Hey.
The availability of electronics gives birth to shopaholics. Almost poems turned out. However, in every joke there is some joke.
Today, electronic devices that a couple of years ago were a technological miracle can be bought for a penny. Not a small contribution to this was made by foreign online stores and auctions, led by Aliexpress. Discounts, a huge assortment for any wallet and discounts again. Yes, the question of the quality of such a penny gadget remains relevant, but the fact itself captivates. And now the conditional Evlampy from the city of Sukhostoevsk buys a wireless headset for $ 5 and, contentedly, plunges into the pleasant bliss of waiting for his new toy.
But is it worth it? Let's try to figure it out on the example of such a penny headset, which cost me just $ 5.
The headset arrived in a chic package, which would have been the envy of gadgets from premium lines of specialized companies – a small transparent bag.
The headset itself is worth highlighting from the package. And that's all. A kind of minimalism and asceticism elevated to the absolute. Well at least the mid-sized ear pads were worn over the headphones.
The appearance is typical for this kind of products.
Black plastic of an incomprehensible quality, which cannot be called bad.
The flat wire that connects the headphones, and on which there is a very large and weighty remote control, is elastic and very quickly straightens out after being removed from the package.
In the appearance of the headphones, it is very easy to guess such a tremendous curtsey towards the Beats headphones. The same round ends with a red element, the same articulations of the body with grooves, and even the ear pads are made with an eye on the Beats, by the way, they are not bad, dense and elastic.
What's more surprising is the complete lack of designations for the right and left sides. Apparently, for this kind of product, the choice of the side does not matter and depends solely on the desire and convenience of the owner.
It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad, but in this case, it’s better so than the irrepressible fantasy of nameless Chinese designers who manage to cross a bulldog with a rhino.
The sound guides are covered with a primitive imitation of a sulfur filter in the form of baffles in the style of a ballpoint pen cap.
It can be clearly seen that in this product, economy was at the forefront.
The remote control is large, massive, with sharp edges and is located on one side. By analogy with other products of a similar form factor, we will assume that the side with the remote control is right.
The buttons on the remote control are stamped into the body itself.
They are pressed easily and are also easy to touch. With this size of the remote control, this is not surprising.
Here below there is a perforation for a microphone inside one of the holes of which there is a two-color LED to indicate the current state.
On the right side of the remote control, under a plastic flap, there is a MicroUSB connector for charging the headset.
The earbuds also have magnets for connecting to each other while worn around your neck!
By the way, the full charge time is only 40-45 minutes, which indicates that the battery capacity is not very large. This is confirmed by the operating time – only 2.5 – 3 hours of playback at maximum volume.
It is inappropriate to make any demands on the sound quality in such a product. However, this is the same device for playing sound, so a short line about the quality.
The sound is muffled, compressed, with a pronounced kick effect. At high volume, the headphones choke and the sound turns into a mess. It is difficult to say for what genres such a headset can be recommended. Perhaps not for any.
Another unpleasant moment was the rustle and crackle of the speaker membrane when the headphones were placed in the ears. This speaks to the extremely cheap speakers used in this headset.
Summing up, we can say about the sound that it is. And it's all.
During a conversation, the headset also did not show anything outstanding – the interlocutors complained about a dull sound, asked how far I was from the phone and asked to turn off the speakerphone. But at the same time they heard me. If you bring the microphone closer to your mouth, you can hear much better.
Here is such a strange representative of the category “device for delivery” has been in my hands.
Instead of a conclusion
On the one hand, it was not even worth writing about such a product, on the other hand, looking around you and seeing in people's ears a large number of headsets and headphones of this price category and quality, you understand that the product is in demand and finds its buyer. Usually, demand creates supply. But in this case, the opposite is more likely – the available supply creates demand.
Most often these are unassuming users who have this first device of this type, and for whom the most important thing is its price. For this price, they are willing to put up with the 'quality' of the kick drum and questionable ergonomics.
But the main thing is not this, but the fact that most of these spontaneous buyers, according to their impressions of such a headset, form their opinion about the whole class of such devices, projecting their experience of interacting with a headset on the entire group of such devices. And it is unlikely that this experience will be one that will make a person far from the sphere of electronic devices think about buying a more expensive headset.
If my first acquaintance with a device of this type, and if I had nothing to do with this area, then perhaps I would not have bought myself Bluetooth – headsets for a long time.
How do you look at this, dear readers? Does the market need such ultra-cheap devices, or are the nameless Chinese factories putting a pig on their own?