Every once in a while, a reputed company goes all rogue and announces, or at least showcases a product that differentiates itself from their catalog, but still, manages to destroy the competitors. Moshi, yes, the popular phone accessory maker (widely known for its iPhone battery cases), had talked briefly about their premium traveling headphones, the Avanti‘s.
Being very grateful to the company upon not only sending us the Avanti Headphones, but a super luxurious travel bag, whose review is on its way as well, here is a mini written review, and for those in for a kick, we’ve also compiled together a video review of the same!
Build & Design
Combine the lightest of the metals you can find with the most cushiony padding, and that’s the Moshi Avanti in a nutshell. Since these are oriented towards the travel category of homo-sapiens, the headphones themselves are super light, and fold-able, though I found out that my unit has a rather loose level on either side of the earcups to fit a head of any size.
Everything about the Avanti screams literal quality, and you also might have a first correct guess of the moderate $200 price tag they sell at. Connecting both the 40mm drivers is a thin sheet of aluminum, which is super flexible by the way, and there’s just enough padding, which is fine, since these are, again, super light.
My only gripe about the entire design would be the on-ear style earcups they went with. Since these are oriented towards being travel headphones, using these over a wide period of minutes/hours did make my ears hurt a little. Maybe that’s just because I’m so habituated to using over-the-ear headphones, but just keep that in mind before you pitch in those dollars.
Sound Quality
The moment I played back some sweet Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtracks on the Moshi Avanti’s, I was blown away by the sound signature. The easiest way to describe them is to agree that they throw in the purest sound. The Lows and the Highs are sort of balanced and end up in the lower spectrum of enjoyment, but the Mids are just Godly, pleasing to say the least. While the treble and the high-mids are the most pleasureful to listen to with these headsets, the bass might seem a little lacking to some people who are habituated to getting their brains blown out by the extreme bass.
It got a person like me, who adores music with straight up electro and bass stemmed in, to really reconsider why people would buy a $200 travel headphone. So I gave them a shot and tried my best to listen to music with clear vocals, with the high-mids being focused upon, and my God did it change my music-listening habits.
The bottom line is, if you need the most bass-heavy pair of headsets, then skip the Moshi’s over, but if you like listening to music with clear distinction of instruments, then do give these a shot.
Convenience
Let’s talk a bit about a slightly different take on reviewing daily tech, the convenience of using them. The Moshi Avanti’s come in a really premium carrying case, with a detachable AUX-in, which requires you to connect it to the headphones separated by right and left indentations and also plug in the AUX to your smartphone/peripheral of choice. While the entire process might take not more than a minute, that got you thinking about convenience for a bit, didn’t it?
Luckily, the Moshi’s do fold up to half of their extended volume, and can easily be carried in any bag/case whatsoever. For extra convenience, you can risk having the unusually delicate cable to be always connected to the earcups.
Summing up my entire experience of using the Moshi Avanti headphones for well over a month, I’d say it is indeed a great pick for true travel-cum-music enthusiasts. For a decent price of $200, I’d say these headphones can’t get any better with the sweet melody they’re capable of throwing out of the super cushiony form-factor.
