The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 headphones boast a stunning, professional design with exceptional build quality. Their sleek aesthetic and comfortable, albeit slightly snug, fit make a strong first impression. However, beneath the surface lies a significant flaw: underwhelming sound quality. This review delves into the contrasting aspects of these headphones, exploring their strengths and weaknesses to determine whether their stylish exterior justifies their price point.While the Aventho 300 excels in its physical attributes, including durable construction and convenient swiveling earcups, its audio performance falls short of expectations. A peculiar frequency response curve, highlighted by mid-range inconsistencies and a lack of clarity, significantly impacts the overall listening experience. We'll examine the efficacy of the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), the functionality of the accompanying app, and compare its performance against competitors like the Bose QC Ultra to offer a comprehensive assessment.
Pros And Cons
- Sleek, classy, and professional design
- Cup swivels all the way for flat storage
- Exceptional, sturdy, and solid build quality
- Effective noise cancellation (though not class-leading)
- Includes Dolby Atmos integration
- Ear opening is on the small side
- Earcups are shallow, causing some ear rubbing
- Boosted bass, but not always well-executed; can obscure mids
- Wacky frequency response and tuning; sounds disjointed, incoherent, and compressed
- Lacks clarity due to the frequency response shape
- EQ functionality in the app is not granular enough to fix the sound quality issues
- App's visual EQ indicators are misleading
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Design and Build Quality
The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 boasts a sleek, classy, and professional design. Its build quality feels exceptional, sturdy, and solid, surpassing competitors like the FT1 in terms of durability. The unique, non-round earcups provide a comfortable fit for many, though the ear opening might be slightly small for some users.
While the headphone picks up smudges easily, its overall aesthetic is undeniably appealing. The swiveling earcups allow for convenient flat storage. However, the shallow earcups might cause some ear rubbing against the inner material for those with sensitive ears.
Sound Quality Analysis
The Aventho 300 features an elevated bass response, but it's not excessively boomy or muddy. It doesn't bleed into the mid-range or create a muffled sound. However, the mid-range is somewhat obscured by a peculiar frequency response, resulting in a disjointed and incoherent sound.
Measurements reveal a bizarre frequency response curve, particularly around the ear gain region and a substantial resonance near 2kHz. This leads to a lack of clarity, unnatural sound, and a compressed overall listening experience. The upper treble peaks are less problematic than the overall shape of the response curve.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Connectivity
The Aventho 300's ANC performance is not class-leading but provides adequate noise reduction with a good seal. The reviewer notes some inconsistencies in initial testing, potentially due to seal variations. The app provides EQ functionality, but it's not granular enough to fully correct the sound quality issues.
Comparison with the Bose QC Ultra reveals significantly less attenuation in lower frequencies for the Aventho 300. The app offers customizable EQ presets, but their visual representation doesn't always accurately reflect their effect on the sound, and they are too limited to fix the fundamental flaws.
Overall Conclusion and Recommendation
The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 suffers from significant sound quality issues due to its unusual frequency response and tuning. While the design and build are excellent, and Dolby Atmos integration is a positive feature, these don't compensate for the flawed audio. The ANC is functional but not exceptional.
Compared to other high-end ANC headphones, such as the Bose QC Ultra or Sony models, the Aventho 300 falls short in both sound quality and noise cancellation. The potential of the platform is there, but as it stands, it's difficult to recommend this headphone unless Dolby Atmos compatibility is a crucial requirement. A firmware update addressing the sound quality could potentially improve things.