Though the trickery of modern marketing may suggest otherwise, drowning your music in wildly amplified bass is actually a pretty terrible way to listen to your favorite records. As the demographic base for Beats By Dre headphones is quickly being reduced to the knuckle-draggers at the gym, image-obsessed poseurs and lemming children who convince parents to drop $300 on nonsense, another headphones product is quietly kicking Beats’ ass: Samsung’s Level headphones.
With their latest line of Level headphones, Samsung sidesteps the cheap hype of inferior technology for a sound experience head and shoulders above the Beats competition, and a far classier look. Designed to complement Samsung’s existing line of audio products and accessories, the Level series includes three types of headphones: There’s Level On, a compact over-ear headphone for those on-the-go, as well as the Level In, which are in-ear headphones. Then there’s the flagship model the Level Over, a full-component over-ear headphone.
Right out of the box, the Level Over cans give an immediate edge of physical appeal, sporting white and tan colors with a combination of quality materials and craftsmanship. The headband is a faux leather with an attractive cross-stitch pattern, with a good amount of padding on both the headband and the closed-back ear pads, which offer a 50mm bio-cellulose diaphragm with a neodymium magnet, designed to deliver a deeper bass and more natural sound. Along the bottom of the left hand ear pad is a USB port for charging the built-in battery, which can last over 10 hours with the noise cancelling on and over 20 hours when switched off.
A 3.5mm jack for the wired connection, a status light and the power switch are parked on the right side, with a button that can toggle the noise cancelling feature or initiate Bluetooth pairing. Both earpads have small microphones used for taking voice calls as well.
There’s also an NFC tag embedded for easy pairing with Android devices. With Bluetooth and aptX support for high quality wireless playback and phone calls, the ‘Samsung Level’ Android app helps with device pairing. With the app, users can designate their own sound preferences with a 25-square grid with treble/bass top and bottom and instrument/vocal left and right.
One of the coolest components of the Level Over headphones is also the one tricky possible drawback: There’s a touch panel on the right-hand ear cup which offers quick and easy control of your music, at your literal fingertips. The catch is that the touch-panel is always on, resulting in unexpected/unwanted changes in either song or sound unless you’re careful. Overall, this feature just takes a bit of getting used to.
Whether right out of the box or after the tech details are sorted, the Samsung Level Over listening experience is a highly impressive one. Excellent mid-range sound, clear highs with very little distortion, and robust low-end without buzzing or drudgy muddiness. Do you want your low-end jacked up to wild levels that throw off the entire sonic balance, or do you want a full-deep bass element to complete your listening spectrum? Beats fans may have convinced themselves of the former, but sensible music fans who crave a high-end listening experience generally know better – which makes the Level Over headphones a perfect fit.
Price: $300 – $349
Soundcheck Grade: A
