Copyright Forbes
Last month, headphone brand Sennheiser launched a new pair of wireless headphones aimed at the enthusiast market. The Sennheiser HDB 630 headphones are designed to produce audiophile-quality sound without the tangle of wires. The HDB 630 include advanced tuning features and have been designed with a comfortable fit. The new headphones have started shipping, so here’s a quick hands-on explaining what to expect. The HDB 630 headphones are aimed a notch above Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 headphones but share quite a few specifications. They are built around the same chassis as Sennheiser’s best-selling Momentum 4 headphones, but with a customized acoustic system designed for more focused wireless or wired listening. Sennheiser has equipped the HDB 630 with premium dynamic transducers with a diameter of 42mm. These aren’t just any off-the-shelf dynamic drivers, they are manufactured at Sennheiser’s advanced facility situated in Tullamore, Ireland. The transducers include acoustic treatments designed to deliver pure sound rather than the more popular V-shaped EQ tone curve. According to Sennheiser, the resulting sound is more of an agile listen with smoother midrange that makes vocals sound more open. The response of the drivers produces faster transients and a slightly sharper attack while serving up fidelity sound instead of over-the-top bass or a splashy treble. Neutral-sounding headphones take a little getting used to, but once your ears adjust, you probably won’t want to revert to more consumer-tuned headphones. MORE FOR YOU High-Res Sound The advanced dynamic drivers used in the HDB 630 are driven by a signal from a high-resolution digital audio engine that’s designed for wired and wireless use. Listeners can choose to connect the HDB 630s through their USB Type-C port or analog headphone cable, which means the headphones can be connected to a smartphone for digital reproduction or with the headphone jack of a hi-fi system. The DSP used in the HDB 630 supports digital music files with sampling rates of 96kHz 24-bit, making the headphones a suitable companion for streaming Hi-Res music services like Qobuz or Tidal. When it comes to wireless operation, the HDB 630 headphones support Bluetooth 5.2 and can be used with Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive codecs, offering CD-quality sound without wires. These new headphones are supplied with USB Type-C Bluetooth dongle supports high-end audio codecs like aptX Adaptive. This is good news for owners of smartphones because the dongle makes it possible to stream music over Bluetooth with the Qualcomm family of codecs instead of Apple’s AAC codec, which is hobbled at 48kHz. So, if you’ve always felt short-changed because your iPhone only uses the AAC codec, you can now plug in the Sennheiser dongle and upgrade to a sound that can rival wired headphones. According to Sennheiser, only around 16% of smartphones can support high-res wireless codecs like aptX Adaptive. Sennheiser’s decision to bundle a high-quality Bluetooth dongle with the HDB 630 makes them attractive to users of USB-C iPhones, iPads or Macs and PCs that lack Hi-Res codec support. Sound-Shaping Tools The HDB 630 can be used with Sennheiser’s companion Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app. The software provides a selection of shareable sound-shaping tools that let listeners experiment above and beyond the regular EQ presets or 5-band graphic equalizer. Inspired by Sennheiser’s flagship HE 1 headphones, the HDB 630 support the Crossfeed feature, which intelligently blends the left and right channels to produce a sound that’s more like listening to music through loudspeakers. This feature is useful when listening to hard-panned stereo mixes which can really tax the listener’s ears. Sennheiser’s Smart Control Plus app also includes a Parametric Equalizer that lets listeners boost and cut frequencies beyond the bands offered in traditional graphic EQ interfaces. The Parametric Equalizer has user-adjustable bandwidth controls and filter types. There is an A/B toggle that lets the listener compare different EQ settings. When the listener is happy with the adjustments they’ve set up, the settings can be uploaded to the headphones so the bespoke EQ settings are baked in no matter what device the user is streaming from. The Sennheiser app also lets users share their favorite custom EQ settings with fellow HDB 630 owners. Favorite presets can be exchanged using the Sennheiser app and a future update will offer preset sharing by generating a QR code for other users to scan. This makes the HDB 630 suitable for audiophiles who enjoy pursuing the tantalizing prospect of perfect sound. Using Smart Control Plus, users can also customize features like noise cancellation, on-head detection, codec preferences and other advanced options. Enjoy Your Flight A full charge of the HDB 630’s battery delivers around 60 hours of play time and a 10-minute burst charge can top up the headphones with up to 7 hours of playtime; handy if you are in a hurry and forgot to recharge your headphones. The HDB 630 headphones have an acoustically sealed design, which works in conjunction with Sennheiser’s Adaptive Noise Cancellation feature. The combination of passive noise cancellation and Hybrid ANC can cut down on unwanted ambient noise considerably. The headphones also have integrated microphones, which are used to pick up the user’s voice when making phone calls or taking part in video meetings. A Transparency Mode can be turned on to feed in sound from the outside world, making it easier to hear travel announcements or chat without taking the headphones off. Great sound is no good if a pair of headphones aren’t comfortable to wear. Sennheiser has designed the HDB 630 with comfort in mind. The ear cushions are fashioned from Japanese protein leatherette sourced from a company called Ideatex. The HDB 630 also include a protective traveling case and are supplied with a USB Type-C charging cable, 3.5 mm analog audio cable, airline adapter and the USB Type-C Bluetooth dongle that supports Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive audio codec, even on Apple’s USB-C iPhones. Pricing and Availability: The Sennheiser HDB 630 headphones are shipping now and priced at $499.95 / £399.90 / €499.90 from authorized Sennheiser dealers, Amazon or sennheiser-hearing.com. Tech Specs:
