There are a handful of posts about The Headphone by Bragi, but after using it a few days, and wanting to post more about it, it seemed worthy of it's own thread with a proper title.
First the basics: The Headphone are wireless bluetooth earbuds, that come with a non-battery case, a couple of sizes of "FitTips", as well as one pair of Comply foam tips. It's packaged in a neat little box, as has become the norm since Apple made packaging a 'thing.'
My interest in The Headphone came from a few realities: There aren't many *good* truly wireless bluetooth earbuds on the market at a decent price, nor many with decent battery life, and AirPods weren't an option for me. As is the case with a non-insignificant portion of the population, AirPods do not stay in my ears. Additionally, the requirement of Siri to change tracks or change volume was also a deal breaker. I am constantly skipping tracks and changing volume as a result, and the 'lag' of using Siri would make me nuts.
I ordered The Headphone as part of the pre-order group, and despite an unfortunate delay, I did finally receive mine early this week. And while it has only been a few days of use, at the moment I give these a big thumbs up.
Ok, into the details. First off, these thing weigh like nothing. Super light. Setup was quite easy, as is the case with most modern bluetooth devices. Pairing was a breeze. Subsequent connects take about 3-5 seconds.
I first tried The Headphone using the default sized (medium ?) FitTips that were already on them. They stayed on my ears securely, but based on the sound I was getting, the fit was clearly not right for my ears. I then switched to the Comply foam tips, and wow. The sound was clear and full. And of course the Comply foam tips are incredibly comfortable.
Range is always an important metric for anything bluetooth, and I've been very pleased by The Headphone. I've put my phone in both front pockets, back pockets, backpack, jacket pockets, etc, and not a single drop. In very simplistic range testing, I could walk about 30 feet into a different room, when they started losing connection.
The right earbud contains the controls, which are three multi-function buttons. They are raised, which makes them very easy to find with your finger. Pushing the buttons pushes the unit into your ear a little, which is weird, but I've not found it to be an issue. No pain or anything like that. The buttons serve the usual purposes: volume and track changing, play/pause, access to voice control (Siri on iOS), power. Everything works as expected. It's great being able to very easily change tracks or change volume. It's important to me, and The Headphone does it with ease.
I don't make too many phone calls, but I did do two 'test' calls in a quiet environment, and the receivers said I sounded fine. I don't expect these to do well in a noisy environment, but I plan to give it a try and will report back. For me, it's not an issue, as using it for phone calls was not a requirement.
One slight ding for me, is that when putting them back in the case, they do not automatically shut off. They do automatically shut off once you connect it to a charger, and they will auto shut off after a period of time of no connection, but it does seem like an oversight.
I'll end this post with mention of a great feature The Headphone has called Audio Transparency. With this enabled, The Headphone brings in some surrounding sound, to allow you to be more 'aware' of your surroundings. I hadn't thought much of this feature, but having used it the last couple of days, I have to say it's pretty awesome, and something I'll likely use a lot. Whether it be my commute on the bus, or some walks about town, sometimes it's nice to be cut off, and other times it's nice to be more aware. This feature give you that option. With it enabled, music sound quality remains high.
So that's it for this first post. I am sure I missed something which I'll add in subsequent posts.
First the basics: The Headphone are wireless bluetooth earbuds, that come with a non-battery case, a couple of sizes of "FitTips", as well as one pair of Comply foam tips. It's packaged in a neat little box, as has become the norm since Apple made packaging a 'thing.'
My interest in The Headphone came from a few realities: There aren't many *good* truly wireless bluetooth earbuds on the market at a decent price, nor many with decent battery life, and AirPods weren't an option for me. As is the case with a non-insignificant portion of the population, AirPods do not stay in my ears. Additionally, the requirement of Siri to change tracks or change volume was also a deal breaker. I am constantly skipping tracks and changing volume as a result, and the 'lag' of using Siri would make me nuts.
I ordered The Headphone as part of the pre-order group, and despite an unfortunate delay, I did finally receive mine early this week. And while it has only been a few days of use, at the moment I give these a big thumbs up.
Ok, into the details. First off, these thing weigh like nothing. Super light. Setup was quite easy, as is the case with most modern bluetooth devices. Pairing was a breeze. Subsequent connects take about 3-5 seconds.
I first tried The Headphone using the default sized (medium ?) FitTips that were already on them. They stayed on my ears securely, but based on the sound I was getting, the fit was clearly not right for my ears. I then switched to the Comply foam tips, and wow. The sound was clear and full. And of course the Comply foam tips are incredibly comfortable.
Range is always an important metric for anything bluetooth, and I've been very pleased by The Headphone. I've put my phone in both front pockets, back pockets, backpack, jacket pockets, etc, and not a single drop. In very simplistic range testing, I could walk about 30 feet into a different room, when they started losing connection.
The right earbud contains the controls, which are three multi-function buttons. They are raised, which makes them very easy to find with your finger. Pushing the buttons pushes the unit into your ear a little, which is weird, but I've not found it to be an issue. No pain or anything like that. The buttons serve the usual purposes: volume and track changing, play/pause, access to voice control (Siri on iOS), power. Everything works as expected. It's great being able to very easily change tracks or change volume. It's important to me, and The Headphone does it with ease.
I don't make too many phone calls, but I did do two 'test' calls in a quiet environment, and the receivers said I sounded fine. I don't expect these to do well in a noisy environment, but I plan to give it a try and will report back. For me, it's not an issue, as using it for phone calls was not a requirement.
One slight ding for me, is that when putting them back in the case, they do not automatically shut off. They do automatically shut off once you connect it to a charger, and they will auto shut off after a period of time of no connection, but it does seem like an oversight.
I'll end this post with mention of a great feature The Headphone has called Audio Transparency. With this enabled, The Headphone brings in some surrounding sound, to allow you to be more 'aware' of your surroundings. I hadn't thought much of this feature, but having used it the last couple of days, I have to say it's pretty awesome, and something I'll likely use a lot. Whether it be my commute on the bus, or some walks about town, sometimes it's nice to be cut off, and other times it's nice to be more aware. This feature give you that option. With it enabled, music sound quality remains high.
So that's it for this first post. I am sure I missed something which I'll add in subsequent posts.
