This product review is going to introduce you to the Future Sonics Atrio headphones, but let me open with a warning – if the idea of $200 headphones freaks you out, stop reading.
However, if you cherish silence on your flight, combined with amazing sound quality, these headphones may be just what the doctor ordered.
The Future Sonics Atrio headphones are passive noise canceling, which means they block noise by physically keeping it out of your ears. The dual flanged silicone earpieces make for a snug fit, but once you get them inserted correctly, they feel great.
Reviewing the sound quality is tricky, mainly because I am far from a audiophile, and I always considered MP3’s to sound “great”. That said – the Future Sonics really did blow my mind. Audio is unbelievably clear and crisp, and for the first time, I was able to detect the weaknesses in the quality of my music files.
The headphones come with more parts than you are probably used to. Included in the padded hard case are of course the headphones themselves, as well as several different earpieces in foam and silicone.
Included is also a cleaning tool, which is used to clean out the stuff your ears leave behind in the poor headphones. It may sound disgusting, but by keeping things clean, your audio won’t suffer from ear wax buildup.
In-ear noise isolating headphones are brilliant – you don’t need to worry about batteries, you can sleep with them on, and you don’t look funny walking down the aisle with red lights on the side of your head. On top of that, I actually find that the audio does not suffer as much, as there are no electronics trying to play tricks with your music.
The noise isolation on the Atrio headphones is rated at 26dB, which doesn’t mean that much to me – all I know is that they manage to block out almost everything that annoys me, including crying babies.
As far as the sound quality goes – don’t just take my word for it. The Future Sonics Atrio headphones are used by artists like Miley Cyrus and Steve Miller, who probably have much higher standards than what my ears are used to.
All in all, a fantastic pair of headphones, that have actually made me rethink the way I “acquire” my music – I’ve started getting rid of MP3 files I had collected that were stored in a low quality, and am even dabbling in lossless audio formats.
The Atrio headphones are available directly from Future Sonics in 4 different colors and cost $199.