Edifier Hi-Fi H690 On-Ear Headphone Unboxing and Review

Hi guys. Today I’ll be reviewing another headphone, and this time its the Edifier H690 on-ear headphone. It’s a new masterpiece by Edifier ingenious design team released around March 2014. This headphones is meticulously crafted with folding for easy carriage and storage. It’s lightweight and super soft cushions provides a comfortable usage for over a long time.

Inter-Asia Technology is one of the Edifier H690 distributor and this can also be purchased from retail shops such as Lowyat computer stores (e.g. All-IT). The warranty for this product is 1 year from local manufacturer. This is priced around 120 MYR (similar pricing as Edifier H850 Over-the-Ear by Phil Jones) while online stores sells them as low as RM98 at this point of time when this review is published. Just a comparison in pricing, China Amazon sells approximately 199 RMB (106 MYR).

Edifier H690 Overview

Features

1. 40mm driver for full range sound with crisp, clean quality and powerful bass.
2. Stainless steel headband with padded leather ear caps for lasting comfort.
3. Flip and Fold design for easy travel and storage.

Specifications

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20KHz
Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 98dB
Impedance: 38 Ohm
Cable Length: 1.3m
Connector: 3.5mm stereo
Packaging Weight: 300 gram
Net Weight: 130 gram (headphone + cable)
Accessories: Portable Storage Bag + User Manual

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Edifier H690 Packaging

Here is the front side of the packaging. It has a transparent plastic to preview the item.
Edifier H690 Packaging Front

Here is the rear side of the packaging which describes briefly of the features and specifications. These information can be found at the top of this review article.
Edifier H690 Packaging Rear

The audio jack is 3.5mm gold plated. The cable length of H690 measures 123 cm instead of 130 cm (1.3m) which is quite inconvenient if used to connect from the rear of computer case, but for mobile usage works fine with short cable length.
Edifier H690 Cable

Edifier H690 Headphone Design

Looking at the headphone black-gray-silver design, it has the “Edifier” logo printed on the left side of the headband. Notice there is Braille symbols (3 dots) on the left side too.
Edifier H690 Logo

The headband backbone is made of flexible stainless steel. This material does not readily corrode, rust or stain with water as ordinary steel does. Despite its name, its not fully stain-proof.
Edifier H690 Headband

The headband has a thin layer of rubberized cushion to provide some comfort. It isn’t thick like most headphone because H690 headphone is very light (130 gram) and wearing it feels like it puts little to none pressure on top of one’s head.
Edifier H690 Headband Cushion

H690 is also equipped with padded leather ear caps for lasting comfort. Material type is pleather. The cable is hardwired to the ear caps, therefore its non-removable to be switched to a longer audio cable.
Edifier H690 Cushion

Edifier H690 Headphone Flexibility

Here is a look at the external ear caps of H690 headphone. Each earpieces have a black meshed design with chrome ring. No worries though as the sound does not leak through this fine mesh.
Edifier H690 Foldable External

Here is another look at the internal H690 ear pieces. It has miniature holes that forms a shape of a hexagon, giving a nice pattern to it. When folded up, H690 measures with width of 14.5cm and height of 11.5cm. This allows you to put inside a handbag, or trousers with deep large pockets.
Edifier H690 Foldable Internal

H690 headband can be resized up to 6 notches with each notch providing 5mm gap to accomocate different head sizes easily.
Edifier H690 Headband Sizing

The headphone can be twisted 90 degrees outwards and 33 degrees inwards. This ability allows users to pack it flat on its sides before sliding them into the handy travelling pouch provided in the H690 accessories.
Edifier H690 Ergonomic Twist

Edifier H690 Headphone Final Thoughts

H690 is very comfortable to wear as it is light weight and its built as an on-ear headphone, which means you do not get sweaty ears upon wearing them for a long period of time. It does not come loose easily if you were walk with it but there is a chance where it might slide off when moving quickly (e.g. sprinting). It does isolate some noise approximately 30-50% but hardly helps when you are in a crowded area but you can increase the music volume to counter the environment noise.

For sound testing, I used my regular mobile phone and computer which is equipped with VIA VT2021 audio codec (110 db output SNR). Computer provides more juice to power the bass up better. In terms of sound quality, the sound emitted from H690 packs a punch in terms of sound pressure. When watching movies, the vocals are crystal clear, the bass is strong but not punchy. Listening to music of genre such as instrumental, techno, trance, choir, oldies songs, I find them to be as good as the Edifier H850 I reviewed previously.

When comparing H690 vs H850 side-by-side, H690 is more of a musical type as if the speakers are placed directly in front of you whereas H850, the speakers are more of the side ways. H690 has higher sound pressure compared to H850, so you will only require to increase a little volume to hear more loudly. The bass on H690 is a little harsh (e.g. watching Attack on Titan, or movies with explosion going on), the explosion sound overpowers the other sound effects playing simultaneously. Foot steps of soldiers walking behind you felt they were in front of you, which gives an unreal experience.

In short, if you are looking for headphone purely for music listening pleasure and to listen during travel, its worth considering the H690 for bang-for-buck deal. It’s more of a musical type of headphone which offers tons of portability features and best of all made of quality materials for enhanced durability without sacrificing aesthetics.

5-10% volume : For regular listening to music over-the-ear (on PC)
18-36% volume : For regular listening to music over-the-ear (on portable device)
30-50% volume : Noise can be heard leaking out of the headphone when its not worn. (PC)
> 10% volume : Can hear the bass thumping becoming more apparent. (PC)

Edifier H690 Headphone Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Very light weight (130 gram for headphone + 1.3m cable). Comfortable to wear for a long time.
  • No unsightly cable dangling out from 1 headphone ear-cup to the next ear-cup.
  • Great clarity. Instruments can be heard (e.g. violin, guitar, piano) in the background.
  • Small size for portability. Fits into large pockets.
  • Does not fully cover ears which avoids having sweaty warm ears in non-air-conditioned room.
  • Vocals are clear but not piercing. Great for listening to audio books.

Cons

  • Short cables. Purchase a 3.5mm Male to Female Stereo Audio Extension Cable if you require a lengthier cable length (e.g. plugging into motherboard audio jack of the computer case).
  • Bass is a little overpowering which clouds other music instruments in the background.
  • Non-removable audio cable, therefore you can’t reuse with an existing lengthier male-to-male stereo cable.
  • Low noise-isolation, which means you can still hear environment noise unless you crank up the music player volume.
  • Less suited for watching movies/TV-shows as the sound feels direct and confined (listening in a small room vs spacious room).
  • Listening might feel tiring awhile when volume is set at medium or high compared to over-ear headphone because it lacks the cushion height which gives some distance between the drivers and ear drum.

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