Best wireless earbuds – what are the best ones for the wireless future?
The rise of wireless earbuds is happening quickly. Apple introduced a pair, and more are popping up on Kickstarter every day. The iPhone 7 doesn’t have a headphone jack leaving you using adapters, Lightning headphones, or picking up a pair of Bluetooth headphones. If you’re willing to sacrifice battery life, audio quality, and in some cases design you can have a truly wireless experience with a pair of earbuds.
We’ll cover the top earbuds considering price, connection issues, and the name brand ones.
Apple Air Pods
Do Apple’s Airpods Sound Amazing?
They don’t, but they’re way more than a thing you use to listen to the audio.
Let’s get all the interesting comparisons out of the way. The Apple AirPods are basically like the former Apple EarPods but with the significant drop of the wires which necessitated the use of the headphone jack, unlike the new Airpods which are connected via Bluetooth and are the perfect means of listening to music on the iPhone 7.
The Airpods settle down nicely in your ears, truly better than the Earpods.
They even stayed in a while I moved around with it in my ears. The battery lasts a little longer than advertised, which is good by the way.
The strangest thing about the Airpods isn’t how they look; it’s that Apple’s evidently not all concerned with how they sound because truly there isn’t much of a difference when it comes to how the Airpods sound in comparison with the Earpods, and that isn’t necessarily a huge let down because the Earpods already sound magnificent. The point is the Apple Airpod is a good product, but the huge let down for most people is the $159 price tag attached to it, other than that it is nice, for one, the microphone is fantastic. The dual-mic setup, along with Apples intelligent noise-cancelling tech that uses subtle vibrations to know when you’re speaking, makes for one of the clearest remote input devices.
Rowkin Bit
I don’t need a soothsayer to tell me, but wired earbuds, earphones, and headphones are taking a slow exit from our lives. You want to know why, ill tell you why, because of more advanced gadgets like the Rowkin Bit Wireless earbuds!
So, what are the Rowkin Bit Charge Wireless Earbuds?
Well, as the name implies they are tiny wireless earbuds that come in a rechargeable case and talk about utilization, it also serves as a backup battery for your other gadgets.
Structure and function
The Rowkin earbuds come in a sleek case with a gray aluminum shell that encloses built-in rechargeable batteries that charge the earbuds when not in use. These batteries can be charged through a micro USB cable located at the back of the device along with a regular USB port for charging other devices and a LED light between the two ports indicates the battery capacity level.
According to what I’ve heard from users, the case can charge the earbuds up to 15 times before it needs a recharge and the earbuds themselves last for about 3 hours per charge. It’s not bad you know, considering the size.
Each earbud has a LED that indicates the power status and a multi-function button on the face that toggles power, play\pause, initiates pairing, call\answer\end\reject and activates voice control. The LED serves as a visual indicator of power status, pairing status and the master\slave relationship between the earbuds. The earbuds slot into the case and as soon as they are inserted, they start charging which is indicated by the LEDs glowing red and when the earbuds are done charging, they go out. The earbuds are removed by pressing up from the bottom of the case so the earbuds can extend out the top and be removed from there.
Comfort, Fit, and Feel
These earbuds are in-ear style and fit into your ear comfortably. I like this kind because it just fits into my ear like a little button. To pair the Rowkin earbuds, you remove them from the charging case and press those buttons on the earbuds at the same time. The LED will start blinking red and then red\white to let you know they are in pairing mode. Sound quality is pretty good, despite the fact that Bluetooth earbuds\headphones never have the best audio. Depending on the song, it might sound pretty flat sometimes, and other times high.
Final Thoughts
I think the design is fashionable, it also fits and feels right in your ears, and that has given me the patience to deal with the occasional connectivity issues. Thankfully, it only happens a few times, mostly when I’m moving around, but these itty bitty ear buds are just so easy to handle I just keep up with them. Even with that, honestly speaking, I don’t think it’s worth the $129 price tag attached to it. Quite a significant amount of money to pay for earbuds that work %100 of the time. That aside it is still a pretty cool piece of tech.
Samsung Gear Icon X
A lot of earbuds are rolling out quickly and most of them have some really cool features and are pretty slick, like the Bragi headphones, Apple Airpods and the Motorola VerveOnes but the Samsung Gear Icon X nails the basics (no easy feat) and also offer a few perks that the other earbuds don’t. But it’s sold for a higher price of $199.
That aside the Gear Icon X is a cool piece of tech that offers basic fitness tracking features and fulfilling sound quality. But the high price tag, patchy battery life, and frequent signal dropouts act as a persistent reminder that, if this is the future of headphones, were constant at the moment being stuck in the past.
Design
You will find the Gear Icon X packaged in a sleek cylindrical charging case that can fit comfortably into your pocket. Each ear pad has a unique design and fits into their respective charging docks as indicated by markings on the interior.LEDs on the case indicate the charging status of the earbuds and the case.Interestingly, there are no buttons at all on the Gear Icon X; the built-in heart rate monitors can sense when you’ve plugged them into your ears and switch on automatically to pair with your device. Cool, right?.
Performance
This pair of headphones uses the Samsung Gear app(an Android exclusive) to display its smart functions. Each of the buds contains a 47mAh battery and the case houses a 315mAh battery, the battery life is where the Gear IconX fall, I get that wireless earbud technology is in its early stage and battery life is sure to get better with time, but it stinks at the moment.
On average, the battery lasts for about two hours of regular use before needing to be recharged in the cradle. It’s handy that the cradle can power up the Gear Icon X. Finally, it’s also worth mentioning that these aren’t waterproof, the Icon X is built with a nano-coating that can resist light exposure to liquid.
Sound Quality
I’m not an audiophile, and I won’t bore you with vague descriptions of the IconX’S highs, mids, and lows. First of all the Gear IconX’s are wireless and are connected via Bluetooth and most Bluetooth headsets have the occasional dropouts but other than that they sound magnificent and have microphones that are useful for conversations.
Final Thoughts
Samsung was apparently trying to be innovative telling from the design and concept of the IconX. But in its present state, the GearIconX is not much more than a polished proof of concept that covers the need of music lovers who don’t like wires.
Motorola VerveOnes
Having two knob thingies sticking out both your ears can be funny looking, I agree. But it can also be cool, right? Handsfree, feels like the sound is being streamed into your ear from nowhere, and just having a good old time? That’s the idea behind Motorola VerveOnes!.
For starters, these aren’t made by Motorola. A company called Binatone licensed the name and borrowed some technology. Conveniently, these earbuds switch on automatically when you put them into your ear and switch off when you take them out, smart voice prompts tell you when it’s connected and announces the battery life each time you switch it on. The charger case is small, lipstick-shaped and easy to use.
You won’t get ASDA grade An awesome sound from these, but they have great dynamics and surprisingly good bass. Oh! And with six different tips, one of them is bound to fit in your ear. Press and hold the button on either earbud, and you’ll activate Siri or Google Now. The mic is not so good, but it works just fine.
Anyway, like many other wireless earbuds, the Motorola VerveOnes can’t hold a connection, which leaves me wondering if truly wireless earbuds are still just a fleeting dream. Moving on, given their size, they’re hard to get securely in your ears and will inevitably fall out at inopportune moments. The box promises 12 hours of playtime, but in actuality, it’s more like two and a half to three hours, but this is still a pretty decent piece to have in your pocket when you’re on the go!
Bragi Headphones
After almost three years of buzz, a Kickstarter campaign, and some product delays, German start-up company Bragi has kept its promise with its second product. A pair of truly wireless headphones that work!
The $149 headphones which Bragi said will start shipping any day now, are actually simple ones. None of that fancy heart rate monitor, gesture controls, app, none of that.It can only let you take or make phone calls, stream audio from your phone and access your phone’s digital assistant; that’s it! But, there’s beauty in that simplicity because this is probably what Bragi should have gone with in the first place, the reason being they are far better at performing their essential task (audio streaming) than the Dash ever could.
I have to give it to Bragi; they actually solved the connectivity problem that plagues Bluetooth headphones. Seriously, you can put it in any pocket, throw it in your bag, and the connection will still stay active unless you start walking away with them, and if you start experiencing connectivity dropouts, you’ll know why. It is pretty balanced in the sound department with some bass to give you a kick now and then.
Even with all this, these still have downsides like every other product. Bragi replaced the touch-sensitive controls of the Dash with three physical buttons on the right earbud. Asides from it taking a while distinguishing between what buttons you’re touching, the more you press the buttons, the deeper the headphones get into your ear, and I really wish they could charge in the case.
Well, with all said and done, these moves most likely helped Bragi cut the cost of production of these headphones to half what their last headphone (the Dash) cost and in my opinion, this product is worth its $149 price because Bragi did deliver on its promise of giving us truly wireless earbuds.
Here One
The Here One is a good pair of headphones made by Doppler Labs. It is the first all in one, truly wireless listening system. With two smart earb[duds and a connected app, you can stream music, take phone calls, access Siri and Google Now, and more. Here One Earbuds put you in total control.
Comfort and Feel
Doppler L abs have done a really good job with the external hardware here. The earbuds are light and comfortable, and no-one will bat an eyelid when you pop them in your ears.
Sound Quality
The Here Ones have superb sound quality and good bass, it obviously still has the occasional hiccups and audio dropouts as a result of Bluetooth connectivity.
Yes, like I said they have excellent sound quality but nothing that’ll back up the $299 price tag attached to it.
Conclusion
These are some of the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds presently; I’m happy to say that if this is where earbuds are heading, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for earbuds. The biggest improvements that’ll need to be made is on battery life and connection, but Apple’s already started working on the issues with their new W-1 chipset.
Tell us in the comments below what pair of earbuds you are going to pick up, or if your going to go for a different class of Bluetooth headphones.