Ghostek Rapture headphones bring expensive sound at affordable price [Review]

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Ghostek Rapture Bluetooth headphones pack a premium look and feel.
Ghostek's Rapture Bluetooth headphones pack a premium look and feel.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Brooklyn brand Ghostek manufactures some really interesting phone cases, backpacks, speakers and headphones. One of its latest offerings, the Ghostek Rapture Bluetooth headphones, are some of the first to hit the market with graphene drivers.

These lightweight on-ear headphones come in at just $125 (or $99 if you pick them up on Prime Day) but sound a lot better than any other wireless headphones I’ve tried at that price point. Check out my full review below.

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Ghostek Rapture headphones review

In the box you get the headphones themselves, a micro-USB charging cable for charging and an aux cable for anyone still using a phone with a headphone jack. You also get a pleather drawstring pouch to keep the headphones safe when throwing them in your backpack. Although it’s made out of imitation leather, it still feels nice enough and it’s also lined with cotton for protection.

The lightweight Raptures prove ideal for casual use. They look nice and stylish without screaming out for attention. Inside, they pack 40mm graphene drivers, which produce a clear sound with a surprising amount of bass. But I’ll come back to the sound in a minute.

Stylish Bluetooth headphones

The design is a big part of the headphones. I think they look great. The headband and earmuffs are wrapped in perforated synthetic leather. The leather comes in three colors — red, black and the brown Ghostek sent over for me to review.

The sturdier parts of the headphones, such as the arms on the side, are a made from a combination of aluminium and plastic. At first, I wasn’t a fan of the plastic as I always prefer metal where possible. It just makes anything feel premium. But in this case, Ghostek managed to match the paint seamlessly. And using plastic keeps the headphones nice and light.

While the Raptures are light, they don’t feel overly cheap. Usually a little bit of weight signals quality to me. But the headphones’ light weight — they come in at around 300 grams — makes them super-comfortable to wear for hours on end. The really nice synthetic leather cover also helps keep them from feeling cheap.

The only real complaint I have with the design is that if you have the Raptures in their smallest setting like I do, the arms hang down a little and over the ear cups. That doesn’t look nearly as good as when you slidd them further down. So, if you’ve got a larger head than me they’ll look fantastic.

Synthetic leather ear cups feel comfy

The ear cups are cushioned really nicely. Plus, the design offers a ton of adjustment and pivoting options, so they should fit perfectly on anyone’s ears.

On the right ear cup, you’ll find the volume up and down buttons, which also double as the forward and back buttons to skip songs. The center button acts as the on/off switch and pauses songs with a single click.

Ghostek Rapture review: You will find all of the controls you'll ever need on the Rapture's ear cups
You will find all of the controls you’ll ever need on the Rapture’s ear cups.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A double-click will automatically call the last contact you spoke to, as there is also a built-in microphone. Calls sound great on my end. And thanks to the Bluetooth 4.1, the headphones hold a decent 30-foot range and keep connection throughout my calls.

However, I got mixed results when asking the person on the other end of the line about the call quality. Indoors, it’s usually fine, but calling from outdoors can cause some problems if there’s a lot of background noise or wind.

On the Raptures’ right ear cup, you’ll also find an LED indicator for the battery to let you know when the headphones are on.

The headphones also creepily say “Raptures on” and “Raptures Connected” as soon as you power them up. A little tone or sound effect would have been much better.

For when you are storing them in the carry pouch … or bag … or whatever you’d like to call it, the headphones fold down to about half their normal size to make throwing them in a backpack easy.

Ghostek Rapture headphones review: The Raptures fold up to about half their size for easy storage
The Raptures fold up to about half their size for easy storage.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Ghostek Rapture headphones sound surprisingly clean

But what about sound quality? Well, they actually surprised me. They sound pretty darn amazing. They’re punchy and crisp, with a really clean sound that lets me hear each instrument individually. I’ve tried listening to rock, hip-hop, jazz — anything and everything I can think of — and with each track, they sounded great.

Thanks to the way the headband lightly clamps around, the ear cups sit firmly against my ears and create a pretty strong seal blocking out a lot of background noise. Because of that, the headphones seem slightly quieter than I expected. Although they are loud enough for most people, I’d just like them to go that extra bit louder.

And that’s all thanks to the graphene drivers. Graphene is made of latticed carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal pattern. It’s lighter than a lot of other materials used for drivers. Its light weight reduces the amount of power required to move the coil inside and create the sound waves which equals a better sound.

The Raptures also have a Share Me function which allows you to connect a second pair of headphones to the same device. Since I only have the one pair though, I can’t try out that interesting feature.

Battery life is decent, with Ghostek claiming 25 hours of run time. I’ve easily been getting a good two to three days of use before having to charge them up again.

Ghostek Rapture review: The verdict

Ghostek Rapture review: These Bluetooth headphones sound as good as they look
The Raptures sound as good as they look.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

For $125, If you’re on the hunt for a budget pair of on-ear, Bluetooth headphones that sound and look great, then the Ghostek Raptures are definitely worth a look.

At that price point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a pair of headphones that are built as well, look as good and sound as amazing.

Buy from: Amazon

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