Audio Performance

Since the Hammo Wireless is the first pair of headphones by Noontec I had an opportunity to take for a spin, I had no idea what to expect in terms of sound quality. Much to my surprise, they ended up sounding great!

The general sound signature is fairly relaxed, which is in line with Noontec's promise of a flat frequency response. Nothing sticks out - the bass isn't overwhelming, the midrange doesn't try to overpower everything else, and the highs never sparkle too much or become too harsh. At the same time, you get just the right amount of everything along with a surprisingly wide soundstage for a closed-back design. Even though these aren't the most fun headphones ever made simply because they don't go overboard with any aspect of their acoustical output, they're extremely easy to listen to for hours at a time.


Like any other headphones with similar neutral and natural tuning, the Hammo Wireless holds its own in a wide variety of music genres. I went through my entire playlist of songs, which do a great job of exposing any major drawbacks, but it passed these tests without a hitch. Let's take Blink-182's "All The Small Things" as an example. It's a seemingly basic, but actually surprisingly telling song that reveals problems with instrument separation and the interpretation of more subtle details in a guitar-heavy environment. The Hammo Wireless cuts through it like a hot knife through butter. The snare and kick drum sound punchy and crispy, and a distinction between guitars, drum breaks, and vocals in the chorus can easily be heard.


Mogwai's "Kids Will Be Skeletons", which was recently featured in one of the most heartbreaking video game scenes of all time, at the end of Life is Strange's third episode, is yet another multilayered, guitar-heavy song that can, as it builds up, choke out a pair of speakers or headphones that aren't balanced well. If any part of the frequency spectrum sticks out too much, you simply won't be able to hear everything that is happening in this piece. On the Hammo Wireless, you can hear everything - the main melody as well as everything that's going on underneath. The bass could do with slightly more bite, but the experience is very enjoyable regardless.


I was quite impressed by the dynamics of the Hammo Wireless as well. They did a good job of interpreting the famous double bass and two-chord piano vamp accompanied by a piercing, bluesy alto saxophone in The Dave Burbeck Quartet's song "Take Five". The improvised drum solo in that song sounds crisp, and the aforementioned piano and bass make it flow nicely. On a mediocre pair of headphones, everything would sound choppy, and the sax could easily go from fun to annoying. Other great tunes to check the dynamics with are such classics as the "O Fortuna" movement of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Henry Mancini's legendary "Pink Panther Theme". The Hammo Wireless handles all of these properly.


Like I already mentioned, the bass is definitely present and fast (great for any metal subgenre that features double bass pedal and blast beats), but it's by no means massive in size or depth. If anything, I'd call it relaxed. If you're familiar with Massive Attack's "Angel", you know that its slow, heavy, druggy beat can properly shake your head and slam your ears with sort of a pleasant ferocity. On the Hammo Wireless, it sounds detailed and accurate, so much so that it doesn't at all interfere with the guitars or Horace Andy's haunting voice. However, it won't impress you with its magnitude. The sub-bass region in general isn't an area of expertise for these headphones. Because of that, songs that focus on it for excitement and atmosphere, such as The Knife's "Silent Shout", BadBadNotGood's "Hedron", and Infected Mushroom's "Mambacore", sound a bit lifeless. If you like your headphones to dig exceptionally deep and hit hard, the Hammo Wireless most likely won't be your cup of tea. I find their bass present enough for most genres, but if my listening sessions were mostly filled with rap and EDM, I'd look elsewhere.

It should be noted that they do get a bit bassier when combined with an external DAC. I tried connecting them to my FiiO X5 (connected to my PC via USB and used in DAC mode), as well as the Audiolab M-DAC, and in both of those cases, the bass response was slightly improved. It should be said, though, that you'll most likely be considering the Hammo Wireless with the intent to use it wirelessly, which means you'll be "stuck" with its own built-in DAC.