Panasonic RP-HTX90 review: stunning retro headphones with noise-canceling

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How old are these headphones? Don't Google it! Okay, you know whatggwrites mainly about new products, so

guessed it. This is a completely modern model in terms of its filling, although the appearance is very old school. Well, let's watch and listen.

What is it?

Panasonic RP-HTX90 are closed wirelessheadphones with a built-in microphone, active noise reduction and bass enhancement functions. They are positioned as “wireless headphones for the outdoors”, but it is not prohibited to use them at home, as well as in the office, transport and other places.

What are interesting?

Cool retro design. And because, despite their old-school appearance, the headphones are quite modern, functional and sound good. Although we will check this later.

What is in the box?

Two cables are included with the headphones.(microUSB and audio), as well as printed instructions. It’s a pity that such beauty was not packaged in a branded case, bag or other protective and transport accessory.

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microUSB cable short (50 cm), audio cableThe minijack on the minijack is longer, 120 cm, and it’s also gray, matching our version of the headphones. One of the audio cable connectors is rotated at an angle of 90 degrees, in some cases this is convenient when connecting to a smartphone or other equipment.

How do they look and handle?

The Panasonic RP-HTX90s look great.Of course, some like the futuristic design, others like the military style, and still others like fur ear pads and cat ears on top. Aesthetics are individual. But the comic epithet “warm tube” has already been attached to good sound, so sound equipment, the appearance of which refers to past decades, is perceived in a special way.

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A similar impression on me at one timeproduced the Skullcandy Aviator headphones (we have a review of them). If you break down the overall effect into its components, then the recipe will certainly include metal, matte plastic and leather (quietly, artificial) with neat stitching.

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This model comes in three color options: black blue and white, which is actually grey. We came across just such a white and gray specimen, and it looks very interesting.

The design consists of a headband with metalrunners on which the headphone cups ride, connected to the headband by fabric-braided wires. They drive, of course, for adjustment, and not just like that, and they drive smoothly and silently. Fixed well.

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There are quite a lot of control buttons and all of themcollected on the right “ear”. There is a slider switch for the active noise reduction (ANC) mode, a block of power and volume control buttons, and a separate button for turning on the bass boost mode. It is highlighted by a small protrusion, visible to the touch. There is also a power button, a microUSB connector and a microphone hole. On the left earphone there is only a hole for connecting an audio cable.

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The ACP switch is easy to recognize tactilely,In addition, as is often the case in headphones, it is equipped with an LED. The green color of the LED indicates that the ACP mode is on; the LED itself is small and does not look too provocative. There is also a second glowing indicator - this one indicates the status of the device. Flashes blue when bluetooth is working, blue-red in discovery mode, and lights red when charging.

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All buttons are plastic, pressed with a noticeableclick, small stroke. The impression is slightly spoiled by the play and the slightly uneven placement of the buttons caused by it. It would be possible to give the same attention to the buttons as to other little things.

How do they work?

Plugged it in and it worked.We hold down the power button, wait for the red-blue status LED to appear, and then select the device from the list of those available on your smartphone or computer. An alternative option is an audio cable, this is even simpler. Of course, when connected via an audio cable, the headphones work even with a discharged battery. But no charging means no active noise cancellation, you can’t do physics. When turned on, off and connected to a sound source, a female voice in English reports what is happening. Moreover, when turned off, the headphones report the state of the battery charge (for example, “Battery high”).

The abundance of control buttons does not allow confusionin them because of the successful layout. Although some skill is required. In the block of three buttons, the central one is responsible for answering an incoming call and play pause. The buttons on the sides of it control the volume, and holding them for two seconds allows you to skip to the previous or next track, respectively.

RP-HTX90 sits well on the head, does not tire,do not fall off, their mass is relatively small. The fit of the cups to the head is optimal in terms of strength, in order to simultaneously provide good sound insulation and not over-pressure. The filling of the ear pads is soft, but without a memory effect. If you press the headphones to your ears and then release them, there is no sensation of “vacuum”. Let's get back to work. First of all, we are interested in the active noise reduction mechanism. As usual, it slightly changes the character of the sound, primarily suppressing the low-frequency component of external noise. Listening to music in the subway and other noisy places becomes much more comfortable, especially if the music is calm and played at a low volume level. Human speech is muffled in a manner characteristic of ACP and becomes completely muted as the volume increases. In general, the implementation of ANC in the Panasonic RP-HTX90 can be classified as “delicate”, trying not to suppress the surrounding reality in a radical way. Moreover, the closed structure itself does half the work of eliminating noise.

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The headphones support multipoint technology,They can be connected to two devices at the same time. For example, now I’m writing this text while listening to music from my laptop on headphones, but the headphones are also connected to my smartphone. When I receive an incoming call, I can answer it without removing my headphones. The music on the laptop will be paused until the conversation is over. Although the quality of communication when talking in this mode may deteriorate. By the way, yes, we always say “headphones,” but the RP-HTX90 is also a full-fledged headset, and it also copes well with this task. Taking into account the presence of ACP, we can recommend this model to hipster call center operators sitting in vintage lofts. If there are such things.

What about autonomy?

One gets the impression that the 24-hourautonomy has become a kind of standard for wireless headphones. For obvious reasons, it is difficult to accurately change this parameter in real life, but it seems that the specifications do not lie and the RP-HTX90 can actually work for a day in playback mode. At the very least, they are easily enough for a week of work, subject to 2-3 hours of daily use. The instructions say that it takes four hours to fully charge, but it seems that in reality it happens even faster.

How do they sound?

The sound of the Panasonic RP-HTX90 is not great at first glanceHow does it differ from the sound of most analogues in this price range. The solution to the ambiguous situation with a lack or excess of low frequencies was approached here simply and elegantly - by introducing a separate hardware button to turn on or off additional bass. But it only works in bluetooth mode.

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Low frequencies this mode reallyadds, although I would not have complained about their lack without it. With a wired connection, the rather calm sound picture becomes noticeably brighter, more detailed and more emotional. There is even more bass, but the detail of the mids and especially high frequencies does not suffer. In general, a nice picture, but some may want to play with the equalizer to adjust the sound to their taste.

The bottom line

Panasonic RP-HTX90 - nice headphoneswith a retro flavour. It combines a simple and reliable design, unobtrusive active noise cancellation, good battery life and bright sound. However, at a price of about 4,000 hryvnia, they have many competitors offering modern chips of varying degrees of usefulness, from toy NFC to the more practically useful APT-X. At the same time, different manufacturers from time to time play with the old days and release headphones with a more or less nostalgic design. From the point of view of appearance, I immediately remembered the above-mentioned Skullcandy Aviator and the more severe Koss PRO/4AA, in addition, you can find something interesting in the lines of the Marshal, AKG and a number of others brands. But don’t forget that the RP-HTX90 is not just headphones, but a wireless headset with ANC; in this niche with a retro style, there’s not much to choose from.

3 reasons to buy a Panasonic RP-HTX90:

spectacular appearance in retro style;
bright sound with the ability to enhance low frequencies;
high-quality noise insulation and active noise reduction.

2 reasons not to buy Panasonic RP-HTX90:

delivery without a cover or case included;
lack of APT-X codec, USB-C and NFC interfaces.

Specifications of the Panasonic RP-HTX90 Headphone

Type of
Closed, wireless, with ACP

Radius of action
Up to 10 meters

Range
20 Hz – 20 kHz

Resistance
35 Ohm

Driver diameter
40 mm

Sensitivity
91 dB/mW

Bluetooth
4.2

Profile Support
A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP

Play / Talk Time
up to 24 hours

Interfaces
Micro USB (5 V DC), audio-in 3.5 mm

Weight
208 g