[section_title title=”Performance”]Â Performance
The first thing that’s noticeable when turning the CL4700 is the ‘hum’ noise, presumably, from the fact they’re wireless. Even on the lowest volume setting the ‘noise’ is audible. Given the target audience, perhaps this hum was expected collateral – once you feed the headphones a stream, though, the hum dies away to whatever is being played, or at least, is drowned out by actual content.
In terms of actual sound quality the impressions given off by the CL7400 is that of the quality you’d expect from a mid-range pair of headphones. There isn’t much bass to search for in the CL7400 and the mids and high are quite washed out too. The sound is certainly serviceable for watching TV whether it’s sports or something with a bit more variety as a film or drama, but the overall presentation certainly isn’t one of immersion. I found the volume to be over-bearing at the mid-point of 5 (out of 10) to the extent I couldn’t really hear anything else but the headphones – this is really quite loud when you consider they’re on-ear headphones – at level 1/2 i’d consider as loud as i’d ever get in comparison to most headphones.
If there is an area that’s impressive with the CL7400 it’s the headphones range. I managed to get as far as my back patio located on the opposite side of the house, a floor down – around 8m including walls – before the signal would intermittently break-up. Now it’s highly unlikely you’d be such a great distance from the where the receiver is located for you to bump into this issue, of course, the main point of usage for the CL7400 is sitting in one place so you can enjoy a given entertainment medium with other people. If you do desire to be active whilst using the CL7400, you’d be perfect serviced to listen to music whilst moving around the house as you tidy up, for example.
Another strong showing was the battery life. Looking around the web people have managed to squeeze 6 hours out of the CL7400. I myself managed just over 4 hours with the headphones set to 5/10 volume which I think would be loud enough for most who might have lesser hearing as well as being the right volume not to drown out the people sat around you.
