The He d Unity headphones — the first merchandise from Swiss audio company He d — are groundbreaking . They ’re the first Bluetoothwireless headphonesto also offer a Wi - Fi link , which brings two major advantage : totally lossless transmission of audio — even at very mellow declaration — and essentially inexhaustible wireless grasp .
This makes them the first wireless headphones in the world that can let you heed to hi - res lossless euphony . That ’s something Apple has yet to accomplish even though it owns one of the big collections of lossless music and one of the most democratic collections of wireless earphone .
The He d Unity also have a innovative price of $ 2,199 — make them the most expensive wireless headphones we ’ve ever reviewed . For that level of investing , they ’re going to have to determine a tidy sum of boxes beyond lossless Wi - Fi .
After spend three week with them , I ’m impressed with what He d has accomplished . But unless you have a compulsive need to be on the bleeding edge ( and the discretionary cash to support that compulsion ) you may want to wait before jumping into the human beings of Wi - Fi headphones .
Hed Unity: why Wi-Fi?
Before we dive in , just a quick 101 on wireless sound recording : Bluetooth is the received wireless technology that connects headphones , earbuds , and speakers to your telephone set or other compatible gimmick . Its bandwidth ( the amount of data it can transmit per secondly ) is modified and grows small the farther off you are from your earphone . Although there are some specialBluetooth codecsout there likeLDAC , aptX HD , aptX Adaptive , and others that promise to bear on the detail found in your music , the reality is that none is perfect , and none is universal — especially if you have an iPhone , which does n’t work with any of them .
On the other hand , Wi - Fi also has bandwidth restriction , but they ’re nothing equate to Bluetooth . Wi - Fi does n’t take particular codecs to serve preserve information , and as long as you ’re within range of a Wi - Fi access point , your connection quality should be very serious . These qualities make Wi - Fi thoroughgoing for streaming lossless , hi - res sound . It ’s the applied science used by all of the best whole - homewireless speakerslike Sonos , Bose , Bang & Olufsen , Sony , and many others .
But Wi - Fi is power - thirsty , which has made it a poor option for lowly , personal audio products like wireless headphone and earbuds . Wi - Fi audio product demand extra software program , and , much of the time , they can not connect to a earpiece like a shot — they ask a wireless mesh to dissemble as the go - between .
Hed Unity: design
Everyone has their own melodic theme of what luxuriousness should bet like . For me , it ’s always looked like understate simplicity . Top - notch materials and progress character . Clean lines — no fancy , frilly details . Think Porsche 911 , not Ferrari Testarossa . By that standard , the He d Unity are the epitome of luxuriousness — dark grey anodized aluminum earcup shield that blend almost seamlessly into a twin headband . The removable memory foam and microfiber - wrapped earcushions look like natural propagation of the atomic number 6 - reinforced nylon soundbox .
Except for the small and tasteful ace logotype and the four command buttons on the earcups , nothing interrupts the flow . I think they await antic , and I ’m sure it ’s no accident that He d chose an atomic number 13 color that complement Apple ’s Space Gray MacBooks .
In some ways , the He d Unity is more adjust with Apple ’s designing language than Apple ’s ownAirPods Maxheadphones .
If there ’s one drawback to the Unity ’s minimalism , it ’s a full lack of hinges or pivots , which you ’d get on almost any other set of wireless cans . aside from the adjustable headband sliders , they do n’t change shape at all . This might have logical implication for ease and fit — which I ’ll touch on in a second — but the biggest tradeoff is portability .
He d ships the Unity with a travel and depot pillow slip made from a very lightweight yet unvoiced - racing shell material that provide — in He d ’s words — “ military - level protection . ” But the Unity ’s stiff purpose and the face ’s construction create a parcel that ’s more than twice as chummy as theBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — you ’ll need plenty of quad in your carry - on for these cans .
include with the shell is a pocket-sized rotary zippered pouch containing a pleach USB - A - to - USB - ampere-second charging cable , a USB - C - to - USB - A adapter , and a USB - C - to-3.5 mm analog input dongle .
Hed Unity: comfort
At just a snick under 1 Ezra Loomis Pound ( 14.4 ounces ) , the He d Unity are even heavier than the predominate AirPods Max ( 13.8 ounces ) , which is tell something , specially when theSony WH-1000XM5are just 8.8 ounces . And yet , despite their weight and lack of adjustments , I bump them incredibly well-heeled . That star only increased as I switched back and forward with some of the best wireless headphones on the market .
The earcups are roomy and the memory foam earcushions matte up like they were give my psyche a soft yet steady hug . Even with some vigorous promontory movements , they stayed put , but I strongly recommend against taking them to the gymnasium or on run ( they have no sweat or water supply protection ) .
These Wi - Fi headphones do with some weight to them .
The aggregative distribution , the headband width , and the clamping force are all exceptionally well - balanced . There ’s no denying you ’ll feel that nearly 1 - Irish pound weightiness over time . But even after two hours of continuous clothing , I did n’t notice any pressure points .
My only caution is for those of you with really little head . At their belittled setting , they were perfect for me , which suggests that ( despite my tiny brainpan ) some of you may find them too big .
Hed Unity: controls and set up
The Unity ’s ascendency are fair standard for wireless earphone . The proper earcup has a triple - button clustering that handles volume , playback , and call functions , along with a quaternary button dedicated to active dissonance cancellation ( ANC ) musical mode . On the left earcup is a single button that handle mogul / Bluetooth / Wi - Fi and pairing actions .
You should be aware of two celebrated omission : there ’s presently no way to trigger your earphone ’s voice helper , and no auto - pause / resume feature of speech for when you murder the toilet .
The controls are nonrational , but the three-fold - button cluster is tricky to utilize . The buttons are quite small and very closely together , and the central multifunction button is barely tall than the flanking loudness buttons , which stimulate it punishing to locate with your quarter round . I got used to it , but I never got comfortable with it .
The He d Unity take a banging 44 second to bring up up with Wi - Fi .
Another affair you ’ll need to get used to is the time it postulate to world power on the Unity . Most Bluetooth headphone take less than 5 instant to power up and connect to the last equipment you used . The Unity , however , take 44 second from the clip you long - press the major power clit until the clip you get word the “ Unity is ready ” message in your ears . It ’s not unusual for Wi - Fi products to take longer to boot up than Bluetooth devices — but this is long , even for Wi - Fi .
Technically , the earphone reconnect over Bluetooth quicker than that . But for Wi - Fi process , you demand the full kick - up time .
If you want to purely habituate the Unity as a band of Bluetooth earpiece , you could do that right out of the box . Just power them on , and they ’ll get in Bluetooth mate modality . But that would defeat their main merchandising item . To get them working with Wi - Fi , you ’ll necessitate the Unity app ( iOS / Android ) and some solitaire .
The app makes the setup process seem simple-minded enough , but I had to go through several rounds of supply and removing the headphones from my iPhone ’s Bluetooth menu before finally capture them to be recognized by the app . Once that happened , I was able-bodied to add the Unity to my Wi - Fi connection and configure the options . Not that you get many .
The Unity app presently has four master social occasion : a electric battery meter , a Wi - Fi configuration peter , a way to swop ANC fashion , and an equalizer with a form of presets .
in the first place , the Unity app was proceed to be a one - stop shop for all your music cyclosis needs , interchangeable to theSonosor BluOS apps . If you check out He d ’s website it still refer to a “ multisource medicine instrumentalist ” within the app . But thing have n’t quite worked out as planned .
or else , to stream music over Wi - Fi to the Unity headphones , you ’ll take to use different third - company apps depend on where you get your line . SpotifyandTidalusers will have it easy — the Unity headphone are compatible with the “ Connect ” feature in these apps . Simply select the Unity headphones from the list of available wireless speakers within the app and you ’re good to go .
You might not be able to expend your pet euphony service .
require to use other Service ? That might be a job . There ’s currently no way to streamApple Music , even if you have an iPhone . The Unity support Wi - Fi , but not Apple’sAirPlay 2streaming applied science . It wo n’t work on Android either because Apple Music only streams to Wi - Fi devices that haveChromecast built - in — which the Unity also lack . The same thing can be said for Amazon Music , YouTube Music , Pandora , and Deezer .
If you snaffle a third - party app like mConnect ( iOS / Android ) or BubbleUPnP ( Android only ) you’re able to get at Qobuz — you ’ll get three calendar month of that free , by the direction — plus your personal library of digital euphony as long as it ’s stash away on a DLNA - compatible metier server or twist .
He d did n’t propose a specific timeline for improved access to music services , but it has said that it contrive to imbed well out euphony capability directly into its app by April 2024 . For now , it ’s fair to say that the companionship ’s promise of “ Your tasting is complex and diverse . Now , it can be serve by one centralised platform ” is more aspirational than achievable .
Hed Unity: wandering around with Wi-Fi
The He d Unity ’s Bluetooth wireless range is about average for a lot of wireless headphones . While wandering between floors of my firm , it was in general unchanging . But the further I roam from my sound , the more the sound recording would part to bankrupt up .
Wi - Fi , however , never faltered . I have really honorable Wi - Fi reporting at home , and it showed . matter were great as long as I was within range of an access point .
But they were n’t perfect . I have aNetgear Orbimesh Wi - Fi system with two access points . As I drifted from the edge of one AP into the other , the Unity treat it like I was bring together a new Wi - Fi net — each time announcing “ Wi - Fi connect . ”
I also noticed that because the headphones maintain Bluetooth and Wi - Fi connections simultaneously , I ’d get a “ Bluetooth disconnected / connected ” content as I moved in and out of the Bluetooth range of my phone .
You could , I suppose , simply force the Unity to disconnect from your earpiece ’s Bluetooth . But if you do that , you lose the power to process with the Unity app . For now , given how lilliputian the app does , maybe that ’s no hardship . It might be a different story in the future .
Hed Unity: sound quality
Whether you ’re using them to rain buckets lossless , hi - res audio via Wi - Fi , lossy audio frequency via Bluetooth , or untouched sign via the wired dongle , the He d Unity strait amazing . No , not $ 2,199 amazing — they do n’t rescue more than four times the audio quality of aSony WH-1000XM5,Apple AirPods Max , orSennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless — but they do sound significantly better to me than all three of these fantabulous wireless headphones .
From a good signature stand , they are buss first cousin with superbMaster & Dynamic MW75 — very balanced across the frequence , with just the slightest hint of bass voice - forwardness . The Unity app contain a generous nine - stria equalizer with saveable mount , plus a whole legion of presets . I ’m thrilled that these presets are labeled for what they do to the auditory sensation as opposed to music musical style - based labels , which have never made much sense to me . There ’s a lot of range here , but I think you ’ll find the adjustments are subtle — just nice little pinch to facilitate you get thing dial in the way you wish them .
Some of the cite kick the bucket , I think , to the 40 mm titanium - coated drivers : transient are immobile and exact , highs are attractively exculpated , and the midranges abound with detail . One of my pet racetrack for torture - testing any audio gear is Billy Eilish’sBad Guy . Being able to show the punishingly scurvy bass short letter while simultaneously letting Eilish ’s whispery vocals swim weightlessly on top is no easy feat , yet the Unity handled it with ease .
Listening toSilver Springsby Matt Beringer — a track that makes first-class use of instrument and outspoken spatial emplacement — reveals the Unity ’s soundstage . It ’s not massively wide-eyed or high , but it ’s tightly controlled and very accurate . This bodes well for when He d update the earpiece with its promised spatial audio compatibility .
But here ’s the substantial $ 2,199 doubt : does lossless Wi - Fi cyclosis make a noticeable conflict versus Bluetooth ? dead .
Compared to the Unity ’s Bluetooth connector , Wi - Fi streaming revealed more point and nuance , let the euphony relax , and eliminated the most annoying side - outcome of compression — the bloating of bass and the sharpening of highs .
But is that a fair equivalence ? After all , in Bluetooth modality , the Unity only support SBC and AAC — both lossy and limited to 16 - routine . Not exactly Bluetooth at its expert . In a arrant world , I could have tested aptX HD , aptX Adaptive , or LDAC on these cans , but alas , no dice .
Wi - Fi music voice better . Full closure . But grand of dollar better ?
So I did the next best thing and compared them to the Master & Dynamic MW75 connect to aMotorola ThinkPhonevia aptX Adaptive . UsingQobuzlossless tracks with both setups , I could notice only the tiniest deviation in point . Given that these headphones are close — but not identical — it ’s impossible to say if those differences were due to the wireless connection or any issue of other physical and processing divergence .
I ’m wedge to conclude that while Wi - Fi is , on paper , the best way of life to feel wireless music , you do n’t need $ 2,199 earphone to achieve a lineament that is 99 % as good ( to my ear at least ) . Still , this does n’t detract from a key Unity welfare : for Bluetooth to value up , you need codec compatibility and you postulate a very strong Bluetooth signaling . Sony ’s LDAC codec , for case , is notorious for not being able to maintain its highest bitrate of 990kbps unless you ’ve got intimately consummate conditions .
The Unity ’s Wi - Fi association permit you forget about all of that . Even the weakest Wi - Fi signaling is likely to be many times quicker than the best Bluetooth signal , and codec compatibility is irrelevant . For folks who like knowing they ’re always getting the just sound recording possible , there ’s real note value in Wi - Fi — I ’m just not sure it ’s $ 2,199 ’s Charles Frederick Worth of value .
Hed Unity: active noise cancellation
I ’d argue that the combining of the Unity ’s passive noise isolation — thanks to those fantastic earcushions — and their impressive levelheaded character is so efficient you in all likelihood wo n’t feel the need to wage ANC most of the fourth dimension .
Still , it ’s a nice feature to have , and it does do a upright caper of neutralize many lower - to - mid frequencies for a quieter hearing environment . It ’s not as efficacious as the ANC you ’ll get from Sony , Bose , or Apple . And if you ’re not listening to any audio , you may notice a very little amount of bird .
My only real criticism is that He d has n’t added a transparency mode yet ( the company says it ’s on the way of life ) , and there ’s no fashion to handicap the voice feedback when you swap ANC on and off — perhaps that will be update in the future , too .
Hed Unity: call quality
Up until one week before I got my evaluation fashion model , the He d Unitydidn’t have voice call over Bluetooth enabled . And base on my experience , He d still has some piece of work to do . The gain on the mics is too low , making your interpreter intemperately to see , there ’s almost no background dissonance cancellation , and wind noise is a existent problem . Things were just indoors , without background signal noise , but nowhere near what we should wait from a top - flight set of headphones .
In theory , these issues should be fixable . After all , the He d Unity is equipped with an staggering 12 microphones — four of which are dedicated to calls . But for now , call is not among the Unity ’s strengths .
Hed Unity: battery life
get ’s just say it : the He d Unity ’s battery living is sorry . With a maximum playday of just eight hours — and that ’s under optimal conditions with ANC off and only streaming over Bluetooth — you ’d be hard - exhort to retrieve a stage set of wireless headphones with a poor lifespan .
Why so short ? The Unity are packed with electronics . There ’s a double - kernel mainframe , a Wi - Fi transceiver , 16 GB of repositing , and a gross ton of move sensing element . This gives He ergocalciferol a lot of elbow room to make the Unity well over time , but it also takes a laboured toll on battery life .
On the bright side , it does n’t take long to charge them up : 15 transactions gets you about 90 minutes of extra playtime , and you’re able to fully agitate them in 1.5 time of day .
Hed Unity: untapped potential
Inside the He d Unity are two technologies that are presently unavailable for use of goods and services : 16 GB of onboard storage for music and/or additional apps , as well as a nine - bloc motion sensor that ’s mean for a future head teacher - tracked spatial audio feature .
Being first almost always total with a premium toll . The first Tesla , the first plasma TV , the first folding phone — if you want to be the first among your friends to own these merchandise , you would have paid far more than the kinsfolk who bribe them two years later . That ’s how it work .
So , while the He d Unity ’s price remains painfully out of reaching for most buyer , I tend to cerebrate of them as a trial impression of concept . If those who can open them bribe them and like them , it wo n’t be long before the food market responds with more affordable alternative . Some of those alternativesmight follow as soon as 2024 .
In the meantime , the companionship ’s first customers are getting mythologic build quality , top - notch materials , luxurious comfort , and sound quality that has few equals in the wireless phone Earth .
And of grade , they ’ll get the marquise feature article : Wi - fi connectivity that prognosticate fleck - perfect transmission of lossless medicine anywhere in your base . Maybe that ’s worth the price of price of admission .
