Polk Hinge Headset

Everyone is wearing them these days and they have become more of a fashion accessory than a practical device for listening to music, for me I want a headset that has great sound and doesn`t stand out like a bacon sandwich at a bar mitzvah, most people these days just give in to peer pressure and buy the latest trendy headset regardless whether it’s any good or not, if you are the kind of person who wants something a little different then check out the latest offering from Polk.

Polk sent me out a set of their latest on ear headphones called Hinge and for the price these are a good deal. Polk are an American company that have been around since the 70`s and are known for producing quality sound systems.

The Polk Hinge on first look is very well put together and beautifully engineered headset the headband is covered in stitched leather, with aluminium adjusters.

The ear cups contain 40 mm drivers which can produce up to 107dB which is impressive.

Now you are probably wondering why they are called Hinge well that’s because these actually fold up via two hinges that make for easy portability, with a nice brushed cotton and leather travel bag to carry them in.

The ergonomically designed headband and ear cups fit perfectly on the head, and are incredibly comfortable and light, outside noise insulation is pretty good thanks to a thing Polk call passive sound insulation, but the great thing about these is the sound, for a what I would class as a mid-price range headset they really are much more impressive than pricier headsets.

The sound quality is excellent deep and rich and can cope with all genres of music (I tried Led Zep to Nat King Cole and all sounded great).

The in-line 3 way button control works flawlessly (with an iPhone or iPod) and callers could hear me perfectly, I tried these out with other devices and even though the in line controls don`t work with non-Apple products ,the headset has a 3.5 jack and I could plug in another lead that worked.

The cable itself is a generous 121.9 cm long enough for anyone I reckon and the gold connectors make for a better connection, again beautifully engineered.

Now apparently Polk has a thing called patented Dynamic balance tuning which helps with distortion and to be honest it works well I had no distortion even when at full volume.

Summary

For less than a £100 these are brilliant headphones, the sound is excellent as is the build quality, they look great and are beautifully engineered, I don`t think I have been this impressed by a set of mid-range headphones in a long while. It would have been nice to have controls that work with other devices instead of just Apple products if you are willing to give up on that the sound quality makes up for it.

Forget about your fancy up market designer headsets these look good and perform exceptionally, and let’s face it if you are a company renowned for producing quality speakers you are not going to knock out a crappy sounding headset.

The Hinge folds up for easy travel. (Brushed cotton & leather travel bag included.)

The lightweight, generously padded aluminum headband features the eponymous hinge, which smoothly folds closed for compact travel.

Ergonomically designed headband and pivoting ear cups allow the Hinge to conform to the shape of your head for a comfortable, secure fit.

Passive Sound Isolation technology: Comfortable, plush over-ear pads cradle your ears and naturally minimize outside noise.

In-line 3-button control and microphone give you intuitive one-finger control for audio and phone calls.

Polk Optimized Electro-acoustic Tuning (POET) delivers legendary Polk sound in a headphone: rich, immersive and realistic.

Polk’s proprietary, patented Dynamic Balance tuning technology nixes distortion-causing driver and system resonances before the manufacturing stage, so you only hear the good sounds.

A single detachable cable connection, no tangled mess.

Gold-plated 3.5mm precision-machined connector seats more securely into your source connection.

Polk Hinge Headset

Polkaudio

www.polkaudio.com http://www.polkaudio.com/hinge/d/1044

Price: £99.99

Comfort: 5/5

Value for money: 5/5

Sound Quality: 5/5

Build Quality: 5/5

Overall: 5/5