I’m an audio junkie. Not a snob, mind you, but I listen to an obscene amount of audio content in the average day. In the car, at work, yard work, you name it. So with the amount of audio content that I consume on a daily basis, I was intrigued to try out this particular set of headphones. Marsboy Bone Conduction Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Headphones are what I’ve been using lately, and here’s how things went for me.
These headphones work differently than most other do, in that they aren’t placed in or on the ears. Rather, they rest over the bone that is just forward of where the ear sits, more or less where one’s sideburns might grow. The sound is conducted through the bone, and is picked up by the inner workings of the ear, and sound can be heard as as if a regular pair of headphones are in use. This can be advantageous in situations where someone might now want background sounds to be completely muffled or cancelled. Driving is an instance where hearing ambient sounds could be important, or while at work. In order for the headphones to be held in place securely enough to function, these headphones hold themselves in place fairly snugly. They wrap around the back of my head, and fit quite snugly in place. The frame is made of black plastic, with controls being located in the middle of the back, and facing downward, so one could reach to the back of one’s neck in order to adjust the volume or toggle the power switch; The unit has a pair of controls that rest over the speakers, with the button resting near the right temple controls the Pause/Play functionality, while the other side has a button for answering calls. On the “inside” of the plastic brace is a small, adjustable rubber strap, to help control how snug the fit was. I’ve worn these headphones for the entirety of my work day for a few days now, as well as some time outside of work. Having worn them this long, I’m taking two different things away, regarding its fit. First, it’s quite snug (as mentioned before). There wasn’t really any concern for me that they were sliding out of place. They remained wherever I put them. This leads me to my other takeaway. They fit almost TOO snugly. I understand that they need pressure in order to remain secure, but for what I would’ve liked, it felt like it was a bit much. It might just be my head being shaped funny, but the pressure would just get to be too much after a few hours. And just to be clear, I’m not talking pain, so much as just discomfort that is difficult to quantify or express otherwise. Your mileage may vary.
Beyond the fit though, there are other facets to consider. For example, this unit had the best battery life of any of the bluetooth headsets I’ve used. They claim six hours or so on the packaging, and I had no trouble being able to use them well beyond that. I consistently got all 8 hours of work, with occasional pausing when necessary, but never powering it off or having to recharge it at any point during my work day. I even got the ride home as well. Other headsets I’ve used are in the five hour range, or so. This lasted appreciably longer. Kudos to the manufacturer for engineering this. Charging and pairing were straight forward as well. It uses the standard Micro USB port, the same as is found on most smartphones these days. A USB cable is included, but I was able to get away with simply plugging it in to whatever charger was handy. I also noticed that it both paired, and subsequently connected with my phone, on the first try, every time. Typically with my current phone (a stock Nexus 6), connecting can be hit or miss at times. With other phones I’ve had, that wasn’t the case. But for reasons I don’t understand, this headset pairs and is rock solid in doing so. Phone calls functioned quite well when wearing this headset. I was able to make and receive a handful of them while wearing it, and I was able to hear the caller clearly, and the caller was able to do the same. On a particular call with my father, I asked him how I sounded, and he replied that he wouldn’t have known I was using a headset at all, but for my asking him.
Here’s the part that really disappoints me, beyond even the discomfort of wearing headphones that fit me a bit snugly; the range of the sound. Now I’m a far cry from an audiophile. I really don’t care if I can close my eyes and think that I’m in the recording studio. Just give me ample range between the lows and the highs, and I’m typically a happy camper. Unfortunately, that’s the one real place that these fall short. In listening to spoken word content, I didn’t notice it at all. Once I fired up some music though, the problem went from negligent to impossible to overlook. Bass waas nonestant. Now the package includes a run of the mill pair of foam earplugs, for ties when background noise can be blocked out. I did find plugging my ears did make a difference, albeit a small one. Even in that scenario, the range was a far cry from what I’d like in my music, and everything was still in the middle to high range. So understand that if music is what you primarly would be listening to on these, I don’t think even the semi-discerining music fan will enjoy them. And with my having found so many other things I liked about it, I wish this wasn’t the case. If you’re going to be doing a lot of podcasting, novels, sports, and the like, the lack of range should be minimal, if noticed at all. So if you’re going to think about purchasing these, think first about what your use case will be. Music will without a doubt disappoint, but most everything else that one would listen to should be OK. Given that music should’nt sound so poor in a pair of headphones, I an only offer a qualified recommendation, and this is reflected in the score of a six. I like these headphones and would like to score them higher, but music sounded too poor, and it would be even lower were it not for great battery and consistant connections.
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