Fender Mix Headphones Review: So Much More Than a Branding Gimmick

Fender has been a big name in the audio world for a long time, but even old dogs learn new tricks, and the guitar icon’s newest trick is a pair of wireless headphones. For the first time, you can wear Fender on your head instead of slung over your shoulder, thanks to the Mix, a pair of Fender-branded wireless headphones that focus on modularity—the earcups, batteries, and headbands are all replaceable here.

If you notice, I wrote “Fender-branded” headphones, and your alarm bells are going off, let me elaborate: Fender isn’t technically making the hardware (that would be a company called Riffsound Pte. Ltd.), though it does have a say in its design. And if your next thought is, “Do I really want a no-name pair of wireless headphones with some Fender branding on them?” I’m right there with you—or, I was before I tried them for myself.

A not-so-mixed bag

When I first saw the Fender Mix over a video call last summer, I was immediately intrigued. Fender’s focus on modularity made its wireless headphones stand out, but there was one thing in particular that had me interested above the rest: a dongle. The Fender Mix come with a USB-C dongle that you can stick into your phone or another device to achieve lossless, low-latency audio. It’s not a novel solution—competitors like Sennheiser’s HDB 630 also employ that design—but it is somewhat rare, especially at the Mix’s price point. Fender’s wireless headphones cost $299 as opposed to the Sennheiser HDB 630’s $499.

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Why exactly was I so intrigued by a dongle, you ask? Well, because I’m not typically a wire guy, that’s why. As much as I love how affordable and hi-fi wired headphones are, how a lot of them look, they’re a pain to deal with on the train. Fumbling around with wires is easier at home than it is on the go, which is often when I’m using headphones. Dongles like the one included in the Fender Mix eliminate that pain point in theory and, as I’ve learned, in practice as well—all while providing a better-than-Bluetooth listening experience.

Trust me when I say that you’re going to want to use the Fender Mix’s dongle to listen to music. While the headphones sound solid with a standard Bluetooth connection, slotting the dongle into my phone and playing tunes that way moves the needle from solid to legitimately good. The second you’re plugged in and the dongle is powered on, the soundstage widens, and things start to feel a lot roomier. I listened to Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair” back-to-back, and the whole song had more presence. Snare hits were louder, vocals were more upfront, and the mix of guitars was more evenly spread out, making it easier to pick up on each track. As an added bonus, there’s also a volume boost, which makes listening in loud environments easier. The bass profile is fairly pronounced, which isn’t my preferred tuning, but if bass is your thing, you’ll be pleased here.

It’s nice that you don’t have to use a dongle, but you’re going to want to once you hear the difference.

Don’t make the same mistake I did when I first started using the dongle, though. There are different modes that you have to activate in order to use all the features. To get to the lossless mode, you have to long-press the button on the dongle (about 3 seconds) until the light turns red. For low latency, you double-tap the button on the dongle. These wireless headphones also have Auracast, which lets you group audio products together for simultaneous listening, and to activate that feature, you tap the dongle button three times until the light turns purple.

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I also tested the dongle’s low-latency mode by playing some Fortnite on my laptop and was pleased with the speed. Having tried to use regular Bluetooth wireless earbuds in the past to play, the Fender Mix were leaps and bounds better for making sure I heard every gunshot and footfall on time. I wouldn’t replace a gaming headset with the Mix anytime soon, but if you did want to use these headphones in a pinch when you’re traveling, they’re not a bad option. Yes, most headphones can be used wired in some capacity, but the Fender Mix gives you low-latency audio without wires.

One of the best parts of the dongle is that once you’re done using it, you can easily take it out of your phone or another device and put it in the headphones, so you don’t lose it. To store the tiny piece of important plastic and metal, just take off the magnetic earcup and place it into its rightful slot. Boom, you’re done.

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Powering the Fender Mix’s sound are what the company is calling 40mm “hyper-efficient graphene drivers,” which definitely hold their own compared to other headphones at this price range, including Nothing’s Headphone 1, which also debuted at $299. Ultimately, though, it’s the USB-C dongle that provides the real strength here, and that’s fine by me since the Fender Mix’s sound quality is so good.

A modular maven, but a little tame design-wise

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Outside of the dongle, the Fender Mix are also highly customizable and repairable. As I mentioned, the earcups are magnetic and can be popped off easily. Luckily, they still feel sturdy when they’re attached, though. You can also replace the battery inside the Fender Mix, which is great since batteries are often the first thing to go in headphones. I didn’t try to do this myself since I don’t have an extra battery, but I did pop it out just to see how easy the whole thing was, and it felt pretty straightforward. Just pull the right earcup off, slide the plastic lid off the battery compartment, and then pull the whole thing out.

If you want to customize the Fender Mix, there are earcups that you can buy. My black unit came with additional tan earcups. Weirdly, Fender didn’t share pricing for them. I’ve reached out to the company and will update this review with pricing info when I have it.

The earcups aren’t premium-feeling in any way, but they are comfortable, and it’s hard to speak to durability since that type of thing takes many months of use. I did notice some scuffing on the outside of the left earcup after keeping the headphones in my bag for a little over a week, so take that anecdote how you will. Headbands are also replaceable, and though I wasn’t provided an additional headband, the process of taking off both earcups (speakers and all) was easy. Just pull them straight from the band with a little force, and you’ve got everything in neat little pieces.

The Fender Mix have a replaceable battery that’s easily user-replaceable, which is a feature not found on most wireless headphones. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

I wouldn’t describe the build quality as feeling premium, nor is the design particularly eye-catching—they’re a bit bulky for my taste. The lack of imagination here is easy to forgive in my opinion, considering all of the other unique, thoughtful features that the Fender Mix have going for them.

Buttons are also on the conservative side, but they’re responsible for controlling a lot. There are just two buttons on these headphones: a joystick-like button and a longer, flatter button. The joystick button (which can be moved left, right, up, or down) controls things like track skipping, on/off, and adjusting volume (and checking battery levels with a double-press), while the flatter button switches between EQ modes and also ANC modes. I highly recommend taking a look at the manual I’ve linked here (page 3) to see which button commands do what, because these two pieces of plastic/rubber are responsible for a lot. This is just how it goes when you don’t have a companion app.

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At the end of the day, the Fender Mix’s defining feature is their modularity, and on that front these wireless headphones excel. If you’re looking for style, you can always go with Nothing’s Headphone 1—those are guaranteed to turn heads on your commute into work.

A battery heavyweight emerges

The Fender Mix have 40mm “hyper-efficient graphene drivers.” © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

On top of good sound, the Fender Mix also perform well in two other key departments: active noise-cancellation (ANC) and battery life. I put the Mix through an obligatory subway test and was pleased at the amount of sound that these wireless headphones block out. Even if it was due mostly to the passive effect of the tight-fitting earcups or the ANC, I think most people will be happy with the Mix’s sound-blocking acumen. These wireless headphones aren’t going to unseat Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) as my favorite ANC headphones, but they’re no slouch either.

There is an ambient mode (transparency to hear your surroundings), which is okay, but not mind-blowing. It lets some sound in, but my voice still sounds a little tinny—Apple’s AirPods Max still have the best transparency in town. There’s also a mode for having ANC and transparency off, which could be useful for extending battery life, but not much else.

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While ANC is solid, battery life is actually impressive. Fender advertises up to 52 hours when ANC is activated and up to 100 hours when it’s turned off. Having used the Fender Mix on and off for the majority of a 10-hour workday, it seems Fender isn’t lying. With ANC mostly on, I started the day at 100% battery, and I finished at 89%. Unfortunately, you can’t check the exact battery level on the wireless headphones (using the battery status command via the headphone button only gives you general levels in 25% increments), but I was able to monitor the exact level thanks to a feature in Apple’s iOS.

For context, comparable competitors like Nothing’s Headphone 1 get up to 35 hours of battery life with ANC on and about 80 hours with ANC off. On the battery front, the Fender Mix is a clear winner.

Some features, but not all

If there’s one thing I can knock Fender for a little bit, it’s not being the most feature-rich. While the Mix have ANC, there are no perks like a personalized hearing test or customizable EQ. Those aren’t dealbreakers (I’m sure lots of people don’t even know those features exist), but as someone who’s taken advantage of them in the past, I can attest that they’re nice to have.

Instead of adjustable EQ, there are different preset EQ modes: one for music, one for entertainment, and one for voice. I personally didn’t notice a huge difference when switching between music and voice EQ modes while listening to a podcast, which is a bummer. I did notice a bit more difference when in the entertainment EQ while streaming Hulu, though—it sounds just a a tad more immersive. To cycle through those, you have to use the Mix’s buttons, which is less than ideal, especially because the in-ear voice that tells you which setting you’re on is hard to hear over music. I found myself having to turn the music off just to know which preset I was switching to.

© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

Speaking of hard of hearing, calling with the Fender Mix was also less than ideal. While the voice quality is fine, I’m told that the Fender Mix tend to pick up quite a bit of ambient noise, which can be distracting for the person on the other end of the line. I was also calling from my office, which isn’t a particularly noisy place. The ambient noise pickup is particularly surprising given the fact that Fender touts a dual-mic design with “ENC,” which is short for environmental noise-cancellation. I suppose if you’re in a quiet spot, you may not notice any problems, but be wary of using these wireless headphones while out and about.

In the future, I’d love to see Fender include an app to expand the capabilities of the Mix and give a secondary input method outside of physical controls, but the start is at least solid. The Mix, as I mentioned, do have newer features like Auracast so clearly Fender has its eye on ways to enhance its headphones with software. If you’re reading, Fender, take this as a formal invite to expand EQ options!

Time to Mix it up?

The Fender Mix are a strong start from a brand just dipping its toes into the wireless headphones game, and the best part is that Fender isn’t phoning it in. It’s taking modularity seriously with the Mix, which is great for consumers and theoretically better for the environment. On top of that, the included dongle makes what would otherwise be a pretty mid-sounding pair of wireless headphones into good-sounding ones. All of that for $299, coupled with the fact that these wireless headphones also have great battery life and solid ANC, makes the Mix worthy of consideration.

Turns out licensing your name can be more than a gimmick, and Fender is proof. You’ll need to wait to order a pair, though; Fender says it plans to open pre-orders “in the next couple of days” when I asked them on Feb. 18.