Review – When you use headphones to listen to music, do you turn up the volume? Hearing experts say that loud noises can cause permanent damage to your hearing. But how loud is it? Well, the answer is a bit complicated. The sound is measured in decibels (dB), too high a measurement value may be harmful.However, lower numbers can be equally harmful After awhile. For example, hearing 94 decibels (electric drill) in one hour is as harmful as hearing 106 decibels at 3.75 minute. Wow.
So, when listening to headphones, how do you know how loud and safe they are? There are some gadgets that can measure the decibel of a headphone speaker, but there is an easier way. A company called Meters introduced a headset with a built-in decibel meter in each earmuff. OV-1-B-Connect headphones not only have a cool retro atmosphere, but they can actually let you know the volume of music and help protect your hearing.
what is it?
Meters OV-1-B-Connect (who came up with these names?) Bluetooth earphone With active noise reduction (ANC). It has 40mm speaker drivers and is surrounded by thick earmuffs. The structure is artificial leather, aluminum and high-quality aluminum plastic to reduce weight. The headband is also very thick. Comes with a hard case, micro USB charging and 3.5 mm audio cable. The box says there is a USB to jack listening cable, but it is not in my box. iOS and Android apps provide 5-band equalizer and meter color controller.
glasses
- Active noise reduction
- 40mm speaker
- IOS and Android apps
- 3.5 mm audio cable with microphone
- Weight: 0.8 pounds
- Battery life: 16 hours — Standby: 28 hours
- Bluetooth: 5.0 aptX
Design and features
I like some aspects of Meters OV-1-B-Connect earphones, some aspects I don’t like, and some aspects I don’t know much about.
To be honest, you buy Meters headphones to enjoy the cool factor with these two built-in VU meters (volume units). The gauges look great and can work as advertised-if a little sensitive at times. Wear these when commuting and people will notice-they are so different. Please note that if you listen at a low volume, the meter will not detect any sound and will not move with the audio. On my iPhone, the volume must be at least 50% before the meter will record any movement. In addition, when you are wearing headphones, only other people will see the cool meter on your head.
The controls are quite simple to operate. The left earmuff has placed play/pause and volume/skip/repeat buttons around the meter. The play button also doubles as a call answer/disconnect button.
The padding on the Meters headset is impressive.The earmuffs are super soft and have excellent sound insulation-this is it before ANC is activated! The headband is also softly padded. The only downside is that the head clamp is a bit too tight for my head and it becomes noticeably uncomfortable after an hour or so. I asked my wife-a migraine sufferer-to try them on, and she immediately disliked them. I tried stretching the headbands to make them more comfortable, but they are still tight. Of course, I didn’t pull them too tight—I didn’t want to break them.
Speaking of ANC-it works very well. A good way to test the noise reduction effect is to turn it off, there is no sound from the headphones, and then turn on ANC. With Meters headphones, the air conditioner and other buzzing noises in my house disappeared. Because the meter has good passive noise isolation, activating ANC when playing music is not so dramatic. You can argue that ANC is not even needed in my quiet house. However, in commuting, air travel or noisy environments, ANC will obviously be welcomed.
On some headphones, when ANC is turned on, it will reduce the audio quality. This is not the case with Meter’s headset. With ANC turned on or off, I cannot detect any significant difference in music quality.
Meters provides iOS and Android apps that allow you to adjust the audio with a 5-band equalizer and an LED color slider that can change the color indicator on the VU meter of the earmuffs. Unfortunately, that’s all. There are no environment or ANC controls in the application.
The audio quality is very good-the price of the OV-1-B-Connect headset is at the top. Meter’s 400 mm dynamic speakers provide slightly warmer bass (adjustable in the app). The impedance is only 32 ohms, so they can be easily powered by any smartphone or tablet (wired or wireless). However, as good as they sound, they lack the “Oh my God!” factor that I sometimes get in this price range.
The Meters headset includes Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD, which helps Bluetooth sound as good as possible. Unfortunately, Apple devices do not include aptX. However, most Android devices will do. Over the years, as Bluetooth has improved, aptX has become less important.
Bluetooth connection is easy—unless you connect to multiple devices—and then it becomes complicated. One night, I put on Meter’s headphones and listened to some music. My iPhone shows that the headset is paired. The app even says it is paired.Yes earphones used to be Pairing-but not my iPhone. The result is that the Meter’s headset is paired with my iPad, and my iPad is in sleep mode…in another room.What I want to do is to re-pair the Meters headset to the iPhone, but it won’t pair unless I pair it completely deleted Pair from my iPad. Only then will the headset be paired with the iPhone-even if it says it is always paired! After learning my lesson, I will now only pair Meters headphones with my iPhone. However, I should not do this.
One thing I don’t understand is that turning on and off the Meters headset does not work properly. ANC or on/off button will turn on the headset, but it needs to be on/off at the same time with The ANC button turns it off-even if the voice prompt tells you to “turn off the power”. Therefore, if you switch only one button to turn off the headset, the VU meter will stay on, draining the battery.
what do I like
- Easily listen to audio
- VU watch is cool
- VU meter lamp color can be changed
What will i change
- Two buttons are required to completely turn off the headset
- Charging is via Micro USB instead of USB-C
- The audio cable is missing from the box
Final thoughts
The Meters OV-1-B-Connect headset said: “Look at me!” It’s not subtle, but it Yes Cool. Plus it sounds good. If you can loosen the clip and solve the pairing problem, this headset may become as cool as it looks.
price: USD 349.99
Where to buy: Amazon
source: The sample of this product is made by Meter.
