I’ve been using stereo Bluetooth headsets for listening to the music in the gym ever since the first such device came out and the mp3 players started including Bluetooth as an option. In my opinion there is absolutely no other way to unobtrusively listen to the music while you exercise. However, all the headsets that I’ve used so far have one major problem: they all fail due to the moisture within a very short period of time. So far I have not had any such problems with these SoundOriginal headphones, but only time will tell if they manage to be an exception to the rule.

The sound quality of these headphones is one of their main attractions. First of all no wireless headphones of this size will ever be able to deliver the deep, clear sound that you expect from some of the higher end headphones, but these headphones sound richer and more vibrant than almost all the headphones I’ve tried before. They were on par or better than the Motorola S line of Bluetooth sports headphones, and miles better than the Jabra headphones.

These headphones seem to feature passive noise canceling technology. They are pretty good at minimizing the outside sound while in use, and even when they are turned off. Several times I was in a situation where someone tried to talk to me while I was wearing them, and I had to take them off in order to hear what the person had to say.

These headphones are probably one of the most reductionist ones that I’ve seen. They are just made out of two oversized earbuds and a connecting cord between them. This, IMHO, is the ideal form factor for the sports headphones. The earbuds are pretty large and stay firmly in my ears even during the moderately fast runs. The connecting cord loops around the ears, which gives the headphones extra stability. I’ve used them while running for several weeks and they stay firmly in the position. They score high on both the form factor and the comfort level.

I have not used these headphones much for phone calls. In general I fund Bluetooth headsets to be quite inadequate for voice phone calling. The ones with solid noise canceling (like these) are actually even worse for the purpose of phone calling – they don’t provide the kind of audio feedback from your own voice that we are used to. The mic on these headphones also seemed below average, but then again, I was not going to use them for telephony anyways, so this aspect of the headphones neither bolsters nor diminishes a case for them.

I will be monitoring these headphones for the foreseeable future. If they manage to survive a year of use in the gym, and their battery power does not significantly diminish over that period of time, then they might be the best overall sports Bluetooth headphones that I have come across.

**** Product provided free for review purposes. ****