VOX VH-Q1 HEADPHONES
22
GUITARIST SUMMER 2022
VOX VH-Q1 HEADPHONES
£249
WHAT IS IT? High-quality noise-
cancelling headphones with a
unique ‘Silent Session’ feature
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1. Sleekly styled, the VH-Q1
headphones are built
to last and you can also
take calls on them when
paired with a mobile,
thanks to integral mics
2. You pair the headphones
with Bluetooth-enabled
mobile devices by
holding down the power
button for ve seconds
3. The Sound Enhancing
button cycles between
EQ settings when using
the Ambient Sound
Monitoring mode
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H
eadphones really have to earn
their crust these days. Not only
is great audio quality expected
but wireless connectivity with your
devices is pretty much standard today.
Vox’s VH-Q1 headphones are all of the
above but also feature noise-cancelling
technology that suppresses intrusive
sounds from outside, such as engine
noise on a long haul flight.
Pairing the VH-Q1s with a device is
pretty simple; you just hold down the
power button for five seconds, after
which they should be discoverable on
Bluetooth-enabled phones or tablets.
Once paired, the sound quality is
impressive, balancing warmth and
detail very pleasantly via the high-grade
film diaphragms. The pillowy earpads
are very comfortable and, at a little
over 300g, the headphones are light
enough to wear for long periods without
discomfort, despite their robust metal
frame. The VH-Q1s also pause playback
when you lay them down, meaning
you’ll miss nothing if you have to slip the
headphones off for a moment.
To test the noise-cancelling abilities
of the VH-Q1s, we played the sound of a
crowded room through studio monitors
while we listened to a jazz trio on the
headphones. With the Active Noise
Cancelling at its highest setting and the
streamed music at a moderate volume,
we could hear very little of our simulated
crowd, even when it was turned up to
‘lively party’ levels – impressive.
The unique selling point of the
VH-Q1s, however, is the Ambient Sound
Monitoring mode. The idea is that
microphones in the headset amplify
the sound of your acoustic (or
quietly
played electric) to a level
that’s at parity
with streaming audio, thus letting you
jam along to music in the headphones
without having to play loud in the room.
We did find that the resulting guitar
sounds were quite strongly filtered,
depending on which mic/EQ mode was
selected, and the mics did pick up some
ambient noise, too. As there is no in-built
amp modelling, this Silent Session
feature does seem a bit niche – but if you
view the VH-Q1s as a set of high-quality,
noise-cancelling headphones with some
perks for musos, rather than
a practice tool per se, then
they really shine.
VOX VH-Q1 HEADPHONES
Words Jamie Dickson Photography Olly Curtis
Vox’s noise-cancelling headphones have acoustic tricks up their
sleeve for guitarists who want to shut it all out during practice
Silent Service
PROS Lovely sound quality and build; very
comfortable to wear with e ective noise cancelling
and useful extras for musicians on the move
CONS Though not quite a ‘solution looking for a
problem’, the Ambient Sound Monitoring tech is
a bit niche – though suits acoustic players well
FIRST PLAY
GIT488.rev_vox_phones.indd 22GIT488.rev_vox_phones.indd 22 06/07/2022 18:2606/07/2022 18:26