Evaluation of 16 Bluetooth headsets: Are the thousands of yuan headsets only good for making noise?

Since we launched the call for submissions in January, the most requested review on various platforms is "headphones"——

The entire project team worked overtime and finally brought you this issue of "16 Bluetooth Headset Reviews" before 618! June 16!

After considering fan nominations, sales volume and price, we finally selected the following 16 products:

What is the difference between a 54 yuan headset and a 1999 yuan headset? Which one can give you the legendary master-level tuning? Which one is the most cost-effective choice for students?

We went to a professional acoustic laboratory and selected the best player after going through four major levels: "sound quality", "noise reduction", "transparency" and "comfort"! The answer will be revealed at the end of the article!

01

Sound quality

Through this sample purchase, we found that in the field of headphones, whether it is 100 yuan or 1,000 yuan, they all like to promote "master-level tuning" and "HiFi sound quality"...

Audibility itself is a kind of "metaphysics". For ordinary people, it is most likely just "listening to a sound". But for those who are demanding about sound quality, the sense of being in the scene is the most basic requirement.

For a pair of headphones, there are many factors that affect the sound quality, such as cavity design, magnet material, dynamic coil and diaphragm material, dynamic coil size, etc.

But if you want to evaluate the sound quality of a pair of headphones, you need to pay attention to 3 frequencies: low frequency, mid-frequency, and high frequency, and 2 dimensions: frequency response curve and harmonic distortion.

We sent 16 headphones to a professional acoustic laboratory (semi-anechoic), used an electroacoustic test head and torso simulator HATS that complies with the EU EN 55032 and national standard GB/T12060.7 to simulate the human ear, used 4 noise speakers 1 meter apart as noise sources, played a piece of pink noise with a full-band energy of 80dB (acoustic test noise), and collected the sound pressure level of the noise signal in the ear canal through a power amplifier, sound level meter and audio analyzer to test the sound quality of the samples.

🎵Frequency response curve

The frequency response curve can be simply understood as a reference curve that can reflect the sound quality of headphones.

Theoretically, the smoother the curve, the more perfect the sound quality will be, and the more people will feel the live feeling like a concert in different sound segments.

After nearly two weeks of hard work by the laboratory staff, we finally obtained the single-ear frequency response curves of 16 headphones. The results are as follows:

Believe me, when I first saw these 16 lines, I felt the same as you: What the heck is this?

After several explanations from the technical researcher, I gradually figured out the key: from the low-frequency and mid-low-frequency parts, the curves of No. 1 Hua W, No. 2 Xiao M, No. 3 Man Bzhe, No. 6 Xiao D, No. 10 BO*E, No. 12 I*F and No. 13 Ping G are all relatively smooth, with richer bass and not boomy.

The performance of the No.7 HuaQ North is relatively poor, the low frequency part is seriously out of control, and the sound is relatively muddy. It is okay to wear it occasionally, but long-term wearing may affect your hearing.

In terms of mid-high frequencies and high frequencies, the 16 headphones have relatively good reproduction levels. Only Q*Y No. 9 has a large bump at 6300Hz, which means that the sound of this sample in this frequency band will be sharper and relatively distorted.

In addition, we also measured the frequency response difference between the left and right ears of 16 samples to determine whether the actual sound heard by the left and right ears is consistent.

According to the results, the flatter the curve is, the higher the degree of sound restoration is: in the low-frequency band of samples No. 5 Sound K, No. 7 Hua Q North, No. 15 So N and No. 16 Small M, the actual sound heard by the left and right ears has a large deviation.

The sound quality of the left and right ears of No. 1 Hua W, No. 10 BO*E, No. 13 Ping G and No. 14 Sen H Se E will be clearer, brighter, more harmonious and unified.

🎵Harmonic distortion

Harmonic distortion can be simply understood as the noise caused by the signal passing through the device (headphones). It is a nonlinear distortion. Due to the limited measurement range, it is more used to evaluate the distortion of low-frequency signals.

We determined the harmonic distortion of 16 samples by testing the distortion of the left and right ears. The smoother the curve, the higher the sound restoration.

Judging from the data, No. 7 HuaQBei is "far ahead of the rest", which has an impact on both sound quality and hearing; No. 4 ChaoZ has a protrusion in the high frequency, and No. 12 I*F has ups and downs in the low frequency, which is slightly inferior.

02

Noise Reduction

Noisy offices, busy subways and buses...especially when you need to concentrate on doing something for a long time, a pair of headphones with noise reduction mode is definitely a good companion to improve productivity.

Among the 16 headphones evaluated this time, from the trendy Z energy at the hundred-yuan level to the Sony N and Apple G at over a thousand yuan, the prices differ by dozens of times. Is the noise reduction effect really that different?

Active Noise Cancellation

Active noise reduction can be simply understood as the result of the ambient sound waves and the sound waves emitted by the headphone noise reduction system canceling each other out. It can be said that magic defeats magic.

In this headphone evaluation, there are 13 samples with active noise reduction mode:

The same test method as above was used to collect the noise reduction curves of 16 samples by playing 80dB pink noise.

From the perspective of the entire frequency band, the lower the value, the better the noise reduction effect. For details, please refer to the excellent representatives No. 13 Apple G and No. 10 BO*E;

In addition, in the low-frequency part, No. 6 XiaoD performs outstandingly and is suitable for office environments; in the high-frequency part, No. 15 SoN and No. 3 ManB perform well and are suitable for commuting environments.

Average noise reduction depth

The 13 samples with and without noise reduction were compared, and the average noise reduction depth of each sample in the entire frequency band was calculated.

Among them, the noise reduction effect of No. 13 Apple G, No. 14 Sen H Se E, No. 10 BO* E and No. 15 So N is relatively strong, so you can have your own world in a noisy environment with headphones, which is very comfortable.

The No. 6 Little D and No. 3 Edifier, which are priced at only a few hundred yuan, are also good and more suitable for friends who are looking for cost-effectiveness!

03

Transparent

When you don't want to take off your headphones but want to hear the surrounding sounds clearly, the transparency mode of the headphones perfectly solves this pain point.

It can also be felt through audio that when the transparency mode is turned on, the human ear can "ignore" the passive noise reduction effect brought by the headphones and clearly feel the ambient sound.

Among the samples tested this time, except for No. 1 Hua W, No. 7 Hua Q North, No. 12 I*F, and No. 16 Xiao M, all have a transparent mode. Referring to the noise reduction test method above, the full-band transparency performance test results are as follows:

The lower the value, the better the sample balances the ambient sound and the actual sound. Based on this, the 13th Apple G, 5th Sound K, 2nd Small M, and 10th BO*E have good transparency performance.

04

Comfort

Alas, I wonder if there are friends with small ear canals like me: I want to choose in-ear headphones, but I can’t even wear the smallest earplugs that come with them; if I choose semi-in-ear headphones, they press on the external ear canal and hurt...

The comfort of the headphones has obviously become a decisive factor in purchasing, otherwise they will either be returned, sold second-hand, or left unused.

But everyone’s ear canal structure is different, so how can we make everyone feel comfortable wearing them?

In addition to the brands showing their talents, collecting as much human ear data as possible and adjusting the overall design, the comfort of headphones is also related to the following dimensions:

🎧Shape & Weight

The earphones reviewed in this review can be roughly divided into two types: bean-shaped and rod-shaped.

In order to improve the sound quality, headphone brand manufacturers often choose a bean-shaped structure; while mobile phone brand manufacturers, in order to improve call quality and collect as much sound as possible, often use a rod-shaped structure.

Compared with the two, the rod-shaped earphones can place part of the weight on the rod, reducing some of the pressure in the inner ear canal; especially for semi-in-ear samples, it further reduces the pressure on the ear canal and tragus.

Bean-shaped earphones are generally heavier. The weight of a single ear of No. 10 BO*E even exceeds 9g, which is almost 4 times that of No. 7 HuaQ North. What's more, most bean-shaped earphones are in-ear, which are more likely to swell due to gravity and friction.

For those who have sensitive ears, you can weigh the shape and weight comprehensively.

🙋‍♀️Real person trial

In addition to comfort, the actual user experience of headphones is also related to firmness, matching with the mobile phone, in-ear experience and other aspects.

In order to summarize the trial experience with reference significance for everyone, we launched a ring-to-win earphone (trial) activity in the company. Colleagues were excited and participated in it one after another——

Finally, the 16 ring winners simulated different usage scenarios such as office work, subway commuting, running, and going up and down stairs. After a week-long trial experience, they collected the samples with tears in their eyes.

😵Allergy

If your ear canal becomes itchy, red, swollen, or even oozing pus, it’s likely that you’re allergic to headphones! Last year, a certain brand of headphones was on the hot search list for allegedly causing ear inflammation.

Improper wearing and usage may indeed lead to similar situations, but it is worth noting that "allergy" is also likely to be one of the culprits.

Taking in-ear headphones as an example, the ear caps are mostly made of silicone, silicone rubber and other materials. Friends who are allergic to silicone are recommended to use semi-in-ear or head-mounted headphones.

In addition, some headphone bodies may contain heavy metal nickel, so friends who are severely allergic to nickel are recommended to wear headphones.

05

Last words

Based on the four dimensions of "sound quality", "noise reduction", "transparency" and "comfort", we finally recommend:

According to the results of this evaluation, in the field of noise-canceling headphones, price and experience are still proportional.

The transmission of wireless headphones involves issues such as Bluetooth and chips, so it is not recommended that you buy non-branded headphones such as No. 4 and No. 7.

Although many people's lives may have long been inseparable from headphones, and tragedies caused by improper wearing are already common, we still want to remind everyone the importance of wearing and using headphones correctly.

The hazards caused by improper wearing of headphones mainly come from two aspects: one is the damage to the auditory system caused by high-intensity sound stimulation; the other is the mechanical damage to the ear canal, auricle and other structures caused by long-term wearing of headphones.

We also consulted ENT experts and summarized some tips for the correct use of headphones. Please check them out -

This half-year headphone review has finally been completed. I hope the results of this review will be helpful to everyone and give us a satisfactory score💯

Editor | Yuanyuan

Design | Damao

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