Sony MDRAS800BT Active Sports Bluetooth Headset (Blue)

Only had them for a couple of day, but love them so far.*** Likes ***- Flat/natural sound. If you like potato quality bass bins, then get a set of Beats or Bose or Skull Candy. If you like natural sound or like to tweak the EQ settings on your phone/MP3 player, then this Sony headset is your better choice.- Lightweight. I don't feel like there's something heavy hanging from my ears. And the cord that goes behind your neck is short. There's no slack to bounce around while you're walking, running, or moving around.- Balanced/secure. I was considering the BackBeat Go2, but I've read feedback that the mic/remote piece on the chord makes things feel "lopsided". Plus, it swings around when you're running or moving about, due to the extra slack. With this Sony, there are no controls on the chord, so no lopsided issues here. Plus, the design of the chord tapers inward from the earpiece and makes contact with the side of your ear/head. Along with that, the stabilizers and the actual earbud going in your ear.. that makes 3 points of contact to keep everything in place.- NFC is awesome. Unlocked the screen on my Galaxy S3, waved it over the NFC piece on the headset, got a pop-up asking if I wanted to pair with the headset, select Yes.. Ready to use! If you have an iphone or ipod, you gotta pair it up the old fashioned way through the bluetooth settings.- BT signal quality is great. My previous BT headset was a Jabra clipper. Loved that fact that I could use any earphones I wanted. But the Clipper was a piece of junk overall. The signal would break often and was easily prone to interference from other wireless devices and from touching metal objects. You can read my review on it for details. This Sony headset works fantastically in the gym, where there are many other people using BT headsets. I was able to walk away a few yards from my phone and the signal was rock solid.*** Dislikes ***- Huge earpieces. Like other BT headsets of similar design, the earpieces are freakin huge. Basically, looks like you have wine corks plugged in your ears. I understand there's a lot of technology crammed into these things, but I hope someday they figure out how to shrink things down some more.- Single button operation. This is both a like and dislike. I like not having the controls on the cord. But at the same time, using a single button to control everything is annoying. It's basically like tapping Morse code.1x press = start/stop music2x press = next track3x press = previous trackshort, long press = vol upshort, short, long press = vol downIt takes some practice, but it's kinda frustrating at first. They could have put a separate volume control on the other earpiece.- Short USB cord. I guess Sony expects you to charge this thing through a laptop. The USB cord they provided is little over 12 inches. No big deal I guess, since we all have micro USB chargers that came with our phones, right? At least it comes with a nifty carrying case.*** Untested ***- Haven't properly tested the battery life. I only use these for the gym, and I've gotten a good 2+ hours so far. The box says up to 4.5 hours. I'll see if they can last another 2 workouts.- Apparently, there's a companion smartphone app for both Android and iOS. I haven't bothered to look for it, so I'm not sure what the app is supposed to do.- I haven't tried making phone calls. Honestly, I probably never will. The microphone is located on the right earpiece. I just don't see how it can clearly pick up your voice. Unless it uses the vibrations in your ear or something.*** TLDR ***Looks clunky, but feels great and sounds awesome. Might not be suitable for phone calls or people with clumsy fingers.

Other headphone gear I own: Sennheiser HD600s + upgraded cables, Sennheiser Momentums + upgraded cables, Schitt Asgard headphone amp, Schitt Gungnir DAC, FiiO X5, Sony Xperia Z2 (w/ aptX)Design / Build Quality: Very good; the headphones have a premium feel and the addition of different sized ear bud tips and extensions make it easy to get a good fit. The ear buds themselves do stick out a bit, so these may not be the most comfortable to listen to if you're laying down. The single button mechanism doesn't seem to physically 'click' or push down so that kind of exacerbates an already sketchy control scheme. But what I've found is that if I just set the volume up high on the headphones, I can simply adjust it down with my phone. The headphones come with a rubber strap to sort of tighten the wire connecting the 2 sides, so that helps. Very comfy overall. I'm not a fan of the silicon style buds that typically come with IEMs, but the Sony ones aren't too bad. I purchased a set of Comply TX400 memory foam tips, but I think they're slightly too large as sometimes one tip gets stuck in my ear. I ordered a pair of the TX200s and will try them this weekend.Sound Quality: The one compromise I made with this purchase decision was that I knew I'd be dealing with lossy audio. I primarily listen to Hi Res FLAC (16/44 --> 24/192) and then Pandora and Spotify. I have bluetooth speakers with AptX and I've been impressed with the codec in the past. You can't really discern the artifacts and that metallic quality that typically accompany AAC/MP3 files. These headphones are pretty neutral and bass quality is pretty impressive (I don't mess with bass / treble controls if I don't have to). More than anything, the sound is clean, not harsh, and the background is black (ie quiet). Sony's done a good job.Connectivity/Bluetooth:I use use these headphones with my Xperia Z2 phone and my late 2013 retina Macbook Pro 13 and both connect via aptX with no issues. The range on these headphones is pretty good too! I can walk around my room and there's no stuttering or cutouts. Obviously, if you're listening to high bitrate audio and you walk far away from the source device, the connection speed is going to drop. So there are limits. I did have an issue one morning at the office where the headphones would connect to the Z2, start playing, and then cutout. But I haven't been able to replicate the issue. I tried having a phone conversation with these on and the person on the other line had to ask me to repeat myself a few times - so I think I need to read up on the specifics of using these for phone calls. So I'll try to update once I check that out a little more.Battery Life:Can't really comment just yet, though the battery just died as I'm typing this. But definitely these headphones last for several hours. I've only charged them once since purchasing a week+ ago, so most likely they were due for charging.Overall:So far so good! I think for $150, the Sony MDR-AS800BTs strike a great balance of sound quality and ease of use. Yes, the button scheme isn't great, but that's a minor gripe when you get NFC + aptX.

I bought these headphones based on a review by The Wirecutter (see [...] ). Initially, they worked great. Over time, however, the microphone stopped working, and the headphones would spontaneously trigger Siri or fast-forward music (or podcasts) on my iPhone. This behavior tended to happen if the headphone jack rotated as I was walking around, or while I was studying, if I turned to reach for something on my desk (e.g., a book, a piece of paper).While the sound quality of these headphones is good, the prospect of listening to something, only to be interrupted because the headphones spontaneously trigger Siri or fast-forward through whatever I was listening to makes them unusable. I don't know if this behavior is abnormal, or if it is an expected defect because I did something wrong, but I will be using different headphones from now on.

These iems are quite good considering they were purchased for under $40.00. They stay in place while walking or running and are very light weight. My ears are tiny, but the eartips and wings fit well. The sound quality actually quite good, as long as you get a good seal. I'm not an expert, but I would call the sound signature is these U shaped, but not overly bassy or sibilant. The major issues with these iems are Sony's warranty, which might not be valid in Canada. Even if it is, Sony only offers six months. Time will tell if they will last. Additionally the housing on these iems is quite large, so they tend to stick out of the ears a fair bit. In terms of the mic and remote, I can only pause and play with the latest build on my iPhone. This is unfortunate, as I was hoping to be able to control my music without having to access my iPhone. All said, however, I still think these iems are worth getting, particularly if you want something to wear while working out.

great sound. versatile. it just takes a while for them to get adjusted in my ears.

Got this based on a review from The Wirecutter, and I have to admit they're on point with this one. Amazing fit which is the most important thing in a workout headphone. The sound quality is pretty good for the price. A bit bass heavy and the mids feel a bit recessed but overall the sound is good for the sort of music most people would listen to while working out. Consumer friendly sound! It's worth the price is all I can say!

I really liked these headphones. Fit beautifully in my ears, never came loose. Great sound. Unfortunately, I used them working in a woodworking shop and they got caught in one of the machines. The cable did not survive, but I consider that a good thing, as the machine would have sucked my head in!

They fit very snugly in my ears, have great audio (sound as good as $100+ earbuds I've had) and best of all are water resistant and perfect for the gym when I'm not being the most gentle user. Would buy again.