Microsoft released a bunch of Surface devices and the new entry in the lineup is the Surface Headphones. The Surface headphones are premium quality noise cancelling headphones with Microsoft’s smart digital assistant support, Cortana. It is not a closed environment device like Apple, you can pair it with iPhones, Androids and other devices as well. It has good sound quality with punchier bass, durable design, but it has something unique and that’s what we are going to see in this post.

Design

Microsoft says it took 3 years for them to design this headphone. To be obvious they are very comfortable for the $350 price range. With 40mm drivers and big pads, this over-ear headphone covers your ears completely. The headphones are made mostly out of plastics so they are light and also very flexible. If you are a traveler, these headphones are easy to carry and you even get a case for this.

Microsoft promises 15 hours of battery life in one full charge. USB-C pin is used for charging and it takes 2 hours to fully charge. Just like in the AirPod, you have touch and tap gestures to control the music play and automatic pause feature when you take the headphones from your ears. As of now, you have only white color and these headphones will be available before the end of December. The complete list of specification of the headphone is given below.

The Unique Feature

In all the noise cancelling headphones you only have the option to either switch off the noise cancellation or switch on. In the Surface Headphone, you have a special dial on the left side, with which you can adjust the noise cancellation up to 13 levels. For example; in the subway station, I can turn the noise cancellation fully to enjoy the music and lower it down to talk to someone without taking my headphones.

The right side dial is used to adjust the volume. Touch and gesture feature is supported on both the sides. You can either use double tap to wake up Cortana or you can just say “Hey Cortana”

Comparing To Other Headphones

When compared to other noise cancellation headphones, the Surface Headphone has smart assistant and adjustable noise cancellation feature. Sound quality is pretty much similar to other headphones of this price range. For professional use it is great, but if you are a music lover, you won’t like Surface Headphones that much.

Wireless headphones at this price range give you longer battery life than the Surface Headphone. For the always-on Cortana feature, you have to sacrifice a few hours of the battery life. When you are using the Surface Headphone with other devices, especially iOS and Mac, Cortana will not be that effective.

Should You Buy One?

If you are already owning a surface device like Surface Pro, Surface Go or Surface Studio, the headphone will work seamlessly and you also feel a comfortable workflow. Android users can also buy this one since Microsoft is planning to fully make use of the Android platform as their mobile alternate. In future updates, you might get some more smart features that are compatible with the Android phones.

iOS and Mac users, there are talks that Apple is planning something similar to this. In September event we expected new AirPods, but we saw only new Apple watch 4 and iPhones. Google is already into the game with Pixel Buds, which has more smart features like live translation, but the limitation was you have to own a Pixel device. after the IO 2018 event, I believe that the Googel Assistant will get even more easy to use smart features. From next year we might be able to see more smart headphones. If you really want to buy the Surface headphone for the smart assistant feature, then just wait for a few more months. See you fellas in next post, share if you like it, subscribe if you love it.