The new Apple AirPods are cool and I made a bet with a friend of mine about whether she would get a job interview or not for the Green Mountain Care board. I knew she would but she was skeptical so AirPods became the currency of the bet. Well, she got the letter from the Governor so I’m getting some AirPods but I have to tell you that I will probably not use them because I discovered the ultimate wireless earphones, the Beats X!
I wear high-end hearing aids that stream my phone calls and can also stream music but the sound quality for music basically, well, it sucks. So, as I was contemplating my upcoming motorcycle ride to the big easy, I needed a solution. I grabbed a pair of Beats X and they have exceeded my expectations in every way.
Unlike the AirPods, the Beats X are connected to each other. This was important to me as I didn’t want one AirPod flying out of my ear and down the road while I was riding. They are connected with a very comfortable Flex-Form cable and come with variety of eartip and secure-fit wingtip options offer further personalized comfort and stability. I found that the stock eartips fit perfectly.
Pairing is simple, press the button on the right side which is also the on/off switch for 3
seconds and a message pops up on my iPhone to connect the Beats X and then they were available and paired with my MacBook Pro, my Apple watch and my iPad. I have a lot of Bluetooth devices so in my case, I have to press the button for 5 seconds so that my iPhone knows I want to use the Beats X instead of my hearing aids.
The Beats X last a full 8 hours of play time – I have tested that! Not only that, if you plug them in for 5 minutes you get 2 hours of charge! Apple has named that Fast Fuel. This is another reason that I installed that USB charger on my motorcycle. They charge with a USB charger and come with a very convenient short USB/Lightning cable.
Much of this is made possible by the Apple W1 chip. Yes, these Beats X earphones feature the same Apple W1 chip as the AirPods. The W1 is custom Apple-designed silicon. In addition to standard Bluetooth 4.1 streaming and advanced power management, the chip adds a host of key features including balancing all of that sophisticated syncing (between the two earpieces, the case for AirPods and the audio source) with the sensor inputs (automatically pausing music if you remove one from your ear). The W1 chip also makes better use of power and enables the Fast Fuel rapid charging.
Okay, so they are comfortable, they pair easily and they sip power slowly. How do they sound? I am not a audiophile but I have tried a lot of earphones in my day. I used to go to the big shows in Hong Kong with my friend Jason Wu and we would spend the entire day trying on earbuds, looking for some that would meet our Hammerhead standards. We did a few tests, cranking up the volume to see how loud they go and how distorted the sound was, making a phone call to see how that sounded and trying both music and dialogue. I became very very picky and have never found the right earphones but Beats X are the ones! They go plenty loud to enjoy the music over the roar of my motorcycle, they sound great on the phone and are perfect for watching that movie on the airplane.
One other feature that I find very useful is that the earbuds are magnetic so they lock to each other when not in use making them even more secure when I stop for gas or need to talk to someone. They come with a variety of sizes of ear tips and a nice little carrying case. Beats X are my favorite earphones and are of course, in stock at Small Dog Electronics.