grind away all their functionality into such a small blank space . The neckband also promises a firm 14 hours of playback on a single guardianship , although if you ’re off from a power seed for a while , you wo n’t have a charging case swallow up in a pocket to quickly top them back up .

Image:Beyerdynamic

Our other business concern is that , despite the use of the company ’s miniaturize Telsa audio engineering with 11 - millimeter drivers in each bud plus gold - plated wad , silverish - plat cables , and a sum of 10 pair of interchangeable eartips , the Xelento Wireless are still strung-out on Bluetooth : a wireless engineering that has been more or less shoehorn into bring home the bacon over - the - air audio rescue . The neckband boast a built - in digital - to - analog convertor with an amplifier fromAKMand backup for codecs like LHDC , Qualcomm aptXTM HD , and aptXTM , but those are all still compressed codecs , and anyone willing to drop $ 1,200 on earbuds will be trying to keep off audio compressing at all costs .

Although we have n’t try out them in person , there ’s lilliputian doubt that Beyerdynamic has created a exquisitely tune up and beautifully craft pair of wireless earbuds here . But the Xelento Wireless are going to be a heavy sell , even to those felicitous to splurge on their audio gear . The tetheredXelento Remoteversion might actually be the dependable option here , as they come in at $ 300 flash thanSennheiser ’s IE 900 earbuds , which deliver a set of agiotage and awesome sounding bud in materials like mill aluminium instead of the 24 - carat atomic number 79 that Beyerdynamic has put into its latest and expectant .

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Image: Beyerdynamic