Benjamin Levicek If you have a sporty spirit and like to play energetic music for better performance, but you don't like earplugs, choosing the right product for you is not so easy. However, you will find a lot of interesting pieces in the portfolio of the Dutch manufacturer Philips, including the over-the-ear headphones labeled Philips TAA4216. You can read how this product fared in our review.
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Basic specifications
If you don't like the concept of sports headphones, know that Philips really tried, and you can't deny the effort from the manufacturer's parameters. The weight of 214 grams should not hinder you even during more violent head movements, the same can be said about the dimensions of 19.9 x 17.2 x 5.0 centimeters. To prevent your ears from sweating, both ear cups are filled with cooling gel, which should prevent excessive sweat. The padded ear cups are also removable and washable, so you can easily get all the dust and dirt off them. IP55-certified dust and water protection is not the highest you'll find on the market, but the product should still be able to withstand heavy loads.
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Philips TAA4216 headphones use Bluetooth 5.0 as a matter of course. The frequency range then reaches from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and the offered Bluetooth profiles include A2DP, AVRCP and HFP. Although the AAC codec is not suitable for demanding listeners, Philips is not targeting them either. The sensitivity of the headphones is 118 dB, and the impedance is 32 ohms. Neodymium transducers with a diameter of 40 millimeters take care of the sound performance. The battery will not leave even the most persistent athletes in the lurch, as according to official information, it can last up to 35 hours of play on a single charge. Using the USB-C connector, it can also be charged in 15 minutes for 2 hours of listening, which will cover even a fairly demanding training session. If you happen to have no access to electricity and the headphones run out of juice, you can use a cable with a 3,5 mm jack for playback. At the time of writing, the headphones cost CZK 1, in my opinion, this is an acceptable price tag for almost anyone.
The contents of the package are not impressive, but the construction is
You won't find anything groundbreaking in the package, there are only the headphones themselves, a USB-C - USB-A charging cable and an instruction manual, but in my opinion you won't need it. But what is definitely pleasing is the design processing, which is at a very decent level considering the price level. The product has a relatively solid impression, but at the same time I cannot deny its lightness and comfort when wearing. When I had the headphones on my head, they didn't put any pressure on me even after prolonged use, despite the fact that the head bridge is not padded. The only thing I don't quite like is the cover that covers the USB-C and 3,5mm connectors. It folds back a bit uncomfortably, and I was personally worried that it might break over time - nothing serious if you're careful.
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Pairing is lightning fast, control is trouble-free
All controls on the product are handled using the right earpiece. To power on, just long press the middle button to put them into pairing mode, hold it a little longer. As is usual with Philips, the voice output informs you about the state of the headphones. Immediately after switching to pairing mode, the headphones appeared in the list of new Bluetooth devices, both on iPhone, iPad and Mac. The connection was extremely fast, both during the first pairing and after switching on. This is great news, but on the other hand, in my opinion, this fact should be a matter of course in 2022.
As for the control itself, I didn't notice any problem with it. As I wrote above, long-pressing the middle button turns the product on and off, short-pressing it to start and stop playback, double-pressing it to turn on the voice assistant. With the two buttons on the side, you can increase and decrease the sound, and by holding it longer, you can skip to the next or previous track. I positively evaluate the fact that you almost never have to reach for the phone and you can get both music and commands using the voice assistant only with headphones on your ears.
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The sound has the necessary energy, but is by no means excessive
For some reason, I didn't have high expectations for these headphones at all - I was expecting more of a projection. However, immediately after putting it on, I was pleasantly surprised by what the headphones can do. The sound is somewhat obscured for my taste - the bass component is heard most prominently, the middle and higher tones are slightly lost, and it sounds somewhat flat in more complex jazz compositions or when listening to classical music. But jazz is not a genre that you play while exercising. So as soon as you play any energetic music, be it rap, pop, dance music or rock, I think you will be quite pleasantly surprised. Your ears will receive energy that will propel you forward not only during sports. If you plan to spend quieter evenings with the headphones, the sound performance of the headphones will neither excite nor offend you. Although the sound is not as spatial as God's name and it is not very suitable for slower songs, I would definitely describe it as relatively pleasant to listen to. Overall, I rate the sound presentation positively, for sports purposes it is absolutely great.
Although the headphones do not have active suppression of ambient noise, they passively dampen the surroundings very successfully. So you don't have to worry about being too disturbed by your surroundings while listening to music, but I definitely can't talk about a complete cut off. Phone call quality is adequate and neither I nor the other party had a problem hearing each other until I got into a busy environment. The microphone on the body of the headphones quite intensively records the wind, which is transmitted to the receiver of the other party - and in such a situation, unfortunately, the other party almost did not hear me. In the category of these headphones, this problem can be forgiven, but it is a bit of a shame that Philips did not work on wind filtration, etc.
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Final evaluation
I rate the Philips TAA4216 as a very successful product suitable (not only) for sports purposes. If you're looking for affordable wireless over-ear headphones with long battery life on a single charge, decent sound, and quality construction, the Dutch manufacturer has done a really good job for me. Of course, for a price not exceeding 2 CZK, it is not even possible to expect a perfectly balanced sound with excellently processed details, but if you are among undemanding to moderately demanding listeners, the product will serve you more than well.
You can buy Philips TAA4216 headphones here
