$200 Puro Pro hybrid over-the-ear headphones are almost perfect

These full-featured, flagship Bluetooth headphones impressed us mightily.

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[Jim Salter]

I don't know if I overlooked it in the article or if it wasn't mentioned, but using them with a 3.5mm connection makes it so it doesn't matter if they're charged or not, right?

Yes, they'll work in a pinch as completely dumb, unpowered headphones connected over 3.5mm. Obviously you don't get either the volume limiting or active noise cancellation that way.

They're also pretty seriously low-volume in general that way—not volume limited so much as just volume lacking; if you want a pair of dumb wired headphones, these are definitely not a great investment.

Is there a mode where they are wired AND turned on, allowing volume boosting, limiting, and noise cancellation? Or if you plug in the 3.5mm jack, are you stuck with 'dumb' headphones?

By default, they'll go "active" when plugged in. You have to deliberately power them off while plugged in to turn them in to dumb phones.

 

[DNA_Doc]

Grado wireless is however made in China. Even with companies that make most of their products not in China, they usually still have some series made in China (usually the cheaper stuff or the electronically more involved - all the components makers are in China, so it is actually easier and more reliable to produce this lines in China than shipping all the wireless chips, batteries and antennas to Europe or the US).

Good points, and I must admit I wasn't thinking about wireless at all as I am not a fan of wireless headphones. I do own one pair of Shure IEMs I enjoy that I've played around with using Shure's Bluetooth cable, but in the end, I still prefer my wired favorites.

 

[phat_tony]

Wow. I registered an account to say that these look _exactly_ like the $50-$70 Taotronics I've owned for a while now, minus the extra packaging box. This sounds like paying $150 for a logo to me.

Check out this review from the Gadgeteer and spot the differences:
https://the-gadgeteer.com/2019/08/20/ta ... es-review/

Exactly the same product for $69 instead of $200.

I know I'm late to the discussion here, but here's what appears to be the same thing again for $22.

I'm very curious to hear what Jim hears back from Puro about the TaoTronics. It is certainly possible that as a small headphone startup, Puro tried a whole bunch of existing cheap headphones to see which were the most comfortable and had the best ergonomics, then contracted with that manufacturer to use their existing physical design, but with chips, an amp, and speakers that they sourced separately for a truly different and presumably better headphone in the same case. Using an existing set to base theirs on would certainly reduce costs and time to market, and by Jim's account, this is a very comfortable set of headphones.

On the other hand, maybe it's the exact same thing you can grab for $22 on AliExpress with a different brand name and marked up to 9X the price.

I'm very curious to know the answer. If they are the same, then based on this review, they're a steal at $22.

 

[android_alpaca]

Wow. I registered an account to say that these look _exactly_ like the $50-$70 Taotronics I've owned for a while now, minus the extra packaging box. This sounds like paying $150 for a logo to me.

Check out this review from the Gadgeteer and spot the differences:
https://the-gadgeteer.com/2019/08/20/ta ... es-review/

Exactly the same product for $69 instead of $200.

I know I'm late to the discussion here, but here's what appears to be the same thing again for $22.

I'm very curious to hear what Jim hears back from Puro about the TaoTronics. It is certainly possible that as a small headphone startup, Puro tried a whole bunch of existing cheap headphones to see which were the most comfortable and had the best ergonomics, then contracted with that manufacturer to use their existing physical design, but with chips, an amp, and speakers that they sourced separately for a truly different and presumably better headphone in the same case. Using an existing set to base theirs on would certainly reduce costs and time to market, and by Jim's account, this is a very comfortable set of headphones.

On the other hand, maybe it's the exact same thing you can grab for $22 on AliExpress with a different brand name and marked up to 9X the price.

I'm very curious to know the answer. If they are the same, then based on this review, they're a steal at $22.

I've mentioned in this thread before that personally I have a tin-ear, so I buy $20-30 Anker/SoundBud BT headphones that I can replace if I lose them, leave them in my pocket in the wash, or if my 3 year takes her scissors to them. I use them over the Bowers & Wilkins P9 (?) fancy headphones that my company gave me as a holiday gift a couple of years ago as over the ear headphones aggravate my TMJD.

Again for what it's worth, my wife (who is more discerning and has Shure/Etymotics herself)... did some research to find a headphone for our oldest child, who was 5 at the time in an effort to protect her ears from loud noise in an airplane, she also notice our kids tend to turn up the volume way too high... so she wanted something that had better audio controls... and found the Puro recommend on Wirecutter for like $80. Our kid likes them because the ANC plus padding also drones out the noise cause by cooking/vacuuming and kid sisters being kid sisters and my wife is happy that our kid isn't going deaf... as for me... "happy wife = happy life" and I don't mind paying a little more for that. Not that I would buy these for myself (might as well use the Bowers and Wilkins BT model collecting dust in my electronics bin).

 

[Jeff S]

I don't know if I overlooked it in the article or if it wasn't mentioned, but using them with a 3.5mm connection makes it so it doesn't matter if they're charged or not, right?

Yes, they'll work in a pinch as completely dumb, unpowered headphones connected over 3.5mm. Obviously you don't get either the volume limiting or active noise cancellation that way.

They're also pretty seriously low-volume in general that way—not volume limited so much as just volume lacking; if you want a pair of dumb wired headphones, these are definitely not a great investment.

Is there a mode where they are wired AND turned on, allowing volume boosting, limiting, and noise cancellation? Or if you plug in the 3.5mm jack, are you stuck with 'dumb' headphones?

By default, they'll go "active" when plugged in. You have to deliberately power them off while plugged in to turn them in to dumb phones.

Thanks. That's very good news.

 

[Deleted member 174040]

I'm very curious to hear what Jim hears back from Puro about the TaoTronics.

I think we’d have heard something by now.

Besides, this article has fallen off the front page and won’t be bumped, and the thread is petering out.

 

[noraar]

the article mentions that these OEM-rebranded headphones have audible pink noise

The audible pink noise is only when activating ANC in a quiet environment.... which I've found to be an artifact of any active noise cancellation. If anybody's encountered ANC which doesn't produce audible pink(ish) noise when activated in a quiet environment, I'm interested to hear about it.

AirPods Pro, at least in my experience, don't produce any pink noise when ANC is activated. They're the only ANC headphones/earphones that I've tried that haven't produced said noise. They also don't seem to produce they same type of pressure effect I've gotten with other ANC headphones. I'm wondering if this is a result of the AirPods Pro being in-ear devices vs. over ear, and thus the ANC doesn't have to be as "in your face" since the in-ear design by, well design, isolates noise really well.

 

[Jim Salter]

I'm very curious to hear what Jim hears back from Puro about the TaoTronics.

I think we’d have heard something by now.

Besides, this article has fallen off the front page and won’t be bumped, and the thread is petering out.

Oh ye of little faith. It takes some time and persistence, that's all. From a Puro VP:

In terms of Taotronics Surge, there is no affiliation between the two companies. To be completely honest, I wasn't aware of Taotronics Surge until I saw the comment on your article referring to them and the similar appearance, so I looked them up. I'll have to check with our supplier to see if Taotronics is a client of theirs to be sure, but I can get back to you with an answer asap.

As far as the differences, I did notice a few. You already referenced the volume limitation feature, but I noticed:
- The PuroPro has two-level ANC in it's design so the user can tone down the ANC feature if needed. The Taotronics doesn't appear to have this feature.
- The PuroPro also looks to have a slightly longer battery life with 32 hours

The biggest difference would have to be the Puro Balanced Response® Curve. This is our own signature sound curve that delivers a premium listening experience while listening at a safe level. Most sound curves will muffle the audio details when listening at a safe level, while ours will highlight these details.

Some of this strikes me as marketing fluffiness, but what we can get out of this is that the Puro phones aren't "rebranded Taotronics"; Taotronics and Puro share a common upstream supplier.

I'm going to follow up again now that I've got an actual contact within the company and see how much they're willing to tell me about what Puro adds/configures on top of what they get from their supplier. I don't know how much more detailed they're going to be willing to get, but you never know until you try.

 

[Jim Salter]

Ah, a little more detail from another VP:

Puro Sound Labs worked with our supplier on a making a few modifications. Our main mission is the Volume Limiting and adding our signature frequency response curve. The Puro Balanced Frequency Response is based on Harmon Kardon’s Dr. Sean Olive’s Flat Frequency Response audio curve. We worked with our supplier to source a premium Drive/Speaker to deliver the best audio on the market.

...

We are currently working on the next iteration of this product to include, USB C, quick charge, bigger battery, and the product will always include, volume limiting and Puro’s Signature Balanced Frequency Response Audio Curve.

So, the Taotronics may or may not have the same drivers as the Puro; it's something that's configurable with the upstream supplier so you'd pretty much need to disassemble both to be certain. But beyond the SPL limiting, the (presumably, electronically adjusted) frequency response curve will definitely be different, since that was supplied by Puro.

If you're curious about the curve: https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/04/ha ... es-part-3/

 

[quamquam quid loquor]

Ah, a little more detail from another VP:

Puro Sound Labs worked with our supplier on a making a few modifications. Our main mission is the Volume Limiting and adding our signature frequency response curve. The Puro Balanced Frequency Response is based on Harmon Kardon’s Dr. Sean Olive’s Flat Frequency Response audio curve. We worked with our supplier to source a premium Drive/Speaker to deliver the best audio on the market.

...

We are currently working on the next iteration of this product to include, USB C, quick charge, bigger battery, and the product will always include, volume limiting and Puro’s Signature Balanced Frequency Response Audio Curve.

So, the Taotronics may or may not have the same drivers as the Puro; it's something that's configurable with the upstream supplier so you'd pretty much need to disassemble both to be certain. But beyond the SPL limiting, the (presumably, electronically adjusted) frequency response curve will definitely be different, since that was supplied by Puro.

If you're curious about the curve: https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/04/ha ... es-part-3/

Jim, Thanks for following up. If the drivers and firmware are different, Puro may have done some legitimate value-added work with the OEM.

In case it is of interest: AutoEq is an open source project for specific headphone models to match Harman Curves. Puro JuniorJams are listed there, so their frequency response curve is not a copy/paste match to Harman.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

This article caused me to buy a pair of bluetooth, over the ear headphones. I ended up going with Shure Aonic 50. I know nothing of audio, so it was a learning experience. I went with Shure over the Bose QC35 II, Sony WH-1000XM4, and Sennheiser Momentum 3.

For me, it was several smaller details that proved to be the decider. The Shures and Sennheisers look better than just some piece of molded plastic, they have replaceable parts (which the Sony did not), and they don't have very touchy controls. It also seemed as if the Shures had more supported codecs than the other three. The noise cancellation isn't really important for me, as I have a home office that is very quiet anyway.

We shall see how they do when they arrive.

Oh...I thought about these very headphones, but with the callouts that they might be the same as significantly cheaper headphones, I started to worry. Plus the charger. And the cheap look.

 

[Derecho Imminent]

Strongly tempted to buy the gamer version, except my old headset still works (but no volume cap).