Phiaton Fusion MS 430 Headphones Hardware Review

I obtained the Phiaton Fusion MS 430 headphones for review with the ideal amount of preconceptions - I knew they were headphones, but had few other details to go on, and had no experience with the Phiaton brand. Thus, I entered with nothing but my experiences with actually using the headphones to judge them on - a set of circumstances that is rare in this day and age. And after using them I walked away impressed; if I had bought them for my own personal usage I would be rather satisfied.

These headphones are not for those who like crunching bass. While I consider my ears relatively untrained, the lack of Beats-esque "bass you can feel" is rather apparent. They sound like they favor high-end and middle-range sounds. I would describe it as a sharp sound but very clear, like I could hear the individual strums and plucks of guitars on the new Animals as Leaders album. It takes to time to get acclimated to the used to the lack of bass, like I should be feeling it a bit more, but the sound is generally very pleasant.

The headphones are somewhat portable in that they can fold together. Each earpiece can turn 180 degrees and the top band can be squeezed together to be made smaller, though it is somewhat stiff and worrying to try and put into the bag, which has a separate compartment for the cable. The compressed size is small enough that it will fit into small satchels or not take up much room in a messenger bag so it did help me out, though they're still full-sized headphones.

Now, the tangle-free cable that connects the headphones to the sound-playing device of one's choice might be controversial for people who use it. Instead of using the dedicated volume buttons that Apple devices support, it has a manual slider that changes the actual volume of the headphones. For people who are decked out from top to bottom in Apple hardware, this is perhaps a suboptimal situation. After all, why change the actual volume of the headphones when the device's volume can be changed? But for people who mix in non-iOS devices, this is actually pretty cool as otherwise those volume buttons are useless on an Android device or a Windows computer. In testing, the microphone on the built-in cable performed well for simple voice recording and for making calls.

Having used these for about a week as my regular headphones, I found the Phiaton MS 430 to be quite the satisfactory pair of headphones. They have a great, clear sound, and while I could do with a little more bass in them per my personal preference, I enjoy listening with them.

Recommended