Phiaton BT 460 Review: Wireless Headphones with Amazing Touch Controls

I’m not an audiophile, so keep that in mind here, but I do spend a good amount of time editing audio in my professional life, and I do appreciate quality audio. I’m not a snob, and my regular headphones are AirPods which most would agree sound more “fine” than “amazing.” But there are times when I want something that sounds better than my wonderful little AirPods, and the BT 460’s do an excellent job filling that role.

The BT 460’s have a very clean quality to the audio that’s apparent the moment you start using them. They seem to have a relatively flat balance to the sound, with a little emphasis on the bass. These aren’t as aggressive as early Beats headphones, but they have enough “oomph” to make most modern music sound great.

A part of me wishes Phiaton had an app for iOS and Android that let you set different equalizer settings based on your preferences, but sadly this is not available.

One part of these over-the-ear headphones that helps quite a bit with the sound quality is their noise isolation. These are not noise-cancelling headphones, but they do a great job of blocking out the outside world anyway. Even at lower volumes, I found I actually couldn’t hear anything going on around me. I didn’t get a chance to test these in really loud environments like mowing the lawn, but I did wear them outside around pretty loud traffic, and they did a fantastic job of keeping the traffic noise out.

It can sometimes be a hassle to use headphones multiple platforms. Headphones that work great with an iPhone may not do everything as well on Android, or vice versa. Happily, the BT 460’s work just as well with iOS and Android, and they even worked just fine with my Mac and PS4.

These are Bluetooth headphones, and take advantage of the standard play/pause and next/previous track actions that work on basically all platforms. As for volume control, these act a little differently from what I usually use. Changing the volume from the headphones only changes their output volume, not the media volume of your phone/tablet.etc. This is great because you don’t have to deal with that Bluetooth delay in volume changes, but it also means that if you have the volume set too low on your phone, you can’t raise it from the headphones, you must increase the phone volume and then change it from your headphones.

Additionally, these are Bluetooth headphones first and foremost, but they come with an AUX cable that turns them into a traditional set of headphones. The 3.5mm headphone jack works just as you’d expect. As a bonus, the headphones require no battery power when plugged in like this. Even if your headphone battery is dead, they’ll still play perfectly over this wired connection.

The Phiaton BT 460’s have a few unique features that pushed them over the edge for me.

First up is their smart play/pause controls. Much like Apple’s AirPods, these will automatically pause whatever you’re listening to if you take them off of your ears. When you put them back on, your music starts playing again. It’s a clever feature and one that I now find essential on headphones.

A more flashy feature is the touch sensor on the outside of the right headphone, which lets you perform all media controls. The outside of the headphone is just a flat surface, and you can slide/tap your fingers on the surface to perform the following actions:

• Double tap –– Play/pause
• Slide up –– Volume up
• Slide down –– Volume down
• Slide forward –– Next track
• Slide backward –– Previous track

These all work quite well, and the volume controls, in particular, are quite useful and feel natural to use.

Finally, we have ShareMe and multipoint connections. ShareMe is an interesting ability for you to link to BT 460’s together and listen to the same audio source. This could be useful if you are watching a movie on a plane, for example, and you and your significant other want to listen at the same time. Link the headphones together and you’ll both hear the same thing.

The multipoint connection feature allows you to have your BT 460’s connected to 2 different devices at the same time. I use this to have them connect to my iPhone and my Mac, so they can be utilized with each without having to unpair and repair like I have to with some other Bluetooth devices. It won’t play audio from both devices at once, but I can pause the music on my iPhone and then start playing a video on my Mac without having to change any audio options or stop pairing with my iPhone. It’s very nice.

I would classify the BT 460 headphones are comfortable enough. The ear cups themselves are very comfortable and fit around my ears quite well. They don’t feel like they are squeezing onto my head like some over-the-ears I’ve used in the past, which is great.

The top bit that rests on my head is a little less cushy than I would like, though. It’s not bad by any means, but after wearing them for an hour or more, I find I need to adjust them on my head as I start to feel some pressure. Again, it’s not bad, but it’s not perfect either.

Overall, I’m quite happy with the comfort level of these headphones. They feel great, and I only ever get minor discomfort when wearing them for an extended period.

I don’t have much to say here other than that they have great battery life. Phiaton doesn’t advertise an estimate, but I can say I’ve been using these for two weeks, and roughly 15-20 hours and my iPhone says they are still over halfway charged. Not bad!

When you do have to charge them up, they charge over micro-USB, so you almost certainly can find one of those wherever you happen to be. And of course, Phiaton includes a charging cable in the box.

As a final note, these headphones do indeed come with a carrying case for storage and transport. Simply fold up the headphones and they fit nicely in the case. The case itself is solid. It has some give if you really put some power into smashing it, but it should hold up in just about any real world situation.

As a little bonus, there is a mesh pocket inside that you can use to carry a few small items. It’s probably meant to hold the micro-USB charging cable and AUX cable, but I’ve used it to hold my SD card and I even managed to squeeze in my portable hard drive. Because why not?!

The Phiaton BT 460 headphones are a new favorite of mine. They have a sleek look, great sound quality, and have just the right amount of unique features to set them apart without being obnoxious. I appreciate what Phiaton is doing in this space, and I think they have delivered a pair of over-the-ear headphones that should satisfy most people.