Paww’s SilkSound Headphones Look Like a Sleek Headband—But How Do They Sound?
With so many types of headphones on the market, it can feel impossible to sort through them all to find the right style for you.
Do you prioritize high-quality sound, aesthetics, comfort or price? Often, you have to make compromises in at least one area to get what you really want, but Paww electronics aims for the perfect all-around headphones with their SilkSound line.
These headphones are designed for form and function, resembling a sleek headband. The folks at Paww reached out and asked if I'd be willing to review a pair, and I was happy to give them a shot and find out if they live up to the company's hype.
The Product
Paww's SilkSound wireless headphones are designed to let you listen to your tunes in style. The goal is to be lightweight and compact while featuring easy-to-use wireless Bluetooth functionality, and both sounding and looking great. They neatly fold up to fit inside a purse or their own stylish carrying case (included), and are adjustable to fit heads of all sizes. They also come with an auxiliary headphone cable and USB charging cable.
SilkSound headphones retail for $59.99 and come in nine fabulous colors and patterns, so chances are that there'll be one that suits your own tastes. The pair I was sent came in a Tortoise Shell pattern.
(via Paww)
The Experience
My first impression upon opening up my SilkSound headphones was that they were elegantly packaged. The sturdy brown case was tough on the outside, but plush on the inside, and the headphones folded up neatly inside. The little pouch inside housed both the USB charging cable and a headphone cable, and it all closed up snugly when not in use.
Before I could get to using my headphones, however, I had to charge them. I was happy that this was a seamless process. I just had to plug the included cable into both the headphones and into a USB port. About two and a half hours later, a red LED light indicating charging turned off, and they were ready to go.
Pairing them to my Bluetooth devices (I've synced with both my iPhone and my laptop) was as easy as holding down a button for a few seconds. As I did so, the headphones spoke the words "power on," shortly followed by "pairing" to let me know the process was working. From there, I just had to find and select "SilkSound" under the Bluetooth options on my devices. When my headphones rang out, "your headset is connected" and started playing my music, I knew I'd been successful. Every subsequent time, my devices also remembered the headphones immediately, so I never had to worry about syncing again.
Immediately, I was super happy with the sound quality coming from my headphones. The sound isn't huge or particularly bass-heavy, making them pleasant and easy on the ears. Whether I was listening to podcasts, raucous rock music or a little bit of stirring classical music, they sounded fantastic. On some of my favorite tracks, I even found that it seemed to boost up the backing vocals, allowing me to hear songs I'd known for a decade in a brand new way, and that was a pretty cool thing.
Pressing a single button also allowed me to pause or play my music, but seeing as they were inside of the headphones I was wearing on my head, tucked just behind my right ear, I didn't find this super intuitive or useful for my daily use. The headphones also have phone call functionality, though I haven't had the opportunity to utilize this yet.
I was also surprised by how comfy they generally are. They fit snugly around the head without squeezing, and it was easy to forget I had them on when I didn't have music going. While they don't look exactly like a headband, since they have little metal extenders and go over the ears and not behind them, they still looked pretty great and unobtrusive.
However, I did find that sometimes when I was wearing glasses, the combination of wearing the two would pinch a little at the temples, and be much less comfortable than wearing them on their own. At the same time, I found them to work better than expected for bedtime. They didn't feel constricting at all on my head as I laid on my pillow and listened to pre-sleep meditations when I had trouble falling asleep. And when I was done with them, for the time being, I simply had to hold the power/syncing button for three seconds again to hear it to say "power off."
Each time I came back to using my SilkSound headphones, I liked that they announced the battery level as being high, medium or low. That gave me a good idea of when they'd need to be charged again, and I was delighted at how long the battery lasted. Since I don't use them all day, every day while I work, I'm typically able to use them at least three workdays before I have to charge them again, totaling a little more than eight hours of battery life, by my estimates. Each time, it's taken about two and a half hours to fully recharge once depleted.
During my time with SilkSound, I've also had numerous chances to test how far their great sound can go. When I've had to go leave my desk to snap some photos in a different room, I found that the sound carries beautifully even across a couple of rooms. At about 30 feet away, they started getting a bit static-y and cutting out, which I found to be pretty impressive. You can even use them wired if you don't care to pair them by Bluetooth, although the nice auxiliary cable is only about 30 inches long. I found that this was too short for comfortable walking with my phone, or even working at a laptop on my desk.
Overall, my SilkSound headphones work great, but one issue I have run into is that, when the battery gets low, I repeatedly get a message telling me I'm "beyond the range of connections" even when I was right next to my devices. This message will play over my music, but doesn't pause or interrupt it beyond that. I found this message this slightly annoying at first, but eventually took this as a sign to recharge the battery, which seems to have fixed the issue entirely.
Bottom Line
If you need a pair of headphones that sounds great without costing too much money, and you love the look of the SilkSound, I recommend purchasing a pair. These headphones are easy to set-up, have lovely sound quality and have a unique, eye-catching look, on top of being long-lasting and super portable. Though I ran into a small issue with mine, I like the fact that it's easily fixable, and I can see my SilkSound headphones being a fixture at my desk for a long time to come.
Love fashion headphones? Click HERE to find out about the beanies that double as headphones.