House of Marley Liberate XL Review: Treble Trouble

House of Marley products recently hit the Indian market, and going by their wacky designs - in homage to popular Rastafarian Bob Marley - it looks as though they are squarely aimed at hipsters. Just like Skullcandy captured the attention of the youth with its offbeat designs, House of Marley is bound to gain traction.

We have with us a mid-range pair of headphones, the Liberate XL, which features an over-the-ear design, two 50mm internal drivers, and of course the trademark Rastafarian design sensibility.

Design and specifications
The Liberate XL headphones have an eye-catching design that could best be described as 'earthy'. The headphones are made of multiple materials: FCC-certified wooden panel inserts on the earcups, some plastic surrounding this panel, a stainless steel band, and House of Marley's signature Rewind fabric. The headphones are available in two colour options: Midnight (Black) and Saddle (Grey).

The 3.5mm audio cable is insulated with a colourful fabric and is detachable. It has a 2.5mm jack on the end that fits into the right earcup. There are inline controls for play/pause and volume as well, and they worked fine with both iOS and Android devices. House of Marley claims that the cable is tangle-free. The headphones are collapsible and fit snugly in the included carry bag (also made of Rewind fabric).

In our time with the Liberate XL, the silver coating on the plastic inserts started coming off, which doesn't speak well for the quality of the product. When folded, the exposed hinge of the stainless steel band is extremely sharp. It is quite possible to get a cut from these edges. The earpad cushions are covered in a faux-leather material and are not as soft as the ones on the Sony MDR-XB250.

The headphones are made up of two large 50mm drivers which operate in the frequency range of 20Hz to 20KHz and have an impedance of 32 ohms. All these numbers are standard for this class of headphones, and therefore unsurprising.

Performance
We used the headphones for hours each day through the duration of the review period, and noticed that they clamp on pretty tight. They aren't as bad as the JBL Synchros E40BT we reviewed a while ago, but still aren't very comfortable over long periods of listening.

Considering the fit, we expected the Liberate XL to sound dark, but surprisingly enough the sound was quite roomy and sound staging was pretty decent too. The stereo separation wasn't that good, though, and for some reason we felt that the right channel sounded a tad louder than the left. The passive noise cancellation is pretty good, and cranking up the volume even a little above 50 percent drowns a lot of the ambient sounds.

We fired up Metallica's Nothing Else Matters and noticed that Lars Ulrich's percussion sounded really good and vocals were crystal clear as well. The sub-bass sounds in Jai Paul's BTSTU were smooth as well. The bass was adequately punchy without getting too boomy, which is what we like. We noticed that there was something off with the quality of sound when we fired up Kieza's Hideaway, typical of current dance-pop hits. The treble sounded distant and didn't mesh wellwith the other frequencies. Considering all this, we consider the Liberate XL best suited to genres such as rock and EDM.

We watched an action movie using these headphones and noticed that the problem with stereo separation prevented us from pinpointing the locations of some sounds, which we could do well with Audio-Technica headphones in the same price range. Nonetheless, the sound was good enough to transport us into the thick of the action.

Verdict
The official price of the House of Marley Liberate XL is Rs. 9,990 but it is already available for much cheaper on Amazon.in, the company's official retail partner. The Audio-Technica ATHM50 is also available at this price point (and there is an upgraded ATHM50x now), which makes it very tough to recommend anything else.

That is not to say that the Liberate XL is a bad pair of headphones. We would be happy with it for times when we're in the mood for some heavy duty Metallica, Iron Maiden and System of a Down. If sound quality isn't your only criterion, the swag oozing from the Liberate XL's striking exterior definitely doesn't hurt.

Price: Rs. 9,990

Pros

• Gorgeous design
  
• Good bass
  
• Great mids
  

Cons

• Colour on the plastic scrapes easily
• Treble doesn't sound too good
  

Ratings (Out of 5)

• Design: 4.5
  
• Performance: 3.5
  
• Value For money: 3
  
• Overall: 3.5