audiosplitz: Comply Foam

Bang & Olufsen

Originating from Kickstarter roots in Feb 2014, Bragi has since given its backers The Dash, their first true wireless in-ears that has an integrated fitness tracker. This year, they have come up with their second generation product called simply, The Headphone. And just this month, both Bragi earbuds were launched in Singapore. So off we went and got our grubby hands on a unit for a spin!

Read - Advent of Truly Wireless Earbuds

The Headphone (2017) vs The Dash (2016)
This is a common question to folks looking at getting Bragi earphones and realize there are actually two choices! Let's do a quick (and rough) summary of the differences:

1. Tactile Controls
The Headphone features tactile controls ie. actual buttons to actuate track and volume changes whereas you get touch controls on The Dash.

2. Half the Price
The Headphone (USD 149) is close to half the price of The Dash (USD 299), making it helluva lot more accessible to everyone.

Bragi The Headphone vs The Dash - Comparison

Check out the full comparison here - https://www.bragi.com/comparison/

3. Features Streamlined
Features like fitness tracking, inbuilt 4GB storage, app support and waterproof nature are removed.

4. Increased Battery Life
However, battery life is increased to 6 hours (from 4h).

5. Storage Case Does Not Charge
The case is for storage solely. When stored, the buds do not charge.

Now we've covered the general differences, let's check out The Headphone in detail.

Pros (+): Accessible price point; No app needed; Excellent battery life; Great ear fit; Decent sound quality; Audio transparency.

Cons (-): Very rudimentary storage case; Tiny playback controls.

Unboxing

The package is incredibly small, in fact probably the tiniest one we've seen to date for an in-ears.

Upon taking out the loot, the packaging contents include:

Bragi The Headphone
Charging Cable (micro-USB)
Carry Case
2 x Silicon Tips (S / M)
1 x Comply Foam Truly Wireless (M)
User Guides

Design

Bragi The Headphone weighs around 12.5 grams (for both buds), light for a pair of in-ears and comparable to its peers like the Erato Apollo 7 (8g) and Samsung Gear IconX (12g).

The right bud exterior has three protruding buttons marked with +, - and O meant to fiddle with power, volume and changing tracks. The buttons are incredibly small, logically so 'cos the buds themselves are already equally tiny so to actuate them, you'd have to use your fingertip (it must be emphasized: not the finger but the tip!). The left just contains the Bragi logo and is purely for aesthetic purposes.

Carry Case:
There is a carrying case that is provided for storage and for most truly wireless earphones, this doubles as a charger. Interestingly, the plastic CarryCase is NOT used for charging (unless a USB cable is plugged) though it is very easy to lock the buds in place due to magnetic latching. Note that the cover to the case slides off fully when inserting the buds, proving a little inconvenient when opening / closing. As the charging LED is on the buds, Bragi provides a slit on the case to peer at the buds power charge status.

Features

Unlike other true wireless buds, you only have a single method to pair instead of being given a choice to pair to either the left or right bud. While this simplifies the pairing process, it reduces the option of selecting which side is the master earbud.

Audio Transparency:Bragi touts an audio transparency feature. Basically, when The Headphone is inserted in your ear, ambient sounds are isolated. When activated by holding the + button, environmental noise can be heard with greater clarity. In English, this means that you have the option to be absorbed in your own musical world or to listen to music and traffic noise with relative safety that you'll be more consciously aware of your surroundings.

No App Support: Surprisingly, there is no app support like what is provided with The Dash. While it reduces the possibilities afforded, it does make The Headphones a straightforward solution to folks who don't want to be glued to their smartphones / watches to monitor or tweak their earbuds incessantly.

Notifications:
The notifications to indicate pairing, powering on and playback are all gentle pings which should not take too long to familiarize yourself to. The low battery tone

Versant Advanced Voice Technology:
Versant Advanced Voice Technology translates to optimizing the users' voice and minimizing environmental noise. The gist is that if you make calls or talk to a digital assistant like Siri / Google Now, the recipient will have a lesser difficulty in making out what you are saying so the communication will be clearer. This tech is a product of Knowles Electronics which has a background in developing MEMS microphones, which first implemented this in the Bragi Dash.

Performance

We'll update this portion once we get more do more in-depth tests on The Headphone where we check out the fit of the 2 FitTips, Comply tips, noise isolation and the general sound quality. Stay tuned!

Update (Apr 2017) - Information added for Performance, Overall and visuals

Fit and Noise Isolation:
The easiest way to get the ideal fit is to insert the buds into the ear and rotate them around the eartips. While The Headphones fit into the ears very well both with the silicon and Comply Foam, I felt the experience with the latter allowed a snugger fit that provided a more reassuring touch that the buds would stay within, which I indeed felt during a jog. The noise isolation with the Comply tips is tighter and thus feels like it blocks ambient sound just a little more effectively than the silicon buds.

Sound Quality:
Bragi The Headphone does not sound too bad at all. You can feel that Calvin Harris vs Alesso's Under Control (EDM) low frequencies are thumping strong yet not overwhelmingly pounding. The instrumentation is actually pretty well separated and while Theo Hutchcraft's vocals aren't sparkling bright, somehow it all gels together and sounds very much engaging.

Charging:
To reiterate, the CarryCase CANNOT be used for charging when you store the earbuds without a power connection. Plugging the USB cable for 1.33 hours gives a full charge of 6 hours of battery life, faring significantly better than the Earin (3h) or the Erato Apollo 7 (3h). Its closest rival would actually be the Apple AirPods rated at 5h.

Just to share one issue - when I turned on the buds, the left side suddenly had no sound at all. I resolved this by inserting the buds in the charger and held the + and - buttons. This is supposed to clear the earbud's memory of paired devices but it also allowed to let me hear from the left side once more.

Overall
Bragi The Headphones are a pair of no frills truly wireless earbuds. They offer the desired features such as audio transparency and industry-leading battery life. It's not without flaws as witnessed from the non-charging CarryCase and button size. However, at half the price of The Dash, these buds are an excellent choice if just want to go for a unit with a good sound profile that fits nicely in the ear.

Pricing and Availability

In the US / Europe, Bragi The Headphone is available from its online store for USD 149 / EUR 169.

In Singapore, both Bragi The Headphone (SGD 248) and Bragi The Dash (SGD 428) have been launched only this month and are available from truewireless.sg.

Credit to Bragi, LRT Singapore for a review unit.

Bluetooth

Jaybird X3 Wireless - Review

November 01, 2016

Jaybird is no stranger to sports wireless earbuds. In this niche, it single handedly catapulted this category to the spotlight after being ranked one of the top 5 brands in the premium headphone segment. After their CES 2016 announcement, the hotly anticipated Jaybird X3 Wireless (USD 129.99) finally sees the light of day with a launch last week. For the record, these Bluetooth buds are the direct follow up to the successful X2. Let's check out how the Jaybird X3 fares.

Pros (+): Decent battery life; High ambient sound blockage; Intuitive voice prompts; App support.
Cons (-): Charging clip needed on your travels.

Design
There will be 4 colors available at launch - Blackout, Sparta, Alpha and Road Rash, of which the first 2 can now be pre-ordered on Jaybird's website. If you are more familiar with basic color schemes like myself, you can read them as black, white, dark green and red.

The case opens like a book to reveal a transparent blister on the right side, practically similar to the Jaybird Freedom Wireless F5's presentation.

Spilling out the packaging contents, you get:

Jaybird X3 Wireless buds
Charging Cable + Charge Clip
Comply Foam Isolation Tips (S / M / L)
Silicon Tips (S / M / L)
Silicon Ear Fins (S / M / L)
Cord Clips x 2
Shirt Clip
Carry Pouch
Quick Start Guide

Jaybird X3 Blackout - Packaging Contents

The Jaybird X3 Wireless is incredibly light at 13g like its predecessor. The earbud exterior looks more streamlined (read flatter) than the X2 while the in-line remote, styled after the Freedom Wireless F5, is now fatter but easier to grasp. There is actually a direct relation between the earbud and remote which you will find out as you read on.

Jaybird X3 Sparta - Over-the-ears mode

Like the X2, you can wear these buds in over-the-ears or under-the-ears mode. The cord is flat-styled, making it convenient to fit on the cord clips to tighten the cord around your head for the purpose of microphonics reduction.

The carry pouch is marked improvement over the X2. Like the Freedom F5's pouch, it is lightweight, more portable and comes with a squeezable clasp to keep its contents in.

Let's take a break and check out a video of how the X3 is used:

Features
The Jaybird X3 Wireless is sweat-proof. The marketing blitz talks about a 'double hydro-phobic nano coating super-tight seam'. We prefer to just try them out with a jog and after one run, so far so good. The unit still works as it should.

Pairing over Bluetooth (4.1) is a breeze. Just hold the center button until the LED flashes red/green, select 'Jaybird X3' from your mobile device (up to 2 are supported simultaneously) and you're connected. One useful feature - should you be jogging with a friend, 2 Jaybirds can be linked to a single music player so both of you can hear the same tracks together, of course provided both of you are within 10 meters of each other.

The voice and audio prompts are indeed handy. The voice assistant somehow no longer has a name (it was 'Jenna' previously) but you get necessary prompts when pairing is in progress or checking the battery life percentage.

The in-line remote lies on the right side for under-the-ears mode and is flipped to the right on over-the-ears mode. It contains controls to play / take calls, adjust the volume and skip tracks. The LED indicator, previously located on the X2 earbud, is now aligned with the buttons on the remote while the charging point are now 4 contact points on the back of the remote. A niggling point is the charging cable needs to be brought with you at all times as you need to clip the X3's remote onto the charge clip to initiate USB charging.

Jaybird X3 - Blackout

The Jaybird MySound app works on iOS 9+ / Android 4.4+ and currently supports both the Freedom Wireless and the X3 Wireless earbuds. Key features include customization of equalizer and sound setting selections used by Jaybird endorsed athletes. What was useful to me was the ability to see the battery life on Android that only iOS users had access previously. The ability to switch left and right audio channels is excellent when using over-the-ears mode.

Jaybird X3 - MySound app

Performance
While not available in Singapore just yet, I had a chance to try out the X3 Wireless from someone who just came back from the US (how lucky is that).

Sound quality from the 6mm drivers was surprisingly bassy. The past 2 Jaybirds I'd tried sparkled with treble but I felt some improvement in the lower frequencies when trying Armin Van Buuren and VanVelzen's Take Me Where I Wanna Go. Should you want to tweak the sound, the Jaybird MySound app allows you to tailor a custom sound profile that will stick with you even when using other music devices.

Regarding the fit, over-the-ears mode like the past 2 Jaybirds I tried was really snug. You can jump up and down and the buds stay inside while nicely wrapped around your head. In other words, great fit and close to zero cable rustle.

Interestingly, Jaybird provided Comply Foam Isolation tips instead of Sport tips like it did for the X2 and Freedom F5. Isolation tips (vs Sports) tend to deliver a higher level of noise isolation which more effectively blocks off ambient sound giving an immersive sound experience. I personally like Isolation tips more as you are kept in your own world while jogging, though a little bit more attention needs to be paid to your surroundings to ensure unintended accidents.

(To understand more on Comply Foam Isolation, Sport and Comfort tips, do read our guide on how to use Comply Foam.)

Comply Foam - Sport, Isolation and Comfort

The Jaybirds deliver an 8 hour battery life on a full charge of 2.5 hours. Alternatively, you can get 1 hour of playback on a 20 minute charge. This is quite in line with sports wireless buds like the UA Headphones Wireless (8 hours) and the Jaybird X2 Wireless (8 hours).

Jaybird X3 Road Rash

Overall
The Jaybird X3 Wireless is a decent choice when choosing a pair of sports wireless buds. No doubt you'll need to bring the oh-so-tiny charging clip along on your travels but the X3 offers much from the customizable sound profile, good battery life and good ambient sound blockage. Do use these on over-the-ears mode and remember to swap the audio channels in the MySound app for optimal results.

Pricing and Availability
The Jaybird X3 Wireless is now available for pre-order from jaybirdsport.com at a price of USD 129.99. Their shipping date will be sometime in November.
Alternatively, they are also now available on Amazon at USD 129.99.

Update (3 May 2017)
The Jaybird X3 is now available as of today in Singapore for SGD 215.

Jaybird X3 Blackout

Apple Siri

Erato Apollo 7 True Wireless Earphones - Review

October 18, 2016

Initiated as a Kickstarter project in 2015, California-based Erato Audio developed the Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds. Truly wireless earbuds are 2016's flavor of the year, even more so with iPhone 7's removal of the earphone jack. It's all the more timely that the Erato Apollo 7 (SGD 499 / USD 299) now hits the markets in Singapore with its most recent launch on 8 Oct. Oh, and it did scoop the 2015 Red Dot Honorable Mention Award on the way.

Erato Apollo 7 True Wireless Earphones - Gold

Unboxing
There are 4 colors available - Pink, Silver, Gray and Gold, of which we were provided the 4th variant.

Credit - Erato

Sliding out the outer layer reveals a solid white box. The side gives an idea what to expect in the packaging.

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds box

Pop the top lid open for the Apollo 7 earbuds and the charging case.

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds - Gold

Lifting the bottom tab gives access the inner sanctum. Can't be too difficult to guess what lies beneath now, can it?

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds packaging

Spilling out the packaging contents reveals:

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds
Charging capsule
Silicon tips (S /M /L)
Comply Foam Isolation tips (T-600) (S /M /L)
Stabilizers (aka fins) (S/ M /L)
Charging cable
Quick Start Guide
User Manual

Design

The Apollo 7 buds are undeniably tiny. They each sport a single button and a circular contact point on the outer edge. Each Erato bud weighs an astonishing 4 grams, making these what they claim are the lightest truly wireless buds with an omnidirectional microphone. They compare favorably with the 3.5 gram Earin (without mic), the Samsung Gear IconX (6g) and Bragi Dash (7g).

The charging case allows the buds to be stored and charged simultaneously, similar to the Earin and Bragi Dash. There are 2 LEDs on the left side to indicate the charging status of the case from the micro-USB and of the earbuds respectively.

Features
Interestingly the Erato Apollo 7 has no app support and this breaks the trend of all the truly wireless buds we've looked at so far. While we check out the features and performance, we'll also assess whether the buds can hold up purely by hardware and firmware capability.

Breaking down the features:

1. Playback controls
There is a single button on each earbud and each side actually operates a different function. Here's how it works:

Hold - Power on
Longer hold - Pairing initiates
Single press - Play / Pause

Double press (right bud) - Volume up
Hold (right bud) - Next track
Double press (left bud) - Volume down
Hold (left bud) - Previous track

You notice I made a sub list under 'Single press'? Think that's a mistake? Well damn right it isn't! That's 'cos the functions in the sub list only work during music playback. With this, you really begin to appreciate how the buds work on their own without leveraging on an app.

2. Waterproofing
There is a nano-coating which supposedly provides a layer of waterproofing (not submerging we might add). Let's just say that throwing some water on the buds didn't affect its functional duties.

3. Bluetooth (4.1)
Let's start with the basics - usage. I held the right earbud button to power on, did the same for the left bud and presto, both sides were connected. Holding the either button will initiate pairing with your music device. Out of the truly wireless earbuds tested, the Erato gives an added level of control due to the physical button. Other earbuds are only able to initiate pairing by parking / removing the buds from the charging case.

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds - Bluetooth

4. Notifications
The sound / voice notifications are kept to a minimal, all the more surprising given there's no mobile app. However, voice prompts informing that power is on and pairing is in progress is welcome. With a button on each bud for actuating, there's no further sound prompts when playing or skipping tracks.

Performance
As usual, we'll do some tests on the sound quality, noise isolation and whether there are any sound drop offs. Stay tuned!

For starters, do read our article on the different types of Comply Foam and their effectiveness.

Update (Feb 2017)
The Apollo 7 uses micro-sized dynamic drivers. The result is that the sound quality has good bass emphasis while the higher frequencies were quite clear. This is excellent for R&B or EDM tracks. This sound profile can be tweaked since you have both silicon and Comply Foam tips. Comply tips tend to reduce the treble and increase the bass. Personally, I favoured using the Comply tips.

Noise isolation using the silicon tips is decent but if this is a priority to you, do use the Comply Foam instead. Sounds on the bus or train can be blocked significantly and you are able to listen to your music quite peacefully.

Overall
The Erato Apollo 7 is a rare breed of true wireless earphones that is able to function without app support. That said, it's clear that playback controls can be adjusted from the buds directly. Apart from the general aesthetic where the buds protrude from your ears, it's a good all round pair of true wireless buds.

Erato Apollo 7 true wireless earbuds - Charging Case

Where To Buy
If you like what you have read, feel free to support me by buying from Amazon (USD 299) or Lazada SG (SGD 499).

Credit to Erato and TC Acoustic for a review unit.

B&O BeoPlay E4 - First Look

Bragi The Headphone - Review

Jaybird X3 Wireless - Review

Erato Apollo 7 True Wireless Earphones - Review

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