This is a review and detailed measurements of the Status Flagship ANC Noise Cancelling headphone. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $179 on Amazon including Prime shipping.
I have a soft spot, pun intended, for rubberized paint that covers the Flagaship ANC:
I am not a big fan of gesture controls but that is what you have here. Voice feedback is provided for actions which helps. Turning up the volume for example requires brushing up on one of the cups.
This is a light headphone although the price for that is is rather small pads:
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitment on the fixture was very tricky. The pads are ultra soft and you can easily deform them and have them hold their shape that way. This made relatively large differences from bass all the way up to almost 1 kHz.
Status Flagship ANC Measurements
With ANC headphones, we need to first establish if we are going to test them wired off or wired on as the latter can invoke DSP and change the response:
As you can see, that is the case here with red color indicating the headphone being on. In this mode, it hugs are preference curve well. Without it, it is a disaster. So for follow on test, I left the unit on. I also played with the mounting to get rid of that resonance at 30 Hz:
I also fiddled with the level fair bit to reduce the amount of equalization we have to perform. Net results puts a smile on my face with respect to amount of bass available.
We are just missing some energy around 2 to 5 kHz. Here is our relative curve for equalization purposes:
Being in active mode, it is easy to overdrive the unit, or cause its amplifier to clip:
The main issue of concern is the peaking around 4 kHz which unfortunately is the area we need to boost:
Group delay shows us one key information: the amount of pipeline delay:
Impedance when on is a reasonable middle of the road 150 ohm:
Without it as noted, it will drop to 30 some ohm so a very different animal. I only measured sensitivity when on which naturally is good:
So should be easy to drive with many sources.
Status Flagship ANC Listening Tests and Equalization
I started listening with the headphone off and it was horrific. I immediately turned it on and man, what a transformation! If I had not attempted to EQ it, I have called it right and be done with it. But still, we always need to verify measurements by applying EQ to deficiencies and see if we like the result better:
At first I put in two filters, the one above and a much narrower one after it. That made the headphone too bright so I ditched the second one. With this one filter, the sound was now more open and lighter which I like.
Once there, the experience was super nice. I could once again get may ear lobes to resonate which is a tall order for ANC headphones. Sit back down... I only do that for a second to see if the headphone clips or not. And the Flagship ANC did not.
On distortion, I thought the highs were a tad gritty. Whether this is my imagination or manifestation of what we measured, I can't tell you.
There is a bit of spatial qualities here there but not much.
Testing the ANC functionality, it allowed about 10% of the fan noise from my Audio Precision in. Best in class ANCs are dead quiet. It is good enough though.
Conclusions
What a pleasure to see a budget priced noise cancelling headphone have proper bass and matching to most of our preference curve out of the box. The little bit that it is missing you could do without if you don't have EQ. But if you do, it does improve things. We are just a hair away from excellence here, mainly due to a bit of distortion in highs which I perceived.
I am happy to recommend the Status Flagship ANC when powered on.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I have a soft spot, pun intended, for rubberized paint that covers the Flagaship ANC:
I am not a big fan of gesture controls but that is what you have here. Voice feedback is provided for actions which helps. Turning up the volume for example requires brushing up on one of the cups.
This is a light headphone although the price for that is is rather small pads:
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitment on the fixture was very tricky. The pads are ultra soft and you can easily deform them and have them hold their shape that way. This made relatively large differences from bass all the way up to almost 1 kHz.
Status Flagship ANC Measurements
With ANC headphones, we need to first establish if we are going to test them wired off or wired on as the latter can invoke DSP and change the response:
As you can see, that is the case here with red color indicating the headphone being on. In this mode, it hugs are preference curve well. Without it, it is a disaster. So for follow on test, I left the unit on. I also played with the mounting to get rid of that resonance at 30 Hz:
I also fiddled with the level fair bit to reduce the amount of equalization we have to perform. Net results puts a smile on my face with respect to amount of bass available.
We are just missing some energy around 2 to 5 kHz. Here is our relative curve for equalization purposes:Being in active mode, it is easy to overdrive the unit, or cause its amplifier to clip:
The main issue of concern is the peaking around 4 kHz which unfortunately is the area we need to boost:
Group delay shows us one key information: the amount of pipeline delay:
Impedance when on is a reasonable middle of the road 150 ohm:
Without it as noted, it will drop to 30 some ohm so a very different animal. I only measured sensitivity when on which naturally is good:
So should be easy to drive with many sources.
Status Flagship ANC Listening Tests and Equalization
I started listening with the headphone off and it was horrific. I immediately turned it on and man, what a transformation! If I had not attempted to EQ it, I have called it right and be done with it. But still, we always need to verify measurements by applying EQ to deficiencies and see if we like the result better:
At first I put in two filters, the one above and a much narrower one after it. That made the headphone too bright so I ditched the second one. With this one filter, the sound was now more open and lighter which I like.
Once there, the experience was super nice. I could once again get may ear lobes to resonate which is a tall order for ANC headphones. Sit back down... I only do that for a second to see if the headphone clips or not. And the Flagship ANC did not.
On distortion, I thought the highs were a tad gritty. Whether this is my imagination or manifestation of what we measured, I can't tell you.
There is a bit of spatial qualities here there but not much.
Testing the ANC functionality, it allowed about 10% of the fan noise from my Audio Precision in. Best in class ANCs are dead quiet. It is good enough though.
Conclusions
What a pleasure to see a budget priced noise cancelling headphone have proper bass and matching to most of our preference curve out of the box. The little bit that it is missing you could do without if you don't have EQ. But if you do, it does improve things. We are just a hair away from excellence here, mainly due to a bit of distortion in highs which I perceived.
I am happy to recommend the Status Flagship ANC when powered on.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
