- [Michael] For most of the past year, I've been editing
YouTube videos with the help of
the Sony XM3 headphones.
Before that, I was plugging in the QC 35's, from Bose.
And it all sounded just fine because as I
reminded you time and again, I'm not really
an audio file.
My buddy CrackBerryKevin hates it when I sell
myself short like that.
But look, its true.
I can't really tell much of a difference.
Or at least I couldn't, until this day.
When I found myself at Mobile World Congress
in Barcelona working at this table with
my mobile nation's family.
And I had forgotten my headphones.
So my other buddy, Derek Kessler, added me his
BNO H9i's.
I plugged them in, cued up Final Cut, and right away
I recognized from the sound quality boost alone,
I was about to be hundreds of dollars poorer.
(cheerful music)
Now I don't say that as an endorsement necessarily,
see when these first broke cover in January 2018,
they carried a sticker price of 500 bucks.
Frankly, I don't think they're worth that, not today.
Now unless you're looking for a status symbol,
in which case the stitched cow high leather band,
land scan ear pads, and distinctive color way
of the pine pear here will get you noticed.
But a few weeks back, something important happened.
Amazon put the H9i on a lightning sale, at 50% off.
Since then, I've been able to find them for
299 on Amazon.
And so you see, things have gotten interesting.
My appreciation for the H9i's began with that
sound quality jump, where on the Sony's, my video's
music and vocals were flat, subdued, coming
through the wire.
The H9i made them bright and dynamic.
The same for music tracks and I don't own a
Pono or anything but even through Spotify's
compression, there was a spaciousness to the
music with these headphones that I hadn't heard on
my Bose or Sony's.
The act of noise canceling that defeats background
sound feels slightly less effective than those other
headsets, but it's barely noticeable enough to mention.
Now headphones like these are much more
than the soundstage.
Like the Sony's, these have a track pad on the
right ear cup.
To adjust the volume, you rotate your finger around
the circular track pad as though you're turning a dial.
At first, I found it needlessly skeuomorphic.
But once you get the hang of it, it's a pretty
fun way to turn up your tunes.
Swiping down on the track pad turns the noise
cancellation on or off, and swiping up toggles the
audio transparency mode.
So you can monitor your surroundings.
- [airport Speaker] Per FA regulations, your
carry-on bags are limited to one small bag or one
personal item.
If more than two pieces..
- [Michael] There's also a feature that's meant to
automatically pause playback when you take the
headphones off, but it had so many false triggers
during my first few days that I disabled it.
I don't miss it at all.
You know its funny, the more I think about the H9i,
the more I would change.
I mean the Bose QC 35's are much more comfortable,
I can wear them for hours.
Where as these clamp my head more tightly, so I
need to take breaks every hour or so.
It's more cumbersome to use the H9i with multiple
devices because there are no audio cues to tell
you which one you're connected to.
And the app helps you a little but,
using it requires you to sign in, which really
shouldn't be necessary.
And that audio transparency mode is only available for
listening to your surroundings alone.
You can't enable it and play music at the same time.
So why do I put up with those compromises?
I like these headphones for the same reason I still
carry a Blackberry.
Each offers something no competitor does.
In the case of a Blackberry, it's the keyboard.
In the case of the H9i, it's the unique look
and the gorgeous sound.
Or, you know what?
Maybe a better comparison is to my new road camera.
The Fugi XT3.
The casing has all the character of a classic, old
camera, and some of the shooting modes I use
replicate the look and feel of old film.
But under that classic surface, it's packed with
modern features like dual SD cards, USB-C.
The H9i has that same potent contradiction.
Old world design, and cutting edge tech.
In which by the way, includes USB-C,
and a first for me, a removable battery.
Battery life is exactly what it should be, too.
A five hour transcon flight burned through
only 50% of my juice in bluetooth mode and I had
no gripes with bluetooth reception across
two laptops and four phones.
It's a bad time to buy any headphone, with Bose's
replacement to the QC 35's due this summer.
But given those recent price cuts on the H9i, I
will say this.
Buy 'em.
If you're looking for bluetooth headphones that
blend old world style, modern features and
a killer soundstage.
But just be sure to use that returning period
to your advantage, in case you find the
compromises too much to handle.
Folks, I purchased these headphones from Amazon,
and if you wanna do the same, use the affiliate
link in the description and it'll help
support the channel.
Be sure to subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube,
so you don't miss the Bose 700 reviews when those
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handle on Instagram, for all the fun
in between the videos.
Until next time, thanks for watching
and stay mobile my friends.