Travel Gear Review: Fanny Wang 1000 headphones | canada.com

The dirty secret of travel is that you can spend a lot of time doing nothing more exciting than sitting around airports, bus and train stations, not to mention travelling on the planes, buses and trains that depart from them.

Keeping yourself entertained during those boring hours is a priority which is why an essential tool for many travellers these days is a good set of headphones.

The headphones are usually plugged into a music player, laptop, tablet, smartphone, inflight entertainment system or any other device in the galaxy of electronics lugged around by today?s traveller.

Fanny Wang sent me a sample of their over-ear model 1000 headphones to test. Last week, I spent about 12 hours in airplanes over four different flights to try them in a real-world setting.

While Fanny Wang offers a noise-cancelling model in its 3000 series of headphones, the 1000s don?t offer this feature. Despite that, the snugness of the fit over your ears is adequate at cutting out a fair amount of background noise, allowing you to enjoy whatever you are listening to.

I watched an in-flight movie, listened to music and some spoken-word podcasts and had no difficulty enjoying any of it. I didn?t even have to turn up the volume to ear-damaging levels in order to hear things over the din of the aircraft.

While reading, I listened to Bird Songs on Bear Creek, a famous nature recording that sounds like its title: birds singing with the sound of water in the background. It?s a relaxing distraction and helps transport you to a place more pleasant than an economy-class aircraft seat. If the Fanny Wang headphones could play back those bird songs with little trouble then listening to loud music in them is no challenge.

While sound performance is the most important aspect of headphones, and the Fanny Wangs deliver on that front, the outside package is just as important to a lot of people, judging from the success of premium-priced models such as Beats by Dr. Dre.

On the style front, Fanny Wangs are every bit as cool looking and come in a variety of colours. They are solidly built and collapse for storage in an included pouch which makes them convenient for travellers.

One of the nicer features is the cord that attaches to the headphones. It can be unplugged completely which reduces the chance of you breaking the cord later on if you are in the habit of wrapping it around the headphones to store them. The cord is also rubberized which makes it virtually tangle free. That?s a big plus in my books.

Also interesting about the cord is a port that allows a friend to plug their headphones into yours so they can listen to whatever you?re listening to.

One observation, although it?s not restricted to Fanny Wangs and is true for virtually all over-ear headphones, is that you can?t comfortably rest your head against an airplane wall if you?re sitting by the window. The earphone?s band over your head slides against the curvature of the hull so your head keeps slipping down. It?s annoying if you want to doze, but you can always wear in-ear headphones. Needless to say, Fanny Wang sells those, too.

So the final consensus is Fanny Wang?s model 1000 headphones are a worthy addition to any traveller?s list of gear as they provide good sound, good looks and useful features to entertain you while you?re on the road.

PROS:
- Good sound reproduction
- Stylish looks
- Cord is virtually tangle-free
- Cord port allows for music sharing
- Collapsible for easy transport

CONS:
- Expensive
- Can become uncomfortable over time

Suggested retail price: $169.95
Availalble directly from Fanny Wang at http://www.fannywang.com

Source: http://o.canada.com/2012/10/20/travel-gear-review-fanny-wang-1000-headphones/

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