Antec AMP Pulse Review: Live truly unplugged

Looking for the perfect headphones can be a trying prospect. What kind of booming power do you really need, what kind of clarity are you willing to shell out money for, what do you usually need it for, and how long during the day do you expect to remain plugged in? So let me make one buy a little easier for you. If you spend a lot of your work day plugged into a computer, the Antec AMP Pulse can be your ticket.

Let’s start off with design. The Pulse is definitely a bulky build. An over-the-ear piece with rectangle ear hoods made of a comfortable, plush sponge, you can wear this baby for hours on end without any discomfort. The head rim is, of course, extendable, able to retract and fold into a little pouch for easy travel as well. While it may look very conspicuous on your head, that’s not to say it looks bad. And the brilliantly white colour (should you pick it) stands out in a sea of plugged in pedestrians.

This particular pair of headphones is Bluetooth 3.0 enabled, with an auxiliary-in port as well (3.5mm cable included). A handy set of buttons sit on your right ear, with volume controls at the back, and media buttons on the front. A toggle to receive/end incoming calls sits on the outer face of your right earpiece, with a built-in microphone near the media buttons, meaning this set is perfect for use while commuting as well.

A multi function button on the back acts as an on/off switch, as well as a Bluetooth pairing mode toggle, with an LED on the bottom that blinks to let you know if your headphones are on, in pairing mode, or already connected. And the range on the Bluetooth is about 10m; good enough, since you’re probably not going to move that far away from your phone or laptop anyway.

When you get to the sound, it’s obvious the Pulse has power behind it’s cool exterior. To start off, the ear cushions do a great job of noise cancellation, almost completely blocking out ambient without any music playing in your ears. But turn up the volume to max and you risk busting a blood vessel in your neck. The clarity is clear across most usage, with string instruments sounding just sublime. However, I did find a little distortion at max volume, while listening to some heavy rock numbers. Not the best performance, when compared to higher end models of other brands, but we can really excuse it in this price range.

The Li-Polymer battery on this gadget is also one of the beefiest I’ve seen on a headset, with a full charge able to last me well beyond eight hours, with constant usage. The headphones are charged via standard micro USB cable included in the pack, with the port on the bottom of the right earpiece.

All in all, if you find yourself listening to music, or watching movies while commuting, or maybe just spend your work day plugged into a laptop with your favourite tracks playing, this is the piece for you. It does justice to any song you can throw at it, and is great as a gaming headset as well. I could, for the first time, leave my online game open in a match lobby, get myself a glass of water from the kitchen, and still have the alert sound play in my ears, to know I could enter another match. And all while i avoided waking the other sleeping occupants of my home. That kind of freedom is priceless

What we liked: 
“Tough guy” design
Comfort build earpieces
Portability
Pure power
Airline jack included

What we  didn’t like: 
A long charging time, even if it’s only required every couple of days
Some loss of clarity at max volume

Key Specs: 
Bluetooth: Bluetooth V3.0
Wireless Range: up to 10m
Speaker: 40mm
Frequency Response: 20Hz~20KHz
Microphone: Built-in Microphone
Weight: 180g
Battery: Rechargeable Li-Polymer Battery

Price: Rs 7,000