Bose Soundlink Series Two Bluetooth Headphones.
I recently got these bluetooth headphones to replace my Parrot Zik’s 1.0. Selling the Zik’s for $250, I got the Bose for about $30 more.
The problem I had with the Parrots was the weight, and after wearing them travelling across Australia, up to 11 hours in one day including transfers, my ears started to get sore. The Parrot Zik’s weighed twice as much as the Bose Soundlinks, about 300 grams versus 180 grams.
The advantages of the Bose so far have been:
Lighter
The Bluetooth connection is better. You can connect to two devices at the same time. I connect to my tablet and phone at the same time. You can be connected to your tablet watching a movie, and then you receive a call on your phone. The video and audio stops on the tablet, and the headset picks up the phone call and you answer the call by pressing a button on the earpiece. Once the call ends, you hang up and the movie and or music starts up where it left off.
You get the carrying case included free of charge with the Bose, I think I paid $30 for the case for the Parrots. And with the Parrots costing $500, it’s a bit rich them asking to pay more for a case!
The battery life is a LOT better with the Bose. 16 hours’ playback with the Bose, about ½ that or even only six hours with the Parrot. Granted, the Parrots have a removable rechargeable battery which the Bose doesn’t, but I paid $40 delivered for a generic Parrot Headphone battery, but it was $50+ for a genuine battery.
A 3.5mm cord included with the Bose, so if the battery runs flat, just plug in the headphones run out, just plug in the cord and you’ve got audio again and only a bit degraded.
The microphone on the Bose is really good. It sounds a bit echoey to the person on the other end, but it still is useable, unlike the Parrot 1.0 microphone which was un useable.
Disadvantages of the Bose include:
No real equalizer customisation and poor application software. I found a work around was to adjust the eq levels from within Windows. I like a lot of Bass, and it’s a common complaint that Beats are better for Bass-Heavy Music like Hip-Hop. However, if you enable Bass enhancements you get the heavy Bass, but it does bottom out a bit, but not enough to ruin it.
The controls on the Bose aren’t as good as the multi touch on the Parrots.