One more for the road

Sometimes we know the price of equipment coming in for review, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we check it before we start, so we can judge the product in its context, but occasionally we do much of our listening in the dark as to pricing, which gives us the fun of guessing. With Pioneer’s SE-MS9BN wireless noise-cancelling headphones (S9 for short, though not to be confused with the company’s popular DJM-S9 mixer) we’d used them for several days before we checked the price, and were surprised to find they are $279.95, significantly below the sweet-spot for wireless noise-cancellers, which has settled around $399-$499 (and, of course, up) — and that was where we had guessed the S9 would be priced.

So a potential bargain then. But where has Pioneer saved the money?

It doesn’t seem to have been on construction, as these are substantial and well-built headphones, using aluminium for the housings, a comfortable and deep leatherette for the earcups, and a wide and thick