BeatsX & BEN QW 1210ST

Apple’s smarter wireless audio tech comes to its fashion earphones with this lifestyle set

Cracking wireless buds and a gaming projector.

TThere’s a growing trend right now for ‘all- day’ headphones that you never really take off – light, unintrusive wireless earphones that sit around your neck, even when not in use.

Lots of people live with their headphones like this anyway, so it’s great to see products being designed specifically for it. BeatsX are very light, and the two in-ear units are connected by a thin cable, with a couple of thicker areas for batteries and buttons, including a control strip with a mic. They connect to your phone over Bluetooth. When you pull them out to let them hang around your neck, magnets in the earpieces holds them together, like a pendant.

They use Apple’s W1 wireless chip, as seen in the AirPods, which makes them super-easy to pair with iOS devices – for anything else, they pair as easily as any other Bluetooth headset. Given that these are ‘lifestyle’ headphones, it’s disappointing that they don’t get any other tricks from the AirPods, like the automatic pause when you take one out of your ear. Multiple ear inserts and fin attachments are bundled, though, so you can be sure of getting a great fit that works for exercise as well as the office. They charge using Apple’s Lightning cable (one included), which is great for Apple users, but means one more plug type for everyone else. Most importantly, they sound really good – bright, detailed, and punchy. This isn’t the most open sound in the world, but it’s really strong, as long as the ear fit is good. You don’t get the high-end noise cancelling you get from the similarly-aimed Bose QC30, but these cost £100 less, so there’s your compromise. With the right earpiece in, they still cut off outside noise well.