by "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
Published 10/09/2017 at 16:06
by "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
Published 10/09/2017 at 16:06
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STARS: 4
I have PowerBeats 2 bluetooth headphones that I use at the gym. When listening to them on their own, I thought they sounded alright. But my recent purchase of surprisingly good no-name Chinese wood earbuds made me realize that actually, these PowerBeats don’t sound very good. Uh oh.
I’m not really a fan of the Beats brand, or paying as much as I did for these headphones. I got them “on sale” for $130, because it was August 2016, a couple months before the PowerBeats 3 came out. But that’s still a lot, and I only was willing to pay that much because I’d killed several other pairs of bluetooth gym headphones with my ear sweat, and out of frustration, I decided I should try the expensive ones like Jaybirds and PowerBeats. The Jaybirds sounded like crap, and the PowerBeats, in comparison, were an improvement.
They PowerBeats have actually held up for the past year and change, with no sign of giving up the fight with my ear sweat. So in that regard they’ve been good. But their cord is a little too long and dangly. I tried the little deedlybopper to shorten the cord, but then it would snag on the back of my neck or my shirt. The best solution was to let it dangle under my chin, but when I run it bops on my chest and transmits the noise to my ears.
And like I said, when I listened to them back to back with all of my assorted wired headphones, hoo boy, their sound quality did not hold up at all.
Then I remembered something: Qualcomm’s aptX bluetooth codec can make a noticeable improvement in bluetooth sound quality. Many Android phones with Qualcomm chipsets, including my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, support aptX. My OG Moto Droid RAZR that I bought in 2011 supported aptX. Shortly after getting it, I bought some cheap aptX-compatible Creative T12 speakers for using in my office. And damn if they didn’t sound good.
I’ve changed jobs a few times since then, and moved, and those speakers have been in a box in my garage for the past few years. But I recently fished them out and hooked them up in the mini-office space we have in our guest room, and since my phone and my wife’s Moto G5 Plus both support aptX, once again I was reminded that these cheap speakers were really quite decent.
But do the overpriced PowerBeats support aptX? Of course not! Actually, very few of the name-brand, pricier sporty bluetooth headphones support aptX. You know what gym headphones do support aptX? The cheapie $20 SoundPeats Q9A that I got my wife a while back when she said she’d also like a pair of bluetooth earbuds like mine, but didn’t want something expensive. Their design is...rather similar to the PowerBeats.
Just for kicks, I decided to pair them up to my phone, and compare them back to back with my PowerBeats. I opened up Pandora, and the first song that came up was Good Day by Nappy Roots.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Now, I don’t pay for Pandora, so the best audio quality is a mediocre 64 kbps stream. But I like the Pandora shuffle play at the gym, so I wanted to see the difference based on real usage. First, I listened to the PowerBeats. Then I switched over to the SoundPeats. The difference was startling.
The cheap SoundPeats sound way better. Even when listening to free Pandora, I could clearly notice that hiding in there behind the piano, there was also a guitar. Switch back to the PowerBeats, and the guitar was totally overwhelmed by the piano. I could barely pick it out. Everything above the bass was way less clear than the SoundPeats. I switched back and forth between the two headphones a couple more times just to be sure, and yup, my wife’s cheapie Amazon headphones officially sound much better than my overpriced Beats.
The thing I’ve noticed with both the of the cheap aptX devices I own is that level of detail is much closer to a wired connection than regular bluetooth. Details of instruments are much easier to distinguish than without aptX. Even when you’re talking about something as simple as whether or not you notice the guitar part on a poppy rap song streaming over Pandora.
With more and more phones ditching headphone jacks, high-quality bluetooth codecs like aptX should be more and more important, but it’s such a nitpicky little thing that most people don’t pay attention to. Many Android phones support aptX, but don’t make much mention of it in their specs. Apple, the Beats mothership who started the headphonejackpocalypse, can’t be bothered to include an industry standard high-quality bluetooth codec in their phones, or their bluetooth headphones. All of which are very expensive. Oh sure, Apple has their W1 bluetooth chip , but all that does is help with pairing and syncing true wireless headphones like AirPods. It does absolutely nothing to improve sound quality.
I’ll spare you the technical nitty gritty of the bitrates and whatnot, but there are other high-quality bluetooth codecs out there aside from aptX. They are:
aptX LL - this version of aptX is focused on low latency, to make sure audio syncs up with videos, particularly for video games.
aptX HD, Sony LDAC & Samsung UHQ-BT - these all support various higher bitrates than regular aptX.
Now obviously, supporting a quality bluetooth codec like aptX is no guarantee that your headphones will sound good. It only guarantees that the connection between your phone and your headphones won’t significantly degrade the sound quality. Just like there are plenty of crappy wired headphones out there, it’s certainly possible to have crappy aptX headphones.
But if you’re shopping for bluetooth headphones, or any other bluetooth audio device, definitely check the specs for aptX. Especially if you’re talking about something remotely expensive. Because it doesn’t matter how fancy the headphones themselves are, if they’re saddled with a crap basic bluetooth connection. Otherwise you might end up like me, with some over-$100 gym headphones that sound noticeably worse than their $20 Amazon knockoff you buy for your wife.
"itschrome" (itschrome)
10/09/2017 at 16:11, STARS: 1
yeah aptX or GTFO with bluetooth.
also friends don’t let friends by beats.. they are and have always been over priced crap. Oh we’ll just boost the low and the high and drop the mid range people will love it! fuck you beats!
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
10/09/2017 at 16:15, STARS: 0
Dangit, and I just bought a pair that I just confirmed does not support aptx. I got Anker Soundbuds Slim, apparently I should’ve gotten Anker Soundbuds Slim+ for about $10 more.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 16:15, STARS: 0
Yeah, I admit, I forgot about aptX when I bought these. I’m seriously tempted to sell them and pick up another pair like my wife’s, but ideally if I get some other gym headphones it’ll be something without a dangly wire. I’d rather have some behind-the-neck deals, or true wireless, but so far I haven’t found any true wireless that support aptX. Even the expensive Bose, Sony & Jabra don’t list it in the specs.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 16:16, STARS: 0
Still within the return period?
"victor" (victor)
10/09/2017 at 16:17, STARS: 0
https://www.aptx.com/products?field_product_category_tid=125
"punkgoose17" (punkgoose17)
10/09/2017 at 16:28, STARS: 0
I need to get some better headphones. None of those rubber plug types stay in my ears...
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
10/09/2017 at 16:29, STARS: 0
Bluetooth home and portable speakers, yes. I’m not ready to ditch the wires anywhere else yet. That said, it is nice to finally see truly wireless earbuds hit the mainstream.
If LG sticks to making audio quality and video-recording top priorities (which no other manufacturers seem to care about) I’ll probably go back to them despite other issues.
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
10/09/2017 at 16:56, STARS: 0
I don’t think so, and I wouldn’t feel right since I’ve used them quite a bit already.
"RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire" (ricerocketeer2)
10/09/2017 at 17:05, STARS: 0
was going to complain that my Pixel XL doesn’t support aptX, but whaddya know, Android O has it.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 17:21, STARS: 0
When I briefly owned an LG V20, I was impressed by the a/v stuff it could do. Unfortunately LG’s software was too messy for, me and I’m not enough of an audio nerd to put up with the messy software. Hopefully the V30 is an improvement in the software area.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 17:22, STARS: 0
From what I understand, aptX was already there in the hardware, but Android O allows you to specify a bluetooth codec through developer options.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 17:23, STARS: 0
I suppose it would’ve been helpful for me to include that link, right? It’s weird, the aptX site has lots of products but it’s far from comprehensive and a lot of the stuff on there is kinda old.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 17:50, STARS: 0
Also, so far I’ve yet to see any truly wireless earbuds with any kind of high quality codec support. The SoundPeats Q16 is the true wireless version of my wife’s Q9A, and they don’t support aptX. But the fancy Sony, Bose and Jabra true wireless ones also don’t support aptX. Probably something about syncing the two ears where you can only go with a lower bitrate.
I’m thinking I might pick up some cheap aptX sport headphones that go behind the neck, or otherwise maybe another pair of those Q9A for myself. Their cable is at least a little bit shorter than the PowerBeats and also thinner so perhaps would be less annoying.
"gettingoldercarguy" (gettingoldercarguy)
10/09/2017 at 19:09, STARS: 0
Gotta still say the https://www.bluewaveaudio.ca/product/get-wireless-hifi-headphone-amplifier-bluetooth-headphones/?v=7516fd43adaa is the way to go. For as often as I change phones, having the freedom from a single phone’s DAC limitations, the ability to use smartwatches on long runs and hikes, and the freedom to still use my vastly superior wired phones and buds makes this a no brainier. I miss the DAC and camera from my LG, but Nikon has a fantastic array of cameras and my wife and I just bought a http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/compact-digital-cameras/coolpix-w300.html for when we want decent photos.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 19:23, STARS: 0
Clipping that thing to my waistband and combining it with wired earbuds is a whole lot more cord than I want to deal with at the gym.
"random001" (random001)
10/09/2017 at 19:46, STARS: 0
So, do we know which headunits have this???
"gettingoldercarguy" (gettingoldercarguy)
10/09/2017 at 19:55, STARS: 0
It looks small enough to clip to my arm, etc.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 19:56, STARS: 0
That’s another great point! A quick search on Crutchfield for aptX shows that basically every Kenwood headunit has it, and also the Clarion CZ505 single-DIN and CX305 double-DIN.
I’m sure a vast majority of built-in car stereos don’t support aptX, because we all know how terrible car manufacturers still are with in-car electronics. At least if you’re doing Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, since those are either USB or wifi connections, there’s probably better audio quality as well.
"Monkey B" (monkeyb)
10/09/2017 at 20:12, STARS: 1
Beats has always been extremely overpriced, average at best, headphones.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 20:14, STARS: 0
Its size and where exactly you clip it aren’t really my point. Clipping that thing to yourself somewhere and using wired earbuds defeats the purpose of bluetooth workout headphones, which are all about freedom of motion. Even though the cord on my PowerBeats isn’t perfect, it’s way less annoying than regular wired earbuds.
I’m not expecting audiophile quality sound at the gym. I was just surprised by the difference in sound quality between my expensive PowerBeats and their much cheaper and better-sounding Amazon knockoff. If anything, my next move would be for some similarly cheap aptX workout headphones that connect behind the neck, like this:
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 20:17, STARS: 0
Well yeah, I know. Being outperformed by something at or near their price point, I’d totally expect. But being totally outclassed by something 1/6 the price was still surprising, until I remembered the aptX.
"Monkey B" (monkeyb)
10/09/2017 at 20:23, STARS: 0
having compared some low priced options with Beats for reason of helping friends not buy Beats I’m not at all surprised by your review. If I was given a pair I’d sell em or give them to someone I don’t like!! When I first did it I was so disappointed that Beats were so expensive and so popular. I was surprised Apple bought them being as the hardware isn’t up to par with the typical Apple product.
"random001" (random001)
10/09/2017 at 22:03, STARS: 0
I hate Bluetooth streaming for the crap quality in car’s. Perhaps this is the answer. Thanks!!
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/09/2017 at 22:11, STARS: 0
There are also little bluetooth aux jack adapters that support aptX if you don’t want to change out the head unit.
"random001" (random001)
10/10/2017 at 13:40, STARS: 0
Oh really?!
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
10/10/2017 at 13:50, STARS: 1
Yep, if you only want music streaming, you could get something like this . If you also want the adapter to handle calls so you don’t have to juggle the connection between the car for calls and the adapter for music, there’s this that includes a mic that mounts on your dash. Plenty of other similar items as well. Just have to double check their codec support.
"random001" (random001)
10/10/2017 at 16:01, STARS: 0
You are my new hero!
"random001" (random001)
10/11/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 0
Ordered that one you linked, we’ll see how it goes. I also saw a few that were powered headphone amps, might be nice for the new no headphone jack phones to hang on to good headsets. Also looking into those BT headphones you got. Almost time to replace my crappy lawnmowing/workout set. They are wearing out a bit.
"random001" (random001)
10/16/2017 at 10:18, STARS: 0
Ok, got in that bit you linked. It lied, no aptx. So I researched and the consensus is the sound blaster E3 is the best bet. Upside, I can use it as a headphone dongle for my nice head phones, as well.
"raxacor" (raxacor)
09/06/2018 at 00:45, STARS: 0
There are a lot of headunits that support AAC, another higher quality bluetooth audio codec.