I was eager to write a review of the Edifier H850 for two reasons. The first, I’m researching equipment for an article that will cover everything you need to start your very own podcast.
And the second, most of the Edifier headphones I’ve reviewed have been wireless, casual listening ones. These are the first headphones with live music recording and professional use in mind, that I’ve been offered to review.
So, let’s take a look at my Edifier H850 Review and find out if they’re any good.
Edifier H850 Review
First up, my first impressions.
The outer packaging is really good. I really like the colour scheme, the blue, black and white gloss finished cardboard box looks brilliant. It’s really eye catching.
Another neat feature is the ‘door’. It’s a see through panel in the packaging that you can open without breaking the seal on the box. Perfect if you were buying these in a store. You can get a closer look at the product without opening it.
There is quite a bit of single use plastic included in the packaging but it’s such as well designed box that I’m almost inclined to forgive them for it. The plastic tray that holds the headphones could have easily been replaced with a cardboard one which would reduce plastic use by around 50%.
Opening the box I was greeted with a fairly retro (by today’s standards anyway) design that looks pretty lightweight on first inspection, but we’ll detail more about the build quality a bit later.
You get a 3.5mm audio cable which is a decent length and a 6.3mm stereo adapter included in the box. Other than a small instruction booklet, the box is empty.
A reduction in overall packaging size could be another way to reduce the single plastic use situation. I think large tech companies need to do more to reduce plastic use.
The biggest surprise when doing my research for this review was that Phil Jones did the tuning for the H850’s!
This Hi-Fi headphone is engineered and tuned by the mastermind behind Pure Sound to produce clear, powerful bass – ideal for music artists.
Edifier Blog
Let’s find out how they sound!
Edifier H850 Review Sound Quality
I didn’t know what to make of these at first, but having listened to songs spanning 3 or 4 genres of music I had a decent enough understanding of what these are capable of to form an opinion.
Previous readers of my audio reviews will know that I’m a fan of the high end. It’s an over used phrase but I’ll say it anyway…
The highs on these headphones sound crisp and clear. Cymbals and high hats are pristine. Some users may want it taken down a notch, but I think they have just the right amount.
The detail on these headphones is amazing. I can hear every instrument, every electronically engineered sound and all of the subtle ad-libs producers add into their beats. I’m really impressed.
In terms of lyrics and vocals they sound a little toned down when compared to something like the Edifier X3. I think it comes from the high end being the dominant frequency that makes it sound this way.
The mid ranges sound decent enough. String instruments such as the guitar sound very clear. This is even more apparent when listening to hip hop tracks that feature a guitar, such as Role Model by Eminem.
The low end is great. A really decent kick, but not so in your face as is the case with some other headphones. I think this is on purpose though. We should remember that these are also to be used for live instrumentation monitoring so having a bass heavy headphone for this purpose is not recommended.
Overall they produce a really clear sound and as these have been tuned by Phil Jones I have to mention the tuning. They’re great to be honest, balanced and refined.
Build Quality & Design
The H850s are pretty typical in terms of their design. The oval leatherette ear cushions cover the brushed aluminium ear cups. The subtle Edifier logo and polished aluminium detailing on the back is great.
The pads are removable. But I didn’t know this at the time, I thought I’d broken them by pulling them out. It’s a neat touch and allows you to give them a wipe down. The only issue is that it’s fairly difficult to put them back on, so you’ve been warned.
I really like the slim headband design. It features a fairly standard size adjustment mechanism for each cup. And, each cup has enough padding and pressure to keep the ear cushions in place. They’re really comfortable to wear.
The only slight issue I could see being a problem are that the ear cushions are quite shallow, so those people with larger ears may need to look into headphones that have bigger ear cups.
The included cable is removable, it attaches to the left ear cup using a 3.5mm connector which clicks into place by turning it. It’s two metres long but doesn’t feature any inline controls, which I’m not too concerned about.
My usual go to build quality test passed with slight flexing and but nothing to worry about. If they were far more expensive then I’d start to ask questions about the build but for the price it’s fine.
They’re not going to withstand being thrown down or being crushed in the bottom of your backpack. But they should hold up to home, travel and business use if you’re careful with them.
I did test the brushed aluminium coating for how easy it is to scratch. I took a small pen knife and ran it over the metal. It didn’t scratch easily so they should stay looking fresh for a while at least.
They’re very minimalist and although they won’t win any awards for styling they do look good. Overall I like the design and it gives off a slight 80’s / 90’s vibe.
The only thing I would like to see added is a branded cable tidy or storage case included. They can be folded flat, so an Edifier branded storage case would be a nice touch.
However, saying that however this does mean that manufacturing costs are kept to a minimum, leaving you with better sound quality for the price.
How much & Where To Buy?
The Edifier H850’s are available for just under $40.00 and at the time of writing we found them on sale for $32.99 on Amazon.
You can check them out on Amazon using the affiliate link, click here.
Edifier H850 Review Summary & Verdict
Score: 8.5 / 10
I really like the design of these headphones. The wires, relatively thin headband and slim build quality are reminiscent of a bygone era. In the 80’s and 90’s everything had wires!
The other things I like are they sound fantastic and are very affordable. If we look at some other professional headphones, they can start to become very expensive. But, these are absolutely fine for pro use, in fact I’ll be using these for a podcast project I’m working on! Go check them out!
The score reflects the (in my opinion) excess packaging.
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Disclosure:
If you use any of the Amazon links in this article they are affiliate links. This means that if you go onto buy something from Amazon I may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything extra but it helps me to pay for the running costs of the blog and allows me to bring you great content! Thank you so much for your support.
