Why can not buy wireless headphones
Good day. Today, I will briefly talk about our experience in testing fully wireless headsets, and perhaps this will help someone when choosing headphones.
Despite the fact that our company (Medgadgets) temporarily ceased activity at Geektimes, the fact that we once “dragged” many of our readers into some process of waiting for Bragi Dash headsets, and then disappeared, still haunts me as a store owner. not talking about the problems encountered.
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To date, we have already tested many of these wireless headphones, including from the list that we have already given once , and 99% of these devices currently have one major, unresolved problem.
She was naked when we finally got a sample of Dash: unstable Bluetooth. According to the official developer response, this is “normal.” Indoors, these headphones will work correctly, but on the street or in another open space, the user will be faced with the fact that the sound will disappear, stutter, and the headphones will be constantly disconnected from the smartphone.
This is due to the fact that “on the street (direct quotation) Bluetooth is not reflected from the walls,” and the antenna power is not enough to keep a stable connection with the phone. Dash reminded that the headset works perfectly and autonomously as a player, but ...
To better understand how this happens, I will share my personal impressions: for example, you cross the road, turn your head slightly to look around, and that's it. Break and stutter. To give a full description of this situation in order to somehow warn customers also does not work. Because on different ears (and we tested the whole office), on different smartphones, all these symptoms appear differently.
You can try to get out of the situation, for example, shifting your smartphone from pocket to pocket, and the higher to headphones, the more stable the sound will be: for example, in your inside pocket against your jeans pocket. And again, in the left pocket of a jeans phone to hold is worse than in the right, and so on and so forth ...
Dash
The biggest disappointment. On most Android smartphones, the connection is lost with the slightest deviation of the head. Yes, in the right pocket of jeans works better than in the left. Yes, in the inner pocket of the jacket works better than in the right pocket of jeans. Yes, IOS works more stable ... Well, such a bunch of nuances does not justify anything.
The story began with one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, after which there was a series of high-profile promises and statements. Now the project is divided into two independent parts: one of them is the representation in the press and the media, where everything seems to be not so bad. The second is in a closed group on Facebook, where headphones are mostly criticized.
The main reason for the negative is Bluetooth. True, some have already gone further and hinted that the heart rate monitor is also not so accurate. With a heart rate monitor, the story develops separately. A lawsuit against Valencell Dash was recently published . This is the antagonist company Mio, which makes heart rate monitors for Atlas, LG, Jabra, and probably has a large number of patents for "pulse from the ear."
Apparently, having swallowed and realizing the problem, the company Bragi announced Bragi Headphones, which they promised to release in November, but so far they have only reached the journalists of Verge. And in the review flashed hope: the editors admitted that there are no such problems with Bluetooth in this version. Everything works correctly and stably.
At the same time, Headphones have lost most of the capabilities of Dash headphones: the case will not be able to charge them, touch control is not. Of the amazing and innovative features, only the “capture of external sounds” will remain, when either in parallel to the music, or without it, the user can hear everything that happens around thanks to the built-in microphone, which “captures” and amplifies external sounds.
IconX
Samsung went on sale even earlier than Bragi, although it was made explicitly by analogy. They repeat almost all key functions: they broadcast external sounds, they have a heart rate monitor, but at the same time Bluetooth turned out to be stable with these headphones, so we didn’t feel the trick in advance and did not expect a problem.
We tested them in the field while being in the country, and the claims against IconX were completely different. First, the sound. As soon as you listen to some even uncomplicated music, you will think that a deaf person was testing the headphones inside the company!
Secondly, the battery life. With the stated 2.5 hours of work, they do not pull even an hour and a half. Moreover, everything happens not without tricks: you connect the headphones to the smartphone as a headset, and they work like “half-power”. To increase the sound, you need to connect them to the proprietary application, and then they begin to "sit down" almost instantly.
However, again, IconX is a player. And in the player mode, they work longer. But this does not affect the sound quality.
Gogo
It was the very first version of the tracker headphones with a heart rate monitor, which we bought hot on the heels of Dash. Large, weak battery, useless heart rate monitor and poverbank box. As well as Dash, and IconX have internal memory, and therefore can be used as an independent player.
By and large, all of the above are not headphones. It would be more correct to call it innovative (for example) mp3-players with the ability to connect as a headset to a smartphone.
Looking at them like that, much could be “written off”, but it turns out that the developers themselves were digging their own grave. The three models are very similar: case power bank, heart rate monitor, player ... In general, it is strange.
Rowkin
This is just a headset. They are also sold with their case-banks in the form of a cylinder, the sound is slightly better than IconX and GoGo, but the situation with Bluetooth is similar to Bragi Dash, although it is more stable with Android smartphones.
Bluetooth behaves, as is the case with Dash, unpredictable: in some ears it is better, in others it is worse, but according to general sensations it works longer, more stable, more correctly.
On the street, a significant role is played by the proximity of houses, and the smartphone is still better to keep in your inside pocket.
Aliexpress
The Chinese, of course, began to make "their own Dash", probably even when the original campaign was just beginning on Kickstarter. Finding them in the usual category of wireless headphones is not so easy, but you can google on request Twin Heaphones or True Wireless .
The Chinese, of course, especially do not inspire confidence, but somehow the image of Xiaomi spreads slowly on all others, so I wanted to test the headphones with Aliexpress. The task was simple: to find some of the cheapest and compare with the most expensive.
As a result, for those who want to try, what is it like when the headphones are not connected to each other by wire, you can pay attention to this model: Q800 .
Surprisingly, the quality of sound and the quality of Bluetooth work is almost Rowkin. The Q800’s connection with the phone seems to be stable, the sound on the street with the “right” position of the phone in the right pocket is more stable, and putting the smartphone in the inside pocket doesn’t seem to be a problem.
They begin to stutter, however, not only because they lose Bluetooth on the street: when the battery is low, please. Moreover, the declared 3 hours, of course, they do not work out - an hour and a half. They are charged from the docking station, with which they are sold. But for all that, you put up with such shortcomings more readily when your headphones cost fifteen hundred, rather than one and a half - two ten thousand rubles.
As a result, I would like to note that on the one hand it was naive to expect that the first pancake would not come out lumpy. Even a niche heart rate monitor, which has been developing for 50 years, is still pleased with the news about the inaccuracy of certain models, and in optics - the constant trial of Fitbit.
So it’s necessary, it turns out, to wait a bit, and, judging by Verge, it will not be half a century, although we wouldn’t recommend taking the new headphones blindly, but wait for much more extensive tests and reviews. Do I need such headphones at all as a class? It is difficult to say, but the developers did not come empty-handed: after all, a new function for capturing external sounds was added!
But now it turns out that it’s too early to buy such headsets, and we, of course, apologize that we have been so actively urging you to leave requests on the site, and now, in fact, have refused to order Dash. However, we have failed you, in order not to fail even more, and therefore we hope for understanding.
Have a nice day!
Despite the fact that our company (Medgadgets) temporarily ceased activity at Geektimes, the fact that we once “dragged” many of our readers into some process of waiting for Bragi Dash headsets, and then disappeared, still haunts me as a store owner. not talking about the problems encountered.
')
To date, we have already tested many of these wireless headphones, including from the list that we have already given once , and 99% of these devices currently have one major, unresolved problem.
She was naked when we finally got a sample of Dash: unstable Bluetooth. According to the official developer response, this is “normal.” Indoors, these headphones will work correctly, but on the street or in another open space, the user will be faced with the fact that the sound will disappear, stutter, and the headphones will be constantly disconnected from the smartphone.
This is due to the fact that “on the street (direct quotation) Bluetooth is not reflected from the walls,” and the antenna power is not enough to keep a stable connection with the phone. Dash reminded that the headset works perfectly and autonomously as a player, but ...
To better understand how this happens, I will share my personal impressions: for example, you cross the road, turn your head slightly to look around, and that's it. Break and stutter. To give a full description of this situation in order to somehow warn customers also does not work. Because on different ears (and we tested the whole office), on different smartphones, all these symptoms appear differently.
You can try to get out of the situation, for example, shifting your smartphone from pocket to pocket, and the higher to headphones, the more stable the sound will be: for example, in your inside pocket against your jeans pocket. And again, in the left pocket of a jeans phone to hold is worse than in the right, and so on and so forth ...
Dash
The biggest disappointment. On most Android smartphones, the connection is lost with the slightest deviation of the head. Yes, in the right pocket of jeans works better than in the left. Yes, in the inner pocket of the jacket works better than in the right pocket of jeans. Yes, IOS works more stable ... Well, such a bunch of nuances does not justify anything.
The story began with one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, after which there was a series of high-profile promises and statements. Now the project is divided into two independent parts: one of them is the representation in the press and the media, where everything seems to be not so bad. The second is in a closed group on Facebook, where headphones are mostly criticized.
The main reason for the negative is Bluetooth. True, some have already gone further and hinted that the heart rate monitor is also not so accurate. With a heart rate monitor, the story develops separately. A lawsuit against Valencell Dash was recently published . This is the antagonist company Mio, which makes heart rate monitors for Atlas, LG, Jabra, and probably has a large number of patents for "pulse from the ear."
Apparently, having swallowed and realizing the problem, the company Bragi announced Bragi Headphones, which they promised to release in November, but so far they have only reached the journalists of Verge. And in the review flashed hope: the editors admitted that there are no such problems with Bluetooth in this version. Everything works correctly and stably.
At the same time, Headphones have lost most of the capabilities of Dash headphones: the case will not be able to charge them, touch control is not. Of the amazing and innovative features, only the “capture of external sounds” will remain, when either in parallel to the music, or without it, the user can hear everything that happens around thanks to the built-in microphone, which “captures” and amplifies external sounds.
IconX
Samsung went on sale even earlier than Bragi, although it was made explicitly by analogy. They repeat almost all key functions: they broadcast external sounds, they have a heart rate monitor, but at the same time Bluetooth turned out to be stable with these headphones, so we didn’t feel the trick in advance and did not expect a problem.
We tested them in the field while being in the country, and the claims against IconX were completely different. First, the sound. As soon as you listen to some even uncomplicated music, you will think that a deaf person was testing the headphones inside the company!
Secondly, the battery life. With the stated 2.5 hours of work, they do not pull even an hour and a half. Moreover, everything happens not without tricks: you connect the headphones to the smartphone as a headset, and they work like “half-power”. To increase the sound, you need to connect them to the proprietary application, and then they begin to "sit down" almost instantly.
However, again, IconX is a player. And in the player mode, they work longer. But this does not affect the sound quality.
Gogo
It was the very first version of the tracker headphones with a heart rate monitor, which we bought hot on the heels of Dash. Large, weak battery, useless heart rate monitor and poverbank box. As well as Dash, and IconX have internal memory, and therefore can be used as an independent player.
By and large, all of the above are not headphones. It would be more correct to call it innovative (for example) mp3-players with the ability to connect as a headset to a smartphone.
Looking at them like that, much could be “written off”, but it turns out that the developers themselves were digging their own grave. The three models are very similar: case power bank, heart rate monitor, player ... In general, it is strange.
Rowkin
This is just a headset. They are also sold with their case-banks in the form of a cylinder, the sound is slightly better than IconX and GoGo, but the situation with Bluetooth is similar to Bragi Dash, although it is more stable with Android smartphones.
Bluetooth behaves, as is the case with Dash, unpredictable: in some ears it is better, in others it is worse, but according to general sensations it works longer, more stable, more correctly.
On the street, a significant role is played by the proximity of houses, and the smartphone is still better to keep in your inside pocket.
Aliexpress
The Chinese, of course, began to make "their own Dash", probably even when the original campaign was just beginning on Kickstarter. Finding them in the usual category of wireless headphones is not so easy, but you can google on request Twin Heaphones or True Wireless .
The Chinese, of course, especially do not inspire confidence, but somehow the image of Xiaomi spreads slowly on all others, so I wanted to test the headphones with Aliexpress. The task was simple: to find some of the cheapest and compare with the most expensive.
As a result, for those who want to try, what is it like when the headphones are not connected to each other by wire, you can pay attention to this model: Q800 .
Surprisingly, the quality of sound and the quality of Bluetooth work is almost Rowkin. The Q800’s connection with the phone seems to be stable, the sound on the street with the “right” position of the phone in the right pocket is more stable, and putting the smartphone in the inside pocket doesn’t seem to be a problem.
They begin to stutter, however, not only because they lose Bluetooth on the street: when the battery is low, please. Moreover, the declared 3 hours, of course, they do not work out - an hour and a half. They are charged from the docking station, with which they are sold. But for all that, you put up with such shortcomings more readily when your headphones cost fifteen hundred, rather than one and a half - two ten thousand rubles.
As a result, I would like to note that on the one hand it was naive to expect that the first pancake would not come out lumpy. Even a niche heart rate monitor, which has been developing for 50 years, is still pleased with the news about the inaccuracy of certain models, and in optics - the constant trial of Fitbit.
So it’s necessary, it turns out, to wait a bit, and, judging by Verge, it will not be half a century, although we wouldn’t recommend taking the new headphones blindly, but wait for much more extensive tests and reviews. Do I need such headphones at all as a class? It is difficult to say, but the developers did not come empty-handed: after all, a new function for capturing external sounds was added!
But now it turns out that it’s too early to buy such headsets, and we, of course, apologize that we have been so actively urging you to leave requests on the site, and now, in fact, have refused to order Dash. However, we have failed you, in order not to fail even more, and therefore we hope for understanding.
Have a nice day!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/399407/
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