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I’ve always been a really big fan of the original surface headphones. They block out a lot of noise, they fit well, they look cool, they sound decent, and over all I think they were a great first try on Microsoft’s part. But when it came to comparing them to their direct competitors, the sony 1000XM3 or the Bose NC 700’s they always fell short. But then Microsoft started putting these headphones on sale for $250 and I thought yeah at that price definitely.
And it looks like Microsoft has set its sights on dominating the mid range ANC headphones market with their new surface headphones 2 which now have a retail price of $250… $100 less than what the original surface headphones used to retail for. Now the surface headphones 2 do have some changes over the originals… but these headphones do still have some kinks from the originals that I really think Microsoft should have addressed on their updated headphones. Nonetheless, these headphones do bring a lot of value for mid range $250 headphones so if you want to pick these headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Now even though these headphones now retail for $250 they still come included with a premium hardshell carrying case like the originals. But I do want to point out that there’s now an indentation on the back of this case that serves as a carrying handle which I like. Now no, this carrying case isn’t the smallest… but I would much rather have this carrying case which is going to keep my headphones safe whenever I'm traveling with them… rather than some carrying pouch which is very common for headphones in this price range to come included with.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves… design wise these headphones look identical to the originals. I’ve always liked how they looked… but since their ear cups do stick out quite a bit some people will might get megaman vibes from them. Now build quality wise these headphones are very similar to the originals as well. We’ve got the same high quality silicon underneath the headband, we’ve got the same slate feeling plastic body panels, and these headphones are silent whenever you handle or flex them. So just like before these headphones have great build quality… and when compared to other mid range headphones these headphones feel amazing. But there are some changes from the originals. First off the buttons on these headphones are way more raised than before which I really like cause it makes finding the power button on these headphones much easier. The ear cups on these headphones now swivel in both directions which doesn’t really add any value in my opinion but okay… but more importantly the ear pads on these headphones are a little different. First off I can’t help but feel that the leatherette on the surface 2 doesn’t feel as soft or as supple as the leatherette on the originals. But nonetheless the leatherette on the Surface 2’s feels really good and they are by far the best feeling leatherette I have ever felt on any mid range headphones. But the cut out on these ear pads is a touch taller than the cut out on the originals.
Now ive always felt that the originals had adequately spacious ear cups that would fit most people… but now the surface headphones 2 give you a little more room which isn’t a bad thing at all. Now when it comes to fit, these headphones have a firm fit to them but I still feel comfortable saying that they are big head approved cause they don’t feel like they're squeezing your head. But here’s one of the first things that I really think Microsoft should have addressed on these headphones… and thats the padding underneath their headband, or lack there of. These headphones have very little padding underneath their headband. So I’ve found that after an hour of wearing these headphones they do develop a hot spot on the top of your head. So every hour or so I gotta take these headphones off and take a break. Cause for comparison, the Bose NC 700 have a very similar silicon headband but they have way more padding so hot spots aren’t an issue with these headphones. So even though these headphones have very spacious ear cups, and they don’t have an exaggerated amount of clamping force… their minimal padding underneath their headband could be an issue for some people. These headphones fit me just fine for the first 40 minutes but then after that they do start to develop some discomfort. So if you’re looking for headphones to wear for hours and hours on end you should try these out for yourself.
Now when it comes to tech specs, these headphones now have a 20 hour battery life versus the advertised 15 hour battery life on the originals. But if you use the originals with Hey Cortana off you can actually stretch their battery life to 18 hours. Now even though im glad to see that these headphones now have a 20 hour battery life… for 2020 that still is a little below average. I would have liked to have seen these headphones have a 25 hour battery life at least.
But regardless at least these headphones charge via a USB C port so if youre an android user you can charge your phone and headphones with the same cable. And these headphones do have fast charging where a 5 minute charge from a dead battery will get you an hour of playback time. Its not that impressive compared to other headphones but its there.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity just like before these headphones can be simultaneously connected to any two devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap from one device to another which is great for any power users out there.
And when it comes to watching movies of videos on your phone… these headphones have zero latency across the board whether you're using an iPhone of an android device which is good. And I also want to point out that these headphones now have APTX support unlike the originals which are strictly using SBC. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you decide to use APTX on these headphones with your Android device or windows machine you are going to have slightly reduced battery life.
But also I want to quickly point out that these headphones still have an audio jack so if you want to use a wired connection on these headphones you can still do that. Now I know this might seem basic but some companies are starting to remove the audio jack on their headphones. But also the USB C on these headphones is strictly used for charging. You can’t use it as a wired connection like you can on the Momentum 3’s.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. These headphones sound decent right out of the box which is something that I think is worth pointing out cause the original surface headphones stock EQ sounds very shallow. With the original Surface Headphones you gotta go in and raise the mids and bass on these headphones to make them sound decent. But coincidentally the Surface Headphones 2 sound basically identical to how ive always had my surface headphones set to. They have strong mids so vocals are very pronounced and the bass hits hard when it has to. Overall I think the Surface Headphones 2 sound decent enough and they should please most people. They have good clarity and good detail and they also have a good amount of physical bass. But if you want to you can always go in and adjust their EQ and make them sound how ever you want. But we’ve now arrived to another one of those kinks that I really think Microsoft should have addressed on these headphones. Even though both of these headphones sound decent they have a really big problem controlling their bass. Even with the stock EQ on the Surface Headphones 2 if you listen to any bass heavy music or just any J. Cole song… the bass on these headphones gets really close to bottoming out. And if you go into their app and raise the lows or mids lows on these headphones just a little bit they're going to start sputtering on a regular basis. Which first off I think is unacceptable for a pair of $250 headphones and also this the same issue the original surface headphones had. So personally I just recommend that you just use these headphones with their stock EQ or if you are going to mess around with their EQ don’t raise the lows and mid lows too much.
But when it comes to controlling your music with these headphones this has always been a standout feature of the surface headphones. Each ear cup on these headphones have these dials. You can raise or lower your volume with dial on the right ear cup and each ear cup has a touchpad so you can play pause or skip through your music. For people who are very anti touch pad on their headphones I think this dial set up is a good intermedium cause these headphones don’t have any actual gestures… which is where touch pads on headphones tend to sometimes struggle and in turn frustrate the user. But with these headphones you have a physical dial to adjust your volume so thats going to always be accurate cause it isn’t a swipe up or swipe down gesture, and since these touch pads only register a single tap, double tap or triple tap they’re super accurate as well.
And then the left dial is used is to adjust your active noise cancellation or to quickly switch over to your ambient mode. And the cool thing about this dial is that you have full control over your noise cancelation or ambient mode directly on your headphones. You don’t have to open up an app on you phone like you have to with some other headphones to have this level of detail.
Now when it comes to the active noise cancelation on these headphones… the surface headphones 2 block out an above average amount of noise for a pair of mid range ANC headphones and these headphones can keep up with some of the premium ANC headphones on the market out there. But the ANC performance on the Surface Headphones 2 has been slightly reduced from the ANC performance found on the original Surface Headphones. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, the ANC on the Surface Headphones 2 actually does a really good job of keeping up with the ANC on the Sennheiser PXC 550-II. And even though the ANC on the Surface 2 is very similar to the ANC on the original Surface headphones I can’t help but notice that its not as good. The original Surface Headphones manages to block out a little more road noise and they also manage to block out a little more chatter. But nonetheless these differences are very minimal and you wouldn’t notice a difference unless you’re wearing these headphones back to back. But performance wise the ANC on the Surface 2’s still have the same amount of cabin pressure as the originals. The cabin pressure on the Surface 2’s isn’t bad like the cabin pressure found on the Bose QC35’s which does give me headaches but you do feel a little something if you’re not playing music through these headphones. But besides that these headphones block out an above average amount of noise for $250 headphones.
But now we’ve got to talk about the ambient mode on these headphones cause this is another thing I think Microsoft should have addressed. First off I’ll point out what I like about this ambient mode. There’s zero hissing in the background so it isn’t distracting when youre watching videos with these headphones and this ambient mode is also the active kind. Meaning that the ambient mode on these headphones will actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises saving you from jump scares just like how the Sony 1000XM3’s do. And an active ambient mode is a pretty big deal cause its still not common on most other headphones that have an ambient mode. But my problem with this ambient mode is that they pick up a lot of wind noise when walking outdoors so you’re going to hear constant interference in your music… But also this ambient mode doesn’t sound natural. The ambient mode on these headphones kind of sounds like youre underwater. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to compare this ambient mode to a few others.
So I really feel that both the ambient mode on the Bose and Sony’s sound more natural… Where as with the ambient mode on the Surface Headphones 2 sound very shallow. I feel this ambient mode puts an emphasis on noise pollution and blocks out peoples voices which is the opposite of what we want and its the same issue ive had with the original surface headphones.
And finally these headphones are missing a conversation mode like on the Bose NC 700’s where you can talk to someone without having to take your headphones off. But these headphones do have wear sensors where if you take them off they’ll pause your music, and when you put them on they’ll start playing again. Now these wear sensors are very accurate and they don’t pause your music when you’re walking around but I still think Microsoft should have added a conversation feature on these headphones cause they can do that through software.
But finally here’s the microphone test. And I've always felt that the microphone on the original surface headphones is decent. And the same goes for these headphones too. Now this microphone might be a little bass heavy and S’s might get a little bright and they aren’t really doing much to isolate your voice from this AC unit ive got here… but I do think this microphone is usable nonetheless
But the microphone on the Surface Headphones 2 sounds identical to the microphone on the originals so there hasn’t really been any major changes here.
So with all that being said… I want to preface by saying that yes, the surface headphones 2 bring a lot of value for mid range $250 ANC headphones… But are they an upgraded or refined version of the originals… not so much. I think that the only notable upgrade on the Surface Headphones 2 from the original is their price change and new color option. If these headphones were really an upgraded or refined version of the originals they would have upgraded drivers that don’t bottom out when the bass gets going, they would have a better sounding ambient mode that don’t pick up as much wind noise, they would have more padding underneath their headband so that they don’t develop that hot spot on your head after an hour or so of use and they would also have a battery life of around 25 hours. But nonetheless these headphones do bring a lot of value for mid range ANC headphones. They block out nearly as much noise as a pair of premium ANC headphones, they sound decent enough to please most people, they have very spacious ear pads, their build quality is still great and they come included with that hardshell case. I like and recommend these headphones… but I don’t see any meaningful upgrades from the originals.