Master & Dynamic’s MW65 are its first noise-cancelling headphones
Last year, Master & Dynamic filled a gap in its headphone lineup with the MW07 true wireless earbuds, but the company was still missing one key feature: noise cancellation. That changes today as M&D has announced the MW65, a set of over-ear wireless headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC). The company’s attention to detail is on display once more, with its trademark aesthetic that mixes leather and metal. The additions of ANC and a dedicated Google Assistant button do come at a cost, pushing the price tag on the MW65 to $499.
The MW65 carries much of the same design and style from its predecessor, the MW60. There’s still a leather-wrapped headband, lambskin earpads and metal construction that give many of M&D’s headphones their premium look. Like many of the company’s other models, the MW65 will come in brown leather with silver metal and black leather with gunmetal color options at launch. M&D typically adds more colors later on, so if you prefer the red or navy leathers available on the MW60, those might arrive in the future.
Master & Dynamic tapped Bluetooth 4.2 for the wireless connectivity on the MW65, and promises up to 65 feet of range with the paired device. In terms of battery life, the company says you can expect up to 24 hours of listening time on a charge. What’s more, a quick-charge feature will get you back to 50 percent in 15 minutes. A battery-level indicator will show green when the battery is full, orange at medium level and red when you’re running low. All of these figures I’ll test during our full review.
Like many headphones these days, the MW65 has a dedicated button for your go-to voice assistant. The MW65 is optimized for Google Assistant, but based on my time using the headphones, the on-board controls work just as well for Siri. There’s also a dedicated button for ANC that allows you to toggle between three options: High (airplanes and noisy areas), Low (wind or quieter spots) and Off. And as you might expect, there are on-board controls for adjusting volume, skipping tracks, play/pause and answering calls.
At $499, the MW65 is a lot pricier than the popular noise-cancelling options from Sony and Bose. Both the Sony WH-1000XM3 and the Bose QuietComfort 35 II are $350, and you can often find them on sale even cheaper. The MW65 is only $50 more than the MW60 — a reasonable increase given the addition of ANC and the other features.
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