MARCH 2020 MACWORLD 111vibration alerted me to
incoming calls when I didn’t
have the headphones in my
ears and had put my cell
phone on silent.
The Phiaton are rated for
up to eight-plus hours of
music listening. The quick
charge feature makes these
headphones perfect for busy
road warriors. A five-minute
charge will give you an hour
of music listening. A full
charge in about two hours
gives you about eight hours
of music play. Using ANC will
reduce the maximum play
time to about five hours.
In standby mode, the
Phiaton will last for 290 hours. If you want
to wear them with just ANC enabled, you’ll
be able to use them for about 12.5 hours—
good enough for a transatlantic flight.
The BT120 are rated IPX4 for sweat
and splash resistance. You can feel
confident wearing them out for intense
activities and not worry if you find yourself
caught in a light rain.
I wish that the BT120 had magnetic
clasps or magnets on the backs of the
drivers, so you could clasp them together
when you’re not wearing them in your
ears. Instead Phiaton includes a plastic
clip, which I didn’t like at all. Like all
neckband headphones, if you’re not
careful, the Phiaton will have a tendency to
slide to one side or the other and could
potentially fall off without you knowing it.
Bluetooth 4.2 with multipoint
connection capabilities is onboard. You
can connect any Bluetooth-enabled
sources simultaneously to the Phiaton and
the headphones will auto-switch between
the two depending on which source is
playing. This is a great feature if you have
a smartphone and a laptop or a
smartphone and a tablet as you travel and
don’t want to worry about activating the
pairing on each one.The BT120 are rated IPX4 for sweat and splash resistance.