Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking They’re the type of headphones that will make you notice a twinkly background guitar part you didn’t the first hundred times; you’ll hear the thump of the bassist’s fingers colliding with the strings, the grit of a vocalist straining to hit a huge note, the decaying rattle of each snare pulse. It’s the stuff hardcore music buffs and audiophiles lose sleep over with excitement. I went back to Smashing Pumpkin’s 1995 classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and was genuinely awed by the power of the performances and how many subtleties I’d failed to notice before; it felt like sitting in the studio listening as parts were first recorded. I’m not exaggerating when I say it gave me chills. If an album is well mixed and mastered, it’ll almost certainly sound fantastic through the DSR9BTs. I can’t believe I’m saying this but even St. Anger almost sounds good. Almost. I was taken aback by just how much the quality drops when the headphones need to compete with external noise. They’re fine when walking suburban streets and dealing with the odd passing car, but at my gym, where dance music gets pumped through the PA, the sound profile went from clear, crisp and powerful to tinny and unrefined. Similarly, on a recent flight, the constant low background hum of the jet engines drowned out a significant chunk of the mid-range warmth, leaving me with a lot of cymbals and vocals and not much else. If you do a lot of travelling or work in loud spaces, your money might be better spent elsewhere, especially at this price point. Volume control is handled by a slider located on the left ear cup within easy reach. However, pausing and playing is done by a “tap controller” section of the left ear cup – it’s not a button, more like a phone’s fingerprint reader without the actual fingerprint reader. I found it unreliable and slow to respond; I’d often tap it a few times before it worked, causing the tune to start and stop repeatedly after a delay. You’re better off using your phone directly. But be warned, that remarkable sound quality is at the mercy of the elements – even compared with other non-noise-cancelling headsets, audio quality declines fairly dramatically in noisy environments.