Tech Tools review: Sony MDR XB650BT

When it comes to headphones, I'm not generally fussy. I'll use anything from the freebies you get with your phone to the more expensive on-ear cans that require you to fork over half your mortgage payment. But that's generally because I blitz through headphones faster than most; using them daily for work means I have a pile of headphones that have one earbud that doesn't work, or a frayed cable close to the jack.

So anything I take a liking to has to be either durable or have replaceable parts, because I’m not willing to pay out good money for headphones that will be scrap within a few months.

Bluetooth headphones seem like a good fit. They’re wireless, so there are no cables to fray. And, if we’re being honest, I prefer over-ear headphones to in-ear ones, because getting a good fit with earbuds can be problematic. There are some exceptions, but most give me ear pain after a few hours’ wear.

In the past, Sony headphones have served me well. The MDR XB650BT set certainly look the part: padded ear cups, eye-catching colour – this set was red – and controls for your mobile phone so you don't have to juggle your phone and your music if someone calls.

They’re are comfortable as they look.The headband is padded, so it doesn’t dig in, and while the Sony headphones are snug enough to stay in place, they aren’t so tight that I feel like someone has my head in a vice grip. This is already going well.

Pairing the headphones is a simple job. Press the power button, search for the headphones in your Bluetooth menu and you’re connected. They are also NFC compatible, so one tap on a similarly enabled device and you are good to go.

Controls for music – volume, play, pause and skipping tracks – are on the right ear cup; there is a micro-USB port for charging and a mic too for taking calls. They’re easy to handle, with decent-sized buttons.

The most important thing though is the sound. The selling point of this particular set of headphones is the extra bass promised. If you like your tracks with booming bass, you’ll like these. Those who are less keen on thumping music would be advised to look elsewhere.

I tried the XB650BTs (rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?) with a range of music, from dance music and rock to the poppier end of things and even a few Cbeebies tracks thrown in there for good measure. The extra bass doesn’t make a massive difference when you are suffering through some terrible kids’ tracks, but throw in some dance music and you’ll hear the difference.

Even if the extra bass isn’t an essential for you, the sound quality off these headphones is great. Crisp and clear, it easily stands up with the more expensive end of the scale.

You’ll get 30 hours of playback or thereabouts on a full charge, which will take around four hours. That’s a decent amount of listening – you’ll get through a long-haul flight or train journey without the dreaded low-battery bleep. When the battery runs out, though, that’s it. No 3.5mm port means you can’t hook up a cable to the headphones and keep listening. You are done until you get to a power outlet. The headphones recharge off a micro- USB port, though, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a compatible cable.

The good

Sound quality is what you’d expect from Sony, even with the added complication that everything is happening over wireless, which can occasionally mangle sound into something a little less than pleasing to the ears.

The not so good

Like most Bluetooth-enabled headphones, the Sony model can lose signal occasionally. This is a problem, mainly because some of my taste in music is embarrassing, to say the least. We’re not quite at Justin Bieber levels, but it’s not something I want to share with the world at large.

The rest

Be prepared for battery anxiety. There is no way to hook these headphones up to a cable, so you’ll need to keep them charged in between uses.

The verdict

HHH

Good sound and a stylish look.

[ sony.ie ]