INTRODUCTION

   I may not have the time to listen to music using headphones as much as i once used to but I’m always open to testing new headphone models, if anything just to have an idea of what's available in the market. Unfortunately, the fact that i don't have much time to listen to music (and thus test headphones) combined with my testing methodology which usually takes at least a full month to complete means i can't get my hands on everything out there and so i always aim at top-tier models but not by the most popular manufacturers (too many of my colleagues testing those out after all). One such model is no other than the ov21 by the guys over at thinksound and well that's what I’ve been testing for quite a while.

   thinksound began in 2009 with one mission: help people hear music the way it's meant to be heard. Founder and industry-leading audio engineer, Aaron Fournier, dedicated himself to creating audio products that truly respect the art and craft of music professionals. He wanted every thinksound product to sound amazing, look good, feel comfortable, be priced fairly and produced responsibly. Not a lot has changed since then. We're still relentless about achieving our mission and you can still count on us to develop new and better ways to bring our signature sound to your ears. "Good enough" just doesn't cut it for us and, honestly, it shouldn't for you either. So the next time you're shopping for personal or home audio, start with the sound.

   For the ov21 thinksound used two 45mm dynamic drivers which deliver a rather impressive frequency response of 5Hz-22KHz with 99dB sensitivity and 50Ohm impedance. For optimal durability the frame of the ov21 is made almost entirely out of solid aluminum whereas most of the exterior is made out of TREVA USDA certified biobased polymer/plastic (made in turn out of sustainable wood pulp) which always according to thinksound it reduces resonance distortion and improves acoustic performance. The exterior of the earcups on the other hand is made out of real sustainable pieces of walnut and as for the earpads they are both dressed with leatherette and feature rich memory foam padding which again according to thinksound results in optimal passive noise isolation. Thinksound also bundles the ov21 with two 1.5 meter long nylon braided tangle resistant cables (one features an in-line microphone with button and is compatible with Android and iOS smartphones) featuring gold plated 3.5mm plugs and a storage pouch.

SPEFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The white and blue box which Thinksound uses to ship the ov21 has their logo and a large product picture at the front.

Both sides of the box have the product features and specifications printed on them (English/French).

3 product pictures and a few words about Thinksound in both English and French are placed at the rear of the box.

The entire bundled is wrapped inside what seems to be recyclable paper.

Along with the ov21 and the two 1.5 meter long nylon braided cables inside the box you'll also find an 1/4" adapter, warranty information paper and a thank you note.

THE OV21

As mentioned earlier the ov21 is made out of aluminum (frame), TREVA USDA certified polymer (plastic), walnut (earcup exterior) and leatherette.

In terms of size the thinksound ov21 is a medium sized model.

The pieces of walnut attached on the exterior of the earcups is something i really liked (still i expect some people to feel the exact opposite).

As expected, the 3.5mm port is located at the base of the left earcup.

Left and right markings are printed on the interior of the headband just over the earpads.

Air ports are located at the top of both earcups as seen above.

The medium sized memory foam padded earpads are dressed with leatherrete and are very easy to remove and replace.

Even though the headpad is probably not filled with memory foam it's very comfortable and has the company logo on the exterior side.

The headband can extend up to 34mm on each side via 9 increments (7 of those are visible from the interior).

Both detachable nylon braided cables feature gold plated 3.5mm plugs.

CONCLUSION

   Emptying and re-organizing my 3 storage areas twice since last year (and once in 2021) ended up complicating things quite a bit for me and so the ov21 is yet another one of those products that ended up in the wrong pile afterwards (two storage areas are for products from finished reviews and the third one for products which have yet to be reviewed). This basically means that the ov21 review should had been up many months ago and so thinksound is yet another company i need to apologise to for this mix-up (hopefully they won't hold this against me). With that out of the way the ov21 pretty much scored very high in all my tests, not only when used with both the M15 and M11S music players by FiiO but also when plugged with my smartphones and even the Creative SoundBlaster AE-9. Starting with bass levels this may not be a model aimed at consumers who want lots of it but it does a good overall job regardless of what genre you throw at it (mostly heavy metal and classic music in my case). Detail in mids is also very good, yes, the ov21 may sound somewhat neutral at times but overall i really didn't have an issue again no matter what genre i listened to. Moving to highs detail here was slightly less than what i was expecting at first but unlike mids and bass this time over performance largely depends on what genre you're listening to and so if you're listening to tracks which are not bass rich then highs actually sound very good. In general, i must have listened to at least 200 audio tracks from the 80's and the 90's with the both the M15 and the M11S (uncompressed FLAC/MQA) and my overall rating for the ov21 is very good. As for comfort levels thanks to its memory foam padded earpads the ov21 is actually very comfortable even after 2-3 hours of use (because of their passive noise isolation however sometimes they do tend to get hot).

   Much like with most other products in the electronics market price is what defines things in the end and with a price tag set at USD384.95 inside the USA (thinksound.com) and at 451.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the ov21 is certainly aimed at audiophiles who are always willing to spend more compared to regular consumers. That being said however even though thinksound has made some impressive models over the years the ov21 is certain to seem as too expensive for some people and honestly that can't be helped (thinksound is not extremely popular after all). Having used and reviewed more than 300 headsets, headphones and earphones over the years i can honestly say that the on21 will not disappoint audiophiles looking for new headphones upwards to USD500/500Euros and for that it certainly deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Near Excellent Build Quality (Aluminum/TREVA Polymer/Walnut)
- Accurate & Detailed Mids/Highs
- Bass Levels
- Passive Noise Isolation
- Very Comfortable
- Detachable Nylon Braided Cables
- Gold Plated Connectors
- Sustainable Product (For Some)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- EU Availability