Harman Kardon AE In-Ear Headphones

[Dredgy]

Hi all

 

A few months ago I purchased a pair of Harman Kardon NC Noise Cancelling headphones as a more portable alternative to my Sennheiser RS 220s. I have a video review of them coming soon, but needless to say I was impressed enough to order a pair of the AE "Acoustically enhanced" in ear headphones for use with my iPad in bed. 

 

First off, if you live in Australia - import them. I also bought a pair as a Christmas present so I needed to ensure delivery by the end of the year, so bought locally for about twice what it would cost to import.

 

Harman Kardon must have to be the most undermarketed headphone company on the planet for the quality of gear they put out.

 

Packaging

There are only two companies that I regularly buy from who have amazing packaging that actually adds so much to the product experience I would rather buy their products just for the box. Those companies are traditionally Noctua and Apple, but even those two could learn a lot from Harman Kardon.

 

Once you slide the box out of the cover and open it on it's hinge, the headphones are beautifully presented, with the earpieces themselves stored in a soft protective foam with the gorgeous aluminium backing facing upwards. You can lift this entire shrine to the earbuds out of it's box where it is revealed to be a leather carry case with a magnetic clasp. Cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Design and Build Quality

 

Second to none. From the gold plated jack and aluminium grip above it to the think, tangle-resistant cabling and inline controls, everything about the product feels super-luxe. You really do feel privileged to use them, and compared to things usch as the Bose IE-2 of even my $600 Sennheiser RS220s, you start to question why companies don't spend that little bit more on better materials for the optimal use experience.

 

The earbuds themselves are square in design (more of a trapezoidal prism that gets thinner into your ears) and made completely of aluminium. They look as sexy as all hell. 

 

Only design flaw I could think of would be the lack of a right angled connecter which worries me a bit in bed because I don't like to bend the cable when my iPad is pressed up on a pillow or something. But they seem to bbe holding up well so far.  Plus the NC's I've had for months now have yet to have a problem with the same type of connector.

 

 

 

 

Inline Controls

The work - if you're on iOS. Which is great for me, you can use volume control and activate Siri. I use these mostly on an iPad though my current daily phone is an iPhone 6 so bonus. On a HTC one M8 the voice control button indeed activated the voice control, but volume control buttons do nothing. I think they release an Android version, but can't be sure. 

 

The inline mic works on Siri though I don't make calls with headphones in so I'm unsure of the call clarity - I've heard mixed things.

 

Comfort and Included Tips

 

Pretty top notch. If you have really small ears the square design may press into your outer ear a little bit (I'm a small-medium and they don't bother me, but I have pressed them up against my ear and it causes some discomfort).

The medium round tips fit me well, felt exceedingly light and very comfortable. I switched to the Comply tips and while I find them slightly more uncomfortable the benefits it has to sound are huge.

 

In general these headphones are light to wear, you could probably wear them for sports though I would feel weird about using something of this build quality while running. Compared to the extremely high comfort of my Sennheiser RS 220s and Harman Kardon NC's, the AE's didn't compare. Compared to TDK in-ears though, they were worlds of difference (in a good way).

 

Noise Isolation

 

"Better than average" with silicon tips. With the Comply tips, they are possibly better than the active noise cancelling over-ears I have. It blocks out pretty much everything - ceiling fans, airplane noise, distant TV. They are awesome at blocking out noise, though I will largely attribute this to the Comply. While I dislike the comply for comfort, the benefits to noise isolation and the onwards effect to sound quality mean they will be my daily driver.

 

Sound Quality

 

I had reservations here. I am an enormous fan of the sound signature on my Harman Kardon NC's, and after trying these, I was blown away. While the sound signature and quality isn't quite as good as the NC's, the difference really isn't that noticeable, and at a fraction of a price.,,,these suddenly become serious contenders as my favourite headphones.

 

Harman Kardon's sound signature on their headphones seem to be "use bass to bring out the best in the mids and highs" and this rings true here. 

 

Mids are great, clear and well rounded where highs are clear and crisp but not overbearingly so. Bass is phenomenonally clear and delivers a vibrant punch to pretty much any music, there is no muddiness whatsoever and these are marketed as "extended-bass" headphones and it is certainly true

 

On Rudimental's Free, the highs of the female vocals are astoundingly crisp with the instrumentals in the mid being clear and vibrant, but it's the underlying drum track that brings life to the music with these headphones.

 

Michael Jackson's Invincible and Thriller albums also replicate this - while all tracks sound very very very good, nirvana is achieved on tracks such as Break of Dawn or Human nature - with breathy or high vocals contrasted by a really greeat underlying track. Beat It was another favourite with these headphones as was Miley Cyrus' cover of Jolene.

 

Eminem was another artist who's music I particulary enjoy with these - White Trash Party and Shake that make great use of bass and these headphones make great use of that.

 

The only song I found that I did not like with these headphones was Earthquake by Labyrinth which just seemed to have to much going on and sounded almost flat. This track sounds great on my NCs, and all other club music sounded great on the AE's, so I'm just not sure what was happening here.

 

The sound stage is wide and the presence of music is awesome (in the sense that it inspires awe) especially in BluRay rips, where a a true cinematic experience is delivered.

 

But these are among  the best headphones I've heard, let alone for in-ears (which is a style I dislike, as the only ones I find that are actually comfortable are Apple's earbuds). For the US retail price, these are outstanding value for money. For the extremely inflated Australian Chrismtas rush price I paid, I still don't feel ripped off.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Buy them. 

 

These would be great as anyone's daily drivers, and I'm probably going to use them as monitors, as they are exceptionally clear. For my original purpose of watching movies and TV shows in bed, these may be overkill, but they are an almost necessary luxury to me now.

 

[Ords]

I ordered mine yesterday. I can't wait for them to arrive! How's the durability on these In-ear headphones? Planning to use them as may daily driver at home and in school.

[Dredgy]

@OrdsWell I wrote the OP nearly 2 years ago, and mine still work. Didn't think they still made them.

 

The comply tips tear pretty easily though. First pair took me 3 months to wear through, but each subsequent pair lasted about 2 weeks, so I ended up switching back to the silicon tips.

[Ords]

1 minute ago, Dredgy said:

@OrdsWell I wrote the OP nearly 2 years ago, and mine still work. Didn't think they still made them.

 

The comply tips tear pretty easily though. First pair took me 3 months to wear through, but each subsequent pair lasted about 2 weeks, so I ended up switching back to the silicon tips.

This is good news! Thanks for the reply, looking forward on these.

 

[SlipperyPete]

On 5/3/2016 at 10:45 AM, Ords said:

I ordered mine yesterday. I can't wait for them to arrive! How's the durability on these In-ear headphones? Planning to use them as may daily driver at home and in school.

ive had mine for about 6 months and they are great. only thing is they can get really cold because they are aluminum so keep them in your house so your ears dont get cold when you put them on

 

[Ords]

On 5/5/2016 at 9:09 AM, SlipperyPete said:

ive had mine for about 6 months and they are great. only thing is they can get really cold because they are aluminum so keep them in your house so your ears dont get cold when you put them on

 

Will do. Thanks for the feedback!