Design and features:The Here One has an integrated microphone and music player play/pause and cellphone call connect/disconnect controls for use with paired Bluetooth devices. Its noise-cancelling feature can be used with or without listening to music. These earphones have a monitor function that turns off the noise cancelling function and amplifies ambient sounds. The free Here One app for download for Apple and Android mobile devices can be used to change the balance of noise cancellation and ambient sound amplification from noise cancellation only to ambient sound amplification only and anything in between. The app also allows the user to select various ambient noise cancelling filters to change the tonal balance of the noise cancellation, amplify ambient sound in the speech range only, adjust the tonal balance of ambient sounds, and to add sound effects to ambient sounds. The app can also make recommendations on which noise cancelling settings to use based on location and past preferences, and can customize the tonal balance adjustments for each ear. The Here One can't be paired to a Bluetooth device until the user downloads and registers their name and email address via the app, which checks to verify the email address. To use some of the other features the app asks to access the users mobile device microphone and location function. This model comes with four pairs of ear pieces in various types and sizes, a charging/carrying case, and a USB charging cable.
Sound quality: We found the Here One can provide very good active noise reduction and delivers sound quality that falls in the very good range - it reproduces music and voice very well although it does have some noticeable sonic quirks. The overall sound can be summarized as somewhat grainy, and a bit hazy and bright. Bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact, but is a bit prominent and the deepest bass is lacking. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is fairly even, but is a bit hazy and somewhat grainy. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is extended, but a bit prominent and somewhat sizzly (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer have a sound somewhat reminiscent of bacon frying). The sound has a decent sense of liveliness and is somewhat open -- sound-wise it almost seems like you don't have anything plugging up your ears. At the maximum noise cancelling setting the Here One provided very good noise cancelling, and the noise reduction is fairly even across the entire tonal range. A slight hiss can be heard when there is no audio program to drown it out, and during quiet audio passages regardless of the noise canceling setting. At the maximum noise cancellation setting the noise filters did not have any noticeable effect; at less than the maximum noise cancellation settings the noise filters provided different noise cancellation characteristics or combinations of noise cancellation and ambient sound enhancement. At the maximum noise cancelation setting the Live Mix settings (5 band equalizer, bass boost, echo, and flange effects) did not have any noticeable effect; at less than the maximum noise cancellation settings the various Live Mix settings had a noticeable effect on the ambient sound.
Comfort: The Here One has a hybrid ear-insert/ear bud design - the earpieces insert into the ear canals and are intended to seal them as with typical ear-insert models, and they are also intended to be supported by the ear bowls like an ear bud model. As typical of in-ear models it produces a sense of pressure in the ear canal openings that might be uncomfortable for some. While users with medium sized ear bowls will probably find that that this model stays in place with no problems, those with larger ear bowls may find that they don't fit securely and are prone to falling out of the ear. Users with small ear bowls might find that this model feels too large, or that they don't fit securely and are prone to falling out of the ear because the body of the earphone does not fit into their earbowls (as it's intended to) at all. Bluetooth pairing is more convoluted than with typical Bluetooth earphones - the user has to download the Here One app and register first, then pair the earphones to app, then pair the earphones to the mobile device.
