In the event you’re after a premium pair of noise cancelling over-ear headphones, the Shure Aonic 50 match the invoice. A leather-padded headband with stylised stitching and matching ear pads, exude model. The weighty construct at 334g may appear a priority however they’re snug even through the longest jam periods.
Audio efficiency is great, with tight bass, loads of toppy element and a melodious mid-range. Noise cancelling is solely passable though not fairly as environment friendly as some rival manufacturers. Battery life hits 20 hours with ANC engaged, which is down 10 hours in comparison with rival fashions, and Google Assistant is only a button press away. Bluetooth 5.0 helps aptX and aptXHD.
General, usability is nice with intuitive bodily controls for quantity, pairing and noise cancelling modes. One quirk of the design is that whereas the Aonic 50 fold flat, they don’t hinge right into a compact ball so travelling with them is a little bit of a problem.
Let’s break all of it down…
Shure Aonic 50 evaluation: Design
In some ways, the Shure Aonic 50 are love at first sight. The leather-based padded headband with stylised stitching and generously padded ear pads, are very rock‘n’roll.
The earpad hinge swivels flat for storage however they don’t fold down (as evidenced by their platter-style storage case). Rival headphones with a pivoting hinge might be stowed in a smaller house. This makes the Shure Aonic 50 one thing of a problem to journey with. By the use of compensation, the ear pads are detachable, which makes them simple to wash or change.
They Shure Aonic 50 are comparatively heavy at 334g, however they’re nonetheless snug sufficient to put on for extended intervals and have minimal clamping drive. Accessible in black, brown or white, the pads are properly matched to the cups.
Along with the big carry case, they arrive with a 3.5mm and USB-C cables.
Shure Aonic 50 evaluation: Options
Management comes by way of a crescent of bodily buttons on the appropriate ear pad, the place you’ll discover quantity, Bluetooth pairing and transport controls. Energetic Noise Cancelling is activated by a slider. It’s both on, in impartial or in Environmental mode, which is principally a transparency mode which lets you hear ambient noise.
Double urgent the facility button offers a spoken affirmation of battery life. Bluetooth is 5.0 and there’s help for a wide range of codecs together with aptX, hi-res aptXHD, aptX Low latency (to fight lip sync), SBC, AAC and LDAC. There’s additionally Bluetooth multipoint which permits two gadgets to attach concurrently. Battery life is rated at 20 hours with ANC on.
Urgent a raised button on the facility rocker calls up Google Assistant on the related smartphone, which is helpful if that you must ask for the placement of the closest dive bar.
You’ll need to use the Shure Aonic 50 with the accompanying ShurePlus app for iOS and Android. By this you can replace firmware, play media and entry EQ presets, though these solely apply to tracks performed by the app.
Noise cancelling is nice sufficient, helped by the passive isolation the thick ear pads supply. It’s highly effective sufficient to mute basic hubbub from the skin world. The Shure Aonic 50 cost over USB-C by way of the appropriate ear cup.
Shure Aonic 50 evaluation: Sound
I might describe the sound profile of Shure Aonic 50 as balanced, with spectacular decision and a melodious mid-range. I like the timbre of Jon Lord’s organ on Deep Purple’s Would possibly Simply Take Your Life from the 2004 remaster of Burn. The solo sounds contemporary and pressing, with layers of digital nuance. Musicality is great; Maneskin’s Gossip sounds tighter than a Lamé jumpsuit. There’s no fizz or fuzz at quantity.
The headphones even have wonderful bass response. Not over-emphasised, it’s deep and resonant. Low blows hit with spectacular accuracy and when the our bodies hit the ground, they land with a powerful thud. The variable noise cancelling mode really has fairly a pronounced impact on the soundstage.
I really desire the Shure Aonic 50 with noise cancelling set to Max, not solely when out and about, however throughout quiet room listening. In its Impartial place, there’s barely extra treble readability however the sound turns into agreeably heavier with noise cancellation is its prime place, which fits me tremendous.
A lot of their signature sound might be traced to the substantial 50mm dynamic drivers in play. That indignant guitar initially of Corey Taylor’s Speak Sick is sort of a punky drill to the facet of the pinnacle. It’s sharp and strong, precisely what you need from an excellent pair of headphones.
Shure Aonic 50 evaluation: The alternate options
The Shure Aonic 50 have their work reduce out on the larger finish of the headphone market. Their most evident competitors comes from the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2, which have a comparably elegant end, and are a tad lighter. They’re additionally hi-res succesful, work with Google Assistant and steal an edge in relation to battery life, sometimes providing round 30 hours. Nevertheless they’ve barely small drivers (40mm), and don’t sound fairly so sonically ahead because the Aonic 50.
It can save you much more money when you go for the JBL Tour Mk2. These wonderful noise cancelling headphones are elegant all-rounders; thrilling to hearken to and a pleasure to put on. As soon as once more battery life is best at 30 hours, however they’ll’t fairly compete with the hefty bass extension provided by the Aonic 50s.
