I have been quite hesitant to delve fully into the truly wireless Bluetooth world, simply because I hate the idea of running out of battery and having them become useless. The cost also is a factor, since decently priced headphones tend to be hit or miss on quality. Alpha & Delta’s JAAP headphones are affordable and truly wireless, but with the ability to charge them while listening to extend the battery life. So, I thought I would give them a try.

What’s in the box?

In the box, you’ll find the JAAP headphones, instruction manual, 6 sets of ear tips, charging cable, and charger unit. I was very impressed with the generous amount of ear tips they included.
My first impressions on the headphones themselves was how big they were. How were they supposed to be comfortable? I was actually quite surprised that despite their size, they fit pretty well. I also really liked the case they included. It would fit the headphones and the charging adapter easily, and also was slightly firm to allow it to be protective.

Pairing was simple. They recommended pairing the left headphone first with the phone, and when you place the other headphone into pairing mode, the right headphone will connect with the left. It worked like a charm. The only thing I noticed was that it did not automatically connect to my phone after I turned them off and wanted to use them again. I had to pair them with my phone each time. The second headphone would always pair right away with the first.

I charged the headphones by plugging the included charging unit to each headphone and charging the charger. The battery life was very decent. I ended up charging them at approximately 12 hours of use, but they were not quite empty by the time I put them on the charger. It took quite a while of daily use to run the battery down. Eventually, I just charged them up overnight and they were good to go.

The thing I thought was the most ingenious about these headphones had to be the charger unit that extended the battery life but still allowed you to use the headphones. Other truly wireless headphones have to be charged in a case, which prohibits use, but not these. Would I run with the charger unit on? Probably not. But for sitting around an airport, bus, or just at home, the charger unit worked well.

As a person who enjoys bass heavy songs, these headphones were nice. They were comparable with my Bose iE2 earbuds in terms of bass, though the mid and high ranges were affected slightly by it. I didn’t mind, but someone who does not prefer the bass and instead enjoys the crisp quality may be deterred by it. Comparing the price to Bose earbuds, the slight decrease in sound quality is on par with the cost.

Sometimes when it comes to Bluetooth headphones, you have to deal with connection problems. The only time the sound cut out for me was when I paired them with my PC computer. For some reason, the right earbud would cut in and out. This could have been due to the Bluetooth adapter since I had no problem with the sound cutting out on my phone. When watching a video, the sound had a slight delay. I have yet to find a pair of Bluetooth headphones under $100 that does not have a delay, and it was quite negligible.

When it comes to comfort, these headphones were decently comfortable. The longest that I wore them for was 1.5 hours, and my ears did not feel fatigued. There are several tips to choose from and I was intrigued by the foam tips but ended up liking the spinfit eartips best. They are supposed to rotate 360 degrees for a better fit. They must work in some way because they were pretty comfortable.
I never had the feeling that the headphones were going to fall off, and other than getting used to how to put the left one on in the best way, I had no problems with fit or comfort. Am I the only one who has a problem fitting one earbud at times?

Positives

• Very long battery life
• Comfortable to wear
• Decently priced

Negatives

• Bass can drown out some of the high/mid tones

Final thoughts

Overall, I feel these headphones are worth the price. They have an excellent battery life, decent comfort, and the bass is really nice. While the bass can be a little overpowering to some, to me, it was great. They were great for tossing into my work backpack, and I plan to keep them there in the future.

Price: $71.90
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Alpha & Delta.

Two words: wireless earbuds. If there has been one product one that’s absolutely exploded in the past few years, it’s probably been these little buggers. And, since Apple released their AirPods, the competition has become increasingly sophisticated. I’ve had the opportunity to review several wireless earbuds here at The Gadgeteer, and always up for trying out another if they look interesting in some way. The Optoma NuForce BE Free8 Bluetooth wireless earbuds had a few things going for them: an interesting look, a cool charging case and I’d already reviewed a few Optoma earbuds in the past and been generally impressed with them. How would the BE Free8 earbuds fare?  Let’s find out.  Gadget on!

Hardware Specs

• IPX5 water-resistance rating
• 4-hours of continuous, uninterrupted usage per earbud charge
• Up to 3 extra charges from charging case for 16 hours total listening time
• AAC and aptX® LL technologies provide high fidelity audio
• Patented SpinFit ear tips for secure and comfortable fit
• Activiate Siri and Google Assistant with the built-in microphone
• NMFI (Near-Field Magnetic Induction) Technology for reliable connection between earpieces w/ 33 feet Bluetooth range
• Weight: 1.6 oz

Packaging

The BE Free8 packaging was very sophisticated and upscale.  Outside, images and descriptions of the product.
The rear of the package had an exploded view of the guts of the earbuds, and a list of features.
The inside packaging included a quick-start style diagram, and the earbuds and battery case were snug in a black foam block, with the accessories and instruction manual underneath.

Contents

• BE Free8 Bluetooth wireless earbuds (left and right)
• Charging case
• Micro USB charging cable for Charging case
• SpinFit short earbud tips (S/M)
• SpinFit long earbud tips (XS/S/M)
• Instruction booklet

Features & Functions

Right out of the gate, I was impressed with the look and feel of the

The BE Free8 included two types of their SpinFit ear silicone tips, all of which are shown in the image above.  On the left are three sizes (extra small, small, medium) of longer/deeper style tips, and on the right are two sizes (small, medium) of shorter/shallower tips.  Because of my past difficulties with keeping earbuds in my ears, I went straight for the largest, deepest tips, the ones shown to the far left in the image above.

Ergonomics

Installing the earbud tips onto the bases was simple, and once installed, I played around with the best way to orient the BE Free8 in my ears.  They have an interesting form factor: a generally triangular shape, but quite rounded and with a bit of a lobed contour.  Due to this, I was skeptical that they’d fit in my ears, and if they did, that they’d stay there.  In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.  After I got the SpinFit tips into position, rotated the BE Free8 around a bit until they fit snugly into my outer ear.

Sound

The SpinFit tips didn’t really seem to be anything particularly special compared to the many other audio headgear I’d tried previously.  They are round and made of soft, compliant silicone, and in fact, I’d even tried other earphones that included both short and long tips.  However, the combination of the SpinFit tips and the overall shape of the BE Free8 and how they fit into my ears seemed to help with ambient noise blocking.  This, coupled with the AAC and aptX LL enabled the BE Free8 to them deliver some really good sound.

Phone Features & Controls

The BE Free8’s controls are limited to a single, tiny button on each earbud.  And when I use the word “tiny,” I mean it—these soft buttons are only a few millimeters in diameter.  For this reason, I found them difficult to locate when I reached up to activate one of the BE Free8 controls.  I had to basically feel my way around the earbuds until I located them.  I thought I’d get used to this after a while, but even after using the BE Free8 for several weeks, this wasn’t the case.  Additionally, I would mention that the only indication of which earbud was left or right was a tiny letter “L” and “R” on each of the tiny buttons.  These letters on the buttons were harder to read than the buttons themselves were to find while wearing them.  I found all of this to be a bit of an ergonomic fail.  The buttons themselves control such features as audio pause/play, track advance and Siri (0r Google Assistant) activation in normal mode, or answer/ignore/hang up a call when in phone mode.

Moisture Resistance

The BE Free8 touts an IPX5 standard water- and weather-resistance rating.  I can’t exactly test for strict adherence to this standard, but I can vouch for the fact that I used the BE Free8 during exercise, and they didn’t seem to be affected by the…ahem…generous amount of sweat I typically generate during a strenuous workout.  If they can pass my workout sweat test, that’s more than good enough for me.

Battery Life & Charging

The BE Free8 includes a sleek-looking charging case.  This case is gloss black with a bit a teardrop shape and looks to me like something a Sith Lord or ninja would favor.  Which is very cool.

The case has a flip-open, spring-loaded lid and there are two charging pockets that the earbuds fit down into, with each pocket including tiny charging contacts.

Above, the flat, ribbon-style micro USB cable has been plugged into the battery case so that the case can be charged.  There are three tiny, white LEDs that illuminate left to right to indicate the charge level of the case.  Optoma claims that the earbuds themselves will provide 4 hours of usage on a full charge, while the charging case adds an addition 3 extra earbud charges for a total of 16 hours of battery life between the earbuds themselves and the charging case without having to recharge anything.  I think that’s theoretically possible, but this brings me to a difficulty that I had with this product, which I detail below.

When I placed the earbuds into their charging pockets and closed the lid, I was never quite sure that the earbuds were fully seated onto the charging contacts, even with the lid closed, which should have pushed the earbuds down and held them onto the contacts securely for charging.  The result was that I don’t think the earbuds were always being charged while in the charging case, which limited the battery life of the earbuds.  After analyzing the situation, I think that this was caused by the use of the largest, longest earbud tips.  The size of these tips seemed to make the earbuds more difficult to insert into their charging pockets—they didn’t seem to fully seat, even with the lid closed, which may have prevented the earbuds from charging.  If using any of the shorter and/or smaller earbud tips, this didn’t seem to have been a problem at all.

Bluetooth Connection

Initial pairing of the BE Free8 to my iPhone 6 Plus was quite simple.  Pressing each of the tiny earbuds and holding for about 6 seconds put them into pairing mode.  I then just selected “BE Free8” and boom, they were paired.  However, they did not seem to want to remain paired.  About every third time I removed the earbuds from their charging case, they needed to be re-paired with my iPhone all over again.  This became very annoying.

Optoma touts Near-Field Magnetic Induction (NFMI) technology for a reliable connection between the earbuds, with a range of at least 33 feet, and I did find that to be the case.  Aside from a second or two of unexplained static here and there, I very seldom lost connection with my iPhone, and I don’t recall ever losing the connection between the left and right earbuds.

Positives

• Slick battery charging case–looks cool
• Earbuds fit pretty well (in MY ears at least)
• Good sound, decent ambient noise blocking

Negatives

• I had to re-pair them often
• Largest size earbud tips got caught in the charging case and kept flipping inside out
• Battery case sometimes didn’t seem to charge the earbuds

Final thoughts

The Optoma NuForce BE Free8 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds were a bit of a mixed bag for me.  I found their high gloss black styling to be very cool looking, including both their battery case as well as their charging case.  Speaking of the charging case, it seemed to generally work well, but occasionally one or both of the earbuds would not charge fully, I suspect due to the lid not completely closing.  Their sound was good, and they held a charge for a very serviceable amount of time, even longer using their battery charging case.  They fit fairly well in my ears, provided that I was able to get them positioned just right, but I did have to re-adjust them occasionally, and I also had to re-pair them more often than I would have liked.  Overall, the Optoma NuForce BE Free8 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds have great styling, good feature set and sound, but at $149.00 they seem a bit pricey considering their shortcomings.

Price: $149.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Optoma.

Having earbuds that are truly wireless has been a quest for me.  And when I say wireless I am not talking about being able to connect to my phone via Bluetooth.  I am talking about having earbuds with NO wires.  None.  I want them to look like I am wearing a hearing aid.  No wires. Zilch.  Enter the GoNovate Gemini Wireless Earbuds.  So small each one can fit on a quarter.  And no flashing little blue light. Are they worth the price?  Let’s find out.

First of all, the earbuds are the smallest I have ever seen.  Which brings up my first point.  I have a habit of misplacing headsets that are small.  My daily Bluetooth headset is currently the Plantronics Voyager Edge, and I love it.  But I have misplaced it numerous times because it is so small and it is easy to set down and forget about.  And the GoNovate earbuds are about 1/3 the size of the Voyager Edge.  Did I mention that they are the smallest I have ever seen?

I should specifically mention that the setup for these buds is special and you need to read the instructions that come in the package.  Basically, you have to turn on the right bud, then turn on the left bud so that it connects to the right one, then you connect the right bud to your phone/tablet.  And you simply repeat that process every time you turn them on to make sure that they connect properly.  Apparently the right bud is the one that matters in relation to where your phone is.  When my phone is in my left pocket I have experienced a handful (just a few) drops and pauses in the music.  When the phone is in my right pocket I don’t experience any drops or pauses except for when the batteries are almost dead.

Which brings me to my next point.  I was lucky to get 3.5 hours of listening time with these earbuds.  I guess I can’t complain too much because if you want a really, really small earbud, that means a really, really small battery.  So I’ll live with it.  Luckily, in the package you’ll find the charging box, which the earbuds magnetically slip into the top of.  They immediately start charging when you insert them into the charging box and on the bottom of the box you’ll find a button that you can press and see 4 LED lights to show you the current status of the battery capacity.  The box is awesome for taking the earbuds with you because you don’t want to carry these things in your pocket.  Trust me.  They can too easily be dropped or lost.  The box is 2 ¾ in wide, 2 in tall, and about ¾ in thick.  It’s a great size to carry in your pocket.  And inside the box is a 3,000 mAh battery which means you get numerous charges for your earbuds.

The GoNovate buds only have 1 button on each bud and it performs a couple of different functions.  Press either once to pause the music.  Press either one twice to go to the next track.  And hold either one to power both the buds off.  Pretty simple.  I have reviewed numerous headphones and earbuds lately on the Gadgeteer.  And one thing has been clear with almost every single product, which is that the vast majority of them claim that the headset/earbuds can also be used to answer phone calls.  Make a note that these earbuds are no different.  They aren’t meant to answer phone calls, but they’ll do for a quick call.

I should mention something about the sound quality.  I am no connoisseur of music, but I know what I like.  These earbuds don’t have much bass sound at all.  And the highs aren’t that great either.  Right in the middle is where I would say these earbuds shine.  You will get good quality sound through these earbuds but don’t expect the same quality sound you get from your expensive over-the-ear headphones.  But on the other hand, for the smallest earbuds I have ever seen, I think the sound is great.  The volume is loud enough that when I am listening to music I can’t hear anyone talking to me or calling my name from across the house (Sorry, honey. I was doing a review, honest.)

Finally, I want to mention the one thing that is a little disappointing about the GoNovate Gemini earbuds.  The tips on the ends that stick inside your ears are soft silicone that come in 3 sizes.  They aren’t uncomfortable, but they aren’t as a comfortable or useful as they would be if they were made of memory foam like many earbuds today.  So I can’t recommend these earbuds if you are indeed going to be participating in some sort of strenuous athletic activity.  They just don’t completely stay inside your ears with lots of movement of your head.  I find myself regularly pushing them back into my ears.

Positives

• Amazing small size
• Good sound quality
• Battery charging box

Negatives

• Only 3.5 hrs of listening time
• Lows and highs in sound aren’t there
• Can easily be lost

Final thoughts

For the price of $##, it is really hard to complain about these earbuds.  The GoNovate Gemini are crazy small, the sound quality is good considering the small size, the charging box is a huge plus, and you don’t have any blinking blue light to annoy those around you.  If you can live with the 3.5 hours of playtime and the silicone ear tips that don’t quite stay in during strenuous activity, then these earbuds are a great buy.

Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by GoNovate.

For the past couple of years, a few Gadgeteer reviewers have been on a search for truly wireless earbuds that are worth the hype. Up until now, many of these buds have had to make serious compromises for one reason or another. Now we have the Nuheara IQbuds intelligent truly wireless earbuds. The name may be a mouthful, but Nuheara has managed to raise the bar for wireless earbuds. Yes, some compromises were still made, but nothing major. And as a result, the IQbuds just might be the wireless buds to own.

Let’s start with the basics: Nuheara is an Australian company who makes audio wearables (their term). They developed the IQbuds to help people listen to music, podcasts, phone calls or whatever and still be aware of their surroundings. But they didn’t stop there. Using their free smartphone app along with built-in active noise canceling (ANC), the IQbuds allow you to literally dial in—or out—the world around you. More on that later.

The IQbuds are “truly wireless”, meaning there are no wires either to the smartphone or to each other unlike many other wireless earphones. There are separate left (L) and right (R) buds and they are controlled either in the free (iOS or Android) app or on the buds. Part of the IQbuds intelligence comes from touching, pressing or tapping the bud itself. Not only that, but these gestures can be personalized by the user within the app.

The left IQbud can be used without the right one, but the reverse will not work. Included with the IQbuds is a case that will charge them about three times over. Since the IQbuds get about 5 hours with Bluetooth streaming, that means 15 hours total before the case itself needs recharging. Note that if you just use the hearing processing without Bluetooth streaming, usage time between charges almost doubles.

Speaking of Bluetooth, pairing is relatively easy. Once you find the correct ear tip size, insert the IQbuds into each ear; then touch the left bud and hold until you hear the word “Pairing” in your ear. Keep in mind that the iQ app also needs to be paired—I’m not sure how or why it’s important, but the app is necessary to use the hearing settings.

I’ve noticed that when connected, the IQbuds can be interrupted by other Bluetooth devices. Case in point: I was using the buds while getting my car serviced. Every time the mechanic turned the key, my Ford Sync system would connect and that would break the connection to my iPhone. The Bluetooth settings also showed that The IQbuds and my car were all connected at the same time. The bad news is that this can happen at all. The good news is that my car was at least 100 feet away, so the range of the IQbuds is great!

There is another issue that I’ve yet to figure out. More often than I like, a high pitched squeal emits from the IQbuds—like feedback noise. Nuheara has addressed the cause and issued a fix, but despite doing what they suggest, the noise keeps happening sporadically—except when they are in my ear. Hopefully in the future, a firmware update will take care of this issue.

The IQbuds are both water and sweat proof, so they’re good for exercising providing they stay in your ear. If you exercise, you should make sure the fit is snug (if you can) before committing. For most people, a proper fit is not a problem.

Comfort for me is an issue with the IQbuds. While they aren’t uncomfortable, I can use them for up to two hours and then some ear pain creeps in. YMMV.

A surprising aspect of the IQbuds is its call quality. Of all the wireless earphones I’ve used, the IQbuds are the best. Everyone I talked to had no idea I was not using my phone. Plus, I could hear my own voice when talking. I have never understood why other earphones don’t allow the user to hear themselves while talking. This is a first for me with earphones—and a pleasant surprise.

The IQbuds app allows various settings to be customized as well as presets for different situations. Personal profiles can be set up but unfortunately not named and saved for later.

One of the main advantages of the IQbuds is that they not only block as much or as little outside noise as you choose, they also can help hearing in noisy environments. For instance, I don’t have trouble hearing someone talking to me in a noisy environment such as a restaurant, but I have trouble understanding them. I can’t seem to separate what is being said from the background din. The IQbuds help by using speech amplification. This cool trick can separate speech from background noise and then amplify it so it’s easier to decipher. It’s not a flawless application—voices can sound a bit mechanical, but speech is understandable!

Nuheara has presets for different situations that help determine how best to hear what you need to hear and disregard the rest: Workout, Street, Home, Office, Restaurant (my favorite), Driving and Plane. Once a choice is made, the settings can be customized further in the SINC (Super Intelligent Noise Control) and World EQ sections in the app. These settings let you determine how much of the world you want to let in.

Now, this is pretty cool: One (I think) of the unintended consequence of using one of these presets is listening to movies on my iPhone using Bluetooth. I swear that I could hear surround sound. I have no idea if it’s real or not, but when watching a movie, I could hear sounds coming from specific places around my head. This is known as soundstage and I have never heard it this realistic before in any headphones, regardless of price. It was downright eerie. Keep in mind that this is not a promoted function and it may not even be a real one, but it may end up being my favorite use of the IQbuds!

Nuheara touts the IQbuds high fidelity audio. Well, that’s accurate—and also not. True, the audio quality is quite good, especially when you consider all of the audio tinkering that’s going on. The main problem I have is that all the offered tips are too small for me to get decent bass. The old saying is true: No seal = no bass. I had to resort to using some ear tips from another earphone. This swap restored the bass to an acceptable level, but I then had to remove them so they would fit into the charging case. Chances are you won’t have an ear tip fitting problem, but it’s something to consider if you have a history of other earphones not fitting properly.

Positives

• Sound better than many wireless ear buds
• Help make speech more intelligible
• Can adjust how much background noise is heard
• Many ear tips to choose from

Negatives

• Expensive
• Can be painful to wear after a few hours
• Can emit high pitched feedback sound (but not while wearing)

Final thoughts

Once the proper tips were used, music sounded rich and full with detail coming through. However, the audio doesn’t compare to dedicated, wired earphones—nor is it expected to. Audio quality is an important factor, but it’s not the reason to buy the IQbuds. That decision is solidly based on the hearing improvements the IQbuds offer in addition to the adjustable augmented audio. When you factor in those useful enhancements, a purchase decision can be simple.

Price: $299.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Nuheara.