As flagship headphones creep up in price every year, the most exciting price point is increasingly becoming the mid-range. Headphones that have excellent features, but that don't cost the world — making them accessible to a wider range of potential buyers.
Philips looks to be the latest entry into this price range with its self-proclaimed "mid-range headphones", the H8000E.
Continuing a headphone legacy of a combination of letters and numbers, the specs list of the H8000E makes them sound a lot more like a pair of flagship 'phones than their mid-range moniker might suggest; which might bring them up to scratch with the best wireless headphones you can buy today.
Sony should take note
The H8000E are noise canceling headphones, featuring a 'hybrid adaptive ANC'. There are five modes on offer, including some form of wind noise reduction that you can toggle in the Philips app. That's more than you'd usually get from a pair of headphones in the mid-range, and while it doesn't seem to change depending on where you are located like the Sony WH-1000XM5, it still encroaches on their territory.
That ANC is powered by four mics, and then there's an extra two AI mics for calls. That should make ringing friends on the go sound great — although we'll have to take them for a spin to see how the H8000E perform when out and about.
40mm graphene-coated drivers bring the noise, and it should sound pretty good thanks to LDAC support. There's spatial audio on board as well, which is increasingly common in a range of different price points.
Where the WH-1000XM5 should really be glancing over the shoulder however is battery life — the 50 hours of ANC playback isn't quite as good as our current battery champions, the Marshall Monitor III, but it's a lot more than the 34 hours of the Sonys. Turn ANC off and it goes up to 70 hours.
Inside there are some environmental bonuses though — the batteries are user-replaceable.
They're going to be available in black and white, and while their design isn't going to melt any hearts, they look to be a fairly attractive, simple pair of headphones. Inside there are some environmental bonuses though — the batteries are user-replaceable, and earpads are detachable. That's a big plus over the Sonys. Once the batteries on your $399 WH-1000XM5 headphones are dead, they're gone — not so with these new Philips.
They're coming this September, and we're hoping for a great price. That mid-range proclamation should bring them around the $150-200 price range, but we'll have to see. As to whether they're one of the best noise-canceling headphones out there, we'll have to see how they do in our rigorous testing.
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