Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000 review

What is it?
The Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000s are big wireless headphones designed for use on-the-go or at home and use Bluetooth tech to cut the wires.

What’s great?
Rugged design, great wireless range and a built-in battery.

What’s not?
Heavy, ugly and expensive when compared to rivals.

The bottom line:
Fine for home use, ideal for iPad music and movies but heavy for your daily commute and can’t compete with the sonic skill of rivals.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Review

These are big headphones and heavy but, as a result, they’re rugged yet surprising flexible. Volume controls are on the right cup, alongside the button which activates the Bluetooth wireless function.

An inline remote cable is included on the supplied cable and iPhone users can take calls through the headphones. There’s no need for batteries as you recharge the headphones via a small USB charger - the same Micro USB input that most Android smartphones and the Kindle use.

The plastic design lacks the chic style of the new Beats Executive headphones and doesn’t feel as premium. The large ‘UE’ stamp on the side of the headphones isn’t needed and the shiny black design resembles to the look of gaming headsets, though these won’t work with your Xbox or PC like dedicated gaming headsets.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Usability

Setting up the Bluetooth wireless connection takes around ten seconds - simply turn on the headphones and select them from the Bluetooth menu on your smartphone, iPad or other tablet and you’re good to go. The headphones might be heavy but they’re very comfortable, able to cover the largest of ears and sit firmly against your head. You’ll get a weird Transformer style buzz alert when your connecting or turning Bluetooth off too.

• More on MSN: Top 10 over-ear headphones

We tested the headphones with Android smartphones, an iPhone, iPad and even a PlayStation Vita which offers a great experience when paired with wireless headphones - especially the broad, open sonics of these Logitech headphones.

The large, rigid carry case isn’t practical for much aside from a plane flight - though there’s no double pronged adaptor for airline use - but the headphones cups do twist so you can lay them flat and put them in a bag.

You won’t want to keep them around your neck for long periods as they’re heavy unlike rivals such as the wireless Sennheiser MM500 X headphones which are cheaper at £219. Even wired rivals with battery powered noise-cancelling functions instead of Bluetooth are lighter too.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Wireless performance

We managed to walk over 10 metres from a device streaming music via Bluetooth. You’ll spend most of the time with a smartphone nearby but it’s good to have the option and useful if you use your iPad as a TV and want to sit away from the screen.

MSN Tech guide: The best over ear headphones

Switching between iTunes and music services like Spotify causes an occasional crackle and although it’s not major, we don’t expect it from a premium priced pair of headphones. During use, the headphones didn’t lose the Bluetooth connection and maintained quality through long listening sessions. You can expect around 15 hours of use before charging the headphones and naturally, you’ll need to charge them before they’ll make any more sound - unless you’re carrying the supplied cable as a back-up.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Sound quality

These are headphone designed for pop, music and movies. There’s a loud, rich sound that picks out the  best bits of pops, movie soundtracks and dialogue. The sonic skills won’t discover every detail of rock music compared to wired rivals either, which should be of concern if you’re listening at home.

There’s plenty of bass and good impression of stereo sound and these headphones won’t leak sound but you will need them to be loud in order to cancel out noise on-the-go. The cups sit firmly against your head but aren’t the background chatter repellent that the similarly priced Beats and Bose range of (wired) noise-cancelling headphones are.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Verdict

Comfortable yet heavy, the Logitech Ultimate Ears offer punchy music without wires for virtually any gadget which supports Bluetooth. The build quality is impressive and the built-in battery is a bonus as is the small USB charger that you’ll need to keep handy if using these on-the-go. S

onically, however, they’re average at best and suited to pop and movies and sound better using the supplied cable. Overall, we think the design is more gaming than street and they feel expensive against better rivals like the £219 Sennheiser MM500 X wireless headphones.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 9000: Available now - £299. Check the latest price with Bing.

See also - Sennheiser Momentum review & Atomic Floyd PowerJax hands-on review
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