Avantone promises extreme detail and comfort in new Planar headphones
Will these headphones square up to the competition?
New York pro audio manufacturer, Avantone Pro, has unveiled its Planar headphones, built with planar magnetic drivers. The most notable use of such technology elsewhere in the industry is in Audeze’s flagship headphones, the LCD-4s. These fetch for an eye-watering price of $3,955, though – could Avantone Pro be offering a genuine alternative with a more attractive price tag?
Designed for mix engineers, musicians, podcasters, live streamers and hi-fi music listeners in general, Audeze Planar headphones provide “amazing accuracy, high-end detail, clarity, natural bass and response time”, according to the brand. The planar drivers play a major role in achieving said results and operate in a different fashion to conventional moving coil drivers.
Moving coil drivers use a magnetic field to push and pull the driver, relying on the surround’s flexibility to return the driver to the neutral position. Conversely, planar drivers are constructed by an array of magnets that are evenly spaced across both sides of a thin, electrically-active diaphragm. This means that the force applied to the membrane is distributed symmetrically, producing a cleaner signal with a quicker response time.
Aesthetically, the open-back headphones certainly sport an unconventional design, with a polygonal shape and grates that could be likened to the look of the latest Mac Pro. Avantone Pro claims that there is a “perfectly tuned chamber that results in a very flat-frequency environment, without the typical pressure build-up, acoustic resonance, and frequency curve of closed-back headphones”.
Avantone Pro Planar headphones are perfectly weighted to cater for long-listening sessions, with soft and spacious ear pads for maximum comfort. There is also a removable 3.5mm cable that can be plugged into either headphone and an eco-friendly shoulder bag with room for extra accessories. They are available in either black or red.
Avantone Pro’s Planar headphones are available from September 2020 for $399. Find out more at avantonepro.com
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