SOUND CHECK
Top-of-the-range fitness headphones that really deliver
How they tested One of the biggest bugbears with Bluetooth headphones is lack of battery life. So we were really interested in the 14-hour claim for these headphones, since that’s enough to take care of even the slowest marathon and anyone who veers into ultra territory. In our tests we didn’t quite run for 14 hours nonstop but we easily got a week’s run time out of the Tarah Pro without having to charge, and that’s a win. But if you do need a quick top-up, the Tarah Pro gives you two hours of run time from just five minutes of charge.
Comfort has also been well thought out: for starters, the Pro weighs just 20g. There are three sets of all-in-one ear gels and wingtips, so they should fit most ears. And you can wear them in two different ways: either with the cord hanging in front of the ears and around the back of the neck as standard, or, if you rotate the buds, gels and wingtips 180 degrees, the cable comes out of the top and can be guided over the ear and behind your head, and cinched with a pull cord. We opted for the second way and it gave a super-secure fit with no cable flapping or working loose of the buds. The buds themselves have magnetic clips, which, when put together, make them secure around your neck as well as auto-pausing the music, so you don’t have to faff with the controls to stop and start your tunes, saving power. The Tarah Pros also have an accelerometer to sense movement and if the headphones have been still for 15 minutes they’ll shut off, again saving you precious power.
When it comes to sound, they’re fantastic, with rich, full-bodied audio – and you can also sync the Tarah Pro with an app and personalise the sound to match your own preferences. If this sounds like too much trouble, there’s also an idiot-proof personal sound test that tunes the audio to your ears. There are three-button inline controls, and the unit itself is so small and light that there’s none of that annoying tug you can get when the controls are too chunky. But the thing we really loved was that the middle button on the controls is smart, too. It can be programmed to perform shortcuts such as playing the last Spotify playlist you listened to. There are limited shortcuts right now but as the headphones also allow for software updates, more can and will be added later, says Jaybird.
largely flat and any challenging sections, such as they are, come early on. At the end of the first mile, a gentle, lingering ascent led us to Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, the largest in Britain and the fifth-largest in Europe. After running alongside and gawping at the 189m length of it (it’s the longest cathedral in the world) we were surprised by a second, shorter-but-very-sharp climb soon afterwards to help refocus the mind.
The field soon became well spaced out and so it was easy to get into a smooth rhythm and avoid too much zigzagging around other runners. The magnificent Sefton Park – Grade I-listed and a Green Heritage site to boot – provided the setting for the middle section of the race, with runners performing a couple of small loops between miles four and eight (10-mile runners followed a shorter route) while passing the park’s elegant Victorian Palm House and large lake. So far, Sam and I were on target pace but around mile six we noticed something was amiss: every time we passed a mile marker it took around 400m for our watches to tick over to the equivalent mile. Both of us were puzzled. ‘Have we cut a corner somewhere?’ I wondered, before shrugging it off.
I stuck with my plan to push on at mile eight, as the course made its way towards Otterspool promenade for the long stretch home along the waterfront. In previous races, the wind had blown in viciously off the Mersey and this section can also be mentally challenging because once on the promenade you can begin to picture the finish line – still four miles away. But with calmer conditions and fresher legs I had no issues this time.
The remaining miles offered some terrific views across the river towards Wirral and the crowd noticeably thickened as I approached Albert Dock. The narrow, cobbled sections in the final mile were rather tricky to negotiate and hampered overtaking attempts in any kicks for home, however well timed, but the rumpus created by the crowds more than made up for this, with every runner finishing to a thrilling cacophony.