PSB Speakers Enters the High Performance, Luxury Design, Headphone Category

[Michael Jones]

PSB Speakers Enters the High Performance, Luxury Design, Headphone Category

Leading Canadian manufacturer, PSB Speakers, internationally recognised for its excellence in loudspeaker design, introduces its first ever set of headphones – the M4U 2 (Music For You) Active Noise Cancelling Headphones. For PSB Speakers, this represents the culmination of a multi-year research program conducted at the Acoustics Lab at Canada’s National Research Council, and led by PSB’s Paul Barton. The result is a more accurate way of interpreting how people perceive music when listening to headphones. The PSB design team believes that the M4U 2 sets an entirely new standard for musicality in headphone listening.

“There is excellent scientific data about hearing; and the accurate measurement of hearing, which was developed at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa in the 1970s” said PSB’s Founder and Chief Designer, Paul Barton. “What we’ve done with the M4U 2 is applied the knowledge of acoustics we gained from previous NRC acoustic projects, combining that data with Edgar Shaw’s measurement techniques to create a more accurate transfer function for headphone listening.”

These findings have led PSB to a unique feature the company calls, “Room FeelTM”. Room FeelTM makes music sound more natural by taking into account the effects of the room on music playback. Almost all recorded music is monitored using direct radiating loudspeakers to determine the acoustic balance for the final mix. The transfer function PSB developed for its M4U 2 headphones takes into account the ‘room gain’ that occurs when playing direct radiator loudspeakers in a room. The result is a much richer and more natural listening experience.

With a personal product like headphones, comfort and style are just as important as sound. The M4U 2 is an over-the-ear design that features an ergonomic four-point gyroscopic ear pad mount that automatically adjusts to the precise contours of the listener’s head for unsurpassed comfort. Soft ear pads and a lightweight design make the M4U 2 headphones seem to ‘disappear’ when worn – only rich, detailed sound remains.

David Farrage of the award-winning design firm, DF-ID in New York, designed the elegant form. Combining durable materials with tactile textures and refined colours, these folding headphones make a strong design statement. Unlike many over-the-ear designs, the M4U 2 does not look like a piece of laboratory apparatus stuck on the listener’s head. They have the same high level of fit and finish you’d expect in any premium accessory.

There are also some interesting and useful features not commonly found in other headphones. For example, thanks to a PSB-developed four-microphone system, the Active Noise Cancelling function covers a broader spectrum of noise reduction, which measures the sound both inside and outside the ear cup. The external microphones allow for a handy monitor function at the touch of a button – making it easy to suspend your music listening in order to hear the outside world without removing the headphones. Since the microphones are placed at both ears, the sound is natural, allowing all the spatial cues that inform the listener about what is going on around us to come through.

The active amplifier used in the M4U 2 design improves the sound of portable music devices such as an iPod, iPhone or MP3 player. By allowing the internal amplifier of those devices to work into the ‘easy load’ of the M4U 2 input, distortion is actually lowered, and battery life of the portable music player is extended. Unlike other headphones that utilise active amplification, the M4U 2 can also be used in passive mode, a relief for those who forget to change depleting batteries before a long trip.

The PSB M4U 2 have an RRP of NZ$599, and are available in specialist audio dealers. The system includes a protective travel case, two accessory cords, and stereo and flight adaptors for both home and mobile listening.

[RHGC]

As much as I love my Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones, I have to admit that these are probably classier to look at...