LINDY BNX-60 Bluetooth Wireless Headphones Review

Introduction

Manufacturer: LINDY
Model: BNX-60
Price: £89.99 (At the time of review)

At Play3r.net, we love our audio, so it is of no surprise that I have yet another headphones review for you today, this time, from a lesser known brand in the audio arena – LINDY. LINDY are most known for their audio/video and PC connectivity products; such as cables and adaptors. Recently, they’ve been taking a foray into the headphones market and have a number of both wired and wireless headphones available.

Today I’ll be taking a look at the LINDY BNX-60 wireless headphones with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) – a premium level product aimed at those wanting to free themselves from cables, whilst still fully benefiting from the noise cancelling. Let’s take a quick look at the specs:

Specifications

• 10m Wireless Range (depending on environment)
• 40mm high output drivers with neodymium magnets
• Impedance: 32Ohm passive mode / 100Ohm Active Noise Cancelling mode
• Sensitivity (1mW@1KHz ±3dB): Passive 93dB ANC 103dB Bass 104dB
• Nominal THD: Passive <0.1%@ 1KHz / Active <0.5% @ 1KHz
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20KHz
• Built-in 3.7V 320mA Lithium Polymer Battery
• Battery Life: 30Hr ANC Only, 15Hr Wireless Only, 12Hr ANC & Wireless
• Charges via USB Micro-B, approximately 3 hours to fully charge
• Integrated Audio (FF/RW, Play/Pause) & Handsfree Calling Controls
• Adjustable volume
• 3.5mm Stereo Jack Socket for detachable 3.5mm audio cable

Interestingly, these specs position it as a direct competitor for Bose’s Quiet Comfort range of headphones while at a much lower price of £89.99 – will they be similar?

Closer Look

The LINDY BNX-60 come in a clean, simple looking box with a white and orange colour scheme.

Inside the packaging, you are presented with a quick start guide in multiple languages and a nice moulded EVA case.

Inside the case you have the LINDY BNX-60 wireless headphones and a small pouch filled with accessories. The headphones are all black except the logo and model number on each ear cup, which also rotate 90 degrees, which reduces the profile of them slightly.

The accessories include a 3.5mm audio cable, 6.3mm adaptor, micro USB cable for charging and a flight adaptor.

The left ear cup features the playback controls and 3.5mm audio jack in case you want to plug them in directly to the audio device. The ear cup also features the power and bluetooth status LED. The ear cups are quite small, however they include a 40mm driver with neodymium magnets. The cushions are leatherette covered foam. 

The left ear cup also houses the battery and micro USB port for charging. Just below the port is a small microphone to aid in eliminating the background noise.

The right ear cup contains the hardware for the Active Noise Cancelling feature. This can be turned on or off, indicated by the blue LED. You also have the manual volume dial just above the ANC switch

So that pretty much covers the LINDY BNX-60 wireless headphones, now I will see how they perform.

Performance and Testing

Typically, the best way to test a pair headphones is to listen to a range of music over a reasonable period of time. This allows you to cover all the bases including comfort and battery life.

Setup

Configuring the headphones is incredibly simple: you hold down the play/pause button for a few seconds to turn them on, which will cause the headphones to enter Bluetooth pairing mode. This is indicated by the green/red flashing LED. Once you have paired it with whatever device you want to use you can start using them. To use the ANC, you simply flip a switch. Using the media controls can be a little fiddly at first, but once you have the knack of locating them with your fingers you soon get used to it.

Audio

Playing through several genres of music, such as House, EDM and Rock etc, it was obvious straight away, that the sound was clear and had good high and mid tones. At first the treble seemed a little dampened, but this seems to be corrected by turning on ANC. The audio was clear and crisp, with little to no distortion when playing at full volume. There was little in the way of interference when using Bluetooth even when several meters away from my phone – sometimes wireless headphones can have a scratchy like sound caused by poor signal or interference.

The active noise cancellation worked incredibly well when commuting on the train or bus, with the majority of the engine whirr being eliminated making it a much quieter journey. It dampens consistent ambient background noise without muffling speech too much, however, if you are surrounded by a large number of people, so it’s more of a background hum, then the BNC-60s ANC again eliminated most of the noise.

Comfort

One of the first thoughts I had about the LINDY BNC-60s was how light they were, especially considering the integrated battery for wireless operation. That said, the band is a little stiff despite being made from plastic so it did cause some discomfort over time – although this will depend on the size of your head. The ear cups have ample cushioning so even without ANC turned on they offer some background noise isolation.

Battery

There is very little point in having wireless headphones if the battery life is poor, so I was pleased to discover that the BNX-60s came in very close to the advertised battery life. LINDY state that you can get about 15 hours of use using them wirelessly, and a little less for when you have ANC turned on (as this uses more battery). Of course this can be extended to almost 30 hours if you use them by cable. I managed to last almost an entire week of listening to music whilst commuting to work for a couple of hours each day and then watching some movies in the evening.

Conclusion

Audiophiles often say that you get what you pay for (and for life in general), so I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the LINDY BNX-60s wireless headphones with active noise cancelling. In terms of sound quality they were on par with my Bose Quiet Comfort 15s and the ANC was almost the same in terms of the amount of sound removed.

Sound quality is the most important aspect of headphones and with an incredibly saturated market it is often difficult to distinguish your product from others. I don’t think LINDY will have any issues with this as they delivered in lows, mids and highs tones, with clarity and softness when required. They are light, long lasting and simple to use, and at under £90 an utter bargain for a pair of decent performing wireless headphones.

My only niggles with the headphones is that the feel of them isn’t fantastic. They have a “soft-touch” like coating on them, which to me only doesn’t shout quality (of course this is subjective). They are a little inflexible also, so if you have a big head it may take some time breaking them in.

With all this said, I found reviewing the LINDY BNX-60 wireless headphones an absolute pleasure. I certainly didn’t miss the cables you get with most headphones and the fact that the media keys worked with my Android phone out of the box was ideal. Sure they may not feel great, but they are light, have a solid battery life and most importantly, deliver great audio making them an absolute bargain at under £90 – especially when you consider that they perform very close to Bose headphones, which cost in excess of £200. I think it’s fairly obvious that the LINDY BNX-60s won’t be walking away empty handed, so it is with great delight that I award the headphones with the Editor’s Choice award.

Well done LINDY and thanks for sending these over.