The lovely folks at Nokia Connects sent me a set of Nokia BH-940 Purity Pro by Monster. For a start, these aren’t your normal Bluetooth Headphones. I’ve got a headset by Creative which are lovely, but these are in a totally different league; most noticeably, the price. Amazon have them for £269. I’ve never owned a set of headphones that have cost more than £50 so it feels frivolous to spend so much, but after using these for a few weeks, I can understand why – they are worth every penny.
The headphones come in pretty standard packaging. In the box you get a very thick manual, the headphones, a soft case, an audio cable (to convert them into a set of wired headphones) and a Micro USB cable.
The headphones power up when unfolded and power down when folded close so there’s no need to remember to switch them off.
You can pair them to your device one of two ways: via NFC – simply tap your NFC phone to the NFC logo on the headphones and it will automatically pair and connect to them – or you can use the more traditional pairing method by searching for them with your device and pair. Obviously if you want to listen to a source that isn’t Bluetooth you can use the supplied audio cable to connect.
I was concerned the NFC pairing would be a bit flaky or not work at all, but it worked seamlessly with a Nokia 920, Samsung S3 and Nexus 7. It’s the experience you expect for a headset within this price bracket. The headset has buttons on it which allows you to perform standard functions you’d find on other headsets: volume up/ down, play, pause and skip forward/ backwards. On top of this, a double tap of the play/pause button will redial the last number and a long press of the play/pause button will allow you to use voice commands.
The headphones are extremely comfortable to wear and the padding around the ears is just about right. They have active noise cancellation built in which lessens the noise from your surroundings. On the whole, it’s pretty effective. Whilst testing with Loz talking to me, it was pretty hard to actually hear her when the music was playing. The noise from the headphones as you listen is pretty well masked for people around you too; obviously it’s not silent, but it’s certainly not overly disturbing, even at high volumes.
So… What does a £250+ set of headphones sound like?
Well these ones are nothing short of incredible. I was amazed at how outstanding they are, especially when used wirelessly. The reproduction of sound is just jaw dropping. All the ranges are covered beautifully and faithfully and the bass isn’t artificially boosted, just natural. Listening to songs I’ve heard many times before, you can actually pick out individual instruments that are normally lost in a haze of sounds.
I cannot emphasise just how incredible these sound – they are worth every penny for the sound quality alone and you will not be disappointed.
They come in a range of colours: Black, Red, Yellow and White. I must admit, when I saw the yellow ones I was sent I laughed as they are very ‘loud’, but I’ve actually grown to like them although I do look a bit daft with them on. The battery life is quoted as 24 hours of music / calls and 7 days of standby, which is pretty close to the mark.
As you can probably tell, I love these headphones – they are AMAZING. I really do want a pair and will actually feel sad sending them back. I let Loz use them too and she’s smitten with them. I’ve a horrible feeling they’ll be what she wants for her 30th birthday!
Thank you Nokia Connects for sending these my way, they are probably one of the best bits of tech I’ve EVER been sent to review and it will be with heavy heart they go back! 🙁
