The Canada-based firm, PSB, has been designing audio peripherals since 1972. They’ve created a reasonably respected title within the audio trade with loudspeakers being their specialty. Recently, the corporate launched the M4U 8 MKII ANC Headphones. Succeeding the M4U 8, these circumaural headphones witnessed a slight improve in worth and an improve when it comes to a number of options. Let us take a look at whether or not these cans justify their significantly steep worth of $399.

Pretty Generous with Accessories

The M4U 8 MKII are undoubtedly packaged like $399 headphones. The firm has been exceedingly beneficiant with equipment. The package deal provides a 3.5mm analog cable, a flight adapter, a ¼’’ stereo adapter, a Type-A to Type-C charging cable, a shammy for cleansing, a fast begin information and a hard-shell zippered storage case. PSB has bought you lined for each potential occasion with its equipment. You have the choice to change to a wired connection when the headphones are out of juice together with getting journey and stereo assist. The firm has additionally been aware of cleanliness and safety. The storage case is as sturdy as it could possibly get.

Not a Lot Happening in Terms of Aesthetics

Looks-wise, the M4U 8 MKII are fairly unexciting. This isn’t to say that they’re disagreeable to take a look at. Instead, they’re simply serious-looking headphones with not loads happening. For their worth, they virtually lie within the class of bland for me. A bit extra inclusion of metallic, other than the small plates with the title of the mannequin emblazoned on both aspect, would have been a good suggestion. The M4U 8 MKII headphones characteristic a plastic physique with a leather-based headband and reminiscence foam ear pads. The plastic is nice high quality, although, and feels stable in your arms. The leather-based exudes sophistication as effectively. PSB’s newest wi-fi headphones could not look as costly as they’re however one factor is for positive: the corporate actually didn’t skimp on materials and high quality.

Very Comfortable

The M4U 8 MKII are insanely comfy headphones. The gyro-action ear pads are fabricated from immensely gentle reminiscence foam with beneficiant padding that cushions your ears rather well. There is ample area within the middle of the cups and also you don’t really feel your cartilage touching the ear pads at any level. However, I really feel that the passive noise isolation on these headphones might have been higher. While the M4U 8 MKII have been comfy, they didn’t present as comfortable of a match as I might’ve appreciated. This is probably going what brought on their passive noise isolation to not be among the many finest that I’ve skilled.

The leather-based headband on the M4U 8 MKII is great. It additionally provides a thick cushion of padding to maintain your noggin comfy. I like that the scarf isn’t too skinny, therefore, dividing the power throughout a bigger space leading to much less strain on the highest of your head. The headband is tactile and simply expandable.

Highly Unintuitive Controls

I’ve by no means understood why, in some headphones, all of the controls are discovered on a single earcup. Dividing the controls evenly between each cups makes rather more sense. The M4U 8 MKII made the identical mistake. This might have been much less of a catastrophe if the controls have been a minimum of intuitively designed. But we don’t see that occuring both.

The proper earcup is the one that’s severely overworked. It hosts a Bluetooth pairing button, a quantity rocker, a toggle change that turns the headphones and ANC on or off and a slider for skipping to the following observe or rewinding the observe. The slider that skips and rewinds music can be chargeable for answering or declining calls and pausing or taking part in music. The similar cup additionally hosts the three.5mm port. It is extremely tough to cycle by means of the controls on the M4U 8 MKII and I encountered a lot of missteps.

First of all, all of the controls featured the same design which made it fairly complicated. The toggle switches felt the identical because the sliders once I was making an attempt to navigate them. Moreover, some design selections have been simply plain dangerous choices. For occasion, the on/off change being the identical because the one which controls ANC is just not very good. Every time you miss the ANC by just a bit, you’re going to finish up switching your headphones off. And everyone knows how annoying that may be. On the plus aspect, the controls are fairly responsive and quick.

Excellent Bass

The M4U 8 MKII options wonderful bass. It is the type that you just really feel in your chest and throat. There is a noticeable oomph within the low finish. It’s fairly commendable that the corporate manages to realize that with out overdoing it. There is a really skinny line between bass like this and the type that finally ends up sounding thick. Some firms get tempted to overdo it and, consequently, it finally ends up sounding somewhat too thunderous. The lows on the PSB headphones, nevertheless, are wealthy and clear. They have loads of presence to them and area inside them. Regardless of the quantity, the bass remained highly effective all through.

The treble didn’t stand out as a lot because the bass did, but it surely was fairly nice as effectively. It is sharp and detailed. The mids are shiny and carry element as effectively. Overall, it didn’t sound as if the weather of the orchestra have been clustered collectively. Every ingredient had its respective area within the orchestra and sounded extraordinarily clear. The general sound profile of the headphones is tinny.

The M4U 8 MKII host 40mm drivers. They are appropriate with Bluetooth 5.1 and assist the AAC, AptX HD, and SBC codecs. LDAC assist is absent, although. The headphones additionally characteristic 24-bit HD audio. For the uninitiated, HD audio, or high-definition audio, permits streaming music to sound extra like an authentic studio recording. And 24-bit audio is basically audio decision that’s measured in bits. 24-bit audio can report 16,777,216 discreet values for loudness ranges versus 16-bit audio which may symbolize 65,536 discrete values.

Pretty Good Noise Cancelling

The M4U 8 MKII characteristic 4 adaptive mics that assist cut back undesirable background noise. I’d say the noise cancellation on the headphones is kind of highly effective. It canceled out the sound of my roommate doing the dishes, the beautiful loud sound of the bathe faucet operating, and the hum of the site visitors. What it didn’t cancel out, although, was the siren of an ambulance. This is pretty frequent amongst noise-canceling headphones. The larger the frequency of a sound, the harder it’s to cancel it. All in all, although, the M4U 8 MKII did an ideal job of lowering undesirable noise and offering a peaceable expertise.

Battery, Mic, Water Resistance

On paper, the M4U 8 MKII advertises as much as 25 hours of wi-fi playback. The determine could change relying on how loud you want your music. With a 3.5mm connector included, you don’t have to fret in regards to the battery giving up on you anyway.

The PSB headphones make use of two built-in mics that improve name readability. The mics carry out fairly effectively when it comes to lowering background noise. One space by which the M4U 8 MKII would possibly disappoint you is water/sweat resistance. Surprisingly sufficient, the headphones aren’t resistant in opposition to each which implies they’re not very best as a exercise accomplice.