Shure Aonic 40 Headphone Review: A Worthy Flagship Alternative

There hasn’t been a shake-up within the premium wi-fi energetic noise-cancelling headphone scene in a somewhat very long time. Anybody that is aware of a minimum of a bit of in regards to the trade might in all probability record the businesses and their merchandise that sit atop most critics and reviewers ‘better of’ lists. In case you’re attempting to do this now and stated Sony, Bose, Apple, and Sennheiser, you’d be spot on.

However that hasn’t stopped different firms from attempting to compete for a spot among the many greatest. Shure is a type of firms with its Aonic vary of merchandise. We’ve spent a while with Shure’s over-ear Aonic 40 headphones to search out out in the event that they deserve a spot in these lists. Unsurprisingly, the reply is dependent upon a number of issues.

Seems the half

Most individuals shopping for premium wi-fi headphones will need to get their cash’s value in a minimum of a number of standards. That’s what makes them ‘premium’ in spite of everything.

Shure’s designers have opted for an understated look with the Aonic 40. They’re nice sufficient to take a look at for the few seconds between taking it out of the case and plonking it in your head. The ear cups will envelop all however the largest ears and have a slight lip that serves as a spot to place the bodily management buttons.

The scarf, which attaches to the again of every cup, follows the cup’s contours because it curves up and over till it meets a hinge on both aspect. Hinges imply the headphones can fold up of their case, taking on much less area in your journey bag. This design additionally permits for a great quantity of ear cup motion, making a snug match simpler to acquire on different-sized heads. Whether or not or not you’ll discover them snug will rely on you, and the way a lot you want your head being squeezed.

Whereas a powerful clamping power often helps with noise isolation, we discovered the Aonic 40 to be a bit of too tight after some time. This brought on some discomfort and made taking common breaks obligatory. Although, this may not be the case for everybody and will dissipate with long-term use.

Out there in both black and silver or white, silver, and tan colourways, Shure’s Aonic 40 have a premium-feeling all-plastic building, save for the fake foam on the ear cups and headband. Throughout regular use, the development felt sturdy sufficient for us to not fear about an unintentional drop and we didn’t discover any creaking or cracking.

Surprisingly succesful

We have been pleasantly shocked by the audio efficiency from the Aonic 40. We had some preconceived concepts about how we anticipated them to sound however have been fortunately confirmed incorrect. Though we have been initially impressed with the considerably correct tuning out of the field, crucial listening will reveal a slight ‘V-shaped’ response.

As a fast reference, the ‘accuracy’ we’re referring to is how intently the headphone’s frequency response matches the ‘Harmon goal curve’. It is a scientifically researched frequency response goal that depicts the optimum sound signature that most individuals desire. It was developed by Dr. Sean Olive and his staff at Harman Audio in 2013. You possibly can learn extra about it right here.

That ‘V-shaped’ tuning leads to some emphasis on the bass and excessive frequencies. This emphasis was pretty remoted and didn’t prolong throughout everything of both frequency vary, however it’s nonetheless perceptible to a crucial ear. However that’s to not say it’s fully a nasty factor.

The Aonic 40 typically presents a great informal listening expertise in just about any style. And if you would like extra management, you’ll be able to have it by way of the ShurePlus PLAY companion app. The app presents a wonderful quantity of EQ customization. There are a number of EQ presets to select from or you’ll be able to duplicate, modify and save a preset or create your individual from scratch.

Packed to the brim

The app additionally shows battery life, accommodates a useful information for the button controls, and presents controls for switching between listening modes. You possibly can forego the listening modes (which we did whereas testing the sound high quality) or you’ll be able to go for the adjustable ANC or ‘atmosphere’ modes.

We discovered the Aonic 40’s ANC efficiency to be somewhat mediocre. In our pretty quiet workplace, enabling ANC did reduce the drone of the generator exterior throughout load shedding, however we nonetheless managed to comply with a lot of the workplace conversations. We additionally discovered that the ANC mode affected audio playback and was affected by our altering head place. In case you’re transferring your head round lots this will turn out to be somewhat annoying so we principally stored ANC off. That highly effective clamping power does assist a bit of with noise isolation however that is one space the place the Aonic 40 can’t fairly match the competitors.

Different helpful options embrace assist for connecting to a number of units concurrently by way of Bluetooth connection, a function we want was extra commonplace. In our assessments, with the headset related to our Galaxy S23 Extremely and Asus TUF laptop computer, it switched from our laptop computer to our smartphone robotically after we acquired a name whereas listening to music. After the decision, we resumed music playback on the laptop computer and it switched again. What extra might you want?

Shure claims the Aonic 40 can final for “as much as” 25 hours on a single cost. We didn’t have a stopwatch going for all the evaluate however we managed to get via most of a full workweek with round six hours of use a day, the odd telephone name, ANC disabled, and Bluetooth multipoint enabled earlier than needing a cost. Your outcomes might fluctuate, particularly for those who allow ANC.

And if you do ultimately have to recharge them, quarter-hour will internet you roughly 5 hours of playback time. In case you’re working low on juice and aren’t close to an outlet, you can too change to a wired reference to the included 3.5mm aux or USB-C cable however that’s going to have an effect on the audio efficiency.

Shure Aonic 40 verdict

In any case that, we suppose we must always in all probability reply our query of whether or not the Shure Aonic 40 deserves a spot in ‘better of’ lists among the many likes of Sony, Sennheiser, and Bose. As a lot as we appreciated the comparatively correct tuning, we’d be mendacity if we stated we’d choose the Aonic 40 over Sony’s WH-1000XM5 (R9,500) or Bose’s QuietComfort 45 (R9,000) headphones based mostly on ANC and audio efficiency respectively. Shure’s nice function set and companion app aren’t sufficient to tug the Aonic 40 forward.

However each these headphones are costlier than the Aonic 40. When yow will discover one domestically, you’ll be able to anticipate to pay round R8,000, relying on the place you look.

So, if we have been to compile an inventory of ‘premium headphone alternate options’, the Aonic 40 would have a a lot better likelihood at making that record than attempting to compete with the trade titans.