So, I've always wanted to get a pair of bluetooth headphones, but bad reviews/reports of various shortcomings/etc. have generally kept me from taking the plunge (other than the old Jaybird SB1 bluetooth Sportband headphones, which I never used much). Now that I have my RAZR MAXX HD (which, among other things, has good enough battery life that I can feel comfortable running with it, using bluetooth headphones and streaming Spotify and using RunKeeper with GPS, without killing my battery like my Droid Charge), I wanted to finally try it out.
I went ahead and finally decided to try out the new Motorola S11-FLEX HD Wireless Stereo Headphones:
S11-FLEX HD Wireless Stereo Headphones with Bluetooth - Motorola Mobility LLC. USA
I had also been looking at the Jaybird Freedom and Freedom Sprint headphones. What put the Motorola ones over the edge for me were the support of AptX. I don't know a ton about it, but my understanding is that AptX is a new wireless audio codec that is supposed to deliver better quality than the older audio codecs used by most bluetooth headphones.
Since I found that the Motorola RAZR HD/MAXX HD both support AptX, it seemed like something worth trying.
So far, I've only had them a couple of days, but figured I'd share some thoughts for anyone else thinking of these.
First, they seem to be quite comfortable - apparently the FLEX in the name is supposed to refer to the various ways it can be adjusted, and I think it seems right - it's both flexible and sturdy, the earbuds are on little stalks that can be adjusted vertically and turned, and there's a little inner band that can be added to secure the fit. I had to switch out the rubber earbuds that were preinstalled with some different sizes in the bag it came with. For the most part, they seem pretty comfortable. I wear glasses, which was one of my concerns, but they seem to fit alongside them. The only annoyance I guess I would have so far is that sometimes I'll feel the back of the headphones against my neck, and it makes me nervous that it's going to push the headphones out of my ears - but this is more just me, they actually seem to stay in quite securely even while running and making various head movements.
One of the big things I'm impressed by is the audio quality - I broke out my old Jaybird SB1's, which are fairly middling quality for bluetooth - they work, but it's clearly not as high quality as typical wired earbuds. In comparison, the S11-FLEX HD's seem to be very rich - I'm not an audiophile by any means, but playing both Spotify music and streaming music from my Google Play library sounded excellent to me. My earphones of choice are a pair of Klipsch S4i's. One of the marketing points of the S11-FLEX HD's is that they are supposed to be as good as wired earbuds (actually on the box it says "better-than-wired HD sound", which seems like a pretty strong claim). I didn't do enough back and forth comparisons with my Klipsch headphones to verify that, but I will at least say that they basically sounded about as good to me (and for my purposes, especially using them while running, more than adrequate). I'm assuming that this use of the AptX audio codec helps out a lot here.
Other nice thing about the S11-FLEX HD's is quick charging. Out of the box, they reported that they had over 3 hours of battery left. I took them for a quick 30 minute run/walk, and then charged it (using a regular microUSB cable, which is a nice change from the proprietary charger my old jaybird SB1's had). In under 15 minutes it was fully charged, and reporting over 5 hours of battery life. I read some reviews that the Jaybird Freedom headphones can take 2-3 hours to charge (for 4.5 hours of battery life on the $129 freedom sprint, and I think 6 hours on the $99 freedom), so this 15 minute quick charging feature seems like another nice bonus.
Biggest concern I'd have is durability. The main thing keeping me from investing in the S11's is that I read a number of reviews of older Motorola bluetooth headphones complaining of poor quality/durability, especially when it comes to sweat. I can only say that the S11's at least seem to feel quite well made (and they tout the sweatproof construction and design, so I'm hoping that works). I guess there will only be one way to tell if the S11's have the same kinds of problems as past Motorola headphones, so we'll see.
But anyway, just wanted to share these thoughts. So far at least, I'm pretty happy with these, and they seem like an especially good match for the RAZR HD/RAZR MAXX HD (especially due to the high quality AptX audio codec support in both).
I went ahead and finally decided to try out the new Motorola S11-FLEX HD Wireless Stereo Headphones:
S11-FLEX HD Wireless Stereo Headphones with Bluetooth - Motorola Mobility LLC. USA
I had also been looking at the Jaybird Freedom and Freedom Sprint headphones. What put the Motorola ones over the edge for me were the support of AptX. I don't know a ton about it, but my understanding is that AptX is a new wireless audio codec that is supposed to deliver better quality than the older audio codecs used by most bluetooth headphones.
Since I found that the Motorola RAZR HD/MAXX HD both support AptX, it seemed like something worth trying.
So far, I've only had them a couple of days, but figured I'd share some thoughts for anyone else thinking of these.
First, they seem to be quite comfortable - apparently the FLEX in the name is supposed to refer to the various ways it can be adjusted, and I think it seems right - it's both flexible and sturdy, the earbuds are on little stalks that can be adjusted vertically and turned, and there's a little inner band that can be added to secure the fit. I had to switch out the rubber earbuds that were preinstalled with some different sizes in the bag it came with. For the most part, they seem pretty comfortable. I wear glasses, which was one of my concerns, but they seem to fit alongside them. The only annoyance I guess I would have so far is that sometimes I'll feel the back of the headphones against my neck, and it makes me nervous that it's going to push the headphones out of my ears - but this is more just me, they actually seem to stay in quite securely even while running and making various head movements.
One of the big things I'm impressed by is the audio quality - I broke out my old Jaybird SB1's, which are fairly middling quality for bluetooth - they work, but it's clearly not as high quality as typical wired earbuds. In comparison, the S11-FLEX HD's seem to be very rich - I'm not an audiophile by any means, but playing both Spotify music and streaming music from my Google Play library sounded excellent to me. My earphones of choice are a pair of Klipsch S4i's. One of the marketing points of the S11-FLEX HD's is that they are supposed to be as good as wired earbuds (actually on the box it says "better-than-wired HD sound", which seems like a pretty strong claim). I didn't do enough back and forth comparisons with my Klipsch headphones to verify that, but I will at least say that they basically sounded about as good to me (and for my purposes, especially using them while running, more than adrequate). I'm assuming that this use of the AptX audio codec helps out a lot here.
Other nice thing about the S11-FLEX HD's is quick charging. Out of the box, they reported that they had over 3 hours of battery left. I took them for a quick 30 minute run/walk, and then charged it (using a regular microUSB cable, which is a nice change from the proprietary charger my old jaybird SB1's had). In under 15 minutes it was fully charged, and reporting over 5 hours of battery life. I read some reviews that the Jaybird Freedom headphones can take 2-3 hours to charge (for 4.5 hours of battery life on the $129 freedom sprint, and I think 6 hours on the $99 freedom), so this 15 minute quick charging feature seems like another nice bonus.
Biggest concern I'd have is durability. The main thing keeping me from investing in the S11's is that I read a number of reviews of older Motorola bluetooth headphones complaining of poor quality/durability, especially when it comes to sweat. I can only say that the S11's at least seem to feel quite well made (and they tout the sweatproof construction and design, so I'm hoping that works). I guess there will only be one way to tell if the S11's have the same kinds of problems as past Motorola headphones, so we'll see.
But anyway, just wanted to share these thoughts. So far at least, I'm pretty happy with these, and they seem like an especially good match for the RAZR HD/RAZR MAXX HD (especially due to the high quality AptX audio codec support in both).
