Distinguished by a particular design and a very good and customizable sound response thanks to an App capable of teaching, the new EPOS Adapt 660 are a young model but on par with even fierce competitors in the high end of the market. For music but also for speech, a sector in full growth.
Sennheiser's legacy
Epos is not yet a brand that has the history of Sony, Bose or Apple, especially because it is a young brand, but it has Sennheiser's deep and important technological heritage behind it, with all that entails in the construction experience. and in the ability to manage sound in a refined way.
This legacy is not accidental, given that EPOS was born from a rib of the German brand, highlighted also on this model by the writing that appears just above the pavilions.
But legacy aside, it should be noted that these EPOS Adapt 660s were a wonderful surprise, both from a musical and technological point of view, with a strong (albeit classic) identity that helps a lot in this market.
The design is very particular, with the pavilions in an elongated oval shape
Aesthetics
The box where they arrive is anonymous, a recyclable cardboard that shows the brand aesthetically and internally a graphic for the preliminary operations (which, however, anyone who has already used a wireless headset will recognize immediately).
Inside there is a semi-rigid black case, with zip, which houses the headphones, folded, an audio jack cable for analog use, a USB-A / MicroUSB charging cable (but we were now expecting a USB- C) and a USB-A dongle for use by Mac or PC.
The headphones are made of a mixture of metal and plastic, all in black: the preciousness of the model is highlighted by the velvety and pleasant to the touch paint that covers the pavilions and by the touch surface of the right pavilion, a detail to which we return later.
The box is minimal and ecological
The shape is oval, very narrow, pointed at the bottom, almost triangular: the effect is that the headphones, of the circumaural type, envelop the ear more carefully than other models, providing effective passive isolation.
This effect is however mitigated by the leatherette pads, extremely soft and very comfortable to wear, together with the pad (of the same material) at the top and which wraps the arch in contact with the head.
Apart from the black color that slightly mitigates the design of the EPOS Adapt 660, otherwise very dynamic and modern, it must be said that the seam of the bearings when they enter the pavilions is with a vaguely vintage shape of the folds, which to the writer it recalls a bit the design of the models of the seventies, with a strong and crisp contrast with the rest of the typically minimalist design.
Controls
The controls are all located in the right pavilion: the external part houses a touch surface for volume and playback controls, which are activated by touches and small movements of the finger.
In the rear part of the pavilion the control (mechanical, but there are many smart refinements in the accompanying App) for the ANC device (Active Noise Canceling), a button dedicated to Microsoft Teams (which also serves for the pairing), software for which the headphones are certified, the analog jack connector, the MicroUSB one for charging and a series of small LED indicators that show the status of the ignition and the resudua charge (only during switching on and when connected to the USB cable).
In detail, the small button panel in the right pavilion, with the purple Teams button in the foreground
Note that there is no on / off button, the headphones simply turn off by rotating the earpads and turn on in the same way, with a small unmistakable mechanical click: the model also integrates a sensor that pauses music or a call when we remove the headphones, to resume the activity automatically when we put them back on.
The Touch part works very well, with attention also to the fact that only a finger can activate the commands that do not work if we operate with the palm.
Mention must be made for the purple button, which is used to bring Microsoft Teams to the foreground or to close a call (other Touch commands work within Teams, such as the ability to vary the volume or pause a call) . The button in everyday life is comfortable, but perhaps a little too small.
The keypad, here from another angle
Case and Accessories
While the cardboard box is nothing to store, the case is really well made, even if anonymous: the material is soft cotton, with a small open pocket inside to better organize the cables during transport.
The only perplexity is given precisely by the nature of the material: the soft case does not protect the headphones from a fall, even if the construction material does not seem so delicate in this regard, but you need to have clean hands to use the case and headphones, because the surface is very nice to the touch, but it could get dirty soon (in this, the black color helps).
How to wear them
The headphones appear very light, with just 227g to sustain. Yet, even if the value is not the lowest in the category, the feeling is extremely light, probably given by a structure that rests more firmly on the sides of the head than on the arch.
Considering that the EPOS Adapt 660 are a model suitable for the commercial environment, in perfect synchronization with Teams, it is clear that this is a very important feature, since they are designed to be worn all day, also and especially because they allow as we see between little, to control a computer and a smartphone at the same time.
Epos connect
The headphones refer to the versions of EPOS Connect, both for mobile (iOS or Android) and for Desktop (macOS or Windows).
The mobile App is the most complete, because it takes care of different tasks: on the one hand it offers an equalizer for the sound that diversifies the response according to the type of audio we are listening to (Neutral, Speech for speech, Club for music , Movie for movies and finally Director which allows the user to customize all parameters).
Personalization does not focus on the shape of the acoustic wave, but activates or deactivates some typical aspects of the audio to better customize the sound response based on the result, not on the dynamics. Only note, we would have liked to be able to moderate the equalizer directly from the headphones, without opening the App.
The first contact with the Epos Connect App, which offers basic info and pairing with Alexa
The part relating to noise cancellation (ANC) is also very customizable: if this works with a small mechanical lever placed on the pavilion, it is true that this opens to the Off and On states, or to an intermediate state, where the App can modulate the noise suppression dynamics as a percentage (from 0 to 100%) with a slider.
The App also deals with interfacing with Alexa, the integrated voice assistant and also checks the firmware status and all the other details of the headphones in a meticulous way.
From a Desktop perspective, EPOS Connect offers less control: basically it allows you to define the affinity with third-party software such as Teams or Skype and opens up to the use of the USB dongle (BTD 800).
The part dedicated to music, where the presets and the possibility to intervene manually
Obviously it should be emphasized that the use of both Apps is not strictly necessary for the correct use of the headphones, for which a Bluetooth pairing is more than enough, however we appreciated the presence of the App for some key details: where Apple, to give an example, he decided to give up a personalization app, the writer finds that having it is better than not having it, even if you don't use it (but modulating the answer by genre is really useful).
One of the most intriguing aspects of the headphones, although it is not a novelty on the market (but it is important to emphasize it) is that the model allows simultaneous connection to two devices, such as a Mac and an iPhone, or a PC and an iPad, skipping from one to the other in a completely transparent and automatic way as needed.
For example, if you are listening to music on Mac and the iPhone is ringing, a tap on the right ear cup allows you to answer the call and, at the same time, pause the music, which will be resumed by closing the call (the test has been carried out with the App on both devices).
The App for Mac: even if it is not yet compatible with macOS 11, in our Big Sur it performed well
How they sound in Musica 2000
Once the construction and software parts have been defined, let's start talking about what is certainly the most important aspect of the EPOS Adapt 660: the sound. Primarily from a musical point of view, it has a response frequency of 17 – 23,000 Hz.
We tested the headphones on various types of music and audio, mainly using the Neutral preset and the Club one, also to understand the gain in the result: it must be said that the result on Mac was slightly higher than that on iPhone, thanks to the possibility, in the first, to activate the AptX codec also present on the headphones which improves the result (but which cannot be activated on iOS).
To do this, on macOS Big Sur and Catalina, just open the Terminate and type the following string
sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod “Enable AptX codec” -bool true
And immediately after that type in the password of an admin user (which is blind, so nothing appears while we type, it's normal). To check the result, just type
sudo defaults read bluetoothaudiod
While to return to the AAC codec, which is standard on macOS, just the command
sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod “Enable AAC codec” -bool true
Returning to the actual music, we can say that the EPOS Adapt 660 have a truly excellent sound, an impeccable quality that, even if it was not necessary, offers what was the expectation considering the Sennheiser technology behind it.
We tried Carmina Burana: O Fortuna by London Philharmonic Orchestra and Silent Shout by The Knife, but also Enya's Orinoco Flow, Knockin'on Heaven's door by Guns'n'Roses and The Archer by Taylor Swift, the latter a test case. quite complex.
Switching on and off can be adjusted simply by turning the pads: in this way, for example, the headphones are switched off
The headphones sound very good, they have deep and never intrusive basses, they yield slightly on the mid frequencies but recover great on the richness of the higher ones and especially on the songs where the vocality is dominant.
On tracks like Star Sky by Two Steps From Hell, the transition from piano intro to choral drums after a few seconds is a really good result: but also on Loren Allred's Never Enough (from the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman) is appeared in extraordinary form.
Basically, however, we appreciated the ability to protect some delicate passages: for example, playing Bring Me To Life by Evanescence at full volume, the EPOS Adapt 660 never distorted even a note even if in fact the situation was obviously critical, such as d other part with Pink by A erosmith we really enjoyed Joey Kramer's drums that you never covered Steven Tyler's vocals, as is the case with some more consumer models.
Moving the set from Neutral to Club, therefore more suited to the music, the situation improves and some sounds are appreciated more particularly in the mid tones, even if the impression is that the higher tones are slightly damped. Furthermore, activating the Club set offers that particular musical timbre, that personalization that you like, and that gives the headphones a stronger identity.
On the one hand, if the listening focuses on typically pop songs, such as Everybody by the Backstreet Boys or She Wolf by David Guetta, then the Club preset is better because it softens everything and makes you appreciate all the tonality (including vocals), otherwise for more difficult tracks such as the acoustic versions of Patty Smith's Because the Night or Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, perhaps the Neutral preset offers a better result, albeit harsher, and richer in detail.
Nice that EPOS has let users choose how to use the headphones, on a more neutral musicality or a softer and more personal one, depending on the music or the expectations of the users (who in this price range are very demanding).
The rubber that protects the pavilions is very comfortable, in the same way as that of the upper arch
How they sound in speech
In the examination of the audio functions, a passage on the use as headphones for speech could not be missing, an increasingly important activity on the one hand given the increase in smart working on the other due to the presence, important, of the Teams certification.
The three microphones for audio (Digital MEMs Beamforming), placed on the front of the right pavilion, are, as is typical of all models without a headband, placed in an unfortunate position because they must at the same time locate the vocal audio, a few centimeters away, and close to background noise.
The result (at 150 – 6,800Hz frequency) is very good, excellent when compared to other models and comparable to that of the Poly Voyager 8200 UC: in particular, when used for telephone calls, it is like talking to a real person.
Using the App and placing the headphones in Speech mode, also greatly improves the response in the headphones, excellent during a webinar where the music offers minimal importance and instead you need to capture different nuances of voice, in particular in webinars and in calls with foreign people. , who often speak English with strong inflections.
We performed several webinars with the EPOS Adapt 660 and we were very happy, the comparison with dedicated microphone models (and much more generous in size) would be indelicate, and in any case the headphones give way, but very little.
Noise reduction
One of the features that could not be missing in a model like this is an active noise cancellation system, given by an electronic system inside which, thanks to four external microphones, analyzes the audio coming from the inside and proposes a copy. , more or less exact but on the contrary (we will see why) in the headphones, eliminating the noise and therefore leaving only the digital audio.
The ANC is no longer a novelty in this market sector and is now a function common to other reference models: the EPOS Adapt 660 from this point of view offer a perhaps all too selective noise reduction.
Inside the package, there are the first indications for pairing and basic commands
The system offers three modes: one off, one total and one progressive, adjustable via software from the App for iPhone and Android.
The results for the complete activation speak of a silence that, in fact, kills what is the surrounding noise, the disturbance given by a buzz, the fan of a computer, the noise of the fridge and that of an oven (but it depends on the oven), but leave all the others.
The loud noise of a train leaving or a passing car can be heard, a little muffled but heard, as can a colleague talking, even if he is in the next room.
The adaptive mode makes a mix of the total effect, parameterized by the App, but without much luck: basically we would have liked a stronger total system and an adjustment that, consequently, would have been more useful. The ANC in the EPOS Adapt 660 works and is comfortable, especially in crowded environments because it helps you concentrate, but it has room for improvement.
Battery
The internal battery is very good: with three hours of charging (via USB) the headphones operate more than 15 hours of music and dialogue and, from our tests, we can confirm that there are no significant differences in the type of connection (between Bluetooth 5 and Dongle USB) and also the presence of the active ANC (which in our daily life is always on) affects, but to a lesser extent than other models.
Basically, if you use headphones only for Calls with Teams and webinars, a recharge is likely to last you even a working week: otherwise if, as the writer, you take advantage of the quality also to enjoy a few music albums and a film here and there for work, just one recharge every two maybe three days, it depends on the use.
Conclusions
The conclusions on these EPOS Adapt 660 are very positive: we can safely say that for constructive and musical quality, they can easily rival those that are today the references of the market, the Sony WH-1000XM4, the Bose 700, the Poly Voyager 8200 UC and perhaps even the Apple Airpods Max, which however offer slightly different features and have a much higher cost.
The user experience in the last few weeks has been really important both during the webinars, where they have accompanied us in an excellent way, offering more quality than what is actually requested, but also in the interludes, where music is always important to us and here there was a great satisfaction.
As for the price, it seems to us in line with the other directly competing models (apart from the Apple Airpods Max which are on a much higher price range) in a horizontal comparison in which, paper in hand, they have nothing to to envy.
Pro:
• Comfortable and light • Excellent audio response • App support well done
Cons:
• Available in one color only • The ANC system can be improved
Price:
• 399.00 Euro
EPOS Adapt 660 is available from the Italian website of the parent company or you can find it more conveniently also at Amazon.it
