Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones has great quality, priced PHP 8,990.00

Here’s a little gem that may have gone unnoticed. For those familiar with everything 3rd party Apple, Incase isn’t known for making audio accessories. In fact, if you scroll down their website, their headphones and earphones are pushed down way below their casings for other Apple products. I actually had no idea they made headphones and that they were even being sold here in the Philippines. So I managed to bag their high end model (Sonic Over Ear headphones)from their distributor and take it for a spin with several games of Diablo III. Here goes nothing:

What’s inside:

– high quality “furry” carrying case (“furry” is the best way to describe it!)
– Sonic Over Ear Headphones
– 1/4″ audio adapter
– 3.5mm audio adapter

First thing you’ll notice with the packaging is the inclusion of two removable cable adapters for your standard 3.5mm jack and a bigger 1/4″ adapter for more professional configurations. The over ears themselves are of very high quality and they aren’t as boisterous in design as Skullcandy or Beats by Dr. Dre. In fact, Incase pretty much sticks to their monotone philosophy. I then later discovered that I bagged the more conservative design of black on black. Still, their other designs speak more conservatively than the rest of the industry and I like that.

The removable 3.5mm cable comes with a built in control for volume and microphone. The mic is so minute, I didn’t know it existed until I opened my Mac’s audio controls and noticed a new external device plugged in. This goes well for people who want to do voice chat without having an extension jutting out from their headset to the mouth.

Let’s talk about comfort and audio quality. My beef with most headsets is that they can get rather uncomfortable because of the material used around the ear cups. I’m enamored by Incase’s choice to use memory foam covered in suede because it makes grinding through Diablo III’s Hell a much better experience. This is kinda gross but yeah, unlike other headsets, if you sweat, the foam just absorbs it. Other headsets tend to squeeze the ears. These don’t, attributing much to the design of the earpiece not touching the ears and the memory foam.

The headset cones are acoustically exact, designed to fit your ears to optimize sound quality. These speakers make it worth the price of close to PHP 9,000.00 just below the mid-level Beats. These aren’t cheap for sure, and they don’t feel cheap. Incase says that these headphones are configured for “music lovers who expect a refined audio experience no matter what they listen to.” That really just means that the low, mid and highs are equally tempered to give you that full sound.

VERDICT

If you’re willing to spend less than PHP 10,000 for a good set of headphones for music or gaming, these should definitely be considered. The memory foam provides hours of comfort and the unseen microphone is just darling.