Noise Master Buds Max Review: Perfect for those with a strong Bose-ic Instinct on a Budget

Noise has been one of the top brands in the Indian market in terms of sales volumes, but a large amount of its sales have been in the budget (sub-Rs 5,000) segment. This year has been Noise moving up the price ladder with its Master series, which feature earphones with sound from the legendary Bose. First came the Noise Master Buds TWS, and now the brand has come out with over-ear headphones, the Noise Master Buds Max. They come with Sound from Bose and a price tag of Rs 11,999, which puts them in competition with headphones from established brands like Sennheiser, Sony, and JBL. Can the sound of Bose help Noise carve a niche for itself in this highly competitive zone? Let us find out.

Noise Master Buds Max Design, Appearance, and Fit: Clean and comfy, with a vinyl record touch

Noise is known for some very snazzy headphone designs, but with the Master Buds Max, the brand has opted for a look that is clean and uncluttered. You get the usual earcups with a C-shaped headband joining them. The cups fold inwards completely so you can bunch them into a more compact bundle, making them easier to carry. There is plenty of cushioning (vegan leather) on both the earcups and the headband. Extending the headband reveals a metal band, giving the headphones a very solid feel. On each end of the headband is the Noise branding with the words “Sound by Bose,” highlighting their pedigree.

The right and left earcups are not clearly marked – you have to peer inside the earcups to see the R and L letters that indicate this. The right earcup has control buttons, while the left has the USB Type-C port. In a neat touch, the textures of the buttons are different, highlighting their different functions.

The biggest design highlight of the Noise Master Buds Max are the bright, silver concentric circular patterns on the outside of each earcup. These are larger versions of a similar circular pattern on the Noise Buds Master TWS, and according to Noise, are inspired by vinyl records. There is a thin LED on the pattern on the right cup that lights up when the headphones are switched on. While this design touch does give the Master Buds Max a very distinct look, our experience with the Master Buds has shown that the circular pattern can pick up smudges and scratches.

At 262 grams, the Master Buds Max are a bit on the heavy side, but thanks to the ample cushioning on both earcups and the headband, they are very comfortable to wear. The compression force is not too tight, and we found we could wear them for 4-5 hours without any problems whatsoever. Made mostly of plastic, the headphones come with IPX4 splash protection, which means they can survive gym sessions easily. Noise has included a carry bag for carrying the headphones, which is very basic but more useful than their much-publicised AirPods Max clone carrying case (sold separately), which does not cover the headbands at all.

The Master Buds Max are available in three colors – Titanium (which looks a little golden), Silver (grey), and Onyx (black). We got the Onyx edition, and they are our favorite of the three, with a very understated and elegant appearance, which will let it blend easily into any surroundings. The Titanium and Silver will stand out more in the crowd, but we suspect their lighter colors will make them harder to maintain. These are very good-looking headphones for those who like their headphones to look quietly stylish without screaming for attention.

Noise Master Buds Max specs and features: Pretty impressive for the price

The headphones come with a decent spec sheet. Sound is handled by 40 mm drivers, and there is Bluetooth 5.4 onboard with support for multi-point pairing, allowing one to connect to different devices and switch between them. One also gets support for high definition wireless sound through support for the LHDC codec; there is also adaptive ANC, which adjusts ANC levels to the noise in one’s surroundings, and a transparency mode.

The headphones come with five microphones to handle phone calls, there is support for spatial sound, and wear detection, which pauses audio when one takes the headphones off and resumes it when they are placed back on. A Swift Call Mode lets one take a call by just placing the headphones on one’s head when a call comes – no need to hit any buttons. Round that off with a find your headphones feature, 60-hour battery life with an Instacharge (10 hours of playtime in ten minutes of charging) feature, and a companion Noise Audio app, and the Noise Master Buds Max seem to tick most boxes, although the absence of a 3.5 mm audio jack is surprising.

The icing on this spec and feature-laden sonic cake is sound from Bose, with Noise claiming that the headphones have been “expertly tuned” by the legendary audio brand.

Noise Master Buds Max app and interface: Button-driven basics

The Master Buds Max come with button, rather than touch controls, which suits us just fine, There are two buttons on the outer side of the right earcup for increasing and decreasing volume, and a power/special button which looks a bit like a port, while on the inner side (nearer to the user’s face) is a small circular button with a texture similar to the design on the earcups for ANC, spatial audio and even summoning an assistant. The different textures of buttons make them easy to spot by touch, although the ANC button’s location is a little awkward, and the button itself is too small.

Using them is pretty routine. Pairing is done by long-pressing the power button, which will light up the LED line on the earcup and also set a tiny LED next to the button blinking. One just has to choose the headphones from the Bluetooth devices section on one’s phone, tablet, or notebook, and one is good to go. The Master Buds Max also come with a companion Noise Audio app, available on both the Apple App Store as well as the Google Play Store. The app is cleanly designed and gives one access to features like ANC levels, equalisers, spatial audio, and find your device. In noise control, one can choose from low, high, and max, or simply go with adaptive, which will switch to the option that most suits one’s surroundings. There is also the option to use transparency mode or switch off noise control altogether. One can also turn spatial audio, wear detection, and swift call mode on or off.

The equaliser is a little basic, with only a single preset labelled ‘Sound by Bose,’ and no options like “pop,””rock”, “jazz,””extra bass,” etc, seen on other headphones in the segment. Users can create their own preset, but we think that only one preset is very odd at this price point. Noise claims that a ‘dynamic EQ’ automatically adjusts bass and treble based on the volume of the headphones – it increases them when the volume is low and decreases them when the volume is high.

The complicated ANC/Spatial Audio/ Assistant button aside, the interface and app of the Noise Master Buds Max are clean and simple to use and understand.

Noise Master Buds Max audio quality: “Sound by Bose” indeed!

The audio quality of the Noise Master Buds Max is their biggest USP. They come with that typical, slightly soft bass sound that Bose is famous for, and deliver some of the most pleasant audio in their price segment. They are perfect for mainstream listening and handle pop, dance, and underground very well, and are also terrific for gaming and action films. They are much closer to the original Bose sound than the Master Buds TWS were. Bass is very present and is prominent but does not overwhelm other frequencies, so one hears beats and percussion more deeply without things getting too ‘rumble-y.’ Mids (vocals) are clear, although treble (those sharp sounds) are slightly suppressed, but that is not unusual in this segment. Support for LHDC 5.0 does make a bit of a difference in terms of richness of sound, but you have to really strain to find it. We found the audio to be very pleasant even otherwise.

We would advise listeners to stick to the “Sound by Bose” preset, as that has the most ear-pleasing results. We did try to customize some equaliser settings, but those did not work quite as well. The vegan leather cushions provide good sound isolation, and although bass levels go up slightly when one turns on ANC, there is no major change in quality with and without ANC. Volume levels are impressive, and there is no distortion at high levels – we found ourselves listening at around 75 percent most of the time. We also did not notice any discernible change in bass or treble at very high or very low volumes, as is claimed, but we are not complaining, as the audio quality is quite good at both.

The headphones come with spatial audio, but we had mixed feelings about it. It seemed to increase volume and did seem to ‘spread’ sound over a slightly wider area, but it was a little underwhelming at this price point. We were a little surprised to see no 3.5 mm audio jack on the headphones, which rules out the option of using them when they run out of battery life, but then their battery does last a fair amount of time, so we do not think that would be too much of an issue.

All in all, we were very impressed by the audio quality of the Noise Master Buds Max. These are perfect for users who just want headphones that sound great out of the box, and do not want to spend time fitting with equaliser settings. Purists might want a little more detail, but we do not have any complaints at all – purists generally do not use Bluetooth headphones anyway. We would say that this is the closest you can get to real Bose sound at around Rs 10,000!

Noise Master Buds Max ANC, smart features, and battery: Great battery life and call quality, but middling smart features and ANC

The battery life of the Master Buds Max ANC is very impressive. We easily got close to 35 to 40 fours on a single charge with ANC on. Battery life without ANC is likely to be close to the 60 hours claimed by the brand. Charging speed is equally impressive – the headphones got charged fully in a little more than an hour using our 33W charger, and one can get up to ten hours of battery life with just ten minutes of charging. Call quality was also very good, with those we were speaking to always being able to hear us very clearly, although some ambient sound seemed to get through at times.

ANC on the Master Buds Max is middling. It is good enough to keep out relatively low noises, but it cannot totally suppress the noise of traffic or the chatter in a cafe; however, it dulled it considerably. The Max level is the one we would recommend, as it is the most effective. Keeping it on Adaptive kept ANC mostly at Mid mode, which can seem inadequate. Transparency mode works well, letting most of the ambient sound in.

While the Master Buds Max come with a number of handy smart features, their performance is inconsistent. Wear detection generally works, but there were times when the audio did not switch off when we removed headphones, and on others, audio from other apps than the one that had been paused started playing when we put them back on. For instance, if we were watching a show on YouTube and then took off the headphones, the show would pause, but when we put them on again, a track we had played a day ago on Jio Music would suddenly resume playing. We think a software update will fix matters.

Multi-point connectivity was a little hit and miss, too, especially when it came to switching from one device to another for taking calls. Swift Call mode works very smoothly, though, allowing us to take calls by just placing the headphones on our ears. The control system works reasonably well, but the ANC button’s functionality is a little odd – tapping it once cycles through different ANC options, and long pressing it involves a virtual assistant (Siri or Gemini), but we could not figure out how to use it for spatial audio.

Another niggle was not being able to tell when the headphones were actually on. A tiny LED blinks green for a brief time when one picks them up to indicate they are on, but we wish there was something a little more substantial.

Noise Master Buds Max Price: Targeting the premium mid-segment

The Noise Master Buds Max come with an official price tag of Rs 11,999. However, they are available at most retail outlets for Rs 10,999 or Rs 9,999. While that is a relatively high price tag for Noise, which normally prices its devices in the sub-Rs 5,000 range, it definitely is very reasonable in terms of what the headphones offer, and extremely affordable in terms of over-ear headphones with Bose Sound. For comparison, the most affordable Bose over-ear headphones, the Bose QuietComfort, are generally available at about double the price. The price puts the Noise Master Buds Max close to the premium mid segment of headphones and puts it in direct competition with ANC headphones from the likes of Sony, JBL, and Sennheiser.

Noise Master Buds Max Competition: Sennheiser, Sony, and JBL…and Skullcandy’s Boss of Bass

• • Sony WH-CH720N: The ANC budget boss
    This is hands down the best option for those wanting good ANC and call quality for under Rs 10,000. Their sound is pleasant but not as bass-loaded as some of Sony’s other headphones. One for the corporate professionals, really.
  • Sennheiser Accentum: Clarity and THAT Sennheiser sound
    For those who value that very clear and ear-friendly Sennheiser sound on a tight budget. The ANC is passable, and call quality could have been better, but in terms of sheer audio quality, these boss it in the segment.
  • JBL Live 770 NC: Slightly bass-y all-rounder
    These are the all-rounders in this group, doing pretty much everything well. You get decent ANC, slightly bass-centric pleasant audio, and good battery life.
  • Skullcandy Crusher Wireless: Boss of Bass
    Bass. Lots of bass. No ANC, no fancy features, no app even. Just bass. And terrific bass. Good battery life and call quality, too.

Noise Master Buds Max Review Verdict: The closest to Bose on a budget

We are going to keep it very simple: if you want sound that is like what you get on a Bose headphone, but have a budget in the range of Rs 10,000, then these are no-brainers. The fact that they come with very good battery life and decent call quality only sweetens the deal. Purists are likely to prefer the clearer sound of the Sennheiser Accentum, while those who are crazy about ANC will head to the Sony WH-CH720N, but if it is Bose sound you seek and are constrained by a four-figure budget, then this is as good as it gets. These are not only easily the best pair of Bluetooth headphones we have seen from an Indian audio brand, but can give the likes of Sony and Sennheiser a run for their money, particularly if your basic instinct for audio is a Bose-ic one.

Buy Noise Master Buds Max

Source link