The main idea behind the Audeara A-01—a pair of Australian-made, wireless headphones that were successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter—is to enable its users to perform a detailed hearing test for a personalized sound profile that would make the Audeara A-01 compensate for the degradation of their hearing. The concept is very interesting as hearing loss isn't an issue that should be taken lightly, and it makes sense that a "regular" pair of headphones won't be equally suitable for everyone.

That's a lot of advanced technology packed into a pair of headphones, and that brings us to the main drawback of the Audeara A-01—they're very expensive. They cost a lot on their own, but even more so when you take into consideration that you can buy two of the best wireless headphones with active noise canceling on the market for less. Both the Bose QuietComfort 35 II and Sony WH-1000XM3 will set you back $35–$50 less than the Audeara A-01. They don't include a fancy hearing test or a way to tailor their performance to your own hearing, but they sound terrific even so, better than the Audeara A-01, offer the best ANC currently available, and surpass the Audeara A-01 in a couple of other areas as well.

Don't think that the Audeara A-01 isn't good, though. It's light, well-made and exceptionally comfortable. It sounds good as well, just not $400 good. The sound signature is clean and detailed, fairly deep, and generally smooth. It's just too laid back for my taste; it has no character, nothing to make a real impression. It's like you're wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt—you look good, but completely ordinary. For some users, that's going to be exactly what they're looking for, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are other things to like about it; its battery life is one of the best on the market, and it won't leave you without a microphone even when used in wired mode since Audeara was kind enough to include a secondary in-line microphone on the supplied cable. Don't expect to use the cable frequently, though; with a battery life of well over 30 hours, the Audeara A-01 isn't likely to leave you stranded on even an intercontinental round trip.