Author: Sword of Damocles
I was supposed to write for April Fool's Day about the world's best headphones, which of course wouldn't have actually seen it. For this, I had to choose the silliest and worst-looking headphone model possible from the selection of Chinese online stores. I thought I had found one after buying the Moe Force Attack High Value Pet Earphones model (the real name was eventually Pet Headset MS-B4) for about 20 euros including postage and taxes. Unfortunately, however, the headphones turned out to be so good that the story wouldn't have been very funny or spirited. On the other hand, I'm not going to write a sensible review of the headphones either, so I'll use April Fool's Day for a slightly lighter story like this.
Pets + RGB = Profit
Headphones are a diverse product category in terms of appearance, as especially inexpensive Chinese products are sought to be sold with the most peculiar looks. The Pet Headset MS-B4 has several different names depending on the Alixpress seller, but the biggest specialty of the headphones is the pet figure inside the cups (available with different figures) and the automatically changing RGB lighting illuminating it. The headphones can be listened to via Bluetooth, so they actually offer quite a lot of value for their affordable price. I specifically wanted a grimacing cat figure, so with other color options, such as pink, being out of stock, I chose beige headphones – the color seems to be fashionable nowadays, so why not.
As expected, the headphones are made of cheap plastic, but this keeps the weight at 215 grams. As an impressive feature, the soft surface of the cups feels higher quality than Sony's WH-1000XM5headphones' (RRP 500 € !!) recycled plastic. The cups of the Pet Headset MS-B4 can be folded both horizontally and inwards, which could make them easier to carry. I expected the headphones to fit only children, but to my surprise, the headband adjustment range is easily sufficient for myself as well. The wearing comfort is also surprisingly good, even though the cups lack vertical movement.
The grimacing cats placed behind the plexiglass inevitably bring a smile, especially with the RGB lighting – you never have to listen to the headphones alone, because I can feel the presence of the cats. The driver frame is made of transparent plastic, so the RGB lighting is also visible inside the ear pads. Perhaps this will provide some kind of light therapy for the ears during the dark season? The ear pads are shallow, but still over-ear style for users with smaller ears. The pads could also be removed, but reattaching them would seem to be a journey of agony.
The physical buttons on the headphones are not the worst I've used; rather, their press feel places them in the better middle tier. In addition to the usual buttons controlling the Bluetooth connection, the headphones have a dedicated button for turning off the RGB lighting. The language of the notification voice can also be switched between English and Chinese by pressing a button. To achieve the most authentic user experience, I always use the headphones with RGB lighting and listen to very poorly recorded Chinese.
The Pet Headset MS-B4 supports Bluetooth version 5.1, and its small 400 mAh battery lasts about 8 hours with RGB on and 20 hours with the lights off. The Bluetooth codec list is short, as only SBC and AAC are supported. On the other hand, the Bose priced at 350 euros QuietComfort SE supports the same codecs. At least the noise-cancelling function is missing from the pet headphones, but somewhat surprisingly, the charging connector is USB-C. The headphones also have an ”HD microphone” for making calls. The crackling voice of the Chinese speaker may very well have been recorded with the same microphone.
Does RGB also make the sound better?
Now that day has also come when, trying new headphones for the first time, I was disappointed that they sound good. Chinese manufacturers can sometimes surprise, especially when the frequency response of headphones doesn't really cost anything; it can be good or bad purely by chance. The Pet Headset MS-B4 happens to be a rather good headphone for its price, which naturally shattered my hopes for a terrible product.
Whether the reason is the RGB lighting that makes everything better or the purring cats in the cups, the Pet Headset MS-B4 is a fun combination of rich bass and a spacious soundstage. The hard-hitting bass is bloated, boomy, and soft in its upper frequencies, but a decent energy level in the upper mid-frequencies compensates for the situation very well. The vocalist and instrument details do not get buried under the thundering bass; instead, the sound is clear and, above all, interesting to listen to.
The spacious soundstage is a result of a Hifiman-style dip between 1–2 kHz and a partially missing presence region, which prevents the reproduction from coming particularly close despite its clarity. The headphones have a good amount of treble between 7–9 kHz, so the sound also has the desired energy. The very top treble, however, is lacking, remaining dark and overly calm. Nevertheless, the headphones are pleasantly relaxed to listen to without feeling like I'm missing out on anything essential. If I didn't look at myself in the mirror, I wouldn't guess I was listening to about 20-euro Bluetooth headphones, which are probably aimed at children. Despite their cute appearance, the Pet Headset MS-B4 is a really fun and rich headphone for heavy metal music and all other heavier genres. As I was writing this, the Aggretsuko Netflix series immediately came to mind.
I still find it most amusing that many expensive and popular noise-cancelling headphones sound more uneven in their frequency response and more subdued in their mid-frequencies, even though, in my opinion, they aim for a similar consumer-friendly presentation as these pet headphones. Perhaps other headphones should also have RGB lighting or at least some kind of LEDs, like the excellent-sounding Focal Bathys.. In my opinion, based on these two headphone models, the causality between lighting and good sound quality is undeniable. If RGB makes a computer more powerful, why wouldn't it also improve the sound in headphones?
Summary
The Pet Headset MS-B4 naturally turned out to be a big disappointment, because in my opinion, headphones shouldn't be cheap, cute, and good all at the same time. I would still like to see pet headphones sold in Finnish local supermarkets for, say, 15 euros, so that in addition to cheap and boring JBLs, we would see glowing animal characters in RGB lighting and people walking by with a smile on their face. The sight would be refreshing, especially on dark winter evenings.
More seriously, in my opinion, the biggest drawback of the headphones is that it's not possible to limit the volume. If it were possible, the Pet Headset MS-B4 would be an excellent purchase, especially for the youngest members of the family. Of course, a bearded enthusiast like myself also enjoys the headphones – believe it whoever wants to. My goal was to write an even more imaginative story, but at least I got some variety in my life.
Pros and cons:
+ RGB
+ RGB
+ RGB
– Sounds annoyingly good, thus ruining the original April Fool's joke plan
EN 
FI