Design and features:The headphones work with or without the noise-canceling feature being turned on. You can use the noise-canceling feature without listening to music. These headphones can be used wirelessly with Bluetooth devices or can be cord connected. When cord connected the headphones have medium-high sensitivity regardless of whether the noise canceling feature is turned on or off, so they can provide satisfying volume levels when used with home audio equipment and even lower-powered portable audio devices. The RP-HTX90N has integrated microphones and volume, music player function, and call connect/disconnect controls that work with paired Bluetooth devices. Additional features include a bass enhancement setting. This model comes with a detachable 48-inch long standard audio cable, and a USB charging cable.
Sound quality: We found the RP-HTX90N provides excellent active noise reduction, but regardless of the connection mode or whether the noise cancelation feature is turned on or off it delivers sound quality that only falls in the Fair range, meaning that it has sonic shortcomings that leave a lot to be desired when listening to music but don't rule it out for dialog and communication. In the Bluetooth noise canceling mode the overall sound can best be summarized as boomy, nasal, and echoey. Bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is prominent and boomy, and can somewhat overwhelm the midrange. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is a bit nasal and constricted (as in straightjacketed), somewhat grainy, has a noticeable plastic resonance (something like what you would hear if you talked into a semi-rigid plastic cup), and can sound somewhat harsh. 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 reminiscent of bacon frying). Although the sound has a decent sense of liveliness, it is closed (sound-wise it is very apparent that you have something covering your ears), and has an echoey quality that obscures whatever room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the audio program that's being listened to was recorded) it may be recovering. When the other connection/noise canceling combinations were used the sound characteristics differed from what we found in the Bluetooth noise canceling mode. When cord connected with the noise canceling feature turned on the sound was similar except the treble was muted. When the headphones were Bluetooth connected and the noise canceling is off the bass becomes less boomy, the midrange becomes thin and less nasal, and the overall sound loses the echoey quality. When cord connected with the noise canceling feature turned off the sound is similar to the Bluetooth connection with the noise cancelation feature turned off, except the upper midrange becomes muted. Regardless of how they are connected, when the noise canceling feature is turned on these headphones provide Excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the higher frequencies reduced the most. A slight amount of hiss can be heard in very quiet environments when there is no audio program material to mask it. A slight amount of background hum may be heard when these headphones are used in the noise canceling mode and are cord connected to AC powered audio equipment.
Comfort: We found that these headphones produce a sense of light pressure around the ears. As typical of over-ear models the ear pads might feel hot and/or sticky after prolonged use. Users with larger ears might find that the over-the-ear fit of the ear pads feel cramped, or that the ear pads sit on, rather than around their ears; in that case the less-than-ideal fit around the ears might interfere with the earpad seal and reduce the noise reduction capabilities of the headphone. Some users may find that when they lean far forward the headphones feel unstable and shift forward, but not to the point of falling off. When wearing this model while walking muffled vibrations from each foot step can be heard slightly through the headphones. When using this model with the audio cable model the sound of the cable rubbing on clothing may also be heard faintly through the headphones.
