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Kygo A9/600 Headphones Review: A New Option, From Norway

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When the conversation of stylish, performance over-ear headphones comes up, the usual suspects are from the U.S. (Beats from Apple, or Bose), or Germany (Sennheiser). Japan of course, with Sony. Danish companies like Bang & Olufsen and Libratone are in the mix. There are a growing number of challengers from China as well, such as 1More. And there are others.

Norway doesn’t really hit the radar so much.

But I just tried out a pair of Norwegian headphones that deserve to be contenders. Kygo Life is a sound and fashion brand based in Norway, from Norwegian musician/DJ/producer Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll --who goes by the name “Kygo.” The company sells a lot of clothing that I could never get away with wearing, but it also offers a line of fashion-influenced audio products --the kind of audio gear that’s designed to make a visual statement. They sent me a pair of A9/600 Bluetooth over-ear headphones to try out. And they sound as good as they look... 

A Stylish Take on On-Ear Headphone Design

There’s only so much you can do with the basic design of over-ear headphones. Many companies go with a utilitarian look, others add a bit of style. Kyogo Life obviously took the latter approach.

Kygo A9/600 Headphones in Storm Grey.

Brad Moon

Kygo A9/600 headphones have a unique look. There are flashes of silver metal --a little bit is exposed on the headband and there is a thin silver ring around each ear cup, but the ear cups are mounted to curved metal brackets that are painted to match the otherwise flat, monochrome color scheme. The inch or so of braided nylon audio wire visible running into each ear cup from the headband is similarly done up in a matching color. In the case of my review unit, it was a striking “Storm Grey” that has a hint of blue.

There is just one button (for power and Bluetooth), with touch controls integrated into the rubberized surface of the right ear cup. There is a also a single LED indicator, a micro USB port for charging and a 3.5mm jack (braided cloth-covered and color-coordinated USB and audio cables are included). The Kygo logo is discretely imprinted into the surface of each of the cups.

The result is a stylish, minimalist and attractive look that stands out without being flashy.

Kygo A9/600 Bluetooth Headphones Key Specs

  • 40 mm drivers
  • Frequency response (±3dB) 15Hz- 22kHz
  • Bluetooth 4.1 with AAC, aptX
  • Touch controls
  • Integrated microphone for phone calls
  • Playing time up to 23 hours per charge
  • Memory foam cushioning
  • 3.5mm audio jack, micro USB charge port
  • Weighs 11.3 ounces
  • Carrying bag, matching audio cable and USB cable are included
  • Available in Black, White, Burgundy, Palm and Storm Grey
  • MSRP: $199.90

Comfort, Controls

Comfort was clearly a priority during the design of these headphones. That’s a good thing, because over-ear headphones tend to be favored for extended listening sessions --and if your headphones hurt your ears or pinch your head, you’re not going to wear them. 

At 11.3 ounces, the Kygo A9/600s aren’t the lightest over-ear headphones out there (for comparison, that’s about three ounces heavier than a pair of Bose QuiteComfort 35s), but the weight is well distributed and as a trade-off, the build seems very solid. They also feature generous memory foam padding in the ear cups and head band, and the cups pivot slightly.

As a result, I found the headphones quite comfortable to wear. The over-ear design fit well and while there’s no active noise cancellation, there’s enough of a seal that background noise fades well into the background.

Headphones fold up for storage, cloth carry bag and braided cloth audio/USB cables are included.

Brad Moon

Controls are touch-based, with icons imprinted on the right ear cup. It takes a few tries to figure out --raised control icons would have been a little easier to recognize by feel-- but once you know which way to tap to raise volume or skip tracks, the system works quite well.

For travel, the headphones are hinged and fold up into a compact bundle. A cloth bag is included. It won’t protect them from being crushed, but should keep them from getting scuffed or dirty. 

Audio Performance and Battery Life

Two thumbs up for the Kygo A9/600 Bluetooth headphones when it comes to audio performance and battery life --two key factors in choosing wireless headphones.

Battery life is excellent at 23 hours, give or take a few hours based on music volume. Not the best in class, but still very good. That’s probably a week or more on a charge for most users.

These aren’t studio reference grade headphones, but for $199 they perform well. As mentioned earlier, the ear cups fit comfortably, with a good seal. And that not only eliminates most background noise, it means you get the full benefit of the 40mm drivers.

As is the case with many of the headphones in this class, expect the low end to be emphasized. Call that the Beats effect. But despite the impressive bass output, it doesn’t come at the cost of everything else and there’s plenty of punch, with decent soundstage. I went through a kick of listening to The Police’s back catalog during testing and the Kygo A9/600 headphones were perfectly suited to the selection. On songs like “Bring On the Night” the bass line was front and center, but Sting’s vocals were perfectly angsty, the drums had energetic kick, while percussion and Andy Summers’ guitars had were crisp and not buried in the mix.

Plenty of padding in this stylish design.

Brad Moon

If you don’t like the default tuning, you can customize it with the Kyogo Sound app, but that’s where things went a little sideways...

A Funky App Tries a Little Too Hard

Headphone manufacturers have gotten into the habit of releasing apps that let you customize the sound of their product. This is a good thing as the results are often better than you’d get by playing with your smartphone’s default equalizer. The app also makes it easy to deliver firmware updates (which Kygo did do during testing).

The problem with the Kyogo Sound app is that it tries a little too hard to stand out as being unique. There’s a Bass Booster setting, which is straightforward enough. But... When it comes to pre-set tunings, instead of offering check boxes for “Rock” or “Pop” and the other labels that are more or less standard, there’s a different approach. There’s a full screen with a target circle you drag around between Los Angeles, Bergen, New York and Ibza. These, apparently, are cities with special meaning for the namesake Kygo. For example, drilling onto the info screen of the app, you learn that “Bergen” is tuned for acoustic and piano and that it’s “the most stripped-down sound image, capturing the simplicity of Kygo’s Hometown Bergen.”     

Do you prefer your music Bergen or Ibza?

Screen capture by Brad Moon

Yes, you figure it out, but the approach is not intuitive and seems a tad gimmicky.

Should You Buy Them?

Kygo A9/600 Headphones are a worthy option that comes in under $200.

Brad Moon

If you’re in the market for a pair of stylish over-ear wireless headphones, it’s worth looking beyond the obvious options for something a little different. 

The Kygo A9/600 Bluetooth headphones offer a stylish design combined with high quality audio performance and a price tag that comes in at $150 less than the market leader. Whether you want to look like you appreciate style without following the herd, or you want decent audio performance without paying a big premium, Kygo’s A9/600 headphones are worth checking out.

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