Heavys H1H | Incredible Bass
Amazon links in this article are affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Quick Summary
If you like bass, you have to hear the Heavys H1H. It has some of the best bass and sub-bass I've heard on any headphones without haptics. It's not the most powerful low end, but we'll get into that.
This is strongly marketed to heavy metal listeners, but that's not me. I'm just a basshead. And these deliver on bass.
Connectivity
The H1H can be used Bluetooth 5.1 with multi-point or wired with the included 2.5 to 3.5 mm cable.
It can be used powered off when wired. If you power it on, it lets you control the headphone volume and use HellBlocker which I'll talk about later.
Using this wired disconnects the wireless.
Controls
The left earcup has a Bluetooth switch button. On the right there’s a clickable joystick for playing and pausing media or controlling the volume.
The small buttons next to the joystick are for going forward and back a track. Pressing both of those at the same time enables transparency mode. On the bottom of the right earcup is the switch for power off, on, and HellBlocker.
I do wish the growling voice clips when you turn on the device or activate certain settings could be disabled or at least have their volume lowered.
Battery Life
The battery is stated to last up to 50 hours. I've never really gotten it that high, because unfortunately, these have no auto-shut off function. It kind of makes sense, considering they went with a switch for the power button.
The result is these never turn off automatically, and that’s how I end up losing most of my power.
Active Noise Cancellation (Hellblocker)
The noise cancellation of the H1H is called "Hellblocker". It's pretty weak. These rely on passive noise isolation from the earcups and pleather, but the actual ANC is lackluster. It blocks out some background noise, but a lot of recurrent sounds like the constant fan around my place comes through completely clear.
This also changes the bass a lot. It boosts it, but in a different way than what you get in EQ. If you have a bass boosted-preset, it will distort when you turn on Hellblocker.
Headphone Audio Quality
Measurements taken with my miniDSP EARS (not industry standard).
These sound incredible. The H1H has 4 drivers per earcup. Two 38 mm woofers for the lows and mids, and two tweeters for the highs. I can’t show the woofers without tearing off the padding, so I’ve linked Heavys’ image.
The tweeters are a lot closer to the ear, and they’re angled in a way to make audio sound as if it's going past your ears instead of just directly into it. That, plus the acoustic design of each earcup gives this a wide soundstage even though they're closed back. It's like you're hearing audio in a large open room.
The amount of detail these reproduce is excellent. They don't get muffled or muddy even if you like dirty bass and try to EQ them that way.
The highs are always sharp and prominent, which honestly is a bit much for me. Even with heavy EQ, there’s no escaping it. But it's great if you like a lot of treble. The mids are full and a bit shouty, so I drop them down a bit.
When it comes to bass, these slap. Not so much out the box. They definitely lean upper mids and treble forward, with the bass getting deep, but not thick.
However, with EQ, you can beef up the sub-bass like crazy, and unless you push all the way to the upper limits of volume, there's no bottoming out or distortion. It's not the most physical vibration out, but it's incredibly clear and you hear and feel everything in the low end.
I listen to a lot of bass heavy music, but whenever there are hi-hats, or effects like key jingles, these represent everything from the full audio spectrum.
I also enjoyed playing games with these, but you're going to have to use them wired to avoid Bluetooth latency. I use the Fosi Audio K5. That powers the H1H easily with a lot of headroom. Since EQ gets disabled wired, so you’ll need either a separate software or hardware equalizer.
In short, the Heavys H1H does not have the same power and thump as the Sony Ult Wear and definitely not the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC. It makes up for that with clean and detailed bass with some real physicality to it. And it’s all done without haptic vibration.
Wired vs Wireless
While my measurements weren’t identical, the only difference I heard between wired and wireless with my own ears is the self-noise.
Every time these play audio over Bluetooth, the pre-amp has an annoying static hiss. As long as your DAC has clean gain, the self noise disappears when used wired.
Microphone Audio Quality
Software
The Heavys software is highly neglected. Every time you open it, you have to manually click to connect the H1H. Once you do, there's only one feature inside. No power saving options, no button customization. All you get is one 5-band equalizer.
This equalizer can only be accessed if media is actually playing. You get a single preset.
You can't see or control what audio frequencies the bars represent, and you can't change these between being shelves or bell filters. You just have to take what they give you or leave it.
Half the time the headphones don't even connect to the app, even when you're actively playing audio to the headphones.
Comfort and Build Quality
These get a C+ in comfort. The detachable pleather ear cushions are large, and have decent padding. They're even detachable. You can adjust the frame height even though there's no swivel. Pleather padding is on the top as well.
Now for the not great. These are crazy heavy. 411 grams. And that’s with a mostly plastic build aside from the strip of metal on the frame.
For context, the Sony Ult Wear is 255 grams.
In terms of fit, the minimum height is just a bit too big. They don't clamp in that hard which is fine, but they're just too large, so they fall lower than I'd like. That makes them not super secure when working out. If you have a larger head than mine, you might be fine.
These also come with a carrying case. It’s not the hardest shell, but the headphones fold up snugly inside, and the case is sturdy enough to protect from minor bumps and dings.
Verdict
Overall, I love the Heavys H1H. These aren't designed specifically for bassheads, but they still kill it in that department. Even with their quality of life shortcomings, I recommend them.
