Cost: £89.99
Lindy is a UK company that started out producing cables but quickly expanded into all kinds of other areas. Their line of noise-cancelling headphones have generally received a bunch of positive reviews, so when the company asked us to try their newest pair of BNX 60 cans, we naturally jumped at the opportunity.
The BNX 60 headphones represent the mid-range pair of the bunch and, at just £89.99, offer good value if you want to jump into the world of noise cancelling. In the box, Lindy supply a bunch of cables and accessories to get you started, which is always a welcome touch. There’s a flight adapter, 3.5 AUX jack, 6.5mm jack adapter and USB cable along with the cans, meaning you should be pretty set. This is all supplied in a very sturdy carry case, which feels like it could withstand long-haul trips pretty well.
The headphones themselves feel fairly lightweight but have a solid construction. The rubberised plastic feels good quality and there’s metal in the right places for added strength. Comfort levels are decent, with the faux leather pads offering just the right amount of clamping force to make things secure but not uncomfortable. Media controls are located on the left earpiece, while the right has a volume rocker and switch for the Active Noise Cancellation. The 40mm drivers have a rated response of 20-20,000HZ, which puts them square in the middle of other comparable cans. They also have a fairly lenient 32Ohm rating, meaning you should have no problem running these off a personal media player or smartphone.
Now we get to sound quality, which is one area where the Lindy’s really had me surprised. Clarity is top notch, with well presented highs and a mostly smooth, weighty bass. The bass sometimes has a tendency to overpower and bleed into the lower mids, but a quick EQ can easily tame such issues. They definitely have a disco sound to them, with the mids feeling a little recessed and scooped versus more natural headphones, but it helps to make the music a little more exciting. They can also go really loud with zero distortion, as demonstrated when I whacked the sound on my HTC 10 up to maximum and scared the entire office. One area where the BNX 60 could perhaps improve is in isolation, as they seem to be great at keeping sound out but only okay at keeping it in. Leakage on louder volumes is quite noticeable, so you’ll want to be careful when in a quiet place.
Connecting via Bluetooth was simple, with a simple hold of the play button being all that’s needed. It should then show up on your device and pair without hassle. Battery life is rated at 30 hours wired and 15 hours on Bluetooth, which should almost be enough to get through your average working week. We have no reason to dispute these claims, as I’ve been using them on and off for a while now and they are still yet to be re-charged.
Possibly the biggest feature of the BNX 60 headphones is the active noise cancellation feature, which is typically reserved for much pricier cans. It’s a major selling point that really helps to make them stand and thankfully, the effects are pretty impressive too. For those unaware how noise cancelling works, the headphones play back outside ambiance with a reverse phase shift, essentially cancelling out the sound. It’s a clever trick that works best with noisy low and high frequencies such as engine hum. The BNX 60 does an excellent job with this and weirdly, the noise cancellation mode also enhances the sound. Since it’s active, we can only assume there’s some sort of sound processing going on behind there as well, since the highs sounds much livelier and the volume gets a subtle boost. Turn it off and things get noticeably muddier and dull.
A good pair of noise cancelling headphones at an attractive price, the BNX 60 may not be from a well-known audio brand but they still manage to make a splash on features and overall sound.
