Decades after his passing, legendary Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley stands as a musical and cultural icon for his musical mix of reggae, ska, and rocksteady. Audio maker House of Marley was based on the reggae legend’s imaginative and prescient of common love, music, and respect for our planet. And you’ll discover these values ingrained within the firm’s new flagship headphones, dubbed Exodus.
What separates House of Marley from a lot of the remainder of the audio world is that the every of firm’s merchandise is crafted from mindfully sourced supplies—generally recycled and all the time recyclable and sustainably produced.
Sustainability and accountability run deep within the Marley household. Bob Marley’s son Rohan Marley, who serves as House of Marley’s model ambassador, bought 52 acres of land on Jamaica’s Blue Mountains in 1999. He started rising natural espresso beneath the Marley Coffee model utilizing Fair Trade practices in 2007.
The House of Marley Exodus comes with a 3.5mm nylon braided cable, nylon braided USB cable, and a carrying pouch.
Mindfully sourced and sustainable audio merchandise
Exodus derives its identify from Bob Marley’s 1977 album of the identical identify. These cans are crafted from sustainable FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) licensed wooden, chrome steel, recyclable aluminum, and pure leather-based.
House of MarleyThe Exodus’ lovely ear cups are made out of FSC-certified wooden.
For House of Marley, sustainability, top-notch craftsmanship, and meticulous consideration to element go hand-in-hand. On the Exodus, supplies, construct high quality, match, and end are all first-class. I couldn’t discover a single piece of plastic wherever within the headphone’s structural elements.
The headband and arms are fabricated from chrome steel and aluminum. The ear cups are crafted out of wooden with lovely wooden grain particulars all through. You’re assured to have a novel, one-of-a-kind pair.
The headphone’s all-metal, height-adjustable arms slide easily and effortlessly, locking into no matter place you set them to. I all the time felt as if I used to be working with precision machined elements.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe supplies, industrial design, and machined metallic elements are all first-class.
All cabling—the 3.5mm audio cable, USB cable, and cabling connecting the ear cups— is roofed in a high-quality, snag-resistant braid.
Even with their wooden and metallic elements, the Exodus are mild and really comfy to put on. Under the metallic headband, there’s a self-tensioning gentle strip of leather-based. I by no means felt any undue strain on my head throughout listening periods.
House of MarleyThe metallic headband sports activities a self-tensioning leather-based band that matches comfortably in your head.
The ear cups are massive and beneficiant, housing 50mm drivers. The ear pads are fabricated from comfy reminiscence foam and wrapped in gentle and supple leather-based that was extremely comfy on my ears—although they did trigger my ears to sweat a bit throughout lengthy walks.
There are two observations to notice: First, they didn’t drown out as a lot ambient noise as one would anticipate. Second, the ear cups tend to use extra strain on high than on the backside should you don’t regulate them correctly. You can resolve that sensation by increasing the scarf.
Ergonomics
The Exodus’ ergonomics are wonderful—although you’d do properly to discuss with the included person handbook to verify a few of the Exodus’ button mixtures that carry out twin capabilities.
The Exodus comes with a really properly finished quick-start information that’s stuffed with wonderful diagrams for the skilled or novice wi-fi headphone person. The key takeaway it’s essential know in regards to the Exodus is that button capabilities are time delicate. For instance: Pressing the ability button for six seconds places the headphone into Bluetooth pairing mode. Pressing each the quantity up and down button for greater than two seconds clears all paired Bluetooth gadgets. Pressing the volume-up button for greater than two seconds advances to the following tune, whereas urgent the volume-down button for greater than two seconds rewinds the present observe. There’s no multi-click operate, as you’ll discover on different headphones.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe quantity dial on the proper ear cup performs a number of capabilities.
The Exodus design staff additionally did an excellent job making buttons straightforward to search out by contact; the buttons conformed to the pure contour of my thumb at any time when I lifted my fingers to the ear cups. The buttons protrude barely, with totally different tactile clues so you possibly can trust you’re urgent the proper button for the operate you want to carry out.
House of MarleyThe Exodus fold right into a compact type issue.
Generous battery life, and quick charging
Sustainability doesn’t imply shortchanging your self on comfort and options. These headphones have a beneficiant, 30-hour battery life. When it’s essential recharge, you’ll give you the option to take action at lightning velocity with quick-charge expertise. It takes simply two hours for a full cost; plug them in for 5 minutes and also you’ll have greater than an one hour’s value of music. Upping the trendy ante, charging takes place through a USB-C charging port on the underside of the left ear cup.
During my take a look at interval, I seen that I may cost the Exodus solely with the included USB-A to USB-C cable. A USB-C to USB-C cable wouldn’t work. I reached out to House of Marley about this and a consultant informed me that I had obtained one of many first pairs produced for early assessment, and that the included cable was a short lived work-around for some hardware modifications they’re making. Exodus models coming off the principle manufacturing runs will be suitable with third-party USB-C cables.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe energy button is flanked by battery standing lights and a USB-C charging port on the underside.
Listening assessments
I examined the House of Marley Exodus in wi-fi and wired mode on an iPhone XS and Astell&Kern S15 high-res digital audio participant (assessment forthcoming). Sources included Tidal, high-res downloaded tracks, and tracks ripped from CD.
The Exodus’ wi-fi efficiency is fairly good, however they carry out greatest when performed in wired mode. When performed through Bluetooth, you’ll discover considerably boomy bass, a muddier midrange, and an absence of sparkle on the high finish. This truth is pretty frequent with Bluetooth headphones whenever you evaluate their wired and wi-fi modes, so I don’t need anybody to come back away with the fallacious impression.
Plugging the Exodus into the Astell&Kern S15 revealed a verydifferent sonic expertise: The Exodus delivered a vivacious high finish; considerably cleaner midrange; and tighter, crisper, and extra refined bass response. You’ll do properly to make use of wi-fi for comfort and wired for essential listening.
House of MarleyView of the Exodus’ picket ear cups and leather-covered reminiscence foam ear pads.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t expertise some traditional Bob Marley by means of the Exodus. The headphones relished taking part in a few of my private favorites, comparable to “Three Little Birds,” “One Love,” “Buffalo Soldier,” “Get Up Stand Up,” “No Woman No Cry (Live),” and naturally “Exodus”
The Exodus had that intangible character that may draw you into the music. Listening to John Legend’s “All of Me,” Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years,” the Revivalists’ “Wish I Knew You,” and Lauren Daigle’s “You Say” was intoxicating.
The Exodus had the knack of conjuring up a wonderful sound stage replete with distinct layers. This attribute was evident on the dwell model of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” and Imagine Dragons’ “Bad Liar.”
Speaking of “Bad Liar,” I loved how the Exodus dealt with the tune’s dynamics and the gravitas of the tune’s synthesizer notes.
All in all, the Exodus have been as pleasing to hearken to as they have been to admire.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe Exodus have reminiscence foam ear pads wrapped in gentle leather-based.
Feel your music and be ok with the planet
The extra I hung out with the Exodus, the extra I fell in love with these headphones. The House of Marley delivers on the corporate’s mission with great-looking, responsibly sourced headphones. And maybe that’s one of many Exodus’ most necessary contributions: You could be severe about your music whereas additionally feeling good about your environmental stewardship.