Bragi The Headphone

Wireless earplugs from the Kickstarter kings

$149 Manufacturer Bragi, bragi.com Features Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP, Audio Transparency, six hours’ play time, passive noise isolation

Bragi came on the scene in 2014 with a bold Kickstarter campaign to launch The Dash, a pair of wireless earbuds. Now it’s back with The Headphone… and, fortunately, the hardware is nowhere near as clunky as that name.

Wireless headphones complement a life full of sound on the go in ways you may not have realized. These earpieces are light, fit snugly and after a while you fail to notice they’re even there. The look of The Headphone is simple and unflashy – essentially, black plugs that cover the entire ear canal. Wear the right hat, and no one could tell you have them in at all, as opposed to the relative ostentation of Apple’s AirPods. In addition, they use the intricate architecture of the ear to hold them in place, making you feel quite secure about them staying in.

They also offer Audio Transparency, which filters through the ambient noise of the city and places the music as a backdrop – or you can stick with the regular full-on sound. The Headphone leaves you feeling as though you’re in a world of your own choice of sound. And very little gets in the way – even getting home and needing to remove your sweater is now issue-free, as opposed to a previous wired life where this simple action could leave you horribly contorted and entangled.

The controls are simple. Three buttons on the right earbud cover everything you need: power, connect Bluetooth, adjust volume, skip a track, or queue up Siri. As these are rubber-covered, this initially resulted in us prodding and squidging them far too hard; in fact, they’re sensitive enough that just a slight pressure is sufficient to operate them. The audio stops when you remove the right earbud and restarts when you replace it, but we had issues with them restarting the music (and thus draining the battery) when not in our ears.

However, there are few drawbacks to The Headphone. The batteries last well, the sound is great, they do the job without drawing attention to themselves – but they cost $150. In a way, that’s inevitable: they’re simply at the head of the line for wireless headphones.

the bottom line. If you’re happy to pay the price, you won’t be disappointed with The Headphone – but you may stumble over that name a few times.