Review
Gear that sounds so good!
Wireless Stereo Bluetooth headsets have been around for a while but it’s very hard to find one with good sound quality, comfort, design, and price. There’s a variety out in the market tailored to those on the go which pairs to a cell phone for wireless talking and listening to music but there’s not that many that tailor to gamers and audiophiles who don’t want any sacrifices in quality. I’ve reviewed the Beats Wireless and have been disappointed and have played with Parrot’s Zik, which was way out of my budget (retails at $400), and now I come across the TekNmotion AIRHEAD BT, which retails around $50 – $60.
TekNmotion is not that well known but they have been making peripherals for smartphones and PCs such as headphones and speakers for quite some time. Let’s see if the Airhead BT is suitable for the gamer and geek.
Design
On the surface, the Airhead BT resembles the average studio style headphones. Biggest difference of course is that it doesn’t need to be plugged into an audio source since it is a wireless device. What I am most impressed with is that the Airhead is actually pretty well built for the price. It sports a sturdy metallic flex band and durable plush ear cups. Storage is easy as it conveniently folds. It would have been nice if it came with a carrying bag but it doesn’t.
The controls are placed on each ear cup. On the left you will find the play/pause, next track, and previous track. On the right, you have the power, volume up, and volume down buttons. Sounds simple right? The problem is that these are awkwardly placed so it will be very tricky to remember and find which button is which and you can accidentally skip a track or turn off the device.
I found a very big problem right when I put the headphones on. They are very uncomfortable. When you move your head a little bit, they will fall right off. There’s not much friction from the band and what’s worse is that it’s the ear cups themselves that are sort of holding the headset in place. Also, the headband feels very heavy on the head, which is unusual for a pair of headphones this size. Another issue is that it’s tight on the ears and will start to hurt after about 15 minutes of use. The cushions are too small and the pressure becomes a bit painful on the ears. If you have a large size head, then I believe the experience will be much worse.
Performance
I was very surprised on how good the headphones sound. They actually sound as good as the Wireless Beats and are at a fraction of the cost. The bass is impressive and the mids and lows are equally incredible. Explosions and dialog in movies sounded full and playing games such as Black Ops II sounded great. The controls on the headset also work with VLC, iTunes and most other media software on the Mac and PC.
The built in mic however, was very disappointing. People said they heard a strange buzzing sound in calls and my voice sounded faint and hollow. I could hear the other party just fine. Just to be sure that it wasn’t my iPhone 5, I tested this on the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S3, and Blackberry Bold 9900 which all had the same effect. While chatting on my Mac and PC, people also heard the annoying buzzing sound.
Conclusion
I really wanted to like the Airhead BT by TekNmotion, I really did. A wireless stereo Bluetooth headset that’s reasonably priced, great build quality, with excellent sound quality is hard to find. I wouldn’t mind too much about the build in mic as listening is more important but TekNmotion needs to do a redesign on their next line of stereo Bluetooth headsets to get this right. As of now however, it is unfortunate that the headset is too uncomfortable to make this a winner.
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