Alright, here we go: a comprehensive, honest review after months of prolonged use. If you have piercings and are wondering if these would work for you or are hemming and hawing about buying these, read this!
TLDR: This headphones are, in my opinion, very much worth the money if you are being realistic about your expectations. Soft earpads, connects to multiple devices, good sound quality, and most importantly, really REALLY incredible battery life. Does not irritate my piercings or cause headaches. To me, the cons are not significant enough to take away from how great these are. They're no Audio-Technicas but they are a GREAT mid-cost option for people who want some of the more expensive perks/feel without the price tag.
My goal was to find decently priced BT over-ear headphones I can wear while doing anything from cooking to gardening to sitting in bed, with a good battery life, that have some similar features to the AT M50X's.
Prior to trying these, I tried: ATH-SR30BTGY and a cheaper pair from Mpow. Neither felt right. So, for only $44.99 (with the discount), I decided to give these a try. And boy oh BOY am I glad I did.
The GOOD:
1) Battery life. Y'all I kid you not, these have an astronomically LONG battery life and it is WONDERFUL. I have ADHD, so I both use these ALL THE TIME and always forget to charge them. I've had these for about 3ish months. During that time, I've had to charge these MAYBE 6 times, MAX. I've used these at least 20-30 hours a week. I literally use them all day at work. I've accidentally left them on in my bag for two days in a row and used them for three straight weeks without charging them. When I did charge them after those 3 weeks, the battery was still above 30%. Truly, the battery life of these is reason enough for me to recommend them. And they charge SO FAST. I put them on the charger while I'm in the shower and an hour or so later, they're pretty much good to go with full charge.
2) Weight (piercings). These babies are SO lightweight. My favorite headphones are the Audio-Technica M50x, which are quite heavy. Even though the M50x fit over my ears, after prolonged use, I found they start to hurt the areas around my ear/cartilage piercings - especially if I wear one earpad half off my ear. That does NOT happen with these Srhythm headphones. They are so lightweight, I regularly forget that they are on my head. The right earpad always sits over my piercings and I experience so little irritation. It's so refreshing. They're so light that I can never tell if they're in my bag or not and have to search through to double check that I have them.
3) Earpads (piercings). I have some BIG ears. These earpads are a taller, more oval shape than the M50x's. While my entire ear doesn't fit inside the earpad 'cup', the top part of my ear does. I don't wear earrings in my 1st hole lobe piercings very often, but I always have a stud in the 2nd hole in my left lobe and these have not irritated that piercing at all. They don't bother my conch piercing either! The pads themselves are made from a nice, almost memory-foam like material and they are incredibly soft and comfy. The pad on the underside of the headband is kind of small, but it provides a good amount of cushion and so far, I have not experienced any soreness on the top of my head, where the headband sits.
4) Adjustability. While the twisting limits of these are much less than that of the M50x, they have just enough twisting capacity in just the right ways that they work perfectly for what I need. When I push the right pad off my ear, the pad is able to twist to stay flush to my head, allowing the set to stay on my head, snug and secure. The headband extends pretty far, so even folks with longer/larger heads are able to enjoy these.
5) Price. These ended up being $48.59 (with tax) for me. It was a little bit more than I wanted to spend, but spending the extra $10ish was definitely worth it. If for no other reason than the incredible battery life. They also come with a nice hard case. I don't use it regularly, but it is a nice addition.
6) Battery, again. Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about the battery life on these. The listing says 50+ hours but personally, I've gotten more like 60-72 hours. Not sure how that would change with playing at full volume (I play my music/podcasts at a medium or low volume) but either way, it's still great.
The Meh:
1) Noise Cancellation. I honestly do not use this function. I typically leave my right earpad halfway off my ear in order to hear what is going on around me (#ThankYouAnxiety). The few times I have used the function, it seems to do a pretty decent job of, at the very least, dampening sound enough that it is not 'sharp' to the ears. Honestly, these do a good job of that even without the noise cancellation function on. For me, that's enough.
2) Mic. I try to use the mic when I make phone calls. So far, I haven't had anyone really complain that they can't hear me unless they are also calling through a BT connection, like thru the BT in their car or something. I don't really have a major opinion on this other than so far it has worked when I need it to.
3) Stitching. The stitching on the right earcup, where it sits on my cartilage earrings, is starting to fray a bit. Honestly, that's to be expected bc, like I said, it's literally rubbing against an earring with pointed metal. However, it does feel like it's starting to fray kinda fast for my taste. But we will see how the stitching holds up over continued prolonged use.
The "Cons":
1) Latency. I know these are labelled as low-latency, but when I connect these to the Bluetooth receiver hooked up to my TV, there is a small but noticeable delay in sound. My BT receiver/TV is 8-10ft away from where I sit on my bed, max. Ultimately, I've gotten used to it and it's not that big of a deal, but it is a bit of downside to these headphones for me because I bought them, in part to watch TV at night without disturbing anyone else in my house.
2) Range/Distance. I know this listing says the headphones work up to "50ms" but honestly, I've experienced disruption in signal if my phone is in my left front pocket and I'm moving around/twisting my torso. It's kind of frustrating when it does happen, but more often than not, the signal is pretty much fine. It just seems to not work well if bodies or walls or whatever are in between the phone/device and the headphones.
3) Might be user error? The issue that bugs me the most is I can't seem to figure out how to skip to the next song on the headphones, themselves. There very well may be a way to do it and I am just not doing it right, but it doesn't feel like the intuitive normal "click the volume up button quickly twice" way to change the song, so take this one with a grain of salt.
4) User manual. I understand the purpose of shipping these w/o a printed user manual and access to the manual online, but I don't really like that. It requires an extra step for me to figure out to use or troubleshoot the headphones, and assumes that everyone has reliable access to the internet whenever they may need the manual. But this is probably pretty insignificant for most people.
If I could go back in time to when I purchased these, the only thing I would do differently is buy these in mint green instead of black simply bc that mint is SO pretty and I love fun colors. But the mint was more expensive than the black when I purchased these a few months ago. Other than that (completely superficial thing), I would absolutely buy these again, give these as a gift, and recommend them to friends.
I will try to update again in a few months, but so far so great! Happy listening!
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