SoundPEATS Universal Q800 Bluetooth Headset Review

Rock the night away with a great set of buds. 

Plug a set of headphones into any device and you will immediately become aware of one of the many Murphy’s Laws of Tech: “Whatever CAN get tangled, WILL get tangled.” While most accidents involving a snagged or tangled earphone cable are only annoyances, there are extreme cases that involve a phone or tablet getting yanked off of a table or even right out of the owner’s hands. With that in mind, almost everyone can appreciate listening to a personal music selection without the hassle of wires.

This set of wireless earbuds from SoundPeats goes with a form factor that frees the pair of in-ear earbuds from the primary portion of the headset. This primary “neckband” contains media playback controls along a few extra volume and call control buttons. The earbuds normally hang free from the neckband and can be adjusted and removed easily without needing to remove and reseat the entire headset. When not in use, the earbuds can be attached magnetically to a small recession at either end of the neckband.

Overall, using the headset is pleasant. A built-in voice script reports each of the headset events from announcing the battery level to each change in the sync and call settings. This was a little odd, but worked well enough to not be a bother. While synced to a device, the headset passes voice and audio through like a charm. Since the “place call” button also acts as a call for Siri, sending voice commands is easy, too. Finally, it may not be often, but receiving and placing calls on the headset works with good microphone quality and no noticeable echo.

Sound quality is good. After trying out a mixture of different music types, I can say that light bass hits sound clear enough and any music with plenty of melody and treble end up sounding great. Heavy bass lovers will want to steer clear, though, as more bass than a brief pulse will cause noticeable distortion.

Battery life is good! I was able to play at mid-high volumes for about five or six hours before the headset began reminding me that the battery had entered a low state. Even better, the headset supports the separate battery display icon that is used on newer smartphones so I am able to see a closer depiction of remaining battery life beyond a simple “high-med-low” audio clip. The headset seems to only need a trickle-charge for a few hours to reach full battery so the headset will not have too much downtime.

Extra points go to the manufacturer for creating a headset that can maintain a Bluetooth connection even during a sustained exercise. With other headsets I have tried, there were multiple times where the bouncing motions of a jog would cause the headset to briefly cause audio to skip or the headset would disconnect completely. I can safely say that this headset is the first one I have been able to use that avoids this problem. I can finally go back to jogging without a dangling headphone cable and that is something to appreciate.

Predictably, there are a few minor annoyances. Every device has to have a few, right? These headsets could stand to improve on the bass audio performance and the magnetic earbud holders.

Since the manufacturer chose for the earbuds to hang free and not retract, I would have liked to have the retaining magnets be a little stronger. It does not take that much of an accidental brush to knock one of the buds loose from its holder. If the headset is placed on a desk with more than a gentle drop, both earbuds will pop loose. Again, it’s minor, but it happened often enough to make me wish for a change.

I need to mention the bass performance of this headset again, but only to reiterate that this headset will perform well while listening to any other type of music except heavy bass. If the beat starts getting heavy during playback, playing with your device’s equalizer settings can help, but at the cost of losing out of hearing a “proper” version of your music all for the sake of avoiding distortion.

I had a lot of fun with these headphones, all in all. They are nicely priced and perform most of the necessary duties of a wireless headset very well. Whether you need a pair of earbuds for your next gym session, or if you are just looking for an audio alternative that won’t pull your phone off the desk when you stand up, give these a try and you will not regret it.

For more information, visit soundpeatsaudio.com
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