As part of my drive to lose 50 pounds, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym. That means lots of healthy-but-boring hours on the treadmill and weight machines. to keep my brain from softening while my muscles are hardening, I’ve been listening to music and podcasts on my iPhone.
I’m not very demanding when it comes to audio quality, so I’ve been using the earbuds that came with the phone. However, being wired to a device while exercising has become very irritating, so I decided I’d try to find a set of Bluetooth stereo headphones and cut the cord.
I began by doing some research online, and found that prices and reviews are all over the map. You can pay around $300 for some over-the-ear Sennheiser PX 360 BT headphones, which I’m sure would sound awesome. But I ‘d look dorky and it would be awkward having those big cans on my head.
At the other end of the spectrum are low-end headphones, such as the ones I ultimately settled on. I ordered the Arctic Sound P311 Bluetooth headphones for about $28 from Amazon.com. normally, I’d shy away from phones so cheap, but the reviews were largely positive and they had two features I wanted. although the P311 has a behind-the-head design, it comes with a built-in microphone for use with phone calls. It’s lightweight but hugs my head tightly, something that’s important when bouncing up and down on a cardio machine.
One thing that gave me pause before I pushed the Buy button: they are often described in Amazon’s user reviews as being cheaply made. But those same reviews praise their comfort and audio quality, so I took the plunge.
The headphones come with a plastic carrying case and a USB cable for charging via computer. There’s no separate charger, though any standard USB-based AC adapter will work. It takes about 2-3 hours to charge them.
The controls are on the right side, including skip forward/back, volume and a multi-function button that turns the headphones on or off and can answer phone calls. I can tell it will take me a while to get used to accessing the controls by feel – I keep skipping songs when I mean to increase the volume.
The P311′s padding is quite thick, which makes them very comfortable. the frame wraps around the back of the head, but on my it didn’t sit flush. If I lay down with the headphones on, they’re pushed forward as a result. the frame is not adjustable, so if you have a large head, they may feel tight.
Audio quality is quite good. Highs are bright and clear, and bass is adequate – probably a little better than what I get from my the headphones that came with my iPhone 4. I’d say overall the quality is better than those, but these won’t compete with Beats by Dr. Dre or Sennheiser models. Still, considering the price, the audio quality is quite good.
I was a little worried about the quality of phone conversations, since the microphone is embedded in the earpiece. But I made a phone call to my daughter, who said she could hear me perfectly. I have not yet tested it in a noisy environment, though.
One thing to note: If you crank up the volume, you may be annoying the person next to you. although the headphones sit comfortably on the ear, and the padding feels like it provides a decent seal, someone sitting next to you can clearly hear what’s playing. the P311 “leaks” sound more than other headphones of this design I’ve tried.
I haven’t used these long enough to get a feel for battery life, but Arctic Sound says they’ll get about 20 hours on a charge. I can tell you that they made my iPhone’s battery indicator drop quickly. I spent about a half hour using them, and the indicator went from 35 percent to 20 percent. However, I had the phone’s screen on much of the time as I was testing equalizer settings and switching between different songs. I’ll know more when I’m using it with the screen off and the song-shuffle on.
So far, I’m very pleased with this purchase. Early on, the P311 seems like a good value. I’m looking forward to testing this out at the gym, and I’ll provide an update once I see how the headphones perform in under sweaty conditions, iron-pumping conditions.