I’ve been lucky enough to collect a few Bluetooth headphones over the last couple of years so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned. My oldest are Jabra’s Move. At under $100 (on sale right now for $70) these are a real bargain and an entry point for pretty decent portable wireless headphones. The Moves are small on-ear cans that I’d put on par with many of the better small $70-100 wired headphones out there. They reproduce highs pretty well for such low-cost Bluetooth headphones and they offer warm rich acoustic mids but, probably due to their size, struggle a bit with deep bass. Overall a good option for those looking for portable headphones on a tight budget, just don’t expect miracles at this price point. Note that
The Wire Cutter had a nice review of these and a few others.
https://www.amazon.com/Jabra-Move-Wireless-Stereo-Headset/dp/B00MR9CLWC
AKG Y50BT (~$150). I’ve really struggled with reviewing these headphones and I suspect that whether or not someone likes them will be a matter of personal taste. Everything, bass, mids, and highs, are there and decently balanced, but to me, they seem just a wee bit muddy. The kind of sound where you want to turn it up to eek out a bit more detail but they just don’t go all that loud when used with Bluetooth and I do not want to destroy my hearing. I did not try them in wired mode and perhaps that’s the issue, or perhaps I’m just spoiled by more expensive headphones. I’d rate these as worth a listen but only if you can return them if you don’t like them.
https://www.amazon.com/AKG-Bluetooth-Headphone-Black-Y50BTBLK
Bose Soundlink II (~$230) were a bit of a surprise. These are light, compact, very-very comfortable around the ear cans with rich enjoyable, if slightly boosted mids, and decent bass. Unfortunately, they do seem to roll off a little bit at high frequencies. I find the Soundlinks to be very pleasant for long casual listening sessions but in my opinion aren’t really critical listening headphones. On the other hand the Bose are a really good choice for background music while working or studying.
https://www.amazon.com/Bose-SoundLink-around-ear-wireless-headphones/dp/B0117RGG8E
V-MODA Crossfade II (Rose Gold with aptX support) are pretty amazing Bluetooth headphones. These around the ear headphones are advertised as extending out to 40k hertz and I can believe it. When playing FLACs they play high-frequency instruments like no wireless headphones that I’ve ever heard before. The Crossfades also go deep, not deep-deep-deep organ music deep but plenty deep enough for most jazz and rock. The V-MODAs will play LOUD but are so clear, detailed and full range that I never feel the need to crank them up to hazardous levels to extract all of the wonderful little details from the music. The downside is that they are absolutely unforgiving of poor recordings. If it’s a crappy recording or mix it will sound like crap. These are keepers and I like them enough that I’ve ordered the optional ($20) larger and deeper XL pads to better fit my big ears so that I can wear them longer. At $350 for the Rose Gold (the aptX ready version) they aren’t cheap but as good as they sound they just may be a bargain.
https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-XFBT2RGOLDB-Crossfade-Wireless-Headphones/dp/B06XX1SR33
This is not an all-inclusive list of on-ear and around the ear headphones but I thought I’d share my experiences.
