Saturday, February 24, 2018

GADGET SPECIAL ... Bose SoundSport Free


 Bose SoundSport Free

Get It For: 18,990
It’s not very easy to do wireless earbuds right — we’re talking about truly portable, wireless earbuds. They need to connect to each other and make a stable connection to your phone, tablet, TV or laptop. Apple did a fantastic job with AirPods and they can be used with almost any Bluetooth source as well. However, they’re not a very secure fit when it comes to sports or gym use.
That’s where the Bose SoundSport Free comes in. Like many others, the earbuds themselves are so lightweight (10 grams each) that you can hardly feel them. They come with a storage + battery case.
The earbuds themselves offer 5 hours of battery life but coupled with a fully charged case, you get a total of 15 hours of use (two extra charges).
Bose includes their proprietary silicone StayHear tips in three different sizes. They fit rather securely in the outer ear and are much more comfortable than the ones that go inside the ear canal. They don’t block out too much ambient sound but you can wear them for long periods without an issue. You can take calls on them, adjust volume, play/pause music, switch tracks or call up a voice assistant (Google, Siri) without picking up your phone. In addition, the earbuds are also IPX4 rated which means you don’t need to worry about damage from a light splash of water, light rain or perspiration.
In typical Bose fashion, these earbuds sound great. There’s loads of bass and you can still pick up all the nuances of audio you are listening to. But one of the main issues with the SoundSport Free is that the audio doesn’t perfectly sync with video. So if you are watching a YouTube video or streaming something on Netflix for instance, you will notice about one second of lag. This is a known issue and forum posts and reviews of the product all say the same thing. However, it is supposed to be fixed in a software update. If you need a pair of great-sounding wireless buds for vigorous workouts, you can also choose the slightly cheaper Jabra Elite Sport (15,990) that offers heart rate monitoring and personalised audio coaching.

—Hitesh Raj Bhagat
ETM18FEB18

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