The new over-ear headphones by Human Inc.
Overview
Every year we look forward to the next generation of AirPods or Bose QC35s hoping to find an enticing enough upgrade that would justify spending $150-$300 on new headphones.
If a design is unique enough, we may venture out of our trusted brands to try something new. However, usually the grass is not greener and we immediately come back to the house names we love. Apple, Beats, and Bose have been the staple of headsets for many years and we love them for different reasons: Apple to be trendy, Beats for the bass and finally Bose for the comfort and noise-canceling technology.
There is a new kid on the block that may finally be worth getting out of your comfort zone for: it’s the Human Headphones by Human Inc., a consumer technology company based in Seattle.
If there were any headphone that deserves to be called “over-ear,” it would be these. You wear these by fitting them over your ear (they hold in place by an attachment that clasps around your outer ear).
You may not have heard, but Human (previously called ‘Sound’) was a significant deal on the crowdfunding website, Indigegogo back in 2016. It raised a total of $517,770 (345% more than their funding goal of $150,000) by 2,380 backers. It’s not a surprise their campaign was successful: they offered some revolutionary features for its time:
- Social: ability to listen to the same music with multiple individuals simultaneously.
- Fade: noise cancellation system.
- Amplify: convert the headphones into a speaker system by placing them together.
- Active: get biometric values from the headphones such as heart monitoring.
- Speak: translate 11 different languages by speaking to your headset.
- Sleep: gently wakes you up (I was curious how comfortable these could be for sleep, my ear generally gets hot with any headset)
Over the years, Human dropped Fade, Active and Sleep. Active and Sleep were special features exclusive to BETA backers (who would have backed Human with $500-$800!!). You may have guessed, but many backers were already frustrated with Human due to the fair amount of time they took to deliver anything. Just last year, Human got another round of funding of a crazy $21.5 million from Microsoft. If Human hadn’t delivered in 2019, I’m sure you would have heard news of Human getting seriously attacked by real humans (punny? no?).
Human Inc. finally launched a presale for the Human Headphones on August 6th, 2019 for $399 or $36 monthly installments (you can also do a 30-day risk-free trial). Thankfully I can provide you an early review today so that you can decide if these new kids are genuinely worth your penny(ies).
Technology
Before we talk about the design details, let’s quickly go over the technical specs. If you hadn’t guessed when I told you the headphones don’t have a headband, yes they are wireless. They boast a 9-hour battery life on a full charge. I haven’t been able to spend enough time with these yet to confirm that these last that long nor how long it takes to get a full charge.
The neat differentiator of these headphones is that when you put the two headphones together (which they do so with a very satisfying magnetic snap), they convert to a Bluetooth speaker: there are a total of 4 speakers which make it a 2.2 speaker system. I’m not very adept with my speaker’s knowledge, but I believe 2.2 means that you get subwoofers (someone corrects me if I’m wrong). However, the speakers aren’t very great in my personal opinion. The over-ear audio quality though is phenomenal. I was quite bummed when Human disclosed that they would not be supporting noise-canceling, but I don’t think it’s necessary with the rich sound you get with these.
Beamforming microphones ‘triangulate your voice and not the noise around you for superior call quality.’ I will be honest…the call quality is a bit too superior to the point where the person I was talking to on the phone could hear my roommate and the person he was talking to on the phone, and they were 10 feet away!
If you ever considered whether these headphones would be great for studio work away from the computer, they do have Bluetooth connectivity of 100 feet +, so no worries there. Do not try to do anything active, though because these do not fit secure enough to allow you to run, jump, or do anything too physical.
Sound quality
(Edit: I’ve heard a lot of great feedback that I should emphasize performance in future reviews — which, is obvious. I was a little too caught up on reviewing the design. Apologies and forgive me. 😂)
Pros: In terms of sound, these headphones simply sound excellent. I was surprised how well these performed, despite not having noise-canceling technology. Noise-canceling headsets naturally have an advantage over products like these because they can eliminate distracting noise around the individual.
Interestingly, ‘Blend’ mode seems to enhance the audio to be more rich and immersive. You quickly realize that it’s just amplifying the noise around you, but somehow that gives a unique sound that I haven’t experienced before.
Cons: If you’re in a noisy environment (for example: in an airplane where there are rumbling and constant vibrations in the cabin), these headphones are not ideal. Noise isolation on these are poor: increasing the volume means other people around you will likely hear you. I can’t raise this past four levels on my MacBook without people next to me hearing my music in the office.
If you are a bass lover, these headsets are not for you. I would recommend going the Beats route.
I think your experience with these headphones will depend on how well these fit against your ear: if these are not flat against your ear, these will not sound great.
Lastly, the speaker mode is very disappointing. The closest comparison I could make is the likes of an Amazon Echo Dot, or the sad sound you hear when you reduce bass, medium, and treble in your car.
The sound is much richer as a headphone than a speaker.
Form
One thing that stood out to me about the motto of Human was their goal for technology to adapt to humans rather than the other way around. This philosophy reminded me of the design principle of form follows function. Simply put, the look and feel of a product are defined by the intended purpose or function it serves. This principle drove the form of the Human Headphones, and if you observe the headphones carefully, they resemble the human ear a lot.
Human gave the extra consideration to provide different fit attachment and pads to fit ears of all shapes and sizes. They claim that the two variations of attachments will fit all ears. We’ll have to check back on product ratings to see if they do indeed work for everyone.
Function
In terms of putting these headphones on, it is a challenge to get this right the first time. You have to open a clasp (which gently pinches your ear to hold the headphone against your face) and rotate the headphone until the clasp touches the root of your ear. It’s pretty hard to communicate this over words…check out the videos on the support page for a better idea.
Human uses capacitive touch technology so that you can use just one finger to control audio. Intuitively tap to play/pause and answer phone calls. Tap twice for Siri or whatever assistant you use. Swipe up and down for volume, forward and backward to skip songs. With the app, you can also use tap to translate up to 11 different languages. Open the app, go to Translate, tap to speak to your headphones, and the app will display the translated word on your phone.
Apparently, it is also possible for you to have a full-on conversation with someone of a different language if they have the Human Headphones too. I don’t have anyone in my circle that has these yet. I’m looking forward to trying that feature.
As mentioned earlier, you can put these two headphones together to use them as a Bluetooth speaker. You do need to use the app to turn on the speaker, though. I was hoping you could use these headphones without ever touching an app, but that is not the case. If you decide not to turn on speaker mode, the device turns off automatically after 20 seconds. It’s a small feature that gives you peace of mind when it comes to worrying about turning on/off the device. Pull them back apart when you are ready to use them again.
Be delicate when it comes to holding the headphones when they are on. I’ve experienced a screeching noise when I had the headphones against the palm of my mind. I got pretty paranoid about putting them on because I was afraid I’d have to listen to the screeching in my ear (the sound is similar to audio feedback squeal you hear from handheld mics).
Moment of Delight
I love when a product has a “Moment of Delight”: the one moment where you think to yourself “Damn. That was well thought out”. That moment for me was when I took off one headphone, and the audio automatically paused. If you were to imagine a scenario in which you take off a headphone to listen to someone better, it’s great that the device turns off automatically without you having to make an extra effort to pause the device manually.
You don’t have even to take the headphones off though. Human included a new feature called Engage which allows you to hold press the headphone, which amplifies the sounds around you so that you can not only listen to your music but also listen to whoever might be trying to distract you from your music. Just a caveat though…it may make you look a bit douchey (sorry can’t think of a nicer word than that). This same feature can be turned on from the app by pressing a button called “Blend.” Human should have probably called this feature the same name…no need to call them two different names.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been wanting to try a new headphone and hate the thought of going back to the same brands, you definitely should give these headphones a try. I’m not sure if the $399 cost is justified since I personally look for noise-canceling and comfort when it comes to investment in headphones. However, I can see the perks of having a device that is so easily controlled with the tip of your finger.
The logo is pretty neat…it represents a sound wave and an “H”…pretty clever. Though I’m a bit confused about how they will use this logo for other products they come out in the future. Human Inc., stated that ‘Sound’ was just one type of product they’d build that adapts to the human body. If they do a product like ‘Smell,’ how will this logo work? Maybe they’ll create a new logo that looks like an “H” but represents scents? Perhaps I’m overthinking about this.
Watch my YouTube review.
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