These sound great.
I plan on heading to a big-box store to compare them against the Beats, but listening in isolation they sound pretty good to me.
The headphones have 3 step switch on the right headphone: Off, ANC, Bass.
- Off: You'll want to reserve this mode for when you're out of batteries. Compared to ANC or Bass this mode sounds very muted, it's missing a lot of the clarity and range. But it's better than nothing (which I've heard is an issue with the Beats).
- ANC (Active Noise Canceling): In this mode the internal amplifier is on and they're also actively canceling ambient noise. They're clear and sound well balanced and have nice range, great for Jazz, Classical, and acoustic works. The noise canceling seems to work well in my office, but I'll be trying them out on a plane in the coming weeks to give them a real trial.
- Bass Boost: Does what it says on the tin. 6db boost to the bass frequencies. It feels a little unnatural on non-electronic music, but really adds some oomph to bass-oriented music (Club, House, Dubstep, etc.).
Now, the down side - The build quality.
For $300 headphones I expect near flawless build quality. While they feel substantial and not too plasticy, there are a few visible issues that bring down my overall impression:
- The inline remote looks and feels cheap. It's easy to push the play/pause button and also end up clicking the volume up/down buttons.
- Slightly uneven gaps where molded pieces come together.
- The rubber insert in the headband doesn't quite fit end-to-end and leaves little gap at either end. The rubber also has a slight offcut that should've been picked up in quality control.
- Visible molding marks on the coloured plastic insert between the rim of the cans and the earpieces.
As an additional note, the colour does not exactly match the photos on Amazon. The pair I received has "Fanny Wang" printed in white, rather than red. And the cans have a white insert, instead of black-gloss, between the main body and the ear pieces. An accurate picture can be found on the Fanny Wang website [...]
The consideration that they do sound good is what held me back from a 3-star rating but I honestly did expect better for the price. I'd rather have given them a 3.5 / 5.