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Homegrown electronics shaper Noise has kicked disconnected the caller twelvemonth with a flurry of launches, rolling retired a scope of products—from smartwatches to audio equipment. I got my hands connected their latest headphones successful the Indian market, the Noise Airwave Max 5, which battalion a 40mm driver, committedness 80 hours of artillery life, and offers low-latency gaming support—all for a terms tag of ₹5,000. But are they worthy your time? I tested them for implicit 3 weeks to spot however they clasp up successful real-world use. Here’s what I found.
Design and unboxing:
Kudos to Noise for its packaging quality, the achromatic coloured container of the Airwave Max 5 looks premium and offers a minimalist yet premium unboxing experience. Inside the box, you get the headphones itself on with a Type C to Type C cablegram (for wired listening), a Type A to Type C cablegram (for charging) and immoderate documentation.
I received the white-coloured portion for my review, but these headphones are besides disposable successful Beige (my idiosyncratic favourite) and Black colour variants.
Coming to the design, the Airwave Max 5 travel with a afloat integrative built with an adjustable headband and brushed earcups and metallic enforced hinges for durability. The receptor cups travel with a brushed cushion that sat nicely for ears and I tin confidently accidental that they bully for listening for astatine slightest 2-3 hours.
There is simply a large ‘L’ and ‘R’ motion wrong the earcup to bespeak the close ear. On the close side, are 4 buttons, 2 measurement power ones (long pressing them changes to previous/next song), a powerfulness connected fastener successful the mediate (long property triggers Google Assistant/Gemini) and a dedicated fastener for ANC.
The headphones travel with an IPX5 rating, which means they grip a spot of h2o splashes accidental during a gym league adjacent airy rainfall. And successful lawsuit you are trying to support the Airwave Max 5 from dense rainfall, the earcups are rotatable meaning they won't instrumentality a batch of abstraction successful your bag.
I did announcement though that the Noise Airwave Max 5 get sweaty precise easy during workout session, starring to a little unafraid fit. This isn't a large contented but I anticipation that Noise fixes it with a aboriginal enactment of the product.
Sound experience:
For the price, Noise Airwave Max 5 present decent audio prime with a fantabulous highs and decent vocals, the bass is simply a small lacking but that wasn't a large contented for me. Considering that this was my archetypal acquisition with a Noise audio product, I was really rather impressed with the audio prime particularly for the terms but I consciousness the loudness could person been somewhat better.
The headphones travel with a dedicated gaming mode that tin beryllium triggered by agelong pressing the sound cancellation button. Noise promises debased latency gaming up to 30ms. I tried playing immoderate fashionable games similar Call of Duty Mobile and Modern Combat 5 with the headphones connected and determination was nary noticeable lag. However, precocious gamers would cognize that a wireless headphone tin ne'er vie successful presumption of latency with a wired alternative.
There were nary leaking noises arsenic acold arsenic I could archer and the mic prime was besides decent for taking telephone calls but bash not person a batch of hopes successful this section fixed the terms point.
Hits and misses:
Believe it oregon not, audio wasn’t the standout diagnostic of the Airwave Max 5. Instead, it was the adaptive sound cancellation, which Noise claims tin chopped retired up to 50dB of sound. This truly helped maine absorption connected enactment oregon workout sessions without distractions. Obviously, highly large noises, specified arsenic a DJ playing adjacent oregon the dependable of horns connected the street, volition inactive find their mode through, but overall, the sound cancellation was rather effective, particularly fixed that it didn’t origin a noticeable driblet successful audio quality. The Ambient Mode, however, isn’t arsenic effectual if you similar to enactment alert of your surroundings.
Another implicit lifesaver diagnostic of the Noise Airwave Max 5 is its artillery life, which the institution claims lasts astir 80 hours connected a azygous charge. Now I can't really corroborate that the headphones past 80 hours - they astir apt past a small lesser - but what I tin accidental present is that you won't person to interest astir artillery beingness with these headphones adjacent if you are a powerfulness user. In my connected and disconnected usage of astir 20-25 days with the Airwave Max 5 (ANC turned on), I conscionable got to charging them doubly oregon thrice which should springiness you a just thought astir the artillery life.
Talking astir the misses, there's nary enactment for Hi-Res codecs similar LHDC and LDAC, which is instantly noticeable erstwhile you perceive to high-quality music. Another large downside of the Noise Airwave Max 5 is the deficiency of a dedicated app, which means determination is nary mode to customize the dependable experience.
Verdict:
If you're looking to walk astir ₹5,000, it's hard to disregard the Noise Airwave Max 5 with its agelong artillery life, balanced sound, beardown ANC, comfy acceptable and low-latency gaming support. Sure, they whitethorn not beryllium the close prime for bass heads oregon audiophiles owed to the deficiency of Hi-Res codec enactment and a dedicated app. However, for astir radical looking for reliable headphones for studying, moving retired oregon casual euphony sessions, these could beryllium conscionable the close prime - particularly if you tin drawback them up connected merchantability for astir ₹4,000-4,500.
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Business NewsTechnologyTech ReviewsNoise Airwave Max 5 review: Solid wireless headphones nether ₹5,000, but bash they basal out?
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First Published
:
24 Feb 2025, 01:00 AM IST
English (US) ·