Denon AH-W150 Exercise Freak

The good: The Denon AH-W150 Exercise Freak in-ear Bluetooth headphones support wireless audio streaming from Bluetooth-enabled products. They are sweatproof and comparatively comfortable to put on, and provide decent seem for wireless headphones. There is a built-in microphone for mobile phone calls, in addition to transport and volume controls. The incorporated transporting situation is great.

The bad: They are fairly pricey plus they will not fit everybody as well (which could affect seem quality).

The bottom line: During design they might resemble a set of jumbo assistive hearing devices, the Denon AH-W150 Exercise Freaks are some of the better wireless sports headphones available.

I am unsure whenever a company is bound to perfect a set of wireless sports headphones, but Denon’s $149 Exercise Freak in-ear Bluetooth headphones enable you to get about 80 % of how there. I discovered them comfortable to put on and, just like importantly, they can fit safely and that i didn’t have trouble providing them with within my ears. Additionally they seem great for Bluetooth headphones, though precisely how good they seem will rely on how tight a seal you receive.

The Exercise Freaks are available in blue, yellow, and black, and as you may expect from sports headphones, Denon states they are sweatproof. I loved them, though they are doing possess a couple of small disadvantages. First, they are a little pricey (in comparison with a few of their direct rivals, a minimum of) at $149. Next, not everyone will enjoy their design, which could appear searching a tad too similar to a set of oversize assistive hearing devices. But when you are able to accept individuals issues, the Freaks are the better wireless sports earphones I have tested.

Design and features

To place the Exercise Freaks on correctly takes a little more than it requires to use your typical set of in-ear headphones. First, you need to hook each earpiece onto each ear, then you advice the articulating ear pieces to your ears. It’s some a procedure, but when you are everything arranged, the headphones fit very safely and extremely don’t move whatsoever now matter just how much you shake your mind.

Included in the design mix, gleam patent-pending air cushion that the organization states both mitigates “the centrifugal pressure of pressing a control button to manage music while jogging” and offers “ventilation among the earpiece as well as your mind.” I am unsure it merits a patent, however, it works as a cent-size little bit of padding that appears to operate as marketed.

Based on Petro Shimonishi, Denon’s senior global product manager for headphones, the business’s designers compensated special focus on body from the Freaks, prospecting near to 100 “frequent people” to check early prototypes to ensure that the ultimate design would provide the “most dependable and light-weight fit.”

The Plantronics BackBeat 903 sports Bluetooth headphones have the identical design, however the Denons are a bit more comfortable to put on, seem better, and appear just a little more durable. Nevertheless, the BackBeat 903s can be found online just for under $50.

The Plantronics aren’t considered noise-separating earphones since the eartips’ design enables some seem leakage. In comparison, you are able to go in either case using the Exercise Freaks. If you wish to maximize seem quality, you are able to jam the eartips to your ears and try to obtain a tight seal for much better bass response. However, Denon reps stated the Freaks were not always designed to possess a tight seal because lots of runners and motorcyclists wish to have the ability to hear ambient noise, namely traffic, for safety reasons. So that you can put on them just a little looser, using the eartips relaxing in your ears although not jammed in it.

Like almost all stereo system Bluetooth headphones, that one also offers the requisite built-in microphone to make calls from almost any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. You are able to pause or play your own music by pressing lower on pressing the Pause/Play button around the right earpiece, in which the volume control buttons also reside (they are just a little small however, you can operate them by feel if you don’t take the earphones off). Press that Pause/Play button two times rapidly, and you will skip a track forward. Press it three occasions and you will skip a track back.

To simply accept an incoming call, you press the phone callOrFinish answer button around the left earpiece. It labored all right within my tests.

For other specs worth highlighting, this can be a Bluetooth 3. device which has a built-in rechargeable battery ranked to provide as much as 7 hours’ use.

Like many organisations, Denon is offering some free companion applications, such as the Denon Sport application, where you can track your workout routines. I ought to also explain the headphones ship having a excellent transporting situation that’s outfitted having a removable carabiner. To safeguard neglect the, you will want to keep your earphones for the reason that situation when you are not with them.

Performance

The seem quality of wireless earphones has enhanced through the years, but Bluetooth compression schemes frequently help make your music seem less dynamic and obvious. I can not say I had been amazed through the seem excellence of the Exercise Freaks, however i thought they seemed great for Bluetooth headphones, offering decent clearness and bass response as long as I acquired a good seal. From the performance perspective these were neck and neck with or perhaps slightly much better than the JayBird BlueBuds X, which cost round the same cost, and overall I preferred their fit a little more.

Bluetooth has a variety of about 33 ft, so you can stream audio from the Bluetooth-enabled device towards the earphones at as much as that distance (or even just a little farther). But Bluetooth earphones are vulnerable to the periodic dropout, and every so often my music would very briefly eliminate.

While using Freaks like a phone headset, call quality was decent, though not great. I possibly could hear fine, however in polling a couple of phone callers, the decision was that my voice seemed slightly muffled.

Conclusion

When knowing sports headphones, among the greatest a few things i search for is really a comfortable, secure fit. Seem quality comes second, adopted carefully by sturdiness, that is more difficult to evaluate because I am writing this review after while using earphones for only a few days. They organized fine after my number of workout routines on the treadmill, by which I varied my pace between 6- and 10-minute miles, working up a great sweat. However, I can not let you know how good they’ll endure after several weeks of usage.

When I stated, the Exercise Freaks seem great for Bluetooth headphones. You will find other competing appliances are less expensive — these Plantronics BackBeat 903 , in addition to certain JayBird models and also the Arriva Leo. For individuals on a tight budget, individuals might be better options.

The danger you take using these is the fact that they are not the kind of earphones which will provide a globally excellent fit and experience for everybody. So when you are investing $150 for a set of earphones, you generally have fairly high anticipation. For most people, the Exercise Freaks will live up individuals anticipation. However for others, they will not. So that your most secure wager is to find them from the store or e-tailer that provides a great refund policy, of these are earphones that you ought to ideally check out before totally carrying out for them.

All nevertheless, I can not think about any wireless sports headphones which are really much better all of them are under perfect. But because noted, several models are less expensive.

Denon AH-W150 Exercise Freak