Bragi Dash Impressions: Wireless Earphones Offer Enough Quality Features to Counter Small Battery

[mazz0]

These are smart ear buds. The battery isn't just for music on bluetooth, these buds track your fitness, heart rate, oxygen, jawbone microphone, etc. They do a lot, thats why the battery doesn't last longer than a few hours.

Yeah, I just started reading the Wired review - heartbeat and oxygen saturation tracking, that would explain it! I'd rather sacrifice those for longer battery life, but I get it now

Bodes well for Apple's attempt, assuming they're not going to be doing that.

 

[Clarky!]

Yeah, I just started reading the Wired review - heartbeat and oxygen saturation tracking, that would explain it! I'd rather sacrifice those for longer battery life, but I get it now

Bodes well for Apple's attempt, assuming they're not going to be doing that.

Yeah I'm sure on airplane mode playing music from the built in 4GB these will last a lot longer than four hours. That would be an interesting test.

 

[triton100]

Um Dude, it's a >3 minute review and all he says about sound quality is 6 words: "Not only do these sound great..." to which I would ask, "relative to what?" 2 paper cups connected by a string can sound great relative to cups with no string.

Go watch non-geek-computer-oriented reporters review headphones for audio publications or websites and they'll spend a LOT of time and dominate their articles and videos on how speakers or headphones sound... even spelling out the details of what they listened to for the review and relative to other headphone products.

I don't want to rain on this too hard- they may produce audio better than any other headphones in the world for all I know- but I'd think that how they sound should get at least a paragraph in an article about any kind of headphone/earbuds and maybe at least 20% or more of a video review.

After all, once the setup is over, what is any owner of the product going to use them for the most?

Fair point. I understand what you're saying. I guess I'm so excited by the tech that im convincing myself that it was enough for me when the reporter mentioned the quality was good in the video. Because I'm really hoping they are. And of course they might not be. He also had the CEO in the room and may not have had the balls to give an honest critique. Hope they do sound good tho

 

[gugy]

I am interested in getting one of these for swimming. Looks pretty cool. I wonder if Apple is going to have something like that coming down the pipeline.

 

[Tech198]

these are not desined to be replacements of Beats or any headphone today, but ilke this.

Of course, for me i'd just turn down the sound, but that's me. I'm even more amazed by the fact they come with their own charging case... (yes another one we add to our collection), and their up upgradable by plugging into your computer ?? Bloody 'ell...

What's next ? Give us a good reason.. Make everything firmware upgrade.... even our fridge should be DYI

 

[Zirel]

300€????

I'll wait for the ones that Apple/Beats will give me for free.

 

[name99]

I don't get why the battery life on truly wireless headphones has to be so bad. Jaybirds (which have a wire between the earpieces) have an advertised battery life of eight hours (it's actually been a little more for me). If we imagine that the only drain on the battery is the wireless connectivity (which obviously isn't really the case, since sound is energy) then I could understand having half that battery life since they have twice the wireless traffic to manage. But that's four hours, not three (and like I said, some of the eight hours obviously goes to making the sound, so I shouldn't even be expecting it to halve). Is the missing battery life because of all those extra features they've added, or just inefficiency, or because they've done and Apple and prioritised small size (maybe they found putting bigger batteries in made them fall out)?

Four hours would be good enough almost all the time, but wouldn't cut it for long journeys. Of course, if you don't care about long journeys (or you don't mind taking an extra battery thing with you to top them up (I'm sure that will be available, actually I don't know how much charge you get out of the case that comes with them, could be enough for a long journey on its own) and taking a break to charge them half way through) then they could be great, I'm certainly not saying I don't see the appeal, I just think I'd sacrifice some of their touted features for battery life closer to four or five hours.

The lack of a cable (or something similar) holding the two pieces together strikes me as THE big problem.
I look at these things and all I can think is that they're so easy to lose...

The secondary problem is that the ONLY BT device I have ever owned that seems capable of actually connecting to my phone without constant handholding is my Apple Watch. I'm really not interested in one more BT device that kinda sorta works except every two weeks it randomly doesn't and I then have to engage in the "toggle BT on and off; OK, reboot the device; OK, reboot the phone" dance.

I am also amazed at all this "it's a new platform" business. Maybe I'm a luddite who can't see the future clearly, but I simply cannot see the need for a "platform" in my headphones. I have a perfectly fine platform in my phone, and it seems a whole lot more sustainable and productive to concentrate on putting smarts THERE rather than putting them in the cramped space of the headphones.

 

[blairh]

The future of headphones is wireless.

 

[CthrewU]

Am i the only one concerned about the "magnetic induction" part of the Near Field Magnetic Induction technology in terms of my brain health?

Wondering how the intensity of this compares with MRI.. I dont want my brain to be exposed to mini MRI every day.

There is really no comparison to the strength of these earbuds and an MRI. Most scanners use a magnet that is 2-3 times stronger than the earths magnetic field with the strength of the magnet rated in Teslas. Without hard specs on the earbuds the tiny power supply alone would lead me to believe that the field generated by these things is minuscule compared to the electromagnetic energy that we are all exposed to on a daily basis.

 

[Fiestaman]

Luckily I jumped on as an Early Bird backer on Kickstarter. $179 for these? That's a no brainer.
They're way behind their original planned schedule. However, they've kept all the backers well updated with 48 updates and counting. I would rather they spend extra time to make a great product. Everything I've seen points to a great product so I have no qualms with waiting. I'm excited to receive my pair in the next few days.

 

[friedmud]

And is it really going to be steadily beaming magnetic waves directly through our brains every second we are using them so that Left can sync with Right? That's how it appears to read to me.

You should only be worried about "magnetic waves" if you've got some metal plates in your head (and not even then because of the tiny power of these earbuds). Otherwise, you should be good.

 

[fourthtunz]

This does seem like an ad or propaganda! Looks like the rumor about no headphone jack is serious.
I'm not crazy about wearing a radio that close to my head.
yeah I know, phones are supposed to be safe..uh huh..
You do what you want I don't put my iPhone anywhere near my head.
I hope my iPhone 6 lasts a long time..

 

[Small White Car]

I don't care what they do, I will never buy a pair of headphones that need to be charged.

If Apple gets it in their heads to ever include something like this with the iPhone they'll be going straight in the trash.

 

[Justim]

This write up doesn't give much justice to the Dash. It's more of a review of reviews.

First, I'd like to point out that the only negative review of the Dash was WSJ. I haven't seen anyone catch on that the pair WSJ tested were either developer or beta with known issues. This was evident by the photos taken and posted by WSJ. The writer's complaints of software could be invalid because he wasn't testing a consumer ready product. Engadget, The Verge, and DC Rainmaker all tested final products at CES. No one has published a reliable outdoor review as of yet. Phew. I feel better by getting that out there.

As for battery and other features, theres a slight misconception there too. The Dash actually provides up to 4 hours of battery when it's out of tracking mode. HR, O2 saturation, altitude, and all the other features it includes or will include consume an hour of the battery life. Also, the case provides 5 additional charges. Not too shabby for something so small.

The NFMI that the Dash uses is medical grade and has been used in hearing aids for a decade. No braincells were harmed in the making. Except for the backers pulling their hair out from waiting.

Kickstarter backers haven't received shipping confirmation yet. People that pre-ordered through the website haven't been charged for the product yet, either. Charges will go through when the product is in hand and ready to ship.

Also, there's the option to add a leash that will tether the earbuds together, giving you security while surfing or doing something else equally adventurous.

 

[Fzang]

Am i the only one concerned about the "magnetic induction" part of the Near Field Magnetic Induction technology in terms of my brain health?

Wondering how the intensity of this compares with MRI.. I dont want my brain to be exposed to mini MRI every day.

Fun fact: MRI originally included an N for nuclear. It's a good thing they removed the N, or else you'd have been exposed to nuclear energy (aka nukes, aka uranium, aka fallout radiation).

Since nobody really bothers to read up on science anyway, I suggest we remove the M and R also, and call it Imaging. Maybe iMaging? Finally we have a harmless product!

 

[hamiltonrwatch]

300€????

I'll wait for the ones that Apple/Beats will give me for free.

Bring snacks; you'll be waiting for awhile

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

What happens when one falls out of my ear while I'm biking along at 20mph? Going to suck to have to go back and get it to see what kind of condition it's in after a fall and drop like that. Assuming it doesn't get run over by a car by that time.

 

[codeoverride]

Can't wait to see Apple release their version of it and call it amazing, magical, revolutionary, and so on and so forth like never before it ever existed and the fan boys are going to eat it up and pay whatever it costs lol

 

[hamiltonrwatch]

Going to suck to have to go back and get it to see what kind of condition it's in after a fall and drop like that.

If I wasn't so cynical, I'd look into these. Cool that you can track them if misplaced. Not so cool that they look like a set of Vegas Casino dice sticking out of your head.

 

[joshwenke]

true wireless earphones that don't even require a wire between the earpieces

Wait... isn't this the definition of "wireless"?

 

[Justim]

If I wasn't so cynical, I'd look into these. Cool that you can track them if misplaced. Not so cool that they look like a set of Vegas Casino dice sticking out of your head.

Retail price isn't much higher than backer price. I'll wait to see how the Dash does for me. If it doesn't pan out, I'll go for these and save $100. Not sold on the one size fits all design. May pose a problem with prolonged wear.

 

[Mactendo]

Nope, it can't beat Edwin the Duck. That was a piece of tech.

 

[Clarky!]

What happens when one falls out of my ear while I'm biking along at 20mph? Going to suck to have to go back and get it to see what kind of condition it's in after a fall and drop like that. Assuming it doesn't get run over by a car by that time.

Look at the product in detail, it comes with a leash you can use

 

[^^BIGMac]

They probably give you cancer.

Film @Eleven

 

[mistertomlinson]

Agreed. All the reviews (at least the MR excerpts) seem to be gaga over the ancillary features and pay no attention to the only reason for these to exist: sound. Typical BT sound is inferior to wired. At $299 if they don't sound decent, none of the other bells and whistles will mean a thing.

Also, I know it's first gen, but that battery life.

I read that these support Apt-X and AAC over Bluetooth. These codecs sound great. Apt-X in particular delivers CD quality audio over BT. It's indistinguishable from wired audio. The reason a lot of BT audio devices sound like crap is because they use the default SBC codec.