After recently coming off reviewing one of their newest products, the AF180mk2 iem, they asked if I would be interested in reviewing another one of their products; an over ear model titled the AF240. Being quite interested in their sound and wanting to hear more from them I very happily agreed. Additionally, a subscriber of mine commented on the AF180mk2 video about how they loved their own personal AF240’s and was interested in what I thought of them, so that coincidence worked out beautifully. But with that introduction out of the way, allow me to discuss with you my thoughts of Audiofly’s +/- $180 over ear offering, the AF240.
A little about me
I would like to say that first and foremost I am NOT an “audiophile” but rather an audio enthusiast. I listen to music to enjoy it. Do I prefer a lossless source? Yes, of course. But I can still be very happy streaming from Pandora or even my YouTube “My Mix” playlist. I also prefer equipment that sounds the best to me personally regardless of what frequency response it has or rather or not it's “sonically accurate” and I always have and shall continue to encourage others to do the same.
I'm a firefighter for both the civilian and military sector and the cliché of wanting to do this since I was born couldn't be more present with me. I've worked hard over the last several years to earn this position and now it's time for me to work even harder to keep it.
I enjoy fishing and relaxing to audio products and then reviewing them to help others decide on what products would work for them. Few things make me as an audio enthusiast/review feel more accomplished than when someone tells me that I helped them find the type of sound they've always been looking for.
Now, the sound signature I personally favor is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice some of that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have nice extension and detail reveal with a smooth roll off up top as to not become harsh in the least. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are (in no particular order) Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI & Zeus XIV, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics.
I would like to say that first and foremost I am NOT an “audiophile” but rather an audio enthusiast. I listen to music to enjoy it. Do I prefer a lossless source? Yes, of course. But I can still be very happy streaming from Pandora or even my YouTube “My Mix” playlist. I also prefer equipment that sounds the best to me personally regardless of what frequency response it has or rather or not it's “sonically accurate” and I always have and shall continue to encourage others to do the same.
I'm a firefighter for both the civilian and military sector and the cliché of wanting to do this since I was born couldn't be more present with me. I've worked hard over the last several years to earn this position and now it's time for me to work even harder to keep it.
I enjoy fishing and relaxing to audio products and then reviewing them to help others decide on what products would work for them. Few things make me as an audio enthusiast/review feel more accomplished than when someone tells me that I helped them find the type of sound they've always been looking for.
Now, the sound signature I personally favor is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice some of that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have nice extension and detail reveal with a smooth roll off up top as to not become harsh in the least. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are (in no particular order) Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI & Zeus XIV, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics.
Equipment used at least some point during the review
-Sources
-LG G8 Thin Q/HP Pavilion
-Playing Pandora, YouTube, and various format personal music
-Sources
-LG G8 Thin Q/HP Pavilion
-Playing Pandora, YouTube, and various format personal music
Disclaimer
I am by no means sponsored by this company or any of its affiliates. They were kind enough to send me a product for an arranged amount of time in exchange for my honest opinion. I am making no monetary compensation for this review.
The following is my take on the product being reviewed. It is to be taken “with a grain of salt” per say and as I always tell people, it is YOUR opinion that matters. So regardless of my take or view on said product, I highly recommend you listen to it yourself and gauge your own opinion.
I am by no means sponsored by this company or any of its affiliates. They were kind enough to send me a product for an arranged amount of time in exchange for my honest opinion. I am making no monetary compensation for this review.
The following is my take on the product being reviewed. It is to be taken “with a grain of salt” per say and as I always tell people, it is YOUR opinion that matters. So regardless of my take or view on said product, I highly recommend you listen to it yourself and gauge your own opinion.
The Opening Experience
Why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience
Please allow me to explain why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience with a product. Maybe it’s due to my southern roots in the hills of eastern Kentucky, but I’ve always been raised under the pretense of when you introduce yourself to someone for the first time you present yourself with confidence, class, character, pride, and competence. You greet the other person with a true warm smile, eye contact and a firm handshake. Anything less or short, implies to the other person that you either don’t care about them, are too full of yourself, too busy to be bothered by the likes of them, or worse, just generally disrespectful.
As a consumer, I take this same belief to when I open a new product. Why? Because think about it this way. How else can a company introduce themselves to their customers? How do they present their products? Are they packaged with pride and presented in such a way that makes the listener eager to listen to them? Or maybe they’re just wrapped up and placed in an available space. How about the box itself? Is it bogged down with jargon that says look at this, look what I can do. I’m better than anything on the market and here’s why read this and check out that. Or, is the package clean, simplistic and classy? As if saying to the customer ‘Good day, pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Please give me a listen and allow me to show you what I can do and allow my actions to speak louder than my words.’
This is why I feel so strongly about the initial presentation of a product, and I feel it’s truly a shame more people don’t. But with all that aside, let’s discuss how this product introduced itself shall we?
Please allow me to explain why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience with a product. Maybe it’s due to my southern roots in the hills of eastern Kentucky, but I’ve always been raised under the pretense of when you introduce yourself to someone for the first time you present yourself with confidence, class, character, pride, and competence. You greet the other person with a true warm smile, eye contact and a firm handshake. Anything less or short, implies to the other person that you either don’t care about them, are too full of yourself, too busy to be bothered by the likes of them, or worse, just generally disrespectful.
As a consumer, I take this same belief to when I open a new product. Why? Because think about it this way. How else can a company introduce themselves to their customers? How do they present their products? Are they packaged with pride and presented in such a way that makes the listener eager to listen to them? Or maybe they’re just wrapped up and placed in an available space. How about the box itself? Is it bogged down with jargon that says look at this, look what I can do. I’m better than anything on the market and here’s why read this and check out that. Or, is the package clean, simplistic and classy? As if saying to the customer ‘Good day, pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Please give me a listen and allow me to show you what I can do and allow my actions to speak louder than my words.’
This is why I feel so strongly about the initial presentation of a product, and I feel it’s truly a shame more people don’t. But with all that aside, let’s discuss how this product introduced itself shall we?
Construction
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The build quality of the Audiofly AF240 is quite expected for a headphone of this price range being almost exclusively plastic minus some, rather nice, faux leather accents on the headband and cups. The frame has an artistic narrowing to it that, IMO, not only looks nice but also serves as an insert into the cups so it can be rotated on a roughly 100 degree axis. One, interesting, aspect that the AF240 utilizes that I personally haven’t experienced before, is that the AF240 uses a spring recoil system on both the frame and the cups so that they always return to the starting, smallest, position. Only speaking from a personal point of view, I really didn’t like this feature in the least. I like to be able to set my headphones to a setting that works best for me and it stays there so all I have to do is put it on my head. Now granted, getting your ideal position really isn’t a big deal at all but still something I don’t wish to do, every single time.
The cups themselves have a cool retro look that also reminds me of the headphone you use when you’re getting your hearing checked (you know with the little clicker thing). The pads use a nice, firm, foam material that’s very easily detached if you ever need to replace them; simply push down on the top part and pull outwards.
The cable, which is, thankfully, detachable, connects to the AF240’s left cup uses a traditional 3.5mm jack on both ends (so you can even use it as an aux cable is need be) and also comes with a universal microphone that utilizes a single button with a play/pause when single pressed, next track with a double, and previous track with a triple press. My only complaint with the mic is that it’s really close to the headphone. I personally with it was another 3-4 inches further down. The cable itself is also very nicely made with a Cordura fibre that works pretty nicely as a shield against noise and, from my experience anyways, is rather tangle resistant. Lastly, Audiofly includes a pouch that’s, honestly, really nice (and I, traditionally, rather dislike pouches).
Comfort
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Being completely honest, I was legitimately concerned about the ear cup size when I first looked at these because quite frankly, I’ve some decent sized ears. Fast forward roughly 2 weeks and after several dozen hours, my fear was all but invalid. Though the tips and lobes did make constant contact with the pads, the level of give in them was enough to not make them ever uncomfortable; though I did need to adjust them periodically. Additionally, the spring headband also never really bothered me (in reference to it being on my head) either.
Sound
Before I start this section. It should go without saying but though I link YouTube videos when I’m giving examples, this is for convenience only. If applicable, I HIGHLY encourage you to listen to the music I’m referencing on as high a quality as possible to experience the fullest sound possible.
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So far, I’ve only heard 2 products from Audiofly so I’m still getting a feel for their house sound. But of the two products both of them fall into a category I call “Just enjoy the music.” So what I mean by this is that, specifically the AF240, they don’t really specialize in any category/genre of music but perform moderately at about all of ‘em.
Before I talk about the AF240 individually, the generalized sound is that of a smaller soundstage with decent instrument/musical separation and positional awareness. The “Pirates of the Caribbean Medley” performed by The Marcin J. Żebrowski Music School in Częstochowa, does a really good job at showing just what I’m talking about. Though you don’t feel like the performance is right in your face, it doesn’t sound like a live performance either; you always know you’ve headphones on. To continue, once there’s a lot of different groups playing, it’s really hard to differentiate them. But something the AF240’s do most certainly have going for them, is a non-fatiguing sound.
Treble
The eye’s of the music. Where detail and energy is showcased and presented. The Audiofly AF240’s treble is one that I enjoyed listening to but I definitely couldn’t fall in love with. To me and my ears, there was just no “magic” to it. One of my favorite pieces to listen to is “Tenkyuu” from the Kono Oto Tomare (Sounds of Life) soundtrack. This piece, especially if you listened to it along with watching the anime, is a very emotional piece and really vests you into the piece. However, through the AF240’s this piece just sounded meh to good. This sentiment continues with pieces such as “A Moon Filled Sky” by Tenmon and “Senbonzakura” performed by Lindsay Stirling.
Make no mistake, you can and do enjoy the music you listen to through the AF240’s don’t make that assumption, it’s just that, at least with me, there was just no staying power or any moments that gave me chills. Lindsay Stirling is a very energetic violinist but I never felt any of that through the AF240’s.
Mids
I likely don’t need to make much of an introduction as to my personal feelings with the midrange for I pretty much always talk about how much I personally love the midrange but coming off the treble I was a little bit concerned. First hitting play on Nathaniel Rateliff & the Nightsweats “S.O.B.” I wanted to test the “body” of the AF240’s or how well they reproduced the “fleshy” sound of snaps and claps. Right away I found myself rather impressed and truthfully, quite relaxed by them. I can’t call these headphones warm (though, objectively speaking, I’d say they would be classified) but I most definitely will call them vocally musical. From male vocalists such as John Moreland singing “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars” or Donna Burke singing “Glassy Sky” I just couldn’t stop listening to and just enjoying the presentation that was before me. So very well done in this regard Audiofly, very well done.
*Side note* Something else I learned, completely unrelated to music, these headphones are amazing to listen to general youtube podcasts, lectures, instructional videos, etc... due to their vocal performance
Bass
The heartbeat of the music. Coming from a non-bassheads point of view, bass needs to be controlled but possess enough authority to be able to control the rhythm and pace of the entire track and not leave the listener wishing for more whilst also not overwhelming them. A selfish plug but, the music video I made “Army N.C.N.G. Firefighter’s. Always ready, always there.” that features music from Thousand Foot Krutch and State Of Mine, is a mash of rock songs that have a decent bass presence throughout the track and though yes, the AF240 does have a bass presence and it’s acceptable I never, personally, got excited or ready to “get some work done.”
From the aspect of just enjoying the track and not necessarily wanting that bass drop to make you wanna move mountains but still want to bob your head and tap your feet, then yes. The Audiofly AF240 most certainly can satisfy you in that regard. Check out the really cool “Crazy Train” remake from INSANIME. My head was bobbing throughout writing this section and I personally had quite the good time.
Conclusion
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In summary, Audiofly created another audio product that does a really good job at presenting music in a way that’s, well, musical. I can definitely recommend these headphones to someone who’s looking for a product in the middle tier range and just wants a “basic” headphone that they can just listen to whatever with and have a good time. I’m very confident in the AF240’s ability to take a few drops and not break and their size is pretty universal with practically any head and ear size.
Also, make sure to check out my unboxing and review videos. They’re pretty awesome AND you getta put a face to the Army-Firedawg name. If this review helped you out at all please hit that thumbs up button for it really helps me out a lot. Till next time my friends, stay safe.
