Philips TAA6219

Introduction

Through its sponsorship of the Wings for Life world run, Philips has been leveraging its audio expertise in the running and workout space in an attempt to make one of the best running headphones.

It’s a market that’s seen a boom since the pandemic as more get involved in workouts and outdoor exercise (run clubs! Padel!), though in the past, Philips’ sports headphones haven’t felt as if they’ve received as much attention as, say, its Fidelio line-up.

The awkwardly named TAA6219BK hope to redress that balance. They are powered by sun (or really any light source), so as long as you can keep running, these headphones will keep the pace with you.

Design

• On-ear design
• Washable earpad fabric
• IP55 rating

These headphones are on-ears rather than over-ears, but honestly that designation might depend on how big (or small) your ears are. If you’ve got small ears they might just slip inside the earcups.

Regardless, they’re very comfortable to wear over longer period of time. I tend to head to the gym for an hour, but before I’m usually running about 15 minutes on a near 3km route to get there – they haven’t fallen off my head yet, nor have they slipped over during my stomach crunches.

The clamping force (the pressure exerted by the earcups) is well judged – not tight enough that it becomes a pain – and the headband spreads the weight across your head solidly enough. These earpads don’t pinch quite as hard as some other on-ears I’ve used in the past.

Build quality is good – the brushed design on the headband is similar to Final’s headphones, the stepless slider means you adjust the fit of the headphones without making an almighty loud sound.

The red and black colours make for a nice visual contrast and should make it easier for people to see you on your outdoor run too. Right and left earcups are clearly marked by massive letters inside the earpads.

The fabric that covers the earpads is machine washable, so you can remove it once the sweat/dirt gets too much. At IP55, they’re not waterproof – don’t put the entire headphone into the wash – but they’re protected against some levels water, sweat and dust.

The headband is where the solar cell that powers the headphones lies. It’s made by Exeger who have plenty of experience having created the Powerfoyle technology used in a few Urbanista headphones too.

The way to interface with the headphones is through the physical controls on the right earcup. They’re as simple as you can get with power, volume and playback controls present. There’s a USB-C input for charging but, as you’ll find out, you’re unlikely to need it much.

Battery Life

• Powerfoyle solar cell
• 80 hours in reserve

Headphones such as the TAA6219BK are referred to as self-charging headphones, and that’s literally the case. The Powerfoyle solar cell can absorb both sunlight and even electrical light, and transform that into the energy that powers the headphones.

It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing them in low light conditions (like at night); they should be able to suck some light from any source.

In real world terms I’ve found that using the headphones for three hours (at higher than usual volumes) saw the battery life drop by at least 10%. Normally, that would suggest a 30-hour battery life, but as these headphones are constantly charging, they should have more stamina than most.

In fact, I’ve left them idle for months over the course of testing and come back to the headphones and they still have 60% charge left. That’d be tricky for most other headphones (aside from the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless which has an unbelievable battery life).

If, by chance, you’re in some place that doesn’t have much light (like, say, a black hole), then according to Philips you can survive on the 80 hours of reserve battery that the TAA6219BK has as back-up.

Features

• Bluetooth multi-point
• Philips Headphones app support

Features are light for this pair of headphones. There’s no noise-cancellation, there’s not even much to go on in the Philips Headphones app – it’s pretty basic.

You’ve got Bluetooth, naturally for a pair of wireless headphones, and the spec covers the 5.4 version. At the moment, that’s the most up to date version. The headphones, however, don’t support any wireless hi-res audio codecs. You’re stuck with SBC and AAC.

You’ve also got Bluetooth multi-point for connecting to two devices simultaneously. In the app, you can monitor battery life as well as how much charge the solar panels are retrieving (if any).

You can alter the sound through the Sound Effect through either adding Dynamic Bass (booting the lows when the volume is low); or through the Sound Effect which has a selection of presets (bass, treble, voice, powerful and custom six-band EQ).

Other features include an audio latency mode, adjusting the tone volume and EQ for calls, and firmware betters. And that, is that.

Sound Quality

• Clear, if not the most detailed
• Weak sound at default volumes

Any headphone lives or dies by its sound, and at first the Philips TAA6219BK aren’t that impressive.

At default levels, they sound rather humdrum. The soundstage doesn’t sound particularly wide, what bass there is is not much. Even with the Dynamic Bass EQ on, these headphones aren’t providing much impetus to your workout soundtrack.

My recommendation? Pump up the volume.

At higher volumes, these headphones sound like they should have at default volumes. Bass is not only better but clearer, the soundstage is wider, the levels of clarity and detail increase. It’s gone from a humdrum sound to one that’s more in step with your workouts. Don’t pump it up too much though, as these headphones can sound thin at their highest volumes.

I’d also disagree with Philips assertion that these headphones sound warm in any way. Switching between a OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 11 5G, and on both mobile devices the Philips TAA6219BK sound resolutely not warm.

And though bass, clarity and detail do improve, that’s not to say that these headphones sound like world beaters. There remains a shortage of sharpness and definition to the sound of these on-ears, a lack of punch to the low frequencies. Treble is sharp but not best defined, while vocals sound a little hollow. The headphones lack not just warmth but weight to their sound as well.

But for £110 they’re a decent-sounding pair. Philips can do better when it comes to sound, and an in-ear pair such as the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 offer better sound, but they’re more than twice the price. Unless you have high expectations, they’re serviceable enough.

Should you buy it?

FAQs