Vlad Savov
So who the hell is Status Audio? Well, it’s a US company playing the same game that many Chinese outfits have found profitable: selling direct to the consumer and thus cutting marketing and distribution costs to a minimum. It’s a company whose founder is also its chief marketing officer, and whose motto is “no logos, no celebrities, just sound.” True to its ideals, Status sells headphones that look perfectly anonymous.
The CB-1s resemble a de-badged pair of Audio-Technica M50s, which is appropriate because that’s the ultra popular pair of cans that they’re competing most directly against. Both are closed-back, over-ear headphones that fold down into a more compact shape for easy transportation. Both lay claim to producing studio-quality sound at a budget price, and both achieve their low cost by using lightweight, but hardy, plastics in place of fancier metals and materials.
But there are major differences between them too, starting with the price, which at $140 for the current M50x model from Audio-Technica is almost double that of the CB-1s. The other thing is that Status Audio’s sound is much friendlier to the ear, lacking the strident highs of the M50s and delivering a tighter, more satisfying bass. For my tastes, and for anyone with a fixed budget, the CB-1s are simply a much better choice, retaining the M50s’ ruggedness, comfort, and practicality while improving on their sound and cost. And let’s be honest: unbranded gadgets are just inherently cooler.
Vlad Savov
Looking around the CB-1s isn’t exactly a safari into exotic materials. The ear pads look like they’re made out of leather, but are synthetic. There’s a breathable strip of similar material covering the padding on the underside of the headband — this too would be handcrafted leather on more expensive headphones, but there’s no room for such indulgences on these headphones to deliver “just sound.” The CB-1s’ construction isn’t the most impressive in the world, but that doesn’t get in the way of using them all. The headphones flex open and closed with ease, each cup pivots and rotates smoothly, and the upside to using cheaper materials is that the headphones as a whole are extremely light.
Vlad Savov
To be fair, once you actually pop these on your head and the ultra soft ear pads engulf your ears, you’ll wonder why others bother with leather at all. These CB-1s are extremely comfortable, and we can thank their first users for that. Status Audio tells me that the pad design was updated this summer in response to user feedback.