At R4,000, you're not buying a perfect set of headphones. But Noise's Master Buds Max (the name is so, so wrong...) have quality where it counts. The build is thoughtful and sturdy, the audio is better than you're expecting, and tuning options via the app clear up any limited issues you might have with the standard tuning. A shade more effort from the outset would have helped (even if Bose apparently did the work there), but you're getting your money's worth here.
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Sound
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Design
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Battery
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Features
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Value
Noise traipsed into our offices one morning with its Master Buds Max over-ear headphones. Immediately, the naming convention got on our nerves. Anyone with eyes can see that these are over-ear headphones. Buds are… well, buds. Smaller, lighter, easier to squish underfoot if one falls out. These… are not buds.
That was an uncharitable read of the headphones inside the box, even after we noted the ‘Sound by Bose’ on the branding. If they can’t name their products properly, surely the audio won’t measure up. Right? Turns out, we were just judging these headphones by their packaging. Most of our concerns were put to bed immediately after turning them on, setting them up, and hitting play. But the name is still wrong.
Getting the sack
The Master Buds Max arrive in a premium-looking (and feeling) box. It’s large enough to contain a hardshell case, but you’re not getting one. Instead, the ‘phones arrive with a sturdy charge cable (USB-C to C) and a soft suede carrying bag. It’s premium-feeling, but provides no crush protection at all. The headphones themselves do seem like they’d stand some abuse, though.
The design is similar to any number of premium over-ears. Quality exceeds that of the Sony ULT Wear overs we tested some time back, lying closer to that (and other) company’s premium lineups. You know the drill: padded plastic headband, soft cups with generous spacing, and plenty of folding flexibility that lets the earcups tuck away under the headband.
The textured outer faces look like they could hide touch controls. Sadly, everything is relegated to physical buttons on the right ear cup. These work well enough, and there’s no messing around with a poorly configured touch interface. But everything else looks premium enough that we were expecting touch controls.
Plastic is a large part of the build. The hinges snap around firmly when the Master Buds Max are folded, but we worry that long-term use will weaken the friction facilitating this. Cup rotation feels solid. The casing looks the part as well, but Noise’s materials are just a step below premium. They should last, but we have doubts about extreme long-term use.
Bose knows
As far as we can make out, Bose is involved in Noise’s headphones from an audio tuning perspective. It shows on the first presentation, where Noise’s headphones impressed us. We expected average performance. What we got slotted somewhere onto a higher shelf. The upper and midrange in particular are bright, revealing more detail than we were expecting from a R4,000 unknown quantity. The lower end was the only problem, and even that was minor. We were missing just a shade more aggressiveness from the bass range that wasn’t present.
The sound stage isn’t exceptionally broad, but it is wide enough to get outside your head. Pop on Blind Guardian’s cover of Uriah Heep’s The Wizard, and you might as well be sitting next to vocalist Hansi Kürsch. Pick something considerably messier — Cradle of Filth’s Born in a Burial Gown — and the low-end missing from the original mix is immediately obvious. But you’ll also notice the various layers standing out from each other, distinct as long as you’re listening for them.
Pop on Nuclear Power Trio’s Critical Bass Theory, and you’ll note the bass-led instrumental trying to break through. It’s overpowered by the other registers when it should be thumping along. Just a bit. Of course, this can all be cleaned up in post, via Noise’s app, but if you’re hoping for a fiddle-free experience, you obviously didn’t look at the price tag.
Problems? What problems?
This is usually where we’d layer negatives that don’t fit into other sections, but there don’t seem to be many. Noise’s Master Buds Max promise 60 hours of uptime on a charge, and that’s about what we got. When we started turning them off at the end of the day, that is. Noise cancellation is effective without being noteworthy. There’s no omnipresent hiss when adaptive ANC is active. Standard ANC exhibits noticeable catch-up to outside noise if you’re wearing the Master Buds Max without music. The hear-through mode is similarly… there. At least you’ll be uninterrupted at your tasks.
The minor flaws are explained by the price tag, of course, and none of them is worth discarding Noise’s over-ears as a viable option for your new listening buddy. The audio quality alone is worth checking these out. Most everything else can be tweaked via the app. But you’ll have to learn a few new habits when it comes to packing them away. At least the headphones recharge quickly enough if you leave them on over the weekend.
Noise Master Buds Max verdict
At R4,000-ish for a pair of these over-ears, they make an attractive package. The Master Buds Max have a premium build and audio quality in their favour, even if they’re trading a little heavily on the ‘Sound by Bose’ angle. Sound is excellent, though it lacks just a little kick at the lower end. The other features are at least as good as those of other cans at this price point, with noise-cancelling edging out competitors.
The physical controls are workable, and battery life is adequate. There are still a few rough edges to sand off, though. Head detection and automatic shutoff don’t always work as intended, to the point where we had them playing music inside their little transportation sack. From a closed MacBook, no less. Still, twist the earcups as you set them down, and you’ll avoid this. Shutting them down before stowing them also helps. It’s honestly a small hurdle for excellent audio from Noise. Even if we can’t quite figure out what the marketing team was thinking when they named these. They’re not buds. They’ll never be buds. Ah, forget it.
