H20 Audio is a San Diego-based audio-tech company, and since Paris-Roubaix, is the new official Audio Partner of Alpecin–Deceuninck and Fenix–Deceuninck WorldTour Cycling Teams. It makes a range of water or sweat-resistant audio products for training, including some neat bone-conducting waterproof ones you can wear on the turbo or take to the pool, and these sweat-resistant over-ears, the RIPT Ultras.
Now, if this all sounds like a tenuous reason for me to borrow a nice fancy pair of headphones, you’re not wrong. However, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to test what *could be* Mathieu van der Poel’s best headphones to see if I could get in the zone like he does.
To keep it relevant, I reached out to H20 to find out a little bit about what MVDP and his colleagues might listen to. They told me that Jonas Rickaert and Gianni Vermeersch are the team DJs, and tend to control the music on the team bus.
I was also hoping they’d send me a playlist full of hardcore Belgian or German Techno, and they didn’t disappoint. One playlist is called ‘Ketamix’. You might want to grab a caffeinated energy gel – or something on the WADA banned list – before you get too deep. There’s a banging remix of Destiny’s Child’s Say My Name, about 7 minutes in. After that, it gets a bit darker.
Both playlists are linked at the bottom of the review for those who want to channel Alpecin-Berghain pre-race vibes at the Zwift Club 10 tonight.
Testing H20 RIPT Ultra - How did they do?
Returning to the review, the headphones I’ve tested are not the bone conductor models that H20 also makes, but the flagship over-ear sports model. Over-ears, for the unacquainted, are the DJ or studio monitor-style headphones that completely enclose your ears.
For turbo training, especially in busy environments, such as the gym or when the kids are home and running around, over-ear headphones can provide a real escape from ambient noise and the sound of the turbo trainer itself. The trouble is, sweat can compromise the electronics and materials inside a normal pair, causing hygiene issues or rendering them unusable.
**Over ears are not suitable for the road, for those, check out our guide to the best headphones for cycling, they're much more suitable.**
H2O knows this too and has made a sports-specific over-ear to address this problem. Its top-of-the-range model is called H20 RIPT ULTRA. RIPT is not some muscle beach reference from the boardwalks of San Diego, but instead refers to Real Isolation Performance Technology. Noise Cancelling to you and me.
For a warm-up on rollers, the over-ears would be perfect, and I suspect MVDP thinks so too. The RIPT noise-cancelling system gives you complete isolation from the ambient noise in the paddock and, as a result, some peace and quiet to take in your favourite techno mix ahead of stage one of this year’s Tour De France.
Sound quality and competition
The headphones retail at $249, which pitches them into direct competition with some very competent gear, such as Sennheiser Accentum Plus, Bose Quiet Comfort Plus, and, at the premium end, even the Beats Studio Pro.
At this level, the 50 hours of battery life offered is not just competitive, it’s very good. And so far, despite running in them every morning for some two months, using them on the turbo, and taking plenty of work calls, I’ve only had to charge them up three times, which gives me some confidence in their claims, despite driving them pretty hard more than I should.
H20 Audio bills the sound quality of the RIPT Ultra simply as ‘premium’, and the performance is certainly better than many in-ear headphones. Information about what’s in the body of the headphones is scant, but the driver – the business part of the speaker to you and me – measures 45mm. That’s 5mm larger than the driver in say, Sony’s ULT headphones, or Beats Studio Pro, both of which boast excellent sound quality.
In the latter of those models, it’s worth noting that you do get a premium Digital to Analogue Converter or DAC. Every pair of headphones, and even your phone, needs and has one, but some brands spec really good ones. As the name suggests, these devices convert your digital music signal into an analogue signal that can drive your speakers. The better the conversion is, the better the sound reproduction. H20 don’t identify componentry down to that level of detail, but sound reproduction is really quite good.
To my knowledge, no one has yet invented a speaker that operates directly from a digital signal. It’s one electronic item that is stubbornly analogue. I think there’s a romance to that, in this increasingly digital world.
Despite a lack of detail in the information about what’s in the headphones, there’s no lack of detail in the resolution of the music or overall sound quality produced by the RIPT Ultras. At £249, it needs to be decent, and it is. It’s not an audiophile standard, but you can’t sweat into your audiophile headphones without them disintegrating, and that’s where H20 start to regain some ground with the securely fitting, sporty intentions of the Ultras.
I played a huge mix of music, from highly produced tracks to bedroom DJ or popcorn tunes, and nothing troubled them. Cat Burns' vocals were present and detailed. Percussion in my regular nineties guitar band, come hip-hop run-around, was bright, and bass was plentiful for my old ears, without being boomy. I couldn’t overwhelm the drivers at a volume that was still listenable.
Comfort and Features
Comfort was outstanding. I forgot they were there. My pair came with two sets of ear covers. One standard ‘leatherette’ looking pair, like you find on conventional headphones, and one set of silicone ‘waterproof’ pads. I’ve been running with the silicone almost exclusively, and it adds a great deal of comfort and confidence, knowing you won’t short them out or cause them to rot, regardless of how hard you work out.
There is no standard for rating the level of sweat protection claimed by sports headphone manufacturers, but so far, so good; they’ve lived up to the promise of surviving some pretty damp runs, and some Amazonian humidity when indoors on the turbo trainer. There is an extended warranty available, which suggests the specialist brand has some confidence in the product.
Bluetooth 5.4 delivers a solid connection with minimal latency. The first time I paired them with my phone, I was in Heathrow Airport outside the electronics shop. My phone detected every camera and other pair of headphones, even all the smart TVs displaying flight information, but the Ultras hooked up to my phone instantly with little fuss.
I deliberately relied on punching buttons blindly without reading the instructions, and the controls are intuitive enough that I switched them on and got up and running without any need to read anything further. Once in use, they are very simple to use, and your fingers find the right buttons, mostly, with ease.
The noise-cancelling is brilliant. You can switch it on and be oblivious to anything else. There’s also a notable uplift in sound quality when it’s engaged, but that’s not to say the sound is bad when it’s not on.
The industrial design is one area where these could fit into your lifestyle better. And whilst that shouldn’t be important, it really is. The blue and black, including the logo, appear somewhat generic. The materials, headband and buttons are all tactile, of good quality, and offer a secure fit, but they look a bit sporty in the way a shell suit does.
Verdict
If you need a set of reliable, comfortable, workout-friendly, secure-fitting over-ear headphones, you could do a lot worse than these. They stay put and remain comfortable for hours on the turbo and show no ill effects from it. For running, you forget you’re wearing them.
Whilst I’ve commented on the ID already, some competitors can look a little like Kensington gym kit and tend to be better matched with a pastel tracksuit and a rose gold iPhone, so the unoffensive and frankly, not horrible but not gorgeous aesthetic might work for you.
These are not cheap. But they don’t sound or feel cheap either. Sound quality is on a par with many at this price, if not better. While you might find marginally better sound from a similarly expensive pair from a more well-known name, like Sony or Sennheiser, it’s unlikely they’ll stay put and shrug off sweat like these do.
And don’t forget, MVDP almost certainly has a pair. And from what I’ve experienced of the Ultras, he probably thinks they’re pretty decent, too.
So what are Alpecin-Deceuninck listening to on their team bus? The 5NAPBACK MNM Party appears below, and we're reliably informed you can often hear this blasting out of the team bus very regularly. Another mix we're told is also very popular is intriguingly called 'Ketamix', and can be found on SoundCloud...
https://on.soundcloud.com/muZo8Gb1CVHZr5cm7
