[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
On-ear headphones are all the rage right now on the streets, and in this particular niche of the market, style and usefulness are even more important than actual audio performance. And style and usefulness are really the strong points about the Fly, which marks Gigabyte’s entry on the audio scene. It’s extremely light (only 2.7 oz or 79 g), plus it features a thin retractable headband and two 40-mm drives that are responsible for a deep bass response. We’ll start by describing the product and then we’ll see how it fared during the test.
Figure 1: Fly Headphone
The design catches the eye: the headband has no padding, and it is just a thin metal brace 0.2 inch (5 mm) wide. The headband is adjustable and it seems to disappear inside the earcups.
Figure 2: Thin headband
The earcups have a small decorative blue stripe on the middle and small round markings (also in blue) near the cable to indicate the left and right cup. A blue ring links each driver unit to its padded earcup.
Figure 3: Earcups’ blue details
Figure 4: Padded earcup interior
To maintain the visual signature, the cable is also blue and comes with a velcro strap to help organize it. The L-shaped connector is very resistent and ends in a gold-plated 3.5 mm plug.
[nextpage title=”Main Characteristics”]
The Fly is a headphone, and not a headset; therefore there’s neither an inline microphone to make phonecalls, nor buttons to skip and pause tracks. It is made for listening to music on cellphones, iPods, and those cheap knock-off players from China.
Figure 5: Cable, strap, and plug
The headphone has two on-ear 40-mm drives that isolate the exterior sound. The drives are perfect for listening to bass-heavy music, which we will talk more about in our evaluation.
Figure 6: Fly on the head
The futuristic metallic design was clearly conceived to match the most famous smartphones on the market, without being made to look like any model in particular.
[nextpage title=”Testing the Fly”]
Despite not being bendable, which makes it a little awkward to store in handbags and backpacks, the idea behind the Fly is to be light and easily carried. For listening to music during long hours of walking or while in a public transport trip, the Fly doesn’t even seem to be on the head. After several subway trips and errands throughout the city, the headphone was so light that the impression was that the music was playing inside our head.
As for the performance, the Fly is ideal for fans of bass-heavy music like techno, house, and hip-hop. The sound is bigger than the appearance. The midtones, however, are more anemic and somewhat muted. We listened to soundtracks rich in tones and melodies, like Man of Steel (composed by Hans Zimmer) and Game of Thrones (by Ramin Djawadi), and the result was a little flat. It can be helped with a music app that features equalization to boost the midtones. However, once we tuned to Digitally Imported, an online radio specializing in electronic music, the sound was vibrant and ear-shaking.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the Gigabyte Fly headphone include:
- Stereo analog headphone
- Connector: 3.5 mm
- Drivers: 40 mm
- Frequency response: 15 Hz – 20 kHz
- Impedance: 16 Ω
- Dynamic range: 112 dB
- Weight: 2.7 oz (79 g)
- Cable: 3.9 ft (1.2 m)
- More information: https://www.gigabyte.us/
- Average price in the U.S.*: USD 49.99
* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The Fly is ideal for listening to music in a casual way, preferably dance music, because the product is bass-oriented. Music with rich midtones and vocals will lose some definition. The headphone is made for long walks and trips where comfort is key. A tip for those without much hair: since the headband is not padded, it may get uncomfortable. The light-weight design goes against the trend of huge on-ear headphones. The velcro strap should be a mandatory item on all headphones and headsets.
Strong Points
- Light-weight body
- Deep bass for its size
- Made for listening to dance music
- Stylish design
- Velcro strap
Weak Points
- Flat midtones
- Doesn’t bend
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