At a look
Skilled’s Score
Execs
- Nice worth for cash
- Glorious sound high quality
- Spectacular battery life
- Bundled aptX adaptor
Cons
- Costly
- Handbook might be clearer
- Not everybody wants aptX
Our Verdict
It’s geared toward audiophiles who actually care about sound high quality, however the HDB 630 is great worth for cash. It offers a quick-and-easy Bluetooth connection when comfort is most essential, and a separate aptX Adaptive dongle for instances once you need the very best sound high quality. It additionally offers spectacular battery life and helpful equipment that are perfect for life on the highway.
Worth When Reviewed
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Greatest Pricing Immediately
Worth When Reviewed
$499.95
Greatest Costs Immediately: Sennheiser HDB 630
$499.95
Many high-quality Bluetooth headphones use the favored aptX codec for Bluetooth audio – nicely, it’s in style with Android customers, Apple has prevented aptX for years (probably due to a long-running patent dispute between Apple and Qualcomm, which owns the aptX know-how).
Fortunately, a lot of the finest Bluetooth headphones and earbuds help Apple’s most well-liked AAC codec, so you possibly can nonetheless use Apple gadgets with a variety of Bluetooth headphones, however many individuals argue that aptX offers superior sound high quality, particularly for listening to the lossless or hi-res music that’s now out there on Apple Music and different streaming companies. Apple’s refusal to help the aptX codec implies that it’s not one thing AirPods customers can take pleasure in, however non-Apple headphones are beginning to add their very own technique of help, and we’re taking a look at one such pair of headphones right here. (The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 additionally help aptX).
Priced at $499.95/£399.90, Sennheiser’s HDB 630 will get round the issue by offering a flexible set of noise-cancelling over-ear headphones that even provides Apple gadgets a selection between utilizing AAC or the most recent high-quality aptX Adaptive codec.
Geared toward “the high-performance audio fanatic who desires all of it”, the HDB 630 headphones help each aptX Adaptive and AAC for Bluetooth audio, in addition to offering a USB-C interface for a wired connection as nicely. And, if you happen to’re utilizing Apple gadgets that don’t help aptX, the HDB 630 additionally features a small Bluetooth dongle (adaptor) referred to as the BTD 700, which makes use of a USB-C interface to hook up with your computer systems or cellular gadgets, after which acts as a Bluetooth transmitter that helps aptX Adaptive.
Sennheiser says that the dongle’s aptX Adaptive can deal with hi-res audio codecs as much as 24-bit/96KHz, so it’s a very good possibility if you wish to take heed to lossless or hi-res music.
The HDB 630 can be utilized with Bluetooth or wired connections, and in addition features a USB-C adaptor for aptX as nicely.
Which means that folks utilizing Apple gadgets have a selection of audio choices. You should utilize a direct Bluetooth reference to AAC to supply a fast and straightforward connection to the headphones, which will probably be handy once you’re out and about or figuring out on the gymnasium. However, if you happen to’re enjoyable indoors or on an extended airplane flight, then you possibly can plug the dongle into your Mac, iPhone or iPad – so long as they’ve USB-C, in fact – and use its aptX Adaptive help to wallow in your favorite tunes with the very best sound high quality.
And the sound high quality actually is great. The design of the HDB 630 is similar to that of Sennheiser’s inexpensive Momentum 4 headphones, however Sennheiser says it has fine-tuned the interior design of the earpieces to enhance each the mid-range and lower-treble efficiency.
Some folks will argue that aptX doesn’t sound a lot better than AAC, however I may hear a transparent distinction when listening to the hi-res model of The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby on Apple Music. With the BTD 700 dongle plugged into my iPad Air, the sharp, stabbing strings sound extra forceful and dramatic, and the deep cellos particularly have a richer, extra resonant tone than when listening by way of the iPad’s commonplace AAC connection.
The dongle additionally does an important job with the dense rock sound of Sing Alongside by Sturgill Simpson, laying down a deep, grinding sound for the fuzzy rock guitars, but in addition selecting out the advantageous element of the ticking percussion that holds the observe collectively.
Sennheiser’s Sensible Management app additionally offers a Bass Enhance possibility that lands the bass drop in direction of the tip of the observe with a satisfyingly weighty sound.
The headphones additionally boast as much as 60 hours of battery life, in order that they’ll be a very good possibility for an extended flight or prepare journey.
Utilizing the BTD 700 dongle does cut back the battery life to round 45 hours, however that’ll nonetheless see you proper all over the world with no bother in any respect.
The BTD 700 dongle permits Apple gadgets to make use of the high-quality aptX Adaptive codec for Bluetooth audio.
Our solely criticism is that it wasn’t fully clear learn how to change between utilizing the built-in Bluetooth with AAC on my iPad Air, and the aptX Adaptive possibility with the separate BTD 700 dongle plugged into the iPad.
It took a couple of minutes of random button-stabbing earlier than I managed to attach the headphones to the little dongle. As soon as that’s achieved the Sennheiser app lists the BTD 700 and the iPad’s commonplace Bluetooth as separate connection choices, making it simple to change between them, however it might assist if the directions in Sennheiser’s PDF handbook have been a bit of clearer.
The Sennheiser app has additionally been up to date for the HDB 630, with a brand new parametric equaliser that gives extra advantageous management over particular person frequency bands, and improved controls for the noise-cancellation options. The noise cancellation works nicely too, offering fast preset choices on the faucet of a button, in addition to a slider management throughout the app that permits you to manually modify the extent of noise cancellation to fit your environment.
With noise-cancellation set to full the HDB 630 was capable of stamp proper down on the low-frequency rumble of an plane engine in our simulated checks (courtesy of mynoise.internet). It did let in some larger frequency sounds in our second check, which simulates the noise of a busy airport, so Apple’s AirPods Max and Bose’s QuietComfort Extremely nonetheless have a slight edge with the general effectiveness of their noise-cancellation options.
Nevertheless, the AirPods Max and Bose QC Extremely are costlier – and, in fact, the HDB 630 has the added bonus of its BTD 700 dongle, which offers improved sound high quality for Apple gadgets when listening to lossless and hi-res music.
Sennheiser throws in another helpful equipment too, together with a sturdy carrying case, airline adaptor, USB-C cable and three.5mm cable for gadgets that also have an quaint 3.5mm headphone socket, offering glorious all-round worth for cash.
Helpful equipment for travellers embody a carrying case and airline adaptor.
Ought to You Purchase The Sennheiser HDB 630?
In case you’re simply in search of an inexpensive set of Bluetooth headphones then there are definitely inexpensive choices out there. Nevertheless, the HDB 630 will earn its preserve for audiophiles who need the easiest audio high quality, due to its versatile connectivity options that embody commonplace Bluetooth together with the BTD 700 adaptor for aptX Adaptive, and wired connectivity as nicely. And, with spectacular battery life and helpful equipment, the HDB 630 actually does present glorious worth for cash.
