Thore might not be the primary firm you consider while you suppose headphones, however it seems the corporate has some respectable choices. A number of weeks in the past, we appeared on the Thore V100 Lightning earbuds, with respectable outcomes. Now, it’s time for a pair of over-ear cans — the brand new Thore C250 wi-fi over ear headphones.
The headphones can join wirelessly or by means of your telephone’s Lightning connector, and look like they may have loads going for them. Are they value shopping for, or do you have to spend your money elsewhere? We put the Thore C250 headphones to the check to search out out.
Design
The Thore C250 headphones look good, however there’s little that makes the headphones stand out from the remaining. That’s to not say they appear dangerous — they don’t — simply that they’re not essentially all that distinctive in design.
The headphones themselves are black with chrome accents, and it’s an honest look. On the left ear cup, you’ll discover an aux port, whereas on the precise ear cup, you’ll discover quantity controls and energy controls and a small door beneath which is a MicroUSB port for charging. We had been dissatisfied to see MicroUSB right here — it’s 2019, and USB-C ought to be customary.
There are some things that make the Thore C250 headphone really feel a bit of low-cost. For starters, the headphones are largely constructed out of plastic, and there have been occasions when it felt just like the headphones might break. Not solely that, however the ear cups don’t swivel in any respect — which can play into consolation afterward.
Within the field, there’s an honest collection of equipment — with some notable issues lacking. You’ll get a MicroUSB charging cable, a regular aux cable, and an aux to Lightning cable, which is a pleasant inclusion. There’s no carry case or pouch although — which was a bit of irritating to see.
Consolation
As talked about, the Thore C250 headphones don’t swivel in any respect, and in consequence the headphones can really feel a bit of uncomfortable at occasions. Fortunately, the ear cups gave the impression to be largely in an honest spot, however these with barely different-shaped heads could discover them extra uncomfortable.
Typically speaker, the headphones provide an honest clamp and sufficient padding within the ear cups and beneath the scarf, which is at all times useful. General, whereas there have been a number of points with consolation, they didn’t really feel horrible, together with over lengthy intervals of time.
Sound
The Thore C250 headphones might not be essentially the most spectacular in relation to design and luxury, however finally a very powerful factor to think about is how the headphones sound — and fortunately, they really sound fairly good.
For starters, the bass response is tight and punchy. Kick drums punch straight by means of a combination with ease, with out going excessive. Bass guitars and easy and stable, with out being too muddy. We fairly like how the bass sounds on these.
The mid vary isn’t dangerous both, although not fairly as manicured because the low finish. There’s an honest quantity of heat within the low mids, and whereas usually the excessive mids sound good, there are a number of drawback frequencies. Typically, the excessive mids appear to take again seat a bit of to the decrease mids, and the consequence may be vocals and guitars that don’t shine by means of as a lot. There’s additionally a lift at round 400-450Hz that appears to offer snare drums a bit an excessive amount of of that “bong” sound, which may be distracting — however not too dangerous.
The highs listed here are comparatively good-sounding. Cymbals sizzle effectively and there’s a superb quantity of sibilance on provide by vocals. The extension of the excessive finish isn’t the perfect, however then once more, it not often is with wi-fi headphones.
We had been pleasantly stunned by the sound high quality of the Thore C250 headphones. Positive they’re in all probability not the perfect headphones for audiophiles, however they sound higher than most headphones of their value vary.
Efficiency
The Thore C250 headphones connect with your listening gadget by means of an unspecified model of Bluetooth, and also you’ll get a listening distance of 10 meters, or 33 toes. Throughout testing, we usually discovered that the headphones retained a superb connection with out too many skips or jumps.
With regards to battery life, the headphones will final for 16 hours on a cost, which is respectable, however not mind-blowing. Different over-ear headphones can vary as much as 25 and even 30 hours, and whereas we wouldn’t count on a top-tier battery life like that from headphones on this value vary, not less than 20 hours would have been good.
Conclusions
The Thore C250 headphones truly fairly stunned us. Positive, they’re not the prettiest headphones on the market, and so they could possibly be extra comfy, however they sound fairly good for headphones of their value vary, and that makes them an honest alternative.
However are they the only option of their value vary? Effectively, no. Simply the perfect headphones on this value vary are the Audio Technica ATH-S200BT headphones, that are better-designed and extra comfy, and about as good-sounding. Additionally they carry out loads higher due to their huge 40 hour battery life.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t take away from the truth that the headphones have loads going for them — and due to that, we’ve awarded the Thore C250 headphones the Headphone Overview Silver Medal.
| Retailer | Worth |
|---|---|
 |
$68.99 |
| Frequency response | Unknown | Lively noise cancellation |
No |
| Driver measurement | 40mm | Noise attenuation | Unknown |
| Driver sort |
Dynamic | On-ear controls | Sure |
| Design |
Closed | Microphone | Sure |
| Sensitivity | 110dB | Earpad materials | Foam |
| Rated impedance |
32Ω | Magnet materials | Unknown |
| Complete harmonic distortion |
Unknown | Water resistance | No |
| Rated enter energy |
Unknown | Battery life | 16 Hours |
| Most enter energy |
Unknown | Wi-fi distance | 10m (33ft) |
| Wi-fi connection |
Bluetooth | Cable size | 1.2m (4ft) |
| Wired connection |
Sure | Case sort | N/A |
| Removable cable |
Sure | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | 255g | Colours | Black |