Surface Headphones Availability Starting In November
Last week in NYC, Microsoft announced the newest peripheral to the Surface family, Headphones. At that time, the company didn’t announce the availability date but this morning, the company revealed that they will start shipping in November.
If you are willing to pay $349, you can pre-order the headphones starting on November 15th, according to the Microsoft store, with the shipping date being only four days later on the 19th. Considering how close this date was announced after the official unveiling, I’m a bit curious why they didn’t share this information last week.
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In my very limited time with the headphones at the NYC event, they were quite comfortable on my head and the noise cancellation technology worked well too. What we don’t have a good sense of yet is if they get hot on your head during extended listening sessions and the audio quality as well.
Microsoft clearly is hoping to up-sell these headphones to anyone who has Surface hardware as they do match the line of PCs perfectly. But, with Bluetooth connectivity, they will work with any PC, Mac, or smartphone.
The premium audio space is crowded and with Microsoft entering the party a bit late, I’ll be curious to see how these headphones sell once they become available.
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Bats
<p>This headset is great for a Surface user, who wants to be seen using an expensive Surface Studio or Pro/Go/Laptop/Book. It has that "I am ALL IN with Microsoft look" and makes the user feel geeky. </p><p><br></p><p>These are the problems, that I have with these headphones:</p><p><br></p><p>1) Plain looking. When someone puts something on their body for a significant time period, that person wants to achieve a certain look. Of couse, this is a subjective feeling, but after looking at those headphones…..nah, not for me. As a working professional, I wouldn't be caught with those. I would rather be caught wearing overrated Bose, than that.</p><p><br></p><p>2) Expensive. In addition to #1 (above), it costs too much. See #3..</p><p><br></p><p>3) It's by Microsoft. For that price and With Microsoft's problem with Qaulity Assurance and Standards,….no, just no.</p><p><br></p><p>3a) It's by Microsoft. If this thing doesn't sell, Microsoft will abandon it. At the current asking price, I wouldn't dream of buying it. If Microsoft wants to get into the headphone business, they should've developed one for a selling price of $100. Start small and then go big.</p><p><br></p><p>To paraphrase Paul Thurrott, "Why $349 headphone? You're just Microsoft." I say this knowing that I am not going to buy these headphones, unlike Thurrott who said that for the Pixel, but he had plans to buy it.</p><p><br></p><p>Look, I am sure these headphones sound great. However, I don't need to spend $349 for that. Cortana built-in is a "nothing" feature that is meaningless. I believe Bose sells a headphone set that has the Google Assistant and I have heard nothing about it. It's not important. Moreso, with Cortana built-in because the virtual assistant is useless anyway.</p><p><br></p><p>For anyone wanting to buy these headphones, I would just wait till the price drops significantly. Perhaps down to $50 to $100, which then I would recommend to strike. For that price, people should just buy a premium audiophile real headphones.</p>