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Conclusions

The performance of the AHS-602 is something that can't really be put down, it delivers a lot for the price that it carries and the drivers of the headphones can take a lot of punishment without showing signs of failure, something that other headphones in the same price range can suffer from. Outside of performance there are some issues though, the actual earcup design isn't all that welcoming for most users, the cup for many headphones actually surrounds the outside of the ear to truely kill the outside noise, while the AHS-602 does kill noise it sits on top of the ear more than around it. A bit of a drawback but nothing critical. Another issue is the build of the remote, it actually has two flaws that are easy to catch, one of them is the SRS switch. If one would quickly toss the remote onto the desk or get it caught in something there is a pretty good chance the SRS would be activated and would drain the battery. On the subject of the battery there is also a bit of an issue with the clip to hold it in place; it might just be the one I received but it seemed to be on the fragile side as I actually had the whole clip release and drop out the battery on impact. It was not really a hard damaging drop just a regular drop. While this most likely wont be corrected in the AHS-602 it will probably be considered for future versions.

When Altec Lansing said they had a new headset product available originally I wasn't really expecting a lot out of it even though there was SRS support, from my experience with it in WMP9 it didn't seem to be all that great. But the AHS-602 has changed my view on that, when implemented properly the SRS effect can actually be quite a good addition to an audio product. The driver response on the AHS-602 was great for all applications, and it only suffered from over-amplified low frequency tones or sections where multiple ranges were all being issued at once. Altec has taken quite a step up from their original series of headphones this time around. At $99 MSRP these might not be suitable for all users but for those that want great performance with a few tweaks such as a microphone with great quality (minimal distortion) and SRS 3D surround sound support this is a must have that wont wake the neighbors or room-mates. We award Altec Lansing a 9.2/10 for the AHS-602.

I would like to thank Andrea Bledsoe from SSPR for getting this great product out for us to review.

Overall:

9.2/10