INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Have you noticed that each and every single time people start talking about any kind of device (including electronics) the very first names that come to mind are those of the most popular and award winning manufacturers (usually also behind the most expensive models)? This is not something new since the well established players in the market are always more widely advertised and represented by distributors a lot more than the not so well known ones (only rare exceptions to that rule). Still over the years i can say with certainty that very good products do occasionally come even from unknown manufacturers and at the end of the day the price/performance ratio is what matters for most people. 66 Audio may not be among the most popular headset manufacturers in the market today but since their BTS Sport Bluetooth headphones performed extremely well for their size and price we just had to test their top of the line REVOLUTION Wireless Headphones.

   66 Audio, LLC is an exciting and rapidly-growing LA-based wearable technology startup company that focuses on designing, engineering, and distributing world-class Bluetooth audio products for active consumers throughout the world. We are very passionate about hardware, mobile software and building the best possible consumer products for the active lifestyle. We're constantly on the hunt for innovative and groundbreaking ways to improve customer engagement and experience within the active category and are obsessively pursuing next-generation technologies that will change the way people experience their music on both the hardware and mobile app side of things. 66 Audio is based in Culver City, California with offices in Shenzhen, China as well as Krakow, Poland and London, UK. Learn more at www.66audio.com.

   The REVOLUTION wireless are medium-sized headphones equipped with two custom-tuned 40mm neodymium NdFeB drivers that feature a frequency response of 20Hz-20KHz, intergrated stereo microphone sporting cVc (clear voice capture)technology, HD voice (wide band) technology, bi-directional echo noise-reduction technology and a lithium-polymer rechargeable battery pack which can keep the device going for up to 12 hours. The REVOLUTION wireless headphones also feature Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity (fully supports NFC, HFP 1.6, A2DP 1.2 and AVRCP profiles) with class 2 transmission (wireless range of up to 75 feet/23 meters), CSR aptX codec support (high-fidelity audio), 66 Sound Engine DSP Technology (with multi-band EQ, PEQ and 3-D sound spatialization) and an custom active noise cancelling onboard chip (used to enhance audio clarity by keeping unwanted noise out). I think you'll all agree on me that at least on paper the REVOLUTION wireless headphones look very promising (leaving out the lack of more info on the 40mm drivers) so let's see if that's really the case.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large product picture is placed at the front of the box along with the company name and logo.

 

 

The product features and the contents of the bundle are listed at the rear right under another product picture.

 

 

Once you open the box you will find this welcome message.

 

 

Inside the box you will find the REVOLUTION Wireless Headphones, hard carrying/storage case, USB to micro USB charging cable, 3.5" gold plated cable, 66 Audio sticker, club 66 invitation (registration card), user guide and a support card.

 

 

THE REVOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a weight of just under 240g the REVOLUTION is a medium sized headset made out of plastic and aluminum.

 

 

To have a better idea about its size we placed the REVOLUTION right next to the compact REVO Wireless headset by Jabra.

 

 

Some of you have asked if we can mount the headsets we review on a plastic head to see exactly how large or small they are and we obliged (not really as big as a regular head but you get the idea).

 

 

Both the NFC sensor and the ANC (active noise cancelation) button are placed on the exterior of the left earcup.

 

 

The company logo is placed on the headband right over both earcups.

 

 

On the exterior of the right earcup we find the answer/end call button (also used to pause/resume audio), the 3.5" port, volume up/down buttons, power switch, Bluetooth pair button and the micro USB charging port.

 

 

Left and right markings are placed on the interior of the headband right over the earpads.

 

 

The earpads are quite large and soft largely thanks to the thick padding used.

 

 

We would have liked to see more padding for the headpad but this is actually quite comfortable.

 

 

The REVOLUTION use a different kind of extension mechanism so instead of extending the headband you can lower the earcups up to 30mm on each side.

 

 

66 Audio has printed their logo on the exterior of the headband.

 

 

You can also fold the REVOLUTION to place them inside the hard carrying/storage case as seen above.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Having tested a very large number of headsets and headphones over this past decade or so means that we're not easy to impress but at least at first the REVOLUTION Wireless Headphones by 66 Audio did exactly that. You see the REVOLUTION doesn’t only score high in terms of build quality and design (the on/off power LED might be a bit too bright at night) but also audio clarity and accuracy. Mids and highs are very crisp and detailed but it’s the deep bass and high volume levels (this is the first headset to ever reach our lab with which we were unable to listen to music at full volume) that really steal the show. Unfortunately having deep and strong bass in a headset tends to “cloud” mids and highs so in some audio tracks that wasn’t a good thing. Overall however we are very pleased with the audio performance of the REVOLUTION wireless headphones just like we were with its battery life although at almost full volume we hardly hit 9 hours of playback time (as expected really since 66 Audio must have reached and surpassed 12 hours at mid-volume). Once again the built-in microphone didn’t live up to our expectations since people on the other end would report that we sounded like we were far away but if you’ve been following our reviews you should know that this happens most of the time (still it’s far from the worse we’ve ever tested).

   Thanks to a 15% discount for our readers from our friends over at 66 Audio (checkout code: NIKKTECH15) you can now get the REVOLUTION Wireless for roughly USD142 instead of the full price of USD166.99. Of course even with that discount the REVOLUTION is not among the cheapest headphones in the market today but after taking into account its build quality, design, battery life, audio clarity and detail, deep bass and quite impressive volume levels it’s not really what we’d call expensive and that’s exactly why we’re giving it our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Very Good And Accurate Mids & Highs
- Bass & Volume Levels
- Battery Life (Up To 12 Hours)
- Wired & Wireless Use
- Media Controls
- Active Noise Cancelling Chip
- Foldable Design

 

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Pulsating Power Light (Too Bright At Night)
- Too Much Bass At Times