Meters Music OV-1-B Connect, Active Noise Cancelling, Over Ear Bluetooth 5.0 Headphones, App Controlled, Illuminated VU, Protein Leather, aptXTM HD Audio, Included Carry Case, Charge Cable (Tan)

Product Information

The headphones’ sense of dynamism is given a good platform to showcase itself in the rising build of drums in Gustavo Santaolalla’s I Know What You Are, or more overtly in Ripley’s Rescue from James Horner’s Aliens. It isn’t far off the Shure Aonic 50, although the Meters are a bit weightier in tone and not as clear, but the soundstage has more width. These earphones were designed in association with Adam Clayton, bassist of U2. I mention it this far into the review because it’s about as much fuss as Meters gives the collaboration at this point. And it shouldn’t affect your decision anyway. The headphones feature a 50mm dome driver and an impedance of 32 ohms. Sensitivity is rated at 94db/w/m. The Meters Connect smartphone app features five-band parametric equalization so the listener can tune the experience to the style of music and personal preferences. The OV-1-B-Connect come across as well balanced across the frequency range with bass tight, but also varied. The low-end avoids going ‘big’ or explosive, expressed with an unerring sense of confidence.

This gives the earphones a degree of (unofficial) water-resistance, but I find the bung a nightmare to remove. At one point, I resorted to using tweezers. Like the band itself, this part looks good on paper but just isn’t that well designed in reality. If you want to tweak the EQ, the Meters app gives you a five-band equalizer to mess with, but unfortunately, there’s no way to save your settings — something Ashdown should definitely fix with an update.

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This is one of the cheaper earphones I’ve used with aptX HD. The SoundMagic E10BT, for example, don’t feature aptX, which allows CD-quality streaming. If you’re in search of wireless ANC headphones that make a bold statement to those around you, the Meters OV-1-B definitely fit the bill. But perhaps more than any other headphones I’ve seen, your money will be going toward what others get to see, instead of what you get to hear. There’s an app in the Meters Connect (Android/iOS), but the onus is on customisation over features. There are EQ settings to tweak the sound, plus the colour and brightness of the VU meters can be customised. Cute, but if you’re looking for more functionality then you won’t find it here. Don’t take that to mean the Meters M-Ear Bluetooth have an obviously bassy sound, however. One positive aspect I’ve found common to several small driver earphones is good bass depth without it becoming leaden or swampy. The Meters M-Ear Bluetooth need to sound great to counteract the design issues. They sound good, but aren’t best-in-class.

The design is collapsible but the earcups don’t fold flat. They do swivel slightly for some more maneuverability when affixing the Meters to your head, and ‘affix’ does feel like the right word given their size. There’s a hard carry case for keeping them safe from scratches, too.

Performance

Ensure your phone supports aptX HD before getting too excited, though. Both ends of the chain need the feature. The stream will revert to the highest quality standard common to phone and earphone. Now Ashdown is embarking on its own world tour, bringing its innovative product design expansion to the US market with the launch of its Meters headphones, that let consumers turn up the volume while they turn the heads of everyone who sees them — thanks to the one-of-a-kind working VU (volume unit) meter on each earcup!