Ferrari by Logic 3T350 Cavallino Collection Noise–Canceling Headphones

The closest I’ll ever get to having something in common with Justin Bieber (you know… owning a Ferrari!!)

So I’m paging through one of those $20-an-issue British HiFi magazines that comes out like once a year while simultaneouslyenjoying a six dollar latte and a seven dollar elderberry/St. Germaine biscotti at some hipster coffee shop south of 14^th street in Manhattan, when I happened upon one of the downright sexiest things I’ve seen in years.   No, not Alec Baldwin making doe eyes at a paparazzo, but a beautiful pair of cans – tan leather and stainless steel with a little silver horsey on either side of them.  And hullooo what’s this? That’s not just any little horsey, it’s a Ferrari symbol!  Could these be Ferrari headphones!!?  That’d be like Rolex boxing gloves, or an Armani motorcycle, or Porsche sunglasses! (Wait- they actually have that last thing).

In any case, the picture of the $399.00a pair Ferrari by Logic3 T350 Cavallino headphones moved me to fire off an immediate email (okay I finished my latte first. It was six bucks!) to the head meower in charge of such unicorns and rainbows, requesting – nay – demanding, a pair to review.  They said,“Fine.”

That was easy.
 

Gentleman, start your… err… headphones?

The T350 Cavallino was not quite as aesthetically orgasmic in person- if only ‘cause the review pair wasn’t clad in the come-hither-and-let-me-stroke-your-moustache Magnum PI tan leather I saw in the picture.  Rather, they were clad in a beautifulbut un-mustachioed black leather.  Beautiful, but not tan.  No matter.  They still came ensconced in an ultra-cool carbon fiber-esque padded case and they still came with some legit looking Ferrari-type paperwork.  There were two little horseys, one on each side, and another was affixed to a plastic twist-off battery cover (takes two triple A’s), as the T350 is a noise-cancelling headphone which requires battery power to cancel noise.  Unlike with certain noise-cancelling headphones, the T350’s noise-cancelling circuit cannot be defeated in the interest of say, sound quality.  But a lot of noise-cancelling phones default to cancel, like the (in)famous Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones my girlfriend escapes from me on planes with periodically. 

Yes, this feature is always on when you are listening to music and a tiny little blue horsey-adjacent LED indicates you have switched the tiny little headphone on/off switch to “on.”   The T350 Cavallino is hefty, though not overly so, and the ear pads and headband padding are supple and very comfortable over long listening sessions.  The headband adjusts easily as well by way of the usual click detents and stays the size you adjust it to.

In practice, I found the noise-cancelling circuitry to be quite effective, eliminating a good deal of the ambient room noise, including air conditioners, outside traffic noises and my former next door neighbors – who by the way really really need to seek out a solidly credentialed couples’ therapist sooner rather than later.

I should mention the T350 Cavallino also comes with several interchangeable spaghetti-flexible headphone cables (known as anti-tangle), which are equipped with microphones and volume controls apropos of Android devices and iPhones alike.  I should mention now that my girlfriend was able to follow a conversation I recently had with a good friend word for word whilst I was using said headphones with said headphone cables/microphones attached to said iPhone from like five feet away.  They are very definitely not conversation cancelling. You have been warned.  

So all in all, things were looking very good so far; very good indeed. But I was circumspect.  See, anyone can buy the rights to a little horsey and anyone can affix said little horsey to their product of choice, but that doesn’t mean your product necessarily lives up to the little horsey. Yeah, it doesn’t mean your product is little horsey worthy.

Not my first rodeo

I’m happy to report the little horsey’s reputation is unsullied by the T350. It’s not necessarily enhanced either, but definitely unsullied.  First of all, lets be honest here, most pairs of T350s aren’t gonna see the business end of a $5,000 top flight headphone amp and $900 external DAC.  They’re much more likely to see the business end of an iPhone or iPod while grinding out the morning commute atop some computer coders noggin on his way (Yes, his way. Girls won’t buy these) to a tenuous job at a midtown start-up.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But all little horseys aside, noise-canceling products like the T350 which include volume control/microphone capability were likely not designed to be all out assaults in the fight for air dominance against the Sennheiser HD 800s and Audeze LCD-3s of this world.

But I’ll tell ya something, I quickly stopped caring what exactly they were designed for and even paid less attention to the little horsey(s) once I started listening to them.  The T350 Cavallinos are fun; just good unfussy fun.  They are easy to drive (yes, pun intended) and have a big sweeping sound with solid, albeit less than subterranean bass and an expansive soundstage as well as clean, slightly rolled off highs. The mid bass has a bit of a bump maybe- but just a bit- and this may contribute to the solidity of the sound.  The low bass is not the tightest nut in the shed, but it’s reasonably tuneful and doesn’t get in the way of the music. They also have great impact when the music calls for it.

They are less articulate and detailed than my Audio Technicas; the ATH-A900x and 900 (neither of which are little horsey approved) and have a bit smaller stage, less detail than either of these phones as well.  They have a slightly less expressive midrange than my similarly horsey-less Sennheiser HD-600s and not quite the staging, but I would say the T350s are just about as much fun to listen to as any of them; maybe funner on fun music than my HD600s, which are known to be a tad bit on the sedate side. No, I’m not above using words like “funner” when something is indeed fun or funner.  They are almost equally as fun as the Audio Technica gang..

The T350’s are pacey and musical ‘phones and their shortcomings (i.e. a bit of muddiness in the upper and lower bass, and a bit of roll off on top) don’t really mar their musicality. By this I mean, when you first play “adult” music through them, like The Very Best of Franco Corelli  [EMI Classics], you initially notice the slight reduction of treble detail and bass taughtness coming from say, the ATH-ad900x, but you end up not caring all that much because you are enjoying yourself.  Franco’s voice is Franco’s voice over the T350s and it has all its attendant ring and glory intact. Maybe that’s cause the man himself fancied cars with little horseys on them.  Who knows?

Now this would not be the case (for me) if I were listening to say, Beats headphones- any model of Beats- because the bassiness and the boominess and the tonal weirdness of mass-market gear like that always trumps and tramples on the musical message in my music.  I could make this statement about any number of “high-end”mass-market headphones though, so nothing against Beats per se. 

(Okay, so maybe Dr. Dre won’t “like” me on Facebook now.  I’ll deal.  The man isn’t even a real doctor – I heard it’s honorary).

The (little) Horse Whisperer

Now, Ijust had to put ‘em up against the Bose -more specifically, my girlfriend’s several-years-old Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones, I just had to.  C’mon- they’re noise-cancelling rivals!  And when I did, I found the Bose to offer superior noise-cancelation and perhaps more detail. They were surprisingly enjoyable to listen to actually, and even more comfortable, as they are lighter in weight. They don’t quite offer the sweep and punch of the T350 and sounded on the whole a bit thinner and, by extension, a bit less fun.

By the way, in terms of the seemingly forgotten,“don’t disturb others around you factor,” which seems to be a non-factor for many an entitled Millenial chronically in the vicinity of my general personhood, the completely closed Bose headphones leak less sound, though the T350’s do extremely well in this regard, especially given their comparatively semi-open nature.  I was surprised at the degree to which they are able not to leak sound actually, especially given the high leakage/disturbance factor with phone calls. Note to Millenials: phone calls are what you did back in the day before texting and hashtags. (See?  I’m hip.  I’m cool. I read all about your technologies on the interwebs).

In sum, the Bose are more a BMW sports car by way of comparison – more polite and more concerned with passenger comfort than giving you a roaring hair-shirt joyride.  But maybe I think of the Bose more that way because they are BMW silver in color, as well as quiet, high performance and compact; definitely more of a Bavarian Motor Verks feel. 

In any case, especially a pseudo carbon-fibery one, the T350 Cavallino is a fun, fast, comfortable, sexy ride on the increasingly crowded ‘high-mid-priced’ headphone highway and definitely not just some sensual novelty. 

As a matter of fact, I almost thought about keeping them except the rep wouldn’t let me (something to do with my “character” and not seeing me as “representative of the proper breeding for the brand,” I think. Curse those Kardashian sisters!  They get all the cool endorsements.  Ah well.  Whadyagonna do? 

I bid you (noise-cancelled) peace.

Price:  399.00

Address:

UK Head Office

Ferrari by Logic3

Logic3
Rhodes Way
Watford
WD24 4YW

Telephone: +44 (0)1923 471 010

Website:  www.ferrari-by-logic3.com