Arctic P614 BT Bluetooth Headphones Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. The Arctic P614 BT Bluetooth Headset4. Comfort and Performance5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

Today we are going to look at the latest set of Bluetooth headphones from Arctic – the P614 BT.  This headset seeks to break new ground for Arctic, moving the brand into the fiercely competitive premium end of the market.  Can they compete?

We recently tested another Arctic model which sits at the opposite end of the range, the P253 BT, which offered excellent value for money and consequently won our coveted ‘Must Have award'.  Considering that the P614 BT comes in over six times more expensive than the P253 BT, we are very interested to see what else it offers in terms of sound quality, build quality and design.

Specification:

• Wearing Style: Supra-Aural On-ear
• Bluetooth Version: V4.0 Class 2
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Impedance: 32 Ω
• Microphone Sensitivity: -42dB +/- 3dB
• Sensitivity: 105dB
• Battery: Rechargeable 850mAh Lithium-ion battery
• Playback Time: 30 hours

The Arctic P614 BT is supplied in a fairly compact cardboard box which is decorated in a blue and white livery.  The front of the box is predominantly white in colour and features a large image of the headphones that we can expect to find within.

Turning the box around reveals some further images which illustrate various features of the headphones.  There is also a fairly comprehensive list of features and specifications, should you be interested in the fine details of the unit.  The box itself feels high quality and should good do a good job of protecting the headphones during transit.

Inside the box, the bundle is fairly limited.  In fact, the only items we find alongside the headphones are a lightweight carrying bag and a micro-USB to USB cable for charging the unit.

It is clear from a glance that the Arctic P614 BT has been designed to compete in the premium end of the market.  The aesthetic design has a number of nice touches, including wire-frame hinges which attach the earcups to the headphone on either side.

There are also metallic finish wires connecting the earcups to the headband on either side, which are required thanks to the extremely thin nature of the wire-frame hinges.

In terms of build quality, the P614 BT does not disappoint.  All of the materials used in the construction of the headphones feel very high-quality and the overall finish is distinctly premium.  Build quality has always been the main drawback of the Arctic headphones that we have reviewed in the past, so we are happy to see that they have rectified the situation with this model.

Despite the use of metal in the construction of the P614 BT, Arctic has managed to keep weight down to a minimum.  The headphones do not feel any heavier than a regular set of headphones which would not feature a lithium-ion battery inside.

Although Arctic include a carrying case with the P614 BT, the headphones do not fold up like other models in their range.  This makes the headphones more prone to damage during transportation.  Disappointingly, the included carrying case is very flimsy and is unlikely to prevent any damage more substantial than light scratches.

All of the multimedia control buttons are located on the left earcup. On the front edge of the earcup we find the forward and back buttons and, on the back edge, we find the volume rocker.  This rocker also acts as a multi-function button, which activates when you push the rocker inwards.

In between the buttons we find the micro-USB connector which we must use to charge the headphones.  There is a tiny microphone next to this connector which allows you to use these headphones to make calls with your smartph0ne. The P614 BT boasts a sizable 850 mAh battery too, which Arctic claim is good for up to 30 hours of battery life. Setting up the Arctic P614 BT was very simple indeed.  The headphones automatically enter pairing mode when they are switched on, and were instantly picked up by our Apple iPhone 6.  The headphones also offer NFC paring, however this is not compatible with iOS devices so we were unable to test this feature.

We were pleasantly surprised when we first tried on the Arctic P614 BT as it is significantly more comfortable than it looks.  In fact we tested it for four hours straight and they remained perfectly comfortable throughout.  We also found that the headphones fit securely in place during use, meaning that they do not move around too much when exercising.

Some users might find the leatherette earpads irritating after a few hours, but we prefer them to the cloth alternative.  The earpads themselves are designed to sit on your ears rather than around them, so the material stretches across the padded foam ring which can be felt inside.

The leatherette pads have perforations in them so the sound can pass through undisturbed.

There is plenty of adjustment in the headband, with the wire hinges extending far out from the main body on demand.  This means that the headphones will comfortably fit most people, irrespective of the size of their head.  When correctly adjusted, the headband sits comfortably against the top of your head, spreading out the weight of the unit evenly.

The P614 BT has clearly been designed as as mainstream headset, with most people expected to use it to listen to music or watch movies.  We are more accustomed to testing gaming headphones, so we will be adapting our tests slightly today to reflect this. We commenced our testing procedure with our music playback tests.

We tested the headset both with our Dell Inspiron 15 notebook and an Apple iPhone 6.

One of our favourite tracks for testing headphones is Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.2 by Arthur Rubinstein, as this has a series of mid range and higher frequency piano melodies which tend to highlight poor performance in the upper registers.  The P614 BT performed superbly in this test while the high melodies rendered accurately with absolutely no distortion or over-exposure. The heapdhones lend themselves particularly well to electronic tracks like the ZHU Remix of Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness.

When moving on to other modern tracks such as Rescue Me by You Me at Six, the headphones also perform very well.  Some may be disappointed to hear that these headphones do not offer bass bias towards the lower registers, with Arctic favouring a well-balanced soundstage instead.  We prefer a more neutral soundstaging, though, as it much better lends itself to a wide range of music.

Moving on to our movie playback tests, we played the opening sequence of The Dark Knight through our Dell Inspiron 15 notebook.  The headphones generally created an immersive experience. The deep bass notes in the opening sequence were rendered with considerable presence and sound panning was pretty good for stereo headphones. The Arctic P614 BT bluetooth headphones are fantastic performers.  For Arctic, this product represents a clear step forward in design from what we have seen from them before.  This design is sure to appeal to a mainstream crowd, and really reflects the more premium nature of this particular product.  The P614 BT also offers some interesting features – from the fairly standard ‘hands-free' functionality to more innovative NFC pairing.

We were particularly impressed with the level of build quality that Arctic have achieved with this product.  It is streets ahead of their lower-cost products like the P253 BT.  The headset feels very solid indeed and is likely to last a good few years providing that you treat it with some respect.

The sound quality offered by the P614 BT is very impressive.  The balanced sound stage lends itself well to a diverse selection of music, and the sound produced remained distortion free up to the high volume levels that these headphones are able to achieve.  Arctic claim that the P614 BT is capable of up to 30 hours of battery life – unfortunately we did not have time to test this but have clocked up 24 hours and they are still running strong!

The Arctic P614 BT is available for 90 euros from the Arctic website which translates into about £70 in the UK.  We feel that this is a reasonable price considering the excellent sound quality, fantastic design and excellent build quality.  We would question, however, whether Arctic is a desirable enough brand  when there are so many competing headphones available from more well-known brands such as Bose and Beats. If sales are based purely on sound quality then they do deserve to do well.

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Pros:

• Beautiful design.
• Surprisingly good build quality.
• Impressive sound quality.
• Hands-free functionality.
• NFC Pairing.

Cons:

• May become lost in a sea of more premium ‘name' brands.

KitGuru says: An excellent set of headphones which prove that Arctic can compete at the premium end of the market.

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