Atlantic Technology has lengthy been identified for glorious worth in home-theater audio system. This 12 months, the corporate has utilized its appreciable transducer experience to headphones, introducing two over-ear fashions and one in-ear providing.
The flagship FS-HR280 is designed for audiophiles. It has no wi-fi Bluetooth or energetic noise-cancellation performance. Instead, you merely plug it into the supply and take heed to the very best sound high quality that Atlantic Technology is aware of easy methods to wring from headphones. These are moderately good headphones, however there’s room for enchancment.
This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s protection of the best headphones, the place you’ll discover opinions of competing merchandise, plus a purchaser’s information to the options it’s best to think about when purchasing.
Features
The FS-HR280 is a closed-back, over-ear headphone with super-soft, leather-clad earpads and headband. The earcups pivot to accommodate varied head sizes and shapes, offering an excellent noise-isolation seal, they usually fold flat for storage within the included laborious carrying case.
The earcups pivot to fold flat for storage within the included laborious case.
I like the straightforward, elegant design, although the earcups and pivoting yokes are product of plastic, which feels a bit low cost. On the plus aspect, I’m positive it’s quite a bit lighter than metallic could be. Speaking of which, the FS-HR280 weighs in at solely 10.3 ounces.
Unlike many over-ear headphones, the FS-HR280 makes use of two drivers in every earcup: a 40mm thin-film dynamic bass driver with neodymium magnet, and a 20mm, rectangular, patented ceramic tweeter. This so-called Quad-Driver system is specified to ship a frequency response from 20Hz to 40kHz (no tolerance given) with THD lower than 0.5% (1kHz, 105dB). The nominal impedance is rated at 32 ohms (±15%) with a sensitivity of 105dB (1kHz/1Vrms) and a power-handling functionality of 10-30mW, making this headphone simple to drive from nearly any system.
The removable 4-foot cable connects to the left earcup and consists of oxygen-free copper conductors inside a braided-nylon sheath that resists tangling. The 3.5mm gold-plated plugs on each ends have knurled no-slip aluminum housings with built-in pressure reduction. Conveniently, the cable additionally offers an in-line microphone with smartphone controls for answering and hanging up calls, taking part in and pausing music, adjusting the quantity, and skipping tracks.
Each earcup makes use of two drivers: a 40mm thin-film dynamic woofer (black) and a 20mm rectangular ceramic tweeter (grey).
Performance
Before I did my formal listening, I used the FS-HR280 to observe some easy recordings that I used to be engaged on with my spouse, singer/songwriter Joanna Cazden, in preparation for a “virtual” Passover seder by way of Zoom, which was necessitated by the novel coronavirus pandemic. She commented about how good the sound was on the headphones, and I needed to agree.
For my formal analysis, I listened to the FS-HR280 utilizing my iPhone XS taking part in tracks from Tidal’s Master high-res audio library. I additionally used the iFi hip-dac portable DAC/headphone amp I reviewed earlier, for its superior sound high quality in contrast with the iPhone’s inside DAC/amp.
Starting with some jazz, I cued up “I Concentrate on You” as sung by Harry Connick Jr. with large band and strings from his album True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter. I used to be instantly struck by a barely veiled sound with vague bass, although the voice was clear and ahead.
The identical was true with “Since I Fell for You” sung by Al Jarreau on the album Double Vision by Bob James and David Sanborn. In this case, the bass was a bit bloated, although the vocal was good and clear.
The FS-HR280 is pretty light-weight and really snug to put on for prolonged intervals.
Moving on to classical, I listened to the third motion of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 as carried out by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra underneath Daniel Barenboim on the album Beethoven Symphony No.7/Triple Concerto. The sound was a bit congested and thick with barely bloated bass, although the delineation of instrumental sections was fairly good.
I additionally listened to some solo piano—particularly, Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 as carried out by Yuja Wang reside at Philharmonic Hall in Berlin on the album The Berlin Recital. As I had come to anticipate, the piano sounded barely congested, particularly within the low finish.
Turning to pop, I listened to “Ruby Baby” by one in every of my favourite artists, Donald Fagen, on his album The Nightfly. Overall, the sound was a bit clouded, as if coated in a skinny fog, although once more, the vocals have been fairly clear. Likewise with “Love Shack” from the B-52s’ album Cosmic Thing (30th Anniversary Edition)—it sounded considerably veiled with barely bloated bass and good vocals.
Finally, I attempted “Paper Tiger” from Beck’s album Sea Change. This observe has plenty of low bass, which was a bit bloated, and the strings have been fairly thick. On this observe, the vocals are blended means ahead, they usually sounded fairly good.
Comparison with Sony WH-1000XM3 and PSB M4U 8
I had two different headphones readily available in the identical value vary because the FS-HR280: the $299 Sony WH-1000XM3, which TechHive Video Director Adam, Patrick Murray reviewed, and the $399 PSB M4U 8 I reviewed for TechHive. Both are Bluetooth fashions with energetic noise cancellation, however they’ll additionally function passive wired headphones with out turning their energy on. In addition to the FS-HR280, I listened to every observe with each of those headphones in wired, passive, unpowered mode.
The WH-1000XM3 sounded leaner and clearer in each case. However, its bass was all the time considerably poor. By distinction, the M4U 8 had higher bass that was properly balanced with the remainder of the sonic spectrum, and the general sound was clearer than the FS-HR280. I ended up preferring its sound over the opposite two.
I discovered {that a} bit stunning; in my evaluate of the M4U 8, I had written, “Using the cable with the power off, the sound was more veiled and the bass was less well defined.” But that was listening to high-bitrate MP3s from an iPhone 6 with its onboard DAC/amp. Now, I’m listening to high-res audio from Tidal on an iPhone XS with the iFi hip-dac—a considerably higher audio setup.
Bottom line
The Atlantic Technology FS-HR280 is a research in contrasts. Vocals sounded uniformly glorious—which is undoubtedly why my spouse and I had an excellent preliminary impression—and the delineation of devices was fairly good generally. Plus, it’s very snug to put on for prolonged intervals. The general sound, nonetheless, was all the time a bit veiled and sometimes barely congested, and the bass was barely vague and a tad bloated in lots of instances.
That isn’t to say the sound was dangerous, simply not fairly pretty much as good as I’ve heard from different headphones, particularly on this value vary. And due to my expertise reviewing many headphones over the past couple of years, I instantly seen the marginally veiled, congested sound when listening to industrial tracks. It grew to become all of the extra apparent in direct comparability with the Sony WH-1000XM3 and PSB M4U 8.
The packaging is kind of a bit bigger than the headphones to accommodate the laborious case.
If you’re looking for a pair of high-quality, over-ear headphones within the $300 value vary, the FS-HR280 is actually an honest selection. The Sony WH-1000XM3 is identical value, and it gives Bluetooth and excellent energetic noise cancelling (ANC) as properly, although its wired, passive efficiency was noticeably bass-deficient. The PSB M4U 8 is $100 extra, and its Bluetooth and wired, passive efficiency are each distinctive—no less than with a high-quality supply—although the sound high quality with ANC on will not be fairly pretty much as good.
Which is finest for you? That relies on your particular wants and preferences. If you don’t want Bluetooth or ANC, the FS-HR280 in all fairness good, particularly for a venerable home-theater speaker firm’s first foray into headphones. But it ain’t low cost, both. I believe there are higher choices on this value vary.