As an avid fan of both audio books and audio tours as well as getting my Dutch on the move. Getting the right pair of headphones is vital, for comfort and for sound. I recently jumped at the chance to try and to review the Soundpeats Q12 bluetooth headphones and here’s how it all went.
Headphones
My beloved pair of red Skullcandy headphones recently (ahem… over a year ago!) stopped playing sound and reverted to crackling instead. This meant I had to do some dreaded headphone shopping.
If you’ve looked for headphones recently, you will know that there are approximately five squidjillion alternatives available. All promising a totally different thing and more often than not leaving you mumbling about not understanding any of it and resorting to annoying everyone on the bus with playing your phone out loud. OK, the last bit is a joke…
So anyway, after I hit the mumbling stage, I just grabbed the first pair I saw that were a tenner. Cheap and cheerful, I thought, will keep me going until I have enough gumption to buy a proper pair. Fast forward about a year and I’m still with the cheap pair. Yes, they are OK, but they could be better.
What’s in a headphone?
It seems that unless you are a headphone pro, you are likely to be happy with something that is comfortable, practical and kind on the pocket too. As well as sounding good, of course. These are the things that I look out for anyway. And on our recent trip to Amsterdam, we did an audio walking tour and found that being tethered together was a bit of a bind, literally. I also had a tangle of cables around me when I was trying to do an audio tour and charge my phone at the same time – not a good look!
…and yes, if you zoom in there is a spider on my trousers!
Anyway, back to the Soundpeats Q12 bluetooth headphones before I head off into a frenzy about the Netherlands again.
The unboxing
I am in the process of editing the unboxing video at the moment, so will post that when it is ready. For now though, I’ll just share with you my first impressions.
The box is a silky matt black and very well made and inside you have a handy zipped pouchy box thing that stores your charging cable, headphones and spare bits, you know the different sizes of ear rubber.
Bluetooth headphones
I have never owned my own pair of bluetooth headphones, I would just borrow the old school hands free kinds from Sony Eriksson that Jit had for work. I never really thought about how useful they would be until the tangled incident on holiday.
Seeing the length of the cable for most headphones (my collection included) you can see that a short one is a huge benefit. It means you get more time to listen to what you want to listen to rather than spent unraveling the mass of knots!
As you can see the Soundpeats are definitely more manageable. The other thing that I like about the Soundpeats is that they have magnets in the back of the buds so they stick together like a necklace. The only niggly bit is that the ear ‘holdey-inney’ bits caught on my coat as they stick outwards. Understandable as that is how our ears go though…
Sound on the move
To give the Soundpeats Q12 a really good workout I have been giving them the run (not literally run, but fast walking) around Manchester as well as to Brussels on our recent city break.
As someone with really small ear holes I often find that buds come loose or just don’t fit snuggly enough. These, however, surprised me in that they stay put even when I am chatting, grinning and doing other weird facial things that usually cause buds to leap from my ears. They stayed put and the sound was excellent, even with the city rush hour traffic and horning.
The verdict
After giving the Soundpeats Q12 bluetooth headphones a really good go, I can honestly say that I am taken with them. They fit well, sound good and have shorter cables which don’t get as tangled as the rest. Will I be going one hundred percent with them? I’m not sure to be honest. I really like that they are easier to use and have a great battery life, but I do find that it is something else to charge – plus being black they are harder to find in the depths of my bag pockets. (they do actually do different colours, so I could solve that one!)
For the price and what you get with them, I would definitely buy some though. Jit quite fancies a pair too, so they are favoured in our house.
For around £14 they are both affordable and good quality – not something that usually goes together for headphones. If you’re looking for a budget pair for getting active and out and about, then I would recommend the Soundpeats Q12 bluetooth headphones. I think I’ll be looking at the true wireless ones for my next try. Keep your eyes peeled for another review in the future!
Have you tried the Soundpeats Q12? What do you think of them? How about other wireless headphones?
Let me know in the comments below.
Disclosure: I received the Soundpeats Q12 bluetooth headphones to review but as always, all photographs, content and opinions are honest and my own.