Yamaha YH-E700B review: Do wireless and audiophile go together?

Yamaha remained aloof from the (over-ear) headphone marketplace for years. Not solely shocking: the audience of the British audio producer is categorized as ‘audiophile’. Wi-fi and audio fans are two phrases that you may’t shortly join. Lately, it appears to be slowly coming again. First with a collection of in-ear headphones, and steadily increasingly more on- and over-ear fashions. This additionally applies to the YH-E700B that we obtained for this take a look at.

It’s definitely not the costliest pair that Yamaha has ever launched. This award goes to the YH-E700A which was launched two years in the past already, and carried a price ticket of 399 euros. You now pay about 349 euros for the YH-E700B. That value is anticipated to drop over time, similar to Sony’s opponents (WH-1000XM5) and Bose (700).

Particular over-ear design

Yamaha’s YH-E700B is clearly geared toward customers who need an unobtrusive design. You will get the headphones in two colours: black and gold, the place the supplies are at all times made from matte plastic. Solely the hinge – which ought to imitate a type of brushed aluminum – and the adjustment mechanism are made from metallic. Moreover, the headscarf is made from fake leather-based.

As talked about, the design does not likely stand out. The Yamaha emblem can be not instantly of the ‘eye-catching’ type. We are able to style that. What we did discover negatively after we first took the headphones out of the field is the load. At 335 grams, it is among the heaviest over-ear headphones in the meanwhile. For comparability: the WH-1000XM5 weighs 250 grams.

Additionally placing is the oval design of the earcups. Sony additionally opted for a extra oval design with the XM5, though a lot much less prevalent than with Yamaha’s headphones. Because of this, in apply there may be additionally significantly much less area than with common over-ear headphones. My ears are on the massive facet and there may be really no room for them, whereas at Sony (or Bose/Sennheiser) I ‘match’ with ease within the headphones.

Carrying consolation not best

So far as I’m involved, these factors additionally instantly mark the largest disadvantages. Though Yamaha put sufficient padding on the YH-E700B, each on the earcups and headband, the load began to trouble me after 2 to three hours. Over time, it even began to harm. Our heads are merely not made to hold such weights, particularly if the load primarily finally ends up in your cranium.

What made carrying the headphones even much less comfy was the slender over-ear half. Or, nicely, really we do not have to name that over-ear. Each time I wore the YH-E700B, the earpads fell over my ears. Generally it occurred that one facet of my ears fell into the earcaps. Nonetheless, that isn’t best, provided that the headphones then press behind your ears.

Pauses your music (…too typically)

The temperature additionally rises significantly once you put on the headphones like this, and the headphones typically appear to resolve that you just now not put on them. He then all of the sudden stops enjoying music himself whereas he’s nonetheless standing on my head. Like many different high-end headphones, this YH-E700B comprises a carrying sensor. It could actually cease music once you take off the headphones. Nonetheless, as a result of unusual over-ear design, that doesn’t work a lot of the time, or very sporadically.

Featured article

Sennheiser Momentum 4 overview

Operation with buttons

We’re additionally not instantly happy with the operation of the Yamaha headphones. There are 4 buttons in complete, two of that are for the quantity, one for ANC and the facility button. Should you solely want to vary the quantity, it’s fairly easy (one click on on one of many two buttons every time). Quick-forwarding a tune is already tougher. You then must press the + button for quantity for one second – a numerous time, nonetheless, that failed and the quantity solely went to the ‘deafening’ place.

In comparison with Sony’s, Bose’s and Sennheiser’s contact controls, it simply feels much less intuitive. As soon as I’ve to fiddle with my headphones, I will management them from my telephone. This additionally applies to the operation of ANC, for which there’s additionally a button. Nonetheless, once you press that button, you by no means know which mode you’ll swap to; not like different over-ear headphones, this isn’t indicated with textual sound alerts.

Unbalanced sound replica

Since Yamaha primarily makes tools for audio fans, expectations had been excessive. In apply, nonetheless, the noise manufacturing turned out to be fairly disappointing. I may safely describe the audio as ‘boring’ and ‘unbalanced’. When listening to my favourite tracks, I felt like all of the dynamics had disappeared. Devices specifically sound crushed.

Voices, however, have been boosted significantly, to the purpose of being unnatural. On the similar time, the required bass is lacking to bolster pop, rap, jazz and different music genres. In response to Yamaha, the True Sound perform helps with a extra pure sound replica. The sound should sound just like the artists supposed the sounds to be. Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear to me that musicians wish to hear such non-dynamic – say boring – sound.

In comparison with headphones just like the WH-1000XM5 from Sony, I additionally miss spaciousness. The mid-range increase merely appears to take up an excessive amount of area for that. With an EQ, the sound may be flavored extra. Nonetheless, we can’t name it good, particularly for those who choose to not tinker with the EQ.

ANC performs adequately

As befits a high-end headphone, the YH-E700B is supplied with noise discount. The ANC performs adequately in our opinion. Ambient sounds are a lot much less current and softer sounds, together with the air-con or engines of a bus, are virtually inconceivable to listen to. You may nonetheless hear voice sounds nicely. If ANC is extraordinarily vital to you, you will be higher served by Sony’s WF headphones or Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700.

The Ambient Sound perform can be superb, however not ‘shocking’. You should not wish to have conversations once you put on these headphones. Autos round you, however, are simple to know. So you possibly can safely put on them for those who go for a stroll however wish to know precisely what is going on in your space.

Monopoint connection

The place the headphones do shock is the battery life. You must last as long as 32 hours on one cost. We did not get that far on ANC. Nonetheless, you possibly can simply get about 25 to twenty-eight hours. Earlier than that, we had been primarily indoors or within the workplace, with just a few hours in busy locations in public transport. Nonetheless, it is a battery life that can suffice. Sennheiser nonetheless takes the lead right here, with a battery life that faucets 50 hours on its Momentum 4 Wi-fi.

What can be a loss is the dearth of multipoint connections. So he can preserve one connection at a time. We commonly swap between two gadgets after which it begins to annoy someplace. We then at all times must manually disconnect and begin up. We additionally commonly see that higher on different high-end over-ear headphones: each Sony’s WH-1000XM5 and the Momentum 4 do help multipoint.

Featured article

Sony WH-1000XM5 overview

Remaining verdict

Yamaha joins the battle between Bose, Sennheiser and Sony with the YH-E700B. In that battle, the model nonetheless lacks the refinement that the competitors does supply. The audio expertise additionally feels a bit boring; the entire lacks the dynamics that different over-ear headphones do supply.

The operation can be not at all times intuitive and the noise discount is disappointing for those who examine it with different fashions in the identical value vary. It’s exactly that value that signifies that we can’t instantly suggest the headphones. Except you are dying to purchase a pair of Yamaha headphones, we would relatively suggest the WH-1000XM5, Momentum Wi-fi 4, or Noise Canceling Headphones 700. Then chances are you’ll even avoid wasting cash – these fashions are sometimes obtainable at a lower cost stage than the 349 euros of the Yamaha.