PENDULUMIC STANCE S1+ Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

 




Firstly like to thank Chuck from 1964 Ears for organising the Pendulumic Stance S1+ headphones for this review.
 
Pendulumic is a relatively new company in the headphone world, and they have already made quite a splash with their take on Bluetooth headphones. The Stance S1+ has taken its design cues from steampunk and combined them with intuitive features to bring a great wireless Bluetooth headphone with reference quality aptX Bluetooth sound and the ability to perform on par with wired equivalent headphones.
 

Features

 
The Stance S1+ comes packaged nicely with a smallish headphone case, as the headphones themselves are able to fold flat. Also included is a micro USB charging cable, 3.5mm audio cable with in-line remote/mic, cover in a nice braided fabric as well as an airline adapters and a 6.5mm adapter. Inside the case is a detachable pocket, which will hold all your accessories too.
 
The Stance S1+ headphones have a lot of features, so I will break it down for each side of the headphones. The left headphone houses the rechargeable battery, which will give you up to 18 hours of playback, with the option of adding 2xAAA batteries as a backup, to extend the playback to 30 hours, which is great if you can't recharge within a day. Also on the left side is the power on switch, up is for AAA battery and down is for rechargeable. The micro USB port is also on this side.
 
The right headphone features all the audio controls. You have a microphone for calls, as well as a 3.5mm socket for you headphone cable. There is also the switch for the 3 types of audio playback options, which are wireless, utilising Bluetooth 4.0 aptX for CD Quality wireless playback. The next option is wired with amplifier, which uses the internal batteries to boost the sound for a more colored sound and the last option is for wired, without power, which is your reference option, giving a natural flat response. 
 
The last feature on the right headphone is the volume and control dial. It's used to control the volume up and down, as well as pause/play and answer calls by pushing it in. I found the response for volume was a little slow. I would turn it a few clicks for on minor volume changes, when the volume should change per click of the dial. But all in all, a lot of options and features to use with ease and change the way you want to listen.
 

Sound

 
After a simple pairing to my phone, by holding down the volume dial, CD quality sound was streaming though the Stance S1+. My first though was to see if I actually had a cable plugged in, because it sounded so clean and natural. Bass response was punchy and clean, mid range a little forward and the treble extended nicely, with no hit of harness. This is not your typical Bluetooth headset, with the  over powering colourisation of bass and treble. This is for the purest who wants a wireless option, that also looks clean and sounds natural.
 
When changing to the reference wired option, there is very little difference, almost non compared to the Bluetooth option. For the people who want more bass and treble support, kind of V shaped listening experience, wired with amplification is available. I found it to be similar to the loud option on car stereos, boosting the top and bottom, to give more punch, but this does colour the sound. For me, Jazz, blues, folk and even classical music is this headphones strong point. The sound is warm and non tiring, reserved but not restrained.
 

A couple of points to consider. Noise isolation is not the best, compared to other closed back headphones, similar to the AKG 240mkII. I also found sound leakage from the headphones when listen at high volumes, but these are minor points which are easily outweighed by the rest of the positives.
 

Conclusion

 
If you are looking for a beautiful looking, great sounding pair of wireless headphones, with a great array of features, then consider these headphones. Priced at $199, they are relatively cheap for the sound you get. Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX has won me over. The convenience of wireless headphones is great, and with 30 hours of playback, you may never use the wired option again. The Stance S1+ has taken wireless to a new level.
 
 

Specs:

 

So a brief story of my experience discovering these headphones at Canjam 2015:
 
I had never heard of pendulumic before can jam this year, and have always despised bluetooth headphones as everything i've ever heard of has always sounded like crap. I had one point wanted to get some nice wireless headphones but I had tried several sennheiser & sony models, they all just sounded terrible compared to wired counter parts. Then I came across the stance S1+ at the show, saw it and thought the design was nice and the price was right (not realizing it was wireless at first). Upon visiting the booth (this was at the very end of the show), i realized that they were bluetooth headphones and thought "ah, damn nevermind", but i gave them a try anyway. 
 
Wow. was the first words out of my mouth. These were very balanced, neutral, fairly resolving cans with a respectable soundstage. The sound was polite, yet not boring and still musical. They sounded comparable to most $200-$300 cans when plugged in unamped, which was very very surpising. I then had the chance to plug them in into my Cayin C5 / Iphone / Tidal setup and wow, the sound really opened up and there was much more body/mass, along with an overall increased fidelity and resolution. With the Cayin which has a bass boost, i was able to have some satisfying low end when i wanted it. So right then and there I bought the last unit that they had.
 
At its price point and its features there is zero competition as far as wireless goes, not even close. Its versatility is unmatched. Now amongst wired closed cans you've got some competition but it's definitely in the same playing field in terms of sound & build. Below are some wrap up notes:
 
Sound: Incredible sounding, bluetooth or not. Well balanced, articulate, neutral yet musical. Great range and respectable soundstage. It's got a pretty refined / polite tone when in bluetooth mode, but still very full. Plugging them in into an amp they transform into a VERY nice pair of headphones. Everything from the range, articulation, soundstage, body, are all improved. These respond very very well to better amp / DACs.
 
Now as far as its general signature goes, its a very nice / refined / polite neutral pair of cans, so if you're looking for some that's brighter / sharper / forward sounding, you should look for something like Grados instead. Same goes with bassheads, these won't have the slam / sub bass like the JVCs, but the bass is most definitely there and articulate (i would not call these bass shy by any means).
 
 
Build: Solid and well built.
 
Features: This thing is packed with massive features. Fast, easy reliable bluetooth pairing. Awesome hard case, comes with a mic built into the cans (i used these a lot for my skype / gotomeeting calls). The little touch of airplane adapters are also very nice. Oh and did i mention the battery function is insane? 30 hours from usb charge and another 30 if you swap in batteries, which meant you'll probably never run out of juice to listen to these. The only thing i wasn't too crazy about is the extra headphone amp mode, which some people may love. But I prefer to just plug it into my own setup which is several steps above.
 
Design: Beautiful design. the watch-dial volume control is not only beautiful to look at / feel, but is actually far more functional than your traditional / clunky up down buttons found either on the can or on the wire.
 
Isolation / Leakage: These isolate pretty well & doesn't leak much sound at all. They're great for office use when you dont want to disturb your coworkers
 
Comfort: These are super comfortable, the material of the pads are very soft and supple, the headband support is great and very comfortable too. The only thing is that the size of the pads may be a bit small for some ears.
 
Price: Amazing Value.
 
I've since shown several friends, and they had the same reaction as I,  being amazed on how good a bluetooth pair of headphones could sound so good. Highly recommended.

My Amazon Review:
 
I've owned many pieces of high end home audio over the years. Brands like Dali, Audio Research, Krell, Melos, and others. I expect a lot from my gear. In this case, one of the requirements was Bluetooth audio so that I could go wireless. With the advent of Aptx, Bluetooth has come a very long way, to the point where the benefits of wireless can now be realized even for the discerning listener.

I've owned a few wireless headphones, including the Sennheiser MM 550, and the Jabra Revo Wireless. The Pendulumic is hands down the best of the three in sound quality and virtually all other areas, with clear, full, warm, rich, open sound that borders on the romantic. The controls are implemented smartly too.

What's keeping the Pendulumic from getting that fifth star is a few quibbles. 1) The inexplicable failure to label S1+ to its new version, both on the box and on the headset (they still show S1), 2) The failure to block out other room noises well (the Sennheiser's do a better job of cancelling out other noises); Inner Fidelity has the noise isolation tested at -7db, the worst performer in their tests. 3) Only one device can be paired at a time, which is inconvenient when using on the PC and receiving phone calls, and 4) The mic is not open, meaning that one cannot hear ones own voice when talking on the phone!

If sound quality is paramount, this is the ticket.

UPDATE 2/18/15

This review has been dropped from 4 stars to 3. After just a couple of days ownership, the control knob fell off (It was glued on, with no screw). In addition, callers couldn't hear me speak half the time (Galaxy Note 4). The only thing that keeps this score from being lower is the great sound and stellar US support.