A better class of wireless headphone

Our man’s been longing for a pair of wireless headphones that stay wireless. Could these be the answer?

The main problem with wireless headphones can be summed up very simply. Whenever I wear the things, I tend to use a wire. In the past, the gadgets have had a habit of running out of batteries without any warning, leaving the unwary facing a moment of raw, chilling horror as they are forced to listen to the sounds of the outside world.

Hence with every single pair I’ve tried, I’ve barely used the wireless connection at all – and rely on the ‘back-up’ wire instead. I usually keep meaning to go wireless, but panic and never do.

Naturally, headphone king Bose hasn’t left this to chance with its first ‘proper’ pair of Bluetooth cans. There is a robot voice builtin that, once it’s instructed you on the finer points of how to pair the gadget with your smartphone, will intone warnings such as, ‘Battery at 50%’. At lower percentages, you feel like James Bond defusing a nuclear bomb.

Bose being Bose, the engineering here is great. The arms of the cans feel about as sturdy as a suspension bridge, and they clamp over your ears with the merciless grip of a pilot’s headset. The 15-hour battery life offers one final bit of reassurance to headphone-- panickers – outperforming rivals such as Apple’s Beats.

The sound is also great – and unless you climb an actual mobile phone mast, it’s pretty much immune to that dig-dig-dig-a-dig wireless interference sound. The cans also switch on instantly when you press play on your

iPhone, rather than having to pair them every time. ‘Serious’ headphone firms such as Bose and Beats have moved into this market because Bluetooth’s finally up to the task of delivering decent sound (although this doesn’t offer the top-end flavour of Bluetooth audio, aptX).

Unless you are the sonic equivalent of a wine snob, these are great, though – hitting as hard, and offering as much detail, as many wired cans in the same price bracket.

Naturally, there is a wire buried away in the depths of the dainty little manbag that comes with the headset – ideal for using when watching films, as audio tends to lag a bit behind video via Bluetooth.

It also ensures that if you ignore the robot repeatedly (and you don’t have a laptop to recharge them via USB cable), you can dig around in your manbag and find salvation…

Unless you climb a phone mast, it’s pretty immune to that dig-dig-dig-a-dig wireless interference sound