Mpow Magneto Bluetooth Headset Review
I was sent a free review sample of this bluetooth headset to review, below are my impressions, for those looking to pick up a nice and pretty unique headset.
UNBOXING, INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The Magneto comes in a nice and slim box, the entire front of the box doubles as a flap that is held closed by a magnet. Swinging it open reveals the Magneto very tightly nestled inside of a velvet covered plastic holder that has been precision cut to fit the headset. Removing that reveals the included accessories, which are:
MicroUSB Cable
Small and Large Sized Eartips (Medium sized tips are already pre-mounted on the headset)
Small, Medium, and Large Rubber Ear Stabilizers
Manual Card
I was disappointed to see a lack of a carrying pouch or case of some sort among the accessories. Moreso because the Magneto headset itself is stunningly finished, with a very nice circular polished metal finish on its front face. I would hate to see it get scratched, so I do wish a carrying pouch had been included.
The headset itself is surprisingly large, much more so than I anticipated initially. It's also rather heavy, which isn't necessarily the best "feature" for an earphone to have. However as I discovered later, this wasn't really an issue.
The control pod is nicely made, with a full rubber coating, and 3 very clicky buttons.
CHARGING, BLUETOOTH PAIRING
The right earpiece contains a small rubber flap on top of the earpiece, which you flip open to reveal a microUSB port. The Magneto already comes pre-charged, however, it's still a good idea to top it off. A full charge takes 2 hours, which gives a playback time of 8 hours, and 175 hours of standby time.
To pair the headset, simply turn on bluetooth on your device, and hold down the central button on the Magneto's control pod. You'll hear a "Power On" prompt...continue to hold down the central button, and do not let it go. After 7 seconds, you'll hear another prompt say "Pairing", and a light will begin blinking orange, after which, you should see "Mpow Magneto" show up on your device. I didn't need a password, however if you do need to enter one, simply enter "0000". I found pairing to be effortless and very easy. The bluetooth spec is bluetooth 4.1.
Note that you can pair the Magneto with up to two devices. To pair a second device, make sure your first device's bluetooth is turned off, and then follow the pairing instructions again for the 2nd device. I was able to pair a 2nd device no problem.
PHYSICAL COMFORT
As mentioned, the Magneto is a rather bulky earphone, and there's no getting around the fact that it will stick out quite a bit in your ears. However, thanks to the inclusion of the rubber stabilizers, the Magneto's weight surprisingly disappeared, once in the ears. The 3 included tip sizes are all very nice and soft, and I had no issues using the Magneto for over an hour or longer. You can also wear the Magneto with the wire dangling below your chin, or behind your neck, to get the wire out of the way.
OPERATION
Once you've connected your device, to play music, press the central button on the control pod to play or pause the music. Next song is activated by long pressing the '-' button, and previous song is activated by long pressing the '+' button. Volume up and down involves short pressing the '=' and '-' buttons. There are no operations that allow you to fast forward or reverse through a song, you can only skip songs.
For phone calls, simply press the central button on the control pod to answer a call, and press the central button again to end the call. You can also hold down the central button as a call comes in, until you hear a "toot toot" prompt, to reject a call. Voice dialing is possible by holding down the central button and the '+' button simultaneously. Lastly, holding down the '+' and '-' button simultaneously will mute the microphone during a call.
The Magneto also has another very cool feature, from which it draws its name. The earpieces both have magnets embedded within them, and if you simply stick them together, your music will automatically pause (or your call will automatically end). Pulling the earpieces apart will play music again, or allow you to automatically answer an incoming call. My only concern with this feature is possibly scratching the nice metal finishing on the housings.
SOUND QUALITY
And here we have the most important part of any earphone: audio quality. I do consider myself an audio enthusiast, and this was my first time ever trying a bluetooth earphone, mostly because I've always assumed they just simply didn't sound as good as wired earphones.
At first listen, I was surprised at how clear the midrange to treble sounded. The treble didn't sound harsh or bright at all, and the midrange was smooth. As one might expect however with fairly inexpensive, sealed tip earphones, the bass can become rather overpowering at times. Strangely enough, I found this to be somewhat source material and volume related, rather than simply a permanent aspect of the Magneto. At lower volume levels, and when listening to more acoustic, instrumental material, the bass came across as defined and tight, without too much bloat. It was mostly midbass oriented however, and the bass doesn't get very deep. If I played tracks with more exciting basslines however, the bass could quickly get very boomy and overpowering, especially if the volume is turned up.
I also found that the Magneto tended to do instrumental music better than vocals, as vocals had a strangely laid back property, as if the singer were singing from a great distance from everything else. A bit jarring at first, but something that I got used to the more I listened to the Magneto.
CONCLUSION
I found the Magneto to be a very nicely made bluetooth headset, and was surprised by how good it sounded for a bluetooth earphone. Especially cool was its magnetic play/pause feature that has been built into the earpieces. At low to medium volumes, it has a very balanced sound, but the bass can get a bit overwhelming if you crank up the volume.
Thanks for the review. Can you address call quality? I'm mainly concerned how I would sound to the caller, talking through these.
By the way, I use this case for my current Aukey Bluetooth ear buds, which look to be about the same size. (It's less than $2)
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Black-bluetooth-handsfree-headset/dp/B0057MLBLS/ref=sr_1_6
Elsydeon said:
Mpow Magneto Bluetooth Headset Review
I was sent a free review sample of this bluetooth headset to review, below are my impressions, for those looking to pick up a nice and pretty unique headset.
UNBOXING, INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The Magneto comes in a nice and slim box, the entire front of the box doubles as a flap that is held closed by a magnet. Swinging it open reveals the Magneto very tightly nestled inside of a velvet covered plastic holder that has been precision cut to fit the headset. Removing that reveals the included accessories, which are:
MicroUSB Cable
Small and Large Sized Eartips (Medium sized tips are already pre-mounted on the headset)
Small, Medium, and Large Rubber Ear Stabilizers
Manual Card
I was disappointed to see a lack of a carrying pouch or case of some sort among the accessories. Moreso because the Magneto headset itself is stunningly finished, with a very nice circular polished metal finish on its front face. I would hate to see it get scratched, so I do wish a carrying pouch had been included.
The headset itself is surprisingly large, much more so than I anticipated initially. It's also rather heavy, which isn't necessarily the best "feature" for an earphone to have. However as I discovered later, this wasn't really an issue.
The control pod is nicely made, with a full rubber coating, and 3 very clicky buttons.
CHARGING, BLUETOOTH PAIRING
The right earpiece contains a small rubber flap on top of the earpiece, which you flip open to reveal a microUSB port. The Magneto already comes pre-charged, however, it's still a good idea to top it off. A full charge takes 2 hours, which gives a playback time of 8 hours, and 175 hours of standby time.
To pair the headset, simply turn on bluetooth on your device, and hold down the central button on the Magneto's control pod. You'll hear a "Power On" prompt...continue to hold down the central button, and do not let it go. After 7 seconds, you'll hear another prompt say "Pairing", and a light will begin blinking orange, after which, you should see "Mpow Magneto" show up on your device. I didn't need a password, however if you do need to enter one, simply enter "0000". I found pairing to be effortless and very easy. The bluetooth spec is bluetooth 4.1.
Note that you can pair the Magneto with up to two devices. To pair a second device, make sure your first device's bluetooth is turned off, and then follow the pairing instructions again for the 2nd device. I was able to pair a 2nd device no problem.
PHYSICAL COMFORT
As mentioned, the Magneto is a rather bulky earphone, and there's no getting around the fact that it will stick out quite a bit in your ears. However, thanks to the inclusion of the rubber stabilizers, the Magneto's weight surprisingly disappeared, once in the ears. The 3 included tip sizes are all very nice and soft, and I had no issues using the Magneto for over an hour or longer. You can also wear the Magneto with the wire dangling below your chin, or behind your neck, to get the wire out of the way.
OPERATION
Once you've connected your device, to play music, press the central button on the control pod to play or pause the music. Next song is activated by long pressing the '-' button, and previous song is activated by long pressing the '+' button. Volume up and down involves short pressing the '=' and '-' buttons. There are no operations that allow you to fast forward or reverse through a song, you can only skip songs.
For phone calls, simply press the central button on the control pod to answer a call, and press the central button again to end the call. You can also hold down the central button as a call comes in, until you hear a "toot toot" prompt, to reject a call. Voice dialing is possible by holding down the central button and the '+' button simultaneously. Lastly, holding down the '+' and '-' button simultaneously will mute the microphone during a call.
The Magneto also has another very cool feature, from which it draws its name. The earpieces both have magnets embedded within them, and if you simply stick them together, your music will automatically pause (or your call will automatically end). Pulling the earpieces apart will play music again, or allow you to automatically answer an incoming call. My only concern with this feature is possibly scratching the nice metal finishing on the housings.
SOUND QUALITY
And here we have the most important part of any earphone: audio quality. I do consider myself an audio enthusiast, and this was my first time ever trying a bluetooth earphone, mostly because I've always assumed they just simply didn't sound as good as wired earphones.
At first listen, I was surprised at how clear the midrange to treble sounded. The treble didn't sound harsh or bright at all, and the midrange was smooth. As one might expect however with fairly inexpensive, sealed tip earphones, the bass can become rather overpowering at times. Strangely enough, I found this to be somewhat source material and volume related, rather than simply a permanent aspect of the Magneto. At lower volume levels, and when listening to more acoustic, instrumental material, the bass came across as defined and tight, without too much bloat. It was mostly midbass oriented however, and the bass doesn't get very deep. If I played tracks with more exciting basslines however, the bass could quickly get very boomy and overpowering, especially if the volume is turned up.
I also found that the Magneto tended to do instrumental music better than vocals, as vocals had a strangely laid back property, as if the singer were singing from a great distance from everything else. A bit jarring at first, but something that I got used to the more I listened to the Magneto.
CONCLUSION
I found the Magneto to be a very nicely made bluetooth headset, and was surprised by how good it sounded for a bluetooth earphone. Especially cool was its magnetic play/pause feature that has been built into the earpieces. At low to medium volumes, it has a very balanced sound, but the bass can get a bit overwhelming if you crank up the volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im thinking of getting these but im worried about what i have read in reviews about poor bluetooth connectivity and that the connection dropped quite easily (for example, running with the phone on the back pocket or something like).
Did you experience poor bluetooth connectivity and range?
Thanks
Good review. Careful though. Some cool guy mod on here thinks its spamming to post a review for mpow.
The worst part is that these Mods dont´s seem to be consistent about looking at the reviews. Some guys are punished while others are still allowed to post reviews (with eg. Amazon links) inside.
My reviews have been considered to be "spammy", closed and all the links removed. I didn´t even have a chance to remove the links and did not receive a PM before where I was asked to kindly edit my work.
Instead I got a rather rude PM like this:
"Don't bother creating any more of your spammy reviews here thanks.
Your threads have been closed and the links to Amazon / Choetech etc. have been removed."
Gorgtech said:
The worst part is that these Mods dont´s seem to be consistent about looking at the reviews. Some guys are punished while others are still allowed to post reviews (with eg. Amazon links) inside.
My reviews have been considered to be "spammy", closed and all the links removed. I didn´t even have a chance to remove the links and did not receive a PM before where I was asked to kindly edit my work.
Instead I got a rather rude PM like this:
"Don't bother creating any more of your spammy reviews here thanks.
Your threads have been closed and the links to Amazon / Choetech etc. have been removed."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they are actually pretty rude about it. Takes away the fun of being on these forums. Keyboard warriors on power trips taking down legitimate reviews to products.
griffin_1 said:
Im thinking of getting these but im worried about what i have read in reviews about poor bluetooth connectivity and that the connection dropped quite easily (for example, running with the phone on the back pocket or something like).
Did you experience poor bluetooth connectivity and range?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep 3 ft poor bluetooth
zarocks said:
yep 3 ft poor bluetooth
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Click to collapse
Thats really a shame. Im finding a lot of conflicting reports on the range, some say its okay or something like 20 to 30 ft, but a lot of people also complain about poor range and distances like the one you get.
The magneto are already the most expensive ones of the selection of headphones im looking at and so to pay extra and get a bad headset wouldn't be good.
griffin_1 said:
Thats really a shame. Im finding a lot of conflicting reports on the range, some say its okay or something like 20 to 30 ft, but a lot of people also complain about poor range and distances like the one you get.
The magneto are already the most expensive ones of the selection of headphones im looking at and so to pay extra and get a bad headset wouldn't be good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google traslate
With only save in your pocket start to lose connection :crying:
Con Solo GUARDAR en el bolsillo empiezan a perder Conexión :crying:
Versión magneto
Just to give some feedback (havent been active here for a while). I ended up going with the mpow swift and they work perfectly and i don't have these issues of dropping the connection right at the slightest change.
I would recommend the mpow swift as an alternative, they are not as stylish or compact but they are still light and work well.
Hate free sample reviews. How could you be unbiased/impartial if you don't even mention things like "oh btw, if your pocket is too far away they'll drop connection"?
That's kind of a big deal.
I bought the magneto and returned it the second day. a few issues:
1. poor sound. Well, can't expect too much from cheap bluetooth earphones anyway.
2. earphones are too heavy, so tend to fall off, or at least feels like they're about to fall off all the time.
3. bluetooth with my phone drops too frequently, I can't enjoy the music. This is probably just individual issue.
4. changing the soft earbuds is waaaaay too exhausting. The fitting is too tight to put on, it took me 10 minutes and lots of sweat to put them on.
I understand your issues. I asked myself if it is possible to reprogrammed the doubletab on the main button. Who the **** needs "Last number redial" on a short link. Better put there nothing or make it programmable as a selfie shutter :laugh: or start "OK Google" what ever but not redial :laugh:
Related
Can't post links yet, but search 1saleaday's eBay page for "Zonda bluetooth headset"
Not affiliated with this seller in any way whatsoever, just a very satisfied owner of an AWESOME headset. These things, first and foremost have an absolutely killer battery life. A 7 hour phone conversation is no big deal. I've gone whole days listening to music through them...10+ hours. The sound quality is also pretty damn impressive. Very rich and deep with plenty of high-end as well. The voice quality is great as well. They have 5 buttons: the main button being for power, voice command, and play/pause during music. Volume up, volume down, track skip forward and track skip backward. Build quality overall is exceptional. Durable plastic body with steel , and rubber on the inside of the headband. The package contains a USB to wall adapter[travel syle like most OEM phone chargers], the USB cord and the headphones. Owning these headphones for three months, I'll sum them up by saying I have absolutely NO COMPLAINTS! Seriously, if you're in the market for a headset pick these bad boys up!!!
Are you talking about the in-ear ones or the over-ear ones?
Over the ear. They come in black or white, I have the black ones.
http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics®-P...&keywords=taotronics+bluetooth#productDetails
I've tried lots of portable speakers. Mostly of the "budget" category. Never bought beats, jambox or bose but usually went with the cheaper products. I have to say I was quite surprised by this speaker however.
*Build Quality*
It has a very rugged design that looks like an "egg". Holding it hand it has a good weight to it and feels rock solid. It looks like it could take some abuse from day to day use. Not once did I find anything flimsy or loose. It comes in two colors red and black.
All it comes with is a micro-usb charge cable. Which is fine with me.
*Performance*
Just like the build quality the sound quality is top notch. I was pleasantly surprised by it. A lot of the cheaper bluetooth speakers of similar size sound thin and starts to distort when the volume is raised too high. The Taotronic has a very nice full sound with more bass than I was expecting. I don't think its been noticed but there seems to be two speakers in the unit! EDIT - conformed via Taotronics support. There is 2 speakers! One for highs and one for bass!
One at the bottom facing up for the bass and a top speaker facing down for the highs. Please check the photos. I'll contact taotronics and find out.
It has a built-in rechargeable battery. So far I've used it for about 5 hours and its still going strong on a relatively high volume.
Connecting was breeze. Each subsequent connection is easy.
I did try to use the phone mic feature and while it was good when speaking with 3ft; anything past that and its pretty useless.
There is a aux 3.5mm jack if using an older mp3 player with no bluetooth.
There is a toggle switch that has multiple uses. It can play the next song, previous song, stop and play. Holding it to the left will lower volume while holding it right will raise the volume.
*Conclusion*
The sound quality can not be beaten in the price range IMO. It will surprise you I believe. Don't expect it to outdo the larger bluetooth speakers that are 10 times the price.
Note- I have been given a sample for a fair, unbiased review.
Jam Plus HMDX HX-P240 speakers I bought for £19 each
I bought two Jam Plus HMDX HX-P240 speakers. They are AWESOME. Great amazon reviews, each can work independently, about 4h battery life, comes in a jam jar case and color coded usb charging cable, works via bluetooth and aux in, can be paired with another jam plus to make it stereo speakers, volume is LOOOUUUD, no distortion, bass is good for a tiny speakers, they come in many different colours. Bought damaged box item from ebay for 19£ each from outlet stores. Only lid of jar was dented, speakers was as new and works great.
See my review on youtube working fine with the samsung galaxy S5 www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLjM_IPckHw very pleased with my purchase of £19 each as they work great alone or in pairs. Everyone at work who listened to them was asking me where i got them and how much and several were trying to buy them within a few minutes of listening to mine. People were borrowing it to take around to show their friends at work!
Please note that the old model is P230 and looks almost the same, but it cant be used in pairs, so if you want the pairing function and the new model is louder, then be careful which version you buy.
Mpow FreeGo
Over the course of the years I’ve tried many, many Bluetooth headsets and VERY few lasted more than a few days of use. A lot had poor performance, extremely uncomfortable or both.
I travel a lot and sometimes it’s just cumbersome having to hold the phone when talking and trying to multitask. So I gave the FreeGO a try and I’m glad I did.
Performance/Build Quality
When first looking at the unit; I was worried it was going to be too heavy with the size but I was pleasantly surprised when picking it up. It’s a lot lighter than I expected. Even though it was light weight it didn’t feel cheap in the slightly. Nothing flexed, or creaked to the point where I was worried about it falling apart.
The unit itself has a two toned looked to it. A shiny glossy part and matte soft rubber part. The soft rubber part is what actually is in contact with your ear. This makes it extremely comfortable to wear. So comfortable that I’d forget I had it on to be honest. The silicone ear tip that creates a “seal” for sound doesn’t really create a seal as the tip is oddly “flat” shaped. It’s not like the tips on earphones/earbuds where you would jam them in your ear canal. It simply hovers over the opening. This worried me at first that calls or sounds would be difficult to hear. Once again it surprised me. Calls still came in crystal clear, music sounded good and never missed a notification sound. I think the odd shape and not shoving them in the ear canal is what makes the headset so comfortable.
Can be used on either ear. The earpiece has a 180 Degree Flip-boom arm for both left or right ear. Which is really convenient depending which ear you want to use it on.
The unit has 3 buttons: Volume up, volume down and answer call. All were easy to access when worn and always responsive. Pairing it to my phone or tablet was a cinch and took no longer than 2 minutes for initial pairing and subsequent pairings took seconds.
Sound quality was just amazing. Never did I feel like it wasn’t clear. The mic also performed superbly. The person on the line never had a problem hearing me or asked me to speak louder. What else can you ask for?
Last; it stayed in place. I’m sure everyone had that headset that was just impossible to keep in place and you ended adjusting it all the time. Not this one; I had it on the ENTIRE day and not once did I have to adjust it.
Packaging
It comes in a simple box. Has 3 different ear tips, a small faux leather pouch and a micro usb cable (flat cable which is a nice touch). The micro usb cable is of decent quality which is a plus in my book. It did not come with a wall plug though. So either use your phones or plug it into your computer to charge it.
Conclusion
It’s a no brainer for me if you’re looking for a great value Bluetooth headset. Good performance, good price and comfortable. I’d recommend it to anyone.
Nice review, but what do you use this for?
I have a pair of wireless Jaybird bluebuds I wear for running/working out, and flip them over for conference calls.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using xda app-developers app
ampm325 said:
Nice review, but what do you use this for?
I have a pair of wireless Jaybird bluebuds I wear for running/working out, and flip them over for conference calls.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the jaybird freedom, it wasn't cheap, but it was worth the price. The fit is good, sound is good too, battery lasts long, and sweatproof. Perfect for workout.
Only letdown that it is not good for phonecalls, they said my voice was very quiet when I used the jaybird freedom for phonecalls.
Im looking to buy a bluetooth headset for phonecalls, hope Mpow FreeGo will be good. Though i have the experience, when I am in a noisy enviroment, if I use a one-ear headset, I can't hear the other person on the phone. Not because the headset is not good, but because my other ear is exosed to the noisy enviroment. I guess that wouldn't be a problem for a 2-ear headset.
Good review, but i don't think it is worth buying, because the design and the specifications, the tronfy iwork mini 4.0 is better than this one, only $16.99, but longer battery life and more different earbuds.
Also has 15% Coupon now: GBJC7XNK
I own the Mpow also. Funny I thought I had lost my Mpow and pulled out 3 of older brands I've tried but didnt like. After a week with the older one, I quickly ordered 2 new Mpow's then found the missing Mpow in the trunk of my car LOL. I'm a big fan of the Mpow FreeGo
I am new to XDA-forums and I have read the rules. But since I am new here, please let me know if I miss any rule/guideline.
I noticed some speakers review post, so I am also sharing my review of Mpow AquaPro Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. I did receive it from the company directly as a review unit but I will give my honest opinion without being bias.
I received my Mpow AquaPro Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker and am satisfied with it. I was looking for a bluetooth speaker to use in the shower since my old one died and this one works even better! I love listening to music all the time including in the shower. This small speaker is pretty powerful for its size. It was very easy to charge and pair with my laptop where I store all my music. You get approximately 6 hours of playtime on one charge. A nice feature is if you don't like a song you can just skip to the next one by pressing the forward button. You get decent sound quality from this speaker and it doesn't cut off and on like my old one did. It can be used at the pool, boat, car, beach, outdoors etc. Included in the box along with the speaker is the easy instructions, charging cord and a speaker cord in case you want to plug it into your device to listen and save your charge. It is waterproof, shockproof and dust proof. It also has a SOS Emergency Alert which I've never seen before on a bluetooth speaker. Hopefully I will never have to use it, but it is nice to know that it is there just in case. The speaker has a woven loop on it for hanging wherever you want or it can be set on a flat surface. Overall it is a nice speaker for the home or on the go and I would recommend it to others. Would make a nice gift for the music lover in your life.
This is just about spam now. Why Mpow is being allowed to spam products here is beyond me. There are a half dozen "reviews" on just one page here.
Thread closed on OP Request.
Mixcder MS301 and HD601 Wireless Headset Review
Mixcder sent me two sets of bluetooth headphones to review, the MS301 and HD601. I’ve been using them both for the past two weeks and I came away very impressed with both. I used an LG V20 to drive these, with a mix of flac, mp3, and streamed audio.
Build: The MS301s are clearly the more premium build. Basically, the entire frame and cans are metal, and the earmuffs are a high quality artificial leather. These look really nice and give the impression that they could take a good amount of abuse. I’ve been taking them to and from work in my bag without particular care, and they’ve held up wonderfully. Additionally, they fold up right above the earmuffs. They aren’t as compact as other over the ear headphones (I also have a set of Marshal Monitors that fold up to an extremely small footprint), but it does make them somewhat more portable. As a consequence of the premium build, they are somewhat heavy. They moved a bit when wearing them, as well, which was somewhat annoying.
The HD601s are primarily plastic. They have red highlights around the earmuffs, and are otherwise a matte black plastic. The dimensions between both are roughly the same, which provides a comfortable fit on the head. I have large ears, and they were able to fit without any issues. The artificial leather here is of a lower quality, but is still acceptable. Without comparing the two headphones directly, I don’t think I would notice the difference. The key benefit for this set is that the lower weight leads to a very comfortable fit. It truly felt like they weren’t there, basically no matter how long I wore them. Both sets charge with micro-USB, have a power button and two volume/track buttons, two microphones, and an LED. For whatever reason, on the MS301, the buttons are labeled with the forward/back symbols while the HD601 have vol up/down. The functionality was the same: a quick press adjusted the volume, while a long press skipped songs. The microphones did a very good job picking up my voice in a variety of environments.
The MS301 claim a 20 hour battery life, while the HD601 claim a 40 hour life. In two weeks of pretty intensive testing (lots of streaming audio and the entirety of Stranger Things), both are still going strong on the original charge.
Sound: I evaluated both sets of headphones against 10 tracks that tested the range and response. (from https://www.whathifi.com/features/10-best-tracks-to-test-your-headphones). Both headsets performed admirably, both using Bluetooth and the wired connection. These provide very good detail over the entire range, with a pretty flat response. The separation was very good, as was the space. The audio performance on both headphones was basically identical, which is a huge plus. They blew the Monitors away basically in every regard. These also go incredibly loud. I could literally max the volume with them on the counter and use them as speakers. I never experienced any distortion at the max volume, either. The HD601 advertise an “extra base mode” but the effect was fairly minimal. Base performance was quite good regardless, so this wasn’t a big deal. Both use AptX LL as the Bluetooth protocol, which my V20 was able to take advantage of. Additionally, when plugged in, they triggered the “HiFi” mode as expected, as they list a 29Ω impedance. One of the few negatives was the included 3.5mm cable. It was fairly low quality and provided notably worse sound quality than the Monitor cable. Seeing that Mixcder also provides a nicer looking cable for $4 on Amazon, I question the decision to provide something that detracts from the overall package. However, most people probably will never use these, so again it’s not a huge deal.
Bluetooth: The range for these really varied depending on the use conditions. At work, these passed the “printer run” test by getting ~70 feet (10 m) away before noticing any degradation. At home, they really struggled to maintain connection between floors. In both cases, it was obvious when you were approaching the range. There was no cut out or dropped sounds until it basically disconnected. Generally speaking, moving back into range allowed for a quick reconnection, often without pausing the music.
Initial pairing was pretty painless on both. The MS301 had the usual setup by powering the headphones on and going into bluetooth settings to complete the pair. The HD601 used NFC to pair, and it was seamless. Anyone familiar with using Apple or Android Pay would be able to pair these in seconds. While this is a one time thing, seeing them pair was a great first impression and one of those “technology is magic” moments.
Conclusions: Both headphones are awesome and well worth the asking price. The MS301 are priced higher as the more “premium” option ($85 at the time of this review) while the HD601 come in at $60. I really liked the look of the 301’s, but the much lighter build and extra features tipped the balance to the 601s even before the price is considered unless appearance is a deciding factor (my wife said she’d prefer the 601s even if the prices were reversed). Given that the audio performance was excellent on both, I don’t think you can make a wrong choice here.
Mixcder gave me promo codes for both, valid through October
HD601:
20% off promo price: $47.99
Promo code: 6UWB2NT9
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074...=8-10&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mixcder
MS301:
34%OFF promo price: $59.39
Promo code: DWMYZ7O8
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071...cder+ms301&dpPl=1&dpID=41xrGlMNnHL&ref=plSrch