I have been using Level U Pro headphones by Samsung for a while now and I am very happy with them. So, I thought why not share what I feel about them with you guys. Without deviating from the topic, let’s just get into this.
Table of Contents
The Design
Of course, every review needs to start with the thing that is noticed first and foremost, the physical design. The Level U has a neckband or collar design, which is signified by the “U” in its name, I guess. Anyways, the band is really rigid and made out of hard plastic that can be uncomfortable to wear if you are coming from some other style of headphones. The ear pieces or ear buds, whatever you want to call them, are connected to the frame through cables which are long enough to reach your ears and short enough to not be a bother. They also have in-built magnetic lock which keeps them from flapping on your chest when not being used. A physical feature I really appreciate.
While some may disagree with this but I find the neckband style to be very useful for sporting activities like working out in a gym or taking a run through the park. Maybe because I have a thin neck. And the U Pro takes it up a notch with its water and sweat resistance. It doesn’t have any official IP rating though.
In any case, they cannot be worn with a collar shirt. So, if your main purpose of buying these is to wear them between your office commute, I suggest you steer clear.
The Sound Quality
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, Samsung did not include noise cancellation in the Level U Pro. If noise cancellation matters to you, these headphones aren’t for you.
Apart from that, these were initially marketed with UHQA technology. Something, that shouldn’t interest a common consumer because whatever difference the UHQA makes in the sound output is far too unnoticeable. This doesn’t mean the sound quality isn’t good. In fact, the output u get on Level U Pro is one of the best in its respective price range. Songs with heavy bass and vocals are enjoyable enough and do not get flattened. I did find the treble to be harsh, though it was only limited to certain songs. The sharpness in treble was edged out enough to be downright uncomfortable. May be it was because of my equalizer settings or something but I felt the need to share this.
Considering the overall sound experience, the Level U Pro output isn’t anything extra ordinary but it isn’t also under delivering.
Call Quality and the Level App
Samsung also has a dedicated app out on Google’s Play Store for Level Up Pro called Level. The app is specific to Android platform only and offers multiple features that provides great control over the device.
My favorite features of the app are the battery level indicators and the equalizer settings. Other features include notification and call alert settings. You can easily enable or disable vibration alerts for calls, messages or other alerts.
Remember, I mentioned earlier that the headphones have magnetic locks. Well, those locks are also controlled through the app or rather activated through it. If a friend or someone you know also owns a pair of Level U Pro, you can share your playlist with that friend and person to listen at the same time using the app’s Sound Share.
As far as call quality goes, the neckband has two mics that support noise cancellation. Although I did not actually use the device to make calls myself, I did receive quite a few calls while I was wearing it.
I found the voice quality to be very crisp. I was able to clearly hear the other person, however, I did miss not having active noise cancellation in the loud environment of the gym. My friend on the other end of that call said that he could hear me clearly without any distortions or having my voice suppressed under the loud gym music. I guess that is thanks to the noise cancellation mics on the device.
Also, please make a note that the Level app is not available on Apple’s Store. So, if you own an iPhone, this pair of headphones may not be for you.
Battery and Connectivity
The Level U Pro is a modern device and offers Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity. It supports most of the modern devices, however, you may have a hard time using it with phones that are older than 2013. It does connect with older devices but frequent disconnections are very common and makes using them a painful experience. On the bright side, the Level U Pro can be paired with most smart watches so, you do not have to carry your phone when you are going for a run or to the gym.
As far as the battery goes, it’s capacity hasn’t been mentioned by Samsung but the company did say that the pair can last upto 9 hours of play or talk time and 300 hours of standby time. In my experience, while the numbers aren’t too exaggerated, they aren’t quite accurate either. I managed to get about 8 hours of playtime more or less in my usage. More or less because the time I got out of these headphones wasn’t constant but the difference wasn’t too huge from one session to the other.
Conclusion
On a closing note, I would simply say Samsung’s the Level U Pro isn’t for everyone mainly due to its neckband style. Nonetheless, if the design part is not a big issue, there are many things it offers that other competing brands don’t. At least not in the same price range, take the magnetic lock thing for instance. But as far as my personal opinion goes, after spending almost a month with them, I never leave home without ‘em.
