These headphones are coming to put a beatdown on Beats

Despite emerging as a startup only a few short years ago, adaptive audio manufacturer Even says it’s ready to take on the likes of industry titans – including Beats headphones

The driving factor of Even’s emboldened status is its all-new H3 Headphones that it says might finally offer some worthy competition thanks to Even’s proprietary EarPrint technology that calibrates the headphones to your unique listening ability. 

Not only will the new H3 headphones feature the adaptive audio tech, but they’ll cost about half as much as Beats’ flagship headphones, the Studio3 Wireless, at $149.99 (around £100, AU$200). 

“We’ve launched our Don’t get beat by Beats campaign because enough is enough. Consumers deserve better than what they’re currently being told is high quality by companies spending millions on advertising over innovation to convince them of such,” says Danny Aronson, CEO and Co-founder of EVEN in a press release sent to TechRadar. 

“That’s why in addition to offering technology and quality unmatched by these competitors, we’ve also cut our pricing from the industry standard for premium headphones ($300+) by at least half to $149.99 because everyone deserves to have great quality and hear music the way it was intended,” Aronson says.

That price certainly makes the Even H3 a competitive pair of headphones - but is a lower price point and adaptive technology enough to usurp Beats? 

EarPrint? Adaptive audio?

The H3's ace in the hole here is EarPrint, a form of adaptive audio that measures your ability to hear tones in a certain frequency range (say, in the 15,000-16,000Hz area) and amplify areas where you've naturally lost your hearing. 

The result of all this processing is a clearer audio profile for your favorite songs where all areas of the audio spectrum are presented equally. 

Does that necessarily give the Even H3 a head-start on the Studio3 Wireless?

Maybe. Maybe not. Until we hear the two headphones side-by-side, we won't know which headphone reigns supreme. 

Nick Pino

Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.