By Anand Parthasarathy
April 7 2020:  Audio enthusiasts  who  have decided  to go in for a pair  of on-ear headphones, rather than one of the in-earphones or the more recent earbuds, may find that this initial filtering is not  the end of the problem. They will spoilt for choice, with dozens of brands jostling in the same price band.
Lenovo which only recently has entered the audio accessories market  has  cannily differentiated itself from the competition with a  small but ( for  hardcore sound fans) significant feature: the ability to choose between standard bass settings and  one enhanced by a graphic equalizer,  known as EQ.
As such discerning buyers  don't need to be told, EQ changes the frequency response of select sounds like vocals say or an instrument,  to enhance one feature like bass or treble.
With  Lenovo's HD116 on ear headphones, in addition to  controls for volume up/down,   power on/off and sockets for  a  charger and an AUX port to connect a sound source with wires, one also finds a switch that toggles between standard bass and EQ-enhanced based.  Listeners  who like fine percussion play , will  appreciate the ability to further boost the low frequencies. The makers  promise a  day long use on a full battery charge which takes one hour.
HD116 works with the latest Bluetooth 5.0 standard for wireless syncing with phone or other sound source. The built-in microphone is unobtrusive but effective and I found the soft padded head pieces a comfortable fit, with the  overall weight  just 113 grams.  One earpiece  folds to make a compact package for travel. The website  mentions a carry pouch but I did not find one in the packing list of the unit I tried. Nevertheless, at Rs 2499 this is excellent value.