Lindy BNX-60XT review: Technical difficulties

The Lindy BNX-60XT are the latest wireless headphones from an esteemed British audio manufacturer. With over 80 years of experience, Lindy is no stranger to the on-ear and over-ear headphones arena and we reviewed the original Lindy BNX-60 favourably back in 2016.

We applauded their comfort and sound quality and the story is similar with the BNX-60XT. Unfortunately, these positives are neutralised by a glaring problem: audio that intermittently cuts out with noise cancellation active. Discrepancies in how they sound with ANC engaged also irk, while the absence of a companion app leaves the BNX-60XT lagging behind the competition.

Lindy BNX-60XT review: What do you get for the money?

You can pick up the Lindy BNX-60XT for around £95 from both Amazon and Lindy. They operate over Bluetooth 5.0, are capable of multipoint pairing with two devices, and support the standard SBC and AAC codecs along with the higher resolution aptX and aptX Adaptive formats.

Despite feeling noticeably lightweight at 198g, the BNX-60XT are handsome and neatly put together. Their matte texture and minimal branding contribute to a sophisticated aesthetic while red-lining on the inside of the earcups adds a dash of colour to the offering. I prefer models like the Edifier WH950NB that have slightly larger earcups to better encompass my ears, but the Lindy BNX-60XT still offer a cosy fit.

Both earcups house a number of physical controls, with the left incorporating three buttons in close proximity to each other. The central one is used for pairing, making/answering/ending/rejecting calls and turning the headphones on/off, while the buttons either side control volume and track skipping via single and double presses.

There’s also a Bluetooth indicator that shows whether you’re in pairing mode (red/blue flashes) or connected to an external device (blue flashes), as well as a 3.5mm jack to connect the BNX-60XT via a wire. On the right cup, you’ve got a USB-C socket for charging, a tactile switch to turn noise cancelling on/off and an indicator to let you know when ANC is on.

Also included with your purchase is a hard-shell carrying case. Inside the case is a small, mesh storage compartment with a zip that’s backed with velcro so that you can move it wherever you want within the case, or remove it entirely. There’s also a 3.5mm cable measuring 1.5m, a 1/4in stereo-plug adapter, a flight adapter and a USB-C to USB-A charging cable.

Plug the charging cable into the headphones’ USB-C slot and you’ll get an hour of playback from five minutes on charge, with a full charge taking two hours. Charging to full will bank you 40 hours of wireless listening or 28 hours with active noise cancelling engaged. That’s nothing to shout about in the longevity stakes, unlike the Urbanista Los Angeles’s near-infinite battery, but not mediocre either.

Lindy BNX-60XT review: What do we like about them?

The Lindy BNX-60XT are very well-designed and their build quality belies their price. Unlike many headphones in their price bracket, there’s zero squeaking from the plastic headband and they retain a sturdier shape than models like the Edifier WH950NB, which cost twice as much. Furthermore, their physical controls produce a satisfying click when pressed and work without fault.

On the sonic front, the BNX-60XT reproduce tracks like ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Kate Bush with a pleasing level of definition and detail. The soundstage isn’t enormous but I was impressed by the instrument separation between the acoustic guitar, piano and vocals. This is only true when you have active noise cancellation engaged, however.

With ANC on, mid-range and high frequencies have convincing presence, helping vocal-led tunes to sound loud, bright and relatively roomy. But turning ANC off changes this significantly. It was as though I was listening to those Bushian vocals from another room, with bass becoming far more prominent and the rest of the frequency range sounding compressed. I occasionally preferred this presentation – when listening to bassy instrumental tracks like ‘Golf’ by Ikonika, for instance – but generally lamented sacrificing the more spacious soundstage and mid- to high-frequency clarity. This means that to best enjoy a wide range of genres and get the most out of vocal-heavy tracks you’ll want ANC on. This audio discrepancy when using ANC was an issue that troubled the BNX-60 too, so it’s surprising it’s not been rectified in the years between the two releases.

Out and about, the Lindy BNX-60XT’s ability to attenuate external noise is fairly effective. The passive noise-cancelling proved better than I expected given the smallish earpads, and I was able to enjoy a distraction-free run in the park run without having to turn on ANC. The BNX-60XT’s maximum volume is noteworthy, too. In most situations, I found volume of around 55% more than loud enough.

The active noise cancellation system won’t win any awards for effective attenuation, but did dampen nearby traffic to a greater degree than the headphones’ natural over-ear seal. As such, I was satisfied with the system noise-cancelling abilities but, as I’ll come to presently, problems arise when it’s switched on.

Lindy BNX-60XT review: What could be improved?

The BNX-60XT may look good, but regularly came unstuck when I engaged active noise cancellation. With ANC on, audio crackled and cut out on either the left or right side when slight pressure was applied to the outer surface of the corresponding earcup or the headphones were jolted. When bumps and knocks were more frequent, like when running or repositioning the headphones, the audio disruption this caused was unbearable. No such problems existed with ANC off, suggesting this was solely down to the noise-cancelling system.

This proved less of a problem when stationary or walking, but you shouldn’t need to regulate your actions to enjoy undisrupted listening and turns what is usually an appealing convenience feature into a rather inconvenient one.

To add to the irritations, there’s also a constant static noise when ANC is engaged. While this isn’t uncommon on cheaper noise-cancelling headphones, it was more prominent here than on other headphones I’ve used. Despite claims in the user manual that this noise floor should disappear with audio playing, I could still hear it clouding quieter and more delicate musical numbers, even if it was largely unnoticeable on higher-BPM tracks.

It’s also disappointing there’s no option to customise the BNX-60XT’s output to your liking. While the headphones sound distinctly different depending on whether the ANC is on or off, this is unlikely to be intentional and is certainly no substitute for EQ presets or a manually adjustable graphic equaliser. EQ options are offered by a large proportion of headphones around the £100 mark, so their absence is a definite sore point.

Those who want the most universally preferential sound will want the ANC on, yet given the aforementioned issues with that mode, you may have to settle for the stable, less vibrant audio found when it’s off. You need not make these sorts of compromises with headphones like the Anker Soundcore Life Q30, which offer 22 EQ presets and an eight-band graphic equaliser – alongside three effective ANC levels – for less money.

There are a few other handy features missing. For starters, there’s no transparency mode to filter external noise in, nor is there wear detection to automatically pause audio when the headphones are removed.

Bluetooth multipoint is one feature that is present but unfortunately didn’t work as smoothly as I’d hoped. Switching from a YouTube video on my smartphone to Spotify on my MacBook didn’t automatically pause the video and play the song as it would with many other dual-connection headphones on the market.

Instead, the video and its audio continued playing while the song on Spotify played but didn’t relay audio to the headphones. Even after pausing the video, there was no sound from Spotify – it only started playing through the Linky BNX-60XT once I moved the output source to internal laptop speakers and back to the headphones again. This adds extra steps to a typically time-saving feature.

Lindy BNX-60XT review: Should you buy them?

The Lindy effect is a concept that says the older a non-perishable thing is, the longer its remaining life expectancy – unfortunately, in their current state, the Lindy BNX-60XT have a short shelf life.

Audio cutting out during a brisk commute with ANC on is a dealbreaker for most. And that’s a shame since the ANC is quite good, while audio is richly detailed and delivered by a stylish, comfortable set of over-ears. Sorting this glaring issue out, as well as addressing the noticeable discrepancy between how the BNX-60XT sound with ANC on and off, would elevate the BNX-60XT to a solid buy for their price.

A companion app offering access to some form of EQ control would also strengthen their position as rivals to our favourite budget over-ear noise-cancellers the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 and 1More SonoFlow. But as it stands, I recommend you steer clear of the Lindy BNX-60XT.