It has been more than a year since I last released a guided meditation. In 2024 this will change and I will release more professional recorded guided meditations. These meditations will of course, be available for all paying Patreon members at no extra... - https://vero.co/seb_tmg/ZmPk-XDRN59T3PMCcH77ZXQM
Today I’m going to be reviewing the LTC Sound Slave 502 headset. This headset can be used as both 2.4GHz or Bluetooth modes and is the successor to LTC’s 501 wired/wireless headset that was released a couple of years ago.
LTC claims that the Sound Slave 502’s are an upgrade to the previous model with regards to having a 2.4GHz Bluetooth connection, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and more comfortable ear cups.
What’s In The Box
As with most every product, you have a user manual. First, there is a detachable microphone, a short USB-C extension cable, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable and the headphones themselves. Also included is a USB-C wireless dongle. This dongle is used to plug into the computer to allow you to achieve the 2.4GHz wireless connection.
When pulling these out of the box, my first impression is how nice they look and how durable they feel. They have a bit of weight to them, but in a good way. They aren’t super heavy, but you can tell they aren’t just cheap, plastic headphones. The band that goes across the top is plastic, not it’s a thicker, more well-made plastic. There is of course soft-padded leather that rests on your head when you put them on. Again, a very sturdy feel to all of this.
The band can be adjusted to fit to size by sliding the sides up and down like most headphones today. You shouldn’t have any issues getting them to fit exactly how you are wanting them to fit.
The ear cups have a hard plastic shell and they even twist and rotate which is a feature I absolutely love when it comes to headphones. This allows you to lay them flat on your desk or wherever and not take up near as much space as a set that doesn’t fold. The ear cups are marked with an L and an R so you know which way they are to be worn. There is also an L and an R on the inside of the ear cups too.
https://www.seerofsouls.com/wp-content/themes/groovy/assets/images/transparent.gifOn the right ear cup is where all the controls are located. You will find the button to enable/disable ANC, a volume up and next button, a play/pause button, volume down and previous button, the USB-C charging port and the on/off switch. All of these buttons are nicely placed on the ear cup and are fairly easy to push and use without much hassle.
The padding on the ear cups is really good. They are super soft, allowing me to wear them for about 5 hours at one point without any issues, which is something I normally can’t do with over the ear headphones.
The band when it sits on top of your head is comfortable as well due to the soft leather. This is extremely important to me since I am bald, and a lot of headphones don’t have enough padding to be completely comfortable in this specific area.
Controls
On the right side is the power switch. It’s a simple slider that allows you to turn the power on and off to the headphones. When you turn them on, the LED indicator will either be orange for the 2.4GHz mode or blue for Bluetooth mode. Two switch modes, you simply hold down the Play/Pause button for about 3 seconds.
On the underside is the NAC switch as well as the volume up and down buttons. As mentioned above, the volume up and down buttons also act as the next and previous buttons. Located down here is also the play/pause button. Next to all of those is where the USB-C charging port is located.
https://www.seerofsouls.com/wp-content/themes/groovy/assets/images/transparent.gifAs mentioned above, these headphones do 2.4GHz wireless mode. If you don’t have Bluetooth available or simply don’t want to use Bluetooth, you can take the included dongle, plug it into a USB-C port on your PC, laptop, Switch or whatever and use them that way. The good thing about this dongle is, LTC includes a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box, so having an actual USB-C port isn’t necessary.
To pair the headphones in 2.4GHz wireless mode, simply hold the plus and minus buttons for about 3 seconds to put them into pairing mode. They should connect very quickly and easily at this point.
Regardless if you’re using the LTC 502’s in wireless or Bluetooth mode, you will have a range of 33 feet (10 meters) from your PC or device to the headphones themselves.
Sound Quality
The number one question that everyone has is, what was the sound quality like? Out of the box they sound really good. The LTC 502’s use 40-millimeter large aperture drivers that deliver a higher sound and decently good bass.
During gameplay they sound quite punchy and crystal clear, especially when using them in a game that does voice chat, such as Fortnite or something similar. To me, they weren’t too loud which a lot of headphones can be and due to this, I could hear background effects and exposures in a nice, immersive way.
Now, let’s talk about Active Noise Cancellation, or ANC. This is where I feel the LTC 502’s really failed. I don’t believe this is something unique to my specific pair that I was sent as I know a couple of others who had this same problem. But when ANC is enabled, there is a distinctive humming sound in the background that is actually quite annoying, at least to me personally. The overall sound also seemed to be a bit hollower, or shallow in a way.
To me, I’m not sure the LTC 502’s require ANC in any way. When ANC is off, the sound is really good, and any outside noise doesn’t really come through the headphones.
I couldn’t get past the humming sound with ANC enabled, so for the rest of my testing and review period I used these headphones with ANC disabled as there was just a better overall experience without it.
The LTC Sound Slave 502’s have two omnidirectional microphones. One is built-in and located just above the 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also the detachable, flexible microphone that gets you a little better sound during intense gaming and chatting.
I used these headphones while playing Fortnite with a couple of friends of mine and neither of them complained about sound quality coming through the detachable mic as that was what I used at all times. I did do some quick testing over Discord with the built-in mic and was told everything sounded good. Nothing great or outstanding, but nothing bad either.
LTC claims that the Sound Slave 502 headphones will get about 16 hours of battery life if used in Bluetooth mode and 14 hours if used in 2.4GHz mode. Those times drop if you use ANC, so with the 2.4GHz mode and ANC enabled, you drop to about 11 hours and in Bluetooth mode with ANC enabled you’ll get around 12 hours of battery life.
My tests showed this to be pretty accurate at least without ANC enabled. As mentioned above, ANC on these headphones wasn’t a pleasant experience at all and something I chose not to use.
Discount Code
Thanks to the awesome folks over at Redragon for allowing me to review this product and others that they have sent over in the past. They have also provided me with a special URL that anyone can use to save a total of 10% off of your entire purchase across their site. So if you’re interested in purchasing the Redragon x LTC Sound Slave 502 Headphones, or any of their products, you can click this link: Save 10% On Your Entire Order. I believe if you don’t click the link, you can always manually input DECRYPTED as the code during check out.
Final Thoughts
The burning question here is, would I recommend the LTC Sound Slave 502 headphones? Yes and no. If ANC is an important feature, then the answer is quickly a no as far as my testing went. If you aren’t concerned with or in need of ANC, then hands down yes. These headphones are solidly built and very comfortable even after a few hours of continued usage.
They retail for about $59.99 and at that price you really can’t go wrong, even if you get them and don’t plan on using the ANC side of things.
As with most any product, there is always room for a bit of improvement but overall, these are a solid buy if you’re not looking to spend hundreds of dollars.
As of the writing of this review, the LTC Sound Slave 502’s are out of stock on Amazon but again, should be available by the end of this month, February.
Have any of you tried #boneconduction#headphones and can comment on the #soundquality? I like the idea that they are ultra open (because the ear canals are actually untouched).
Greetings, tech types of the Fediverse! I'm hoping one of you lovely folks can tell me whether the audio device I've been looking for even exists:
A set of reasonably sturdy canister headphones with decent sound including bass (by which I mean not necessarily, "It would blow a true audiophile out of their chair," but "Significantly better than a $25 Logitech cheapie headset and I can clearly hear Geoff Castellucci when he hits an F1 subharmonic");
That has a boom mic adequate for taking customer service calls;
And has a wired analog connection for both input and output. No USB, no bluetooth or wifi, no dongles, no batteries. Just a cord or cords, ideally braided, with a pair of 3.5 mm plugs on the end.
Bonus points if the cord(s) could be plugged in on either side of the headphones, but I suspect I'm already asking for the moon here, so that's nbd.
Does anybody know, is there such an animal? If so, does it cost more than the house I can't afford? Right now I'm remedying my frustration by clipping a lapel mic onto the boom mic on my current headset that I can't use unless I run both input and output through a USB doohickey, which I don't want to do. (These are for use with a desktop, if that matters.)
Thanks in advance. Hope everyone's enjoying a lovely and peaceful holiday, or a pleasant week, as the case may be.
I moved my headphones to a hanging board as my stand was too small and was originally planning on covering the bare wood with some gray contact paper (pictured, placed on top in the roll), but the unfinished wood look is starting to grow on me. Though I worry a bit about getting splinters in the headband or earcups...
Fuck the headphone jack. Like the floppy drive before it, nothing has ever been more deserving of death. ☠️ It's called "the future", maybe look into it?
@codinghorror Well, I use wired #headphones all the time and plug into #analog sound equipment a few times a week. It's really nice to be able to do that and charge the phone at the same time, all without any extra adapters or stubbornly combative #Bluetooth connections.
Maybe I'd be okay losing the #HeadphoneJack if there were multiple USB-C ports on the phone and I could buy comfortable #USBC headphones for the same price as the nice analog ones I already have.
How did I spend my morning? Since I'm in a "distro testing" mood, #nixos was running my CPU and GPU fans low (current guess), so my thermals were warmer than expected. I wondered if another distro would result in the same thing. Installed #popos for fun, half of everything locked up and I had to force quit, even to install a font! Installed Arch again and will be testing thermals shortly. More thoughts later...
Also my Sony #headphones appears to have a short in it. I tried multiple sources, multiple cables, but sound only plays on one side. If I plug in my "emergency" earbuds, it's just fine. Emergency earbuds it is...
I have a #blog, and I review and recommend #audiodrama on it.
I know it sounds like not much really, but it is somewhat important to me.
Why?
For the most of my life I was certain that I can't really get into audiobooks, or any other kind of #audiofiction, because, well, it was to hard for me to focus on etc.
But few years ago I discovered that it really is easier now for me to 'read stuff' on my #headphones, partially due to my PTSD. So I started listening to audiodrama because it helped me survive being in public spaces at first, but I got lots and lots of more than that!
I discovered a vibrant, beautiful, #queer, #divergent, colorful #community that gave me not only entertainment, but also knowledge, friendship, place to belong, sense of community and representation.
So I want to share it with others in the best way I know.
That's why I want to get introduce you to The #Shoutbox Blog!
I post #reviews, recommendations, gossip and exciting news about audio fiction world, and you are more than welcome to join the fun!
I've been listening with my Focal Clear MG headphones for a few months now. Finally pulling out my Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones. Still, the Sennheiser's haven't been neglected nearly as long as my Grado RS-1X.
EXACTLY. I literally cannot wear in-ear #earbuds, for comfort reasons and also to avoid fatigue and dizziness. It drives me insane how there aren't many of them, and not many of them are good. #Apple's regular #EarPods are comfortable (to my ears), but they don't last long despite how expensive they are. There are other cheap ones that are similar and work fine, but none that comes to mind that I'd recommend. Apple's #AirPods might be the only/best non in-ear buds there is rn, but if you use it too often, I cannot stomach having to dispose of the AirPods after a couple of years (after 1 year even) when its battery gets scuffed. This is probably true for any wireless earphones (maybe even headphones).
I have to say though, as someone who's anti in-ear earphones my whole life, #AirPodsPro has my approval. I don't know what magic they pulled (it's apparently partly has to do with the vents) but wearing them in your ears, + enable the bud's Transparency mode (which until today is still the ONLY good transparency/awareness mode to exist even compared to other expensive, much bigger #headphones like #Sony's XM line and #Bose's QC line), you will literally feel like you're not wearing anything - comfort-wise AND most importantly, hearing-wise. You will hear ur surroundings not 1db quieter, or louder, it's really that natural sounding.
Despite feeling like you're not wearing anything in your ears though, and it is THAT comfortable, it will still hurt the insides of ur ears if u wear it all day/night. But that could just be me, since I have earphones on even while sleeping. My only complaint I have of the AirPods Pro though other than the pain I sometimes get after extremely long use, is that I find it... pretty quiet. I'm not sure if it's true, but it certainly feels quieter even when compared to my regular AirPods Gen 1. The mic is pretty meh too if that matters, the mic on the regular wired EarPods is significantly better.
#Earphones aside though, when it comes to #headphones, if you're like me and value comfort perhaps even more than you value the audio quality (not to say the audio's bad, they're honestly super good to my ears but ymmv) - for your regular pair of headphones for use with your desktop or laptop (you can use with mobile too with an adapter if needed), I highly, HIGHLY recommend the #HyperX#CloudII.
I was recently gifted a pair of #Bose#QC45 (hehe) which I have also been wanting purely for its comfort, but prior to that I have been using the Cloud II for I'd say ~5-6 years. I've tried many pairs of headphones around the same price range and even those that costs 2-3x more, but none compared to the Cloud II in terms of comfort. I actually once bought the #Sony#XM4 wireless headphones on sale, and I sold it back immediately after less than a week of using it bcos despite the 3x price increase (over Cloud II), that thing was awfully uncomfortable for long use and felt like a massive downgrade.
Now that I have the QC45, I'd say that it's definitely a massive upgrade in terms of comfort over the XM4, but the Cloud II is definitely just as comfortable if not more comfortable over the QC45. Sound-wise, as someone that has no idea how to describe aurally, I'd say that the Cloud II will definitely offer a good experience listening to music, watching a movie, or for gaming.
If you're looking to get one, I'd definitely recommend getting them in "Black" or "Gun Metal" for a more stealthy, work-friendly look compared to the "Red" ones lol. They even come with a nice USB "audio card" that's super nice and makes it easy for you to extend and hide the audio cable under your desk. It also has an okay microphone that I don't really use, but you could. When I got it years ago, they even gave a nice travel bag for the headset, though I'm not sure if they still include that.
"They don't support active noise cancellation!" the reviewer shouts, gesticulating wildly.
No, because there is no seal with your ear canal, rendering such a feature pointless. This is physics, not a poor product choice.
"Okay, but they don't sound as good as my favourite thing that I have to screw deep into my lugholes."
That's just physics again.
"Okay, but these are expensive, so I should recommend an alternative. How about... some other thing that you'll have to dig into your scull."
No.
Some people (myself included) don't like their hearing being completely blocked off, reliance on a transparency mode that is probably terrible, the physical discomfort of something penetrating in towards their eardrum, having to try several sets of first-and-third-party tips, and the endless fiddling to get a good fit. Stop trying to sell #AirPods Pro to those people. However rare a more open design might be, it is a legitimate product category in its own right. Comparing it to something it isn't aiming to be, every single time, is not helpful.
Related: I just bought the #Shokz#OpenFit, on my endless quest to find #headphones that sit nicely about my person without requiring invasive surgery or flattened hair. I'll possibly hate them, as I've hated every set of such headphones that isn't the non-Pro #AirPods.
Samsung's FE suffix has (typically) been applied to affordable mid-range phones -- but what happens when they make Galaxy Buds FE? Here's my full review (video and text, take your pick):
Are there any bluetooth headsets with 'studio quality' mics so to speak?
I have a Audio-Technica BPHS1 set, I'd like a not-in-the-PC-room set of headphones for streaming that are as close to that as I can get without a crazy price
What are the top noise cancelling headphones? I reviewed the @Bose QuietComfort Ultra versus the @Sony WH-1000XM5 to see which reigns supreme! Find out the winner based on noise cancellation, audio, design and more. What do you think is the best headset for blocking sound?
What the heck is a RIBBON headphone? https://somegadgetguy.com/b/3pV
Sineaptic delivers one of the most unique listening experiences I've had all year. A SPACIOUS open sound, highly detailed, great bass rumble, WITH Bluetooth at a VERY wallet friendly price!
Before my Bose 700 #headphones, I've used #Teufel Massive, which I loved (just no noise cancellation). Sadly they started to fall apart. Their faux leather was really bad quality. Luckily the ear cushions can be ordered as spare part. But the construction of the headphones, really makes it hard to change the headband. I know now why there is no spare part for that.
I fashioned my own by recycling an old pair of jeans. Now the Teufel headphones are in working order again 🙌 🎧