I was very sceptical of the new trend of truly wireless headphones at first. I didn’t believe that the technology is capable of producing a high quality headphones with a sensible time of usage without some major drawbacks in comfort of wearing them or some other major issues. I have to say that I came very late to the party as well. I haven’t been using plugs in years because of the lack of quality sound in many of which I’ve used. I am still pretty happy with my over-head headphones after all but after some time has passed I got very curious about these.
Sound quality
This is the number one priority for me that I seek in any headphones or speakers. I want to listen to music as it was composed to be listened. Sound has to be balanced and clear. I don’t like the amplified bass that most of the speakers are trying to do to hide the lack of the quality of the higher tones.
With the Buds+ I am really satisfied. For ear buds they have a very good sound. Nothing I ever experienced before. The listening still doesn’t match the enjoyment of listening on monitors but it’s very convienient for traveling or walking.
Noise cancellation
There is no active noise cancellation but I don’t think it’s even required. They even have butter noise cancellation then my other over-head headphones with active cancellation. They isolate as you put them inside your ear. It doesn’t even occur to me that I would have to re-adjust them. They fit nicely and stay and hold tight.
Ambient sound
Both buds have integrated microphone so when you have them on and don’t want to get them off you can just turn ambient sound and be back in the reality. The ambient sound is also loud enough that you don’t have to turn music off while doing some work, but when you try to communicate it really helps to turn it off. I don’t know how I should feel about not pulling them off while conversations because there isn’t really any downside to using ambient sound.
I wish that the microphone will be able to recognize wind and not cause my ears to bleed. It would make cycling a lot more enjoyable.
Comfort
These pair of buds is convenient to use. You can pick either one bud and use only that one. There is no limitation on which one has to be used as both are able to receive signal right from the source. They last as long as advertised. I charge them once a week and the charging speed is incredible. I am not going to put any numbers here because they charge so fast I don’t even notice them when they are fully charged.
One thing I was sceptical about truly wireless headphones is their ability to hold tight in ear without causing any pain. At first it was bothering me as I was not used to any of the plug headphones but in one week I got used to them. When I have my ears blocked with headphones I can feel the beat of my feet in my head, but that one got lost as well, or it’s not that significant anymore.
I didn’t had any technical difficulties.
Controls
There is still a room for improvement. I’d expect the controls to be more responsive. It often happens to me that I will prematurely press the “button” one more time than I wanted to because of the late sound feedback. Also there is this setting that I can control sound volume with a precise hit of the corner of the buds, but after many attempts I was not successful to find it. On the other hand, I really like the functionality of turning on ambient sound just by long-press.
Extra tip
There is one issue with the volume level by default. Buds have their own volume control when paired with some (old) phones and the volume is not set to be on maximum which can make you think that these do not perform very well at all. To fix this you have to:
- go to the Wearables app and set controls on to volume controls.
- Set the volume on maximum.
- You can set the controls back to any of your preferences.
- Enjoy?
Summary
In overall I recommend these or trying any truly wireless headphones out there. They are a revolutionary piece of hardware.
“What more can I say? Are you not entertained”?