Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsBest workout headphones ever... for certain people.
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2015
Ok, so as a preface I'd like to explain my listening habits first so you can determine whether you would find these headphones as awesome as I did. First off, I am no audiophile, I used to listen just fine to my iPhone ear buds and I never complained. However, I have recently gotten into high-end headphones, like the Sony MDR-1RBT. I love fancy pants headphones; but when I'm working out I HATE not being able to hear things around me like cars, pedestrians, dogs, meteorites, and small nuclear explosions.
Pros:
- Wonderful fit, never come loose and stay put on my ears
- Awesome colors ( I got the blue ones)
- Great sound which still allows ambient noise in so I don't die.
- Very light and compact, I actually forget I'm wearing them
- Very few buttons, and awesome control scheme which is easy to learn and reduces number of buttons (explained later)
- Long battery life, I haven't tested the actual duration, but after working out with them for 4 days for at least an hour each day they were still had a medium charge on them.
- Wireless; this is the whole reason I got these, no snagging wires on weights, no flopping cords while on the treadmill or while running outside
Cons:
- Spendy, but totally worth it to me
- Neck strap can get in the way of a collar, but if you need to wear a hat (like a winter hat) I found that it is easy to tuck it up under it.
- Nothing else really, so awesome
The fit:
Ok, so first off, the fit is remarkable. I love it. It is exactly what I was looking for. The ear hook really secures the headphones to your head and make it so it stays put. You could do cartwheels with these on with no problems. Some reviewers said that the bouncing neck strap annoyed them. I ran cross country and track in high school and in college and I currently am training for the Boston, NYC, and Chicago marathons. So, basically, I'm a pretty serious runner and the neck strap never bothered me at all. If you tuck your chin down when you're running it might make the strap bounce more but I run with my head level and the strap basically hovers just above my neck or rests on it and it's like wearing a pair of socks to me, I forget I have it on after a few seconds.
The sound:
I hate earphones that go into my ear canal. These sit just outside it and to me they sound great. I listen mainly to audio books and music and both sounded great to me. I had them set to about 75% volume and my phone volume was in the safe zone (Samsung Note 4) and I was able to hear my books and music just fine. This was in a busy gym with a few treadmills going and people talking all over the place. The design enables you to hear things going on around you which is what I wanted since I do a lot of running outside and I wanted to be able to hear that guy coming up behind me, trying to take my wallet, that way I'd be able to speed up and leave him in the dust.
This design does make it harder to hear your audio when you're doing noisy tasks like shoveling the snow in the driveway, or washing dishes with the water running, etc., but I have some over-the-ear headphones which are much better at passive noise cancellation and I use them for these applications.
Comfort:
- They are designed to be used for a few hours at a time at most I would say. I haven't worn them for more than 2 hours, and after that time period my ears still felt fine, but I bet they would hurt after just a little bit longer. They are perfect for workouts which is my only use for these.
Controls (summary): I love the controls. The number of buttons is reduced to only 4 and that helps keep the weight down. The only downside is to skip forward you have to press the play/pause button twice, which can be a little hard when doing hard cardio, but that is totally fine by me. It is only a minor inconvenience which I am more than happy to live with considering how bomb diggitty these headphones are overall.
LEFT SIDE
Play/pause: Tap play/pause button
Skip forward: Double tap play/pause button
Skip backward: Hold play/pause button
(+) volume: Tap volume button
(-) volume: Hold volume button
RIGHT SIDE
Answer/hang up call: Tap phone button
Activate voice control: Hold phone button for 3 seconds
Power on: Hold power button
Power off: Hold power button
Battery status: Tap power button while unit is on
Bluetooth pair: Hold power button for several seconds (I think it has to be off first, not sure)
Summary:
If you're looking for an AWESOME set of headphones for working out, walking around, and commuting these things are perfect. They will let you hear your music while still being able to hear what's going on around you. You get great sound quality without having to deal with a bunch of wires to trip you up and make you look like a fool on the treadmill.
Don't get these if you need noise cancellation (passive or active), if you love in-ear headphones, and if you want to be taken by surprise as you walk/run down the sidewalk/street.