I measured the Radio Silenz using a G.R.A.S. I guess for this price that's not unusual. The midrange is pretty good, but to me everything between about 1 kHz and 6 kHz sounds subtly rough/coarse/unrefined. Could use a tad more energy above 6 kHz there's not much air and not much sense of space. Upper bass and low mids sound a little overemphasized, which makes bass sound a bit soft and bloated. "I think they're OK," S+V contributing editor and headphone measurement guru Brent Butterworth concurred "Tonal balance is nice and sounds overall pretty even. If you're particularly sensitive to this sort of noise-cancelation artifact, however, you may want to look elsewhere.
Tivoli audio radio silenz portable#
That said, it's small size lends itself to tossing into a carry-on bag, so it's a very nice traveler's companion and might make sense as something extremely portable to have on hand solely for airline travel. In an environment with a lot of steady-state noise (say an airplane cabin, commuter train, or subway car) it might not bug you, but this probably isn't the kind of NC headphone you'll turn to if you're looking to isolate yourself from air-conditioning hum and gentle chatter in your open-plan office cubicle. That said, I didn't love Tivoli's noise cancelation - on the positive side, when switching it in there's little effect on the overall sound signature, but outweighing that is the fact that the circuit introduces a large amount of residual high-frequency hiss. It's definitely an enjoyable all-round listen. While it doesn't offer a great sense of ambience, the gently rolled-off treble and reasonable amount of bass combine to make it pretty forgiving of most things your average person might want to listen to while traveling, from classical to heavy rock. In keeping with the Radio Silenz' looks, Tivoli has given the headphone what you might call a relaxed presentation - likely, I'd say, to be enjoyable with a wide range of material. Rather, this is a fairly neutral-sounding headphone, with a bit of a warm tilt and not a ton of detail up top. Nor has Tivoli capitulated to contemporary trends in headphone voicing there's no massive bass on tap here. Turning to the headphones themselves, the lightweight earcups rotate 90 degrees and offer what looks like about 30 degrees of tilt along their mounting axis this should make fitting easy for most ears (and lets the Silenz easily fold flat for storage in the included soft bag)
The thin cable terminates, quite intelligently, in the 45-degree minijack configuration along the lines of that we've seen lately in products from V-Moda, and that we'd like to see more of, since in practice it's even more pocket-friendly than a 90-degree jack. A single AAA cell makes the magic happen (for a claimed 50 hours of operation), so the load isn't too much to bear, but be aware. Many designs we've seen recently have placed the NC circuitry and battery pack within the headphone itself, but here the vitals live in a line lump, along with a volume attenuator, the on-off switch, and a handy bypass switch the placement does lighten the headphones themselves but means you have a relatively weighty little object to clip to your shirt pocket. Tivoli has come up with an appealing, if somewhat retro package, much in line with the company's table radio designs in terms of both form and functionality. While most new entrants have hewn closely to the patterns established by category pioneer (and still leader) Bose, Tivoli's new offering takes a somewhat different tack, its basic ultraportability owing more to classics like Sony's original Walkman 'phones or the Koss Porta Pro. Will Tivoli win a place in our hearts, briefcases, and carry-on bags?Īnd perhaps more importantly, does the Radio Silenz stand up to the hot competition in the low-cost noise-canceling headphone market?Īs is true in most segments of the headphone market, we've seen a significant uptick in announcements of new low-cost noise cancelers lately. The headphone in question, introduced with some fanfare but refreshingly little hype last month by company boss Tom DeVesto, is the Radio Silenz ($159) a lightweight, extremely portable noise canceler, featuring wooden earcups in a choice of three finishes - walnut, cherry, and black ash - that will immediately be familiar to fans of the company's incredibly popular table radios and minisystems. Tivoli's staked out a secure place for itself on the bedside tables and desks of stylish folks worldwide, and now they've decided to bring their tasteful finishes and wooden accents to the category everybody's getting into these days - headphones.
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