Directsound extw37 bt wireless cans

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kensuguro
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Directsound extw37 bt wireless cans

Post by kensuguro »

My noisecanceling headphones cracked and died on me so I decided to try out the new bluetooth offering from Directsound. I have a bit of history with Directsound's EX29, which is their wired passive noise canceling headphone. I just got it to drown out what otherwise was an extremely noisy open plan office, but was surprised that the EX29 had a very clean response, to the point of being able to mix and check mixes on it. So I was expecting great things from the wireless version.

First of all, EXTW37 doesn't come with any instructions. Fine, how complex can a bluetooth headphone be right. The only issue is that each earcup has a button. I just long pressed both of them to put them in pairing mode, which worked. I also noticed each cup charges independently. Interesting design choice, but that's fine.
EXTW37 looks just like the EX29, but it seems its drivers aren't exactly the same. EXTW37 has a bit more of an exaggerated bass, and though it's not uncomfortable sounding, I think it'd be foolish to mix on it. The dynamic response also seems a little bit more sluggish than EX29 so it's smearing a bit of the fast transients. Both a bit of a downgrade from EX29, though for casual use it hardly matters. On second thought, it might be a new noise attenuation material could be insulating the outside sound differently, causing the bass to carry through better. Anyway, it doesn't sound right.
The shape is exactly the same as EX29 so the comfort is there, this'll work for long hour work. I might not mix on it, but it'll be great for tracking. Hoping BT lag isn't too crazy on this thing.

But in the end, I just got it to listen to music while I work, so it's totally fine for that purpose. The ability to use it for critical listening or production work is more of a wish, so unfortunately this won't be good for any of that. It comes very close, certainly closer than any consumer grade cans, and may come in handy in a pinch. My older active noise canceling cans Naztech i9BT was a disaster in the accuracy department so it's quite an improvement.

https://www.extremeheadphones.com/extw37
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kensuguro
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Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
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Re: Directsound extw37 bt wireless cans

Post by kensuguro »

Update after using this for a while.. the bass being a bit more macho than necessary isn't that bad. Still inaccurate, but fine for pleasure listening. What gets annoying right away is that LR channels can't seem to stay connected. I'm sitting 3ft from the Mac and LR channels drop in/out like crazy. I walk outside and LR channels drop in/out like crazy. So unless I'm in the perfect spot, it's usually 90% just one channel, with the other one rapidly fading in/out, making it sound like the sound is circling around my head with some sort of crazy autopan effect. This is a bit disappointing since other bluetooth headphones I've had much more consistent connection. I still use the headphones getting to/from work tho. The passive noise canceling (absorption) makes them sound awesome in the subway.
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