THE BEST DEALS OF THE DAY
Thirty second exam
There's no shortage of wireless noise-canceling headphones on the planet, but Yamaha has given its YH-L700A a definite point of difference, and we're not just talking eye-opening price. The company is proficient in digital sound processing, as evidenced by its long and proud heritage of multi-channel home theater amplifiers. And there's no denying the efficiency of the spatial audio aspect of these headphones - they're a more immersive and punchy listen in that regard than any nominal rival. Even in stereo, they have a lot to recommend them soundwise, including their full-bodied, expansive, and active personalities. There's no free equalizer customization here though, and they're far from the last word on noise cancellation. And to bring it down to a basic level, they're pretty big—too big, for sure, for quite a few people who might not have considered their heads that small before. On top of this, do we mind the cost?
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- Yamaha YH-L700A (download in black) at Amazon for € 443,75
Yamaha YH-L700A price and release date
- Available now
- € five hundred and twenty-nine / € four hundred and forty-nine / AU € 699
The Yamaha YH-L700A Wireless In-Ear Headphones are on sale now and retail for €3 / €700 / AU$700. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But when you realize they should be more appropriately called "Yamaha YH-L1000A Wireless Active Noise-Cancelling Hi-Res Audio Headphones with Voice Control and Accommodative aptX Support", the price doesn't seem so high. The YH-L4A may cost twice as much as Sony's field-leading WH-XNUMXXMXNUMX, but it compares nicely with Apple's AirPods Max, for example. It should be noted here that www.usa.yamaha.com is a particularly indifferent site, so it will take you a little longer than ideal to confirm this information.
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Design and functionality
- High-end materials, exemplary construction
- Many control options
- Adaptive AptX connectivity
The foundation for higher price starts on the outside, and naturally, the Yamaha YH-L700A looks, feels, and to some extent even smells like a premium product. The use of canvas (for the nicely padded headband and most of the closed-back headphone covers), leather (on the earcups and a small part of the earcups), and tactile, durable plastic (for pretty much everything else) gives a strong sense of spending. The rather affirmative Yamaha logo on each and every boxy headset doesn't hurt in that regard either. A total weight of 3,5g adds to the firm feel, without compacting the hull, at least not any time soon. There's a fair amount of adjustability to the headband, but even in its smallest form, the fit is superb. As such, those with a particularly large head shouldn't have a problem, while smaller ones may feel a bit overwhelmed. Drenched in leather and expensive canvas, admittedly, more drenched anyway. Each headset has a microphone opening for use with active noise cancellation, telephony, and voice assistance. Additionally, the left earcup also has a physical control to cycle through the noise cancellation options ('off/ambient sound/on'). There's a 11mm input for wired use; When used wirelessly, Yamaha claims a battery life of between 34 hours, with all smart features on, up to 3,5 hours, with all smart features off. The lithium-ion battery can be fully charged, without charging, in approximately 3 hours. To the right, on the edge of the earcup, you'll find a button to turn Bluetooth on/off/pair and another to cycle through the XNUMXD sound field effect (more on both later). There is also a USB-C input for charging the battery. On the leather-covered portion of the right ear cup, there are three multi-function controls, covering play/pause, volume up/down, skip forward/back, and answer/end/reject the call.
(Image credit: TechRadar) In addition to these physical controls and voice control of Google Assistant or Siri, there's also Yamaha's Headphones Controller app. Some controls, like the noise canceling options and 3D sound options, mimic the function of the YH-L700A's physical controls, but this is where head tracking, listening care, and audio can be turned on or off. the listener of the optimizer. And yes, these three functions deserve discussion. Head tracking is available when listening with the 3D sound field enabled. Unsurprisingly, its goal is to adjust the spatial audio presentation in relation to the movement of the user's head. Listening Care, on the other hand, seeks to optimize the volume balance of the earphones, based on real-time calculations performed every 0,7m/s, while Listening Optimizer uses a built-in microphone to measure earphone strain and leakage from user's ears. , modifying the sound accordingly.
(Image credit: TechRadar) Considering the exhaustive nature of the specification, at least in terms of convenience and listening experience, it's a bit surprising to find no accelerometers fitted to the YH-L700. So if you take them off your mind, they'll just keep playing happily. If they are aware of the position of your head, surely they should be aware of their position in relation to your head? Indoors, the YH-L700A uses Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connectivity, with support for SBC, AAC, and aptX adaptive codecs. Sound is delivered by two 40mm full-range dynamic drivers, with a frequency response (according to Yamaha) from a frankly fanciful 8Hz down to a barely more believable 40kHz. In addition to the earcups (which rotate and fold for easy transport), the YH-L700A package includes a 50cm USB-A to USB-C charging cable, flight adapter, 3,5 audio cable mm to 3,5mm (Yamaha is 'High Resolution Certified' enabled when wired) and a very nice semi-hard carrying case.
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- No custom EQ setting
- Very remarkable spatial audio effects
- Impressive in terms of strength, detail, and overall tone
There are certainly several fundamental ways to assess the performance of the Yamaha YH-L700A: in direct stereo, like most headphones, and with its fancy 3D sound field algorithm turned on. So these seem like a good place to start. With all rendering disabled and a Tidal Masters file of What the Heck Is This Time by Sparks? play, the Yamahas are a quiet listen and undeniably loud. There's nothing brawny about their presentation, you know, but at the lower end of the frequency range, they assert themselves in a very wise way. Bass sounds are punchy and textured, with nice straight edges when it comes to attack and decay of individual notes and hits. There are a lot of details on the screen, so it's easy to distinguish the bypass from the bass sounds. These same levels of detail are evident throughout the rest of the frequency range as well. The voice in the midrange, unmatched in tone and phrasing, is absolutely full of character, which is as it should be. The attack at the top of the frequency range is more than enough, but there's no indication that things could get rough, jittery, or otherwise out of control. Instead, there's just enough driving, tempered by total control. If a well-supervised ride is right for you, Yamaha has a lot to offer. They're also impressive when it comes to dynamics, both the low-level harmonic variations that describe the light and shadow of a recording, and the broad strokes that charge happily into the final crescendo. The soundstage they describe is compelling, expansive, and well-arranged. In fact, when it comes to stereo performance, there is only a small, but certain lack of rhythmic expression that prevents the YH-L700A from impressing in every way. Listening to Animal Collective's summer clothing isn't the fluid, vibrant experience it should be.
(Image credit: TechRadar) Listening to the same songs with 3D Sound Field enabled is quite a different experience. Yamaha's mastery of digital sound processing will be familiar to anyone familiar with the multi-channel home theater amplifiers the company has released over the past two decades, and there's no doubt that the seven surround-mode settings: Theater , concert hall, audio hall and so on - provide a completely “different” sound experience. The different equalizers offer different and individual presentations, and there is no dispute about the spatial nature of each of them. In some cases, they make the recordings a little less easy to interpret; in other cases, they make it easy to identify the individual threads of a recording. However, in each case, they offer a fuller, more immersive and more immersive experience. Whether or not this is preferable to simple stereo playback is a matter of taste. Head tracking is a slightly less convincing feature of the entire 3D sound field experience. Basically, if you are looking "forward" while listening, both pilots provide a fairly similar amount of information. However, if you turn your head to the left, the right earphone gains sonic primacy as it now faces the “front” of the stage. My childhood home stereo system had a feature like this: it was called the "balance" control.
(Image credit: TechRadar) Among other main features, the effect of Listening Care and Listening Optimizer is subtle or negligible, depending on your perspective. Certainly, if you use the YH-L700A when sitting indoors, it doesn't have much of an effect on the sound performance of the headphones. Working algorithms do ...