Great look but somewhat disappointing sound
Family vacations are both incredibly fun and stressful. My children and I (seven and four year old sons and 15 month old daughter) just recently returned from a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. If you have not been there, it is a really fun ptlace for teens and adults alike. Living in Western Kentucky, the drive to Gatlinburg was just about six hours. Being the driver of my family, I tend to listen to audible books. This helps to make the trip more enjoyable and keeps me more alert than music. My wife’s van does not have an AUX-IN port, causing me to rely on Bluetooth headsets. I do not use these in both ears, as I want to be alert for environmental sounds, emergency vehicles, and the voices of my children. I was given a HiGoing Q7 Cellphone Wireless Blutooth Sport Headphones for review.
The product is shipped in a relatively plain cardboard box, measuring 4 3/4″ long by 4″ wide by 1 7/8″ tall. The top of the box displays the name of the borough and a large white sticker. The top also details the following: Hands Free Status, Stereo, dual log in. The left side panel shows that this is compatible with In-Ear and Handsfree use on IOS and Android phones. The right side panel shows compatible with iPad, HD sound quality, Skype compatible, Ultra-Long Standby time. The bottom shows some of the specifications. The device is Bluetooth 4.1+EDR, with talk time of about 7 hours (6-8 listed0. With 240 hours standby time, this device should be ready when you need it. Furthermore, it lists a charge time of 1.5 hours via microUSB and also has standard Bluetooth distances.
Opening the packaging, you will notice a large square cardboard box and a smaller rectangle to the side. Within the small rectangle, is the black microUSB Remove the square of cardboard and the other thin cardboard cutout and you will find the instruction manual 2 3/4″ X 2 3/8″. There are 10 panels. The first 4 pages are in Chinese, the opposite side has 5 pages in English. The first panel provides a diagram of the speaker, volume buttons, USB charging port and multifunction key no a listing of the functions of the device. The writing is small but manageable. The English is choppy and broken, but understandable. The manual states “Bluetooth Spot Headphones.” To turn on the device long press the right sided earpiece for 3 seconds (MFB button), and to turn it off press the same button for 3.5 seconds. This same button will answer an incoming call with a single press, end that call with a single press and a long press will reject the call. Panel 2-4 further detail the product features.
Opening up the smaller box, you will see a 3 1/4″ diameter black circular case with red accent/zipper. The case zips open like a clamshell and you will see the headset. The right earpiece contains the function box. The device, case, extra small and large earbud tips weight 1.8 ounces. There is a 21.5″ section of cord between the two earpieces. The earbuds are in-ear style with single flange design. They do fit into the canal well, allowing you to use lower volume to obtain good sound. Beneath the right earpiece is the USB micro port. There is an included 8 inch USB A to USB micro cable, which will fit into the carry case. I was able to charge the device to full in just over an hour (just at 1.5 hours). The manual notes that it would take 1-2 hours to charge to full. This may be true, I never ran it all the way to empty.
The volume buttons are located along the top of the ear piece. Short presses will make the volume increase/decrease. The buttons, to include the MFB, are very responsive. There is an LED along the side of the earpiece, demonstrating charging (red solid to blue solid when full) and low battery (red flashing). There is also a voice prompt alerting you to low power, power on, device connected, power off. Connection was easy, simply power on, go to your settings on your phone and find Q7. There is multi-device connection, which I never use. The device is listed as Bluetooth 4.1 and I was able to get 4 hours of continuous play before I recharged the device.
I was pleased with the look of the device, but found the sound of the device to be somewhat lacking. There was a high pitched whining noise constantly present while listing to audible, Amazon prime music. The bass is quite good listening to Johnny Cash, Josh Turner Long Black Train. There is a lot of popping and cracking with this set and I was really disappointed with the overall sound quality. This is quite unfortunate as the look and feel are quite nice. The low volume is already quite loud. This goes from nothing to medium sound, without any incremental increase. It then just gets louder from that point. Beyond 1/4 sound on the iPhone was painful. The sound is muffled at times, cracking at times and then very good at times. Dark Knight Joker Theme “Why So Serious” sounded beautiful from 3-4 minutes with some amazing sub bass sounds. Listen to the opening of Star Wars Attack of the Clones, as the ship flies by to get another feel of the bass. The sound is clearly stereo as you get the alternating lines in Bohemian Rhapsody. Using audiocheck.net, I was able to hear between 20-30 Hz on the bass end and 14K (hearing of people can go up to 20kHz). The bass shaker has little vibration/rattling of the headphones. The full range sweep test shows that the sound remains in the middle and has relatively good tolerance in the drivers frequency response. This seems to remain neutral throughout the frequencies. They are appropriately wired for left/right and labeled correctly.
For a truly freaky sound, play the binaural test from audiocheck.net. This will make you jump if you are not ready. Repeat the test with one of the devices out of your ear. This causes each of the ears to hear the sound as it was originally captured. The knocking noise sounds real and I found myself doing a double take. I wanted to really love these headphones but the high pitched noise that is present between songs/sounds is a deal breaker. This was much worse while listening to audible. This made it essentially unusable to me.
I would rate the device at 3/5 stars as the look and feel are quite good and the sound is good when music is already playing. In between songs or when starting there is a high pitched whining sound. The range seems a bit weak as well, with markedly more popping as you move away from the device. I noted my range was about 10 feet with direct line of sight. This was worse with walls/objects and with distortions from other Bluetooth devices. The microphone is hidden inside the ear piece on the right and thus your ear actually blocks quite a bit of the ambient noise. The phone/hands free device seemed to work quite well. Unfortunately, the high pitched buzzing was a deal breaker for me.
BUY FROM AMAZON
2 Comments
Hey there, how does this compare to the beats solo 2 wireless? I got one from Apple but not that good.
You really cannot easily compare the two, as one is an in-ear style and one is an on ear style. The third type is over ear style. Each style has pros and cons. I have never owned a Beats product. They are comfortable in ear, the sound is as good if not a little better than the apple pods, especially the bass drivers seem to be stronger. The problem is the high pitched whine at the beginning of the song/audiobook and during dead spots in music. The range seems a little lacking with popping/cracking. They are not a bad set of earbuds, but I have had better.
As to the on ear vs in ear, this is preference. On ear will be comfortable for longer use. The ear bud style is often better for activity. Thanks for visiting the site and reading my review.