When we first laid eyes (and hands, and ears) upon the on-ear Avanti headphones, we were skeptical. After all, Moshi is best known as a manufacturer of phone accessories — cases, docks, cables, etc. — not audio equipment. Still, we were rather impressed with the Avanti, which look great, sound great, and feel great on your head. The only catch? They were bound by wires.
Enter the Avanti Air, which retains the stylish, lightweight design of their predecessor while eliminating cables altogether. The Air, which Moshi debuted on Tuesday, January 9 at CES, offers 27 hours of battery life (depending upon usage) fueled by quick-charge technology which can provide four hours of playback juice on just 15 minutes of charge time.
Built with the same ergonomic stainless steel headband and leatherette earcups as the original Avanti, the Air utilize 40-millimeter XR40 Extreme Resolution drivers to offer robust, punchy sound without distortion or imbalance. The minimalist design is similar to that of Sennheiser’s Momentum series, featuring sturdy sliding steel slits for size adjustment purposes. Moshi seems to have taken a design-first approach here, a sentiment echoed by Spencer Pangborn, Moshi’s director of product marketing: “When it comes to sound quality, all Bluetooth headphones face the same technical limitations, so this is why build quality, design and ergonomics are more important than ever.”
The Air feature built-in activation for both Siri and Google Assistant, activated with just a single button push, while Clear Voice technology optimizes phone call clarity and reliability, improving speech quality even in noisy environments. Moshi even added a unique feature called DJ4two, which allows users to connect two Moshi wireless headsets for simultaneous listening with a friend. Right now, Moshi offers two different sets of wireless earbuds in addition to the Avanti Air. As more phone manufacturers eschew traditional 3.5-millimeter headphone jacks, look for companies like Moshi to diversify their range of wireless audio solutions.
The Avanti Air is available now via Moshi’s website for $300. For more CES coverage, be sure to head to our coverage page, where we’ll be reporting on all the awesome tech unveiled at this year’s expo.
