Zebronics Blue Air Bluetooth Headphones Review

Let’s accept it- right from the computers to mobile phones and even other devices, one of their primary usage is to listen to music. In the workplace or during travel, for example, we listen to the music through headphones. However, they add additional wire to our already messy world of wires. Wouldn’t it be liberating if we can listen to the music wirelessly without the worry of wires? Bluetooth headphones are one of the best ways to achieve this freedom. Recently, we got our hands on Zebronics Blue Air Bluetooth headphones manufactured by Chennai based Top Notch Infotronix and here’s our thoughts-

In the Box

The box of the Blue Air contains the following:

• Bluetooth Headphones
• Charging Cable
• Charging Adapter
• Audio cable
• Manual

Design and Build Quality

Unlike small earphones or even video chatting headphones, the Zebronics Blue Air is a proper supra-aural headphone. This means it has a proper adjustable headband and padded ear cups and that too without being too bulky. The foam used in headband rests very comfortably on one’s head and so do the padded ear cups. What makes the headphone even more comfortable to wear is the rotatable ear cups, and that too in both horizontal and vertical axes. Thus the headphones can be adjusted to fit nicely on the ears.

Controls and Ports

Both the left and right sides of the headphone are full of numerous controls. On the right side, one will find Volume Rocker which can also accept a call. It also has a headphone jack, which when used in conjunction with the audio cable given in the box, can turn the headphone into a wired headphone. This is very nifty addition as this can save the battery and ensure that it can be used even when it has ran out of juice.  The left side has a charging port, Power on/ off slider, and media playback control (next, previous and pause when pressed).

Usage

Connecting the headphones to compatible mobile phone and computer (Bluetooth 2.0 or above) is fairly simple process. Pairing it for the first time requires just press of a button (volume slider). And once paired, all the audio will start playing in the headphones via Bluetooth. It may take time getting used to the variety of controls on either sides, specifically for increasing or decreasing volume. Also, at times the bright blue light indicating that the headphones are connected can be very distracting. Coming down to the actual usage, the headphones sounds quite good in normal places. Both English and Hindi music reproduced by the headphones was really nice and one can easily make out the lyrics as well as instrument sounds. However, they do not have noise cancellation capability and this becomes bit of a problem since during travelling you’re bound to listen to lots of external buzz and people’s voice. Moreover with mobile phones, their sounded quite low when compared against the sound output through computer. Since the headphones are worn over the ears, they might become uncomfortable after continual usage. The addition of microphone is definitely a plus as the headphone can be used to make and receive calls. The other party was able to listen to our voice clearly. The incoming calls to the mobile phone can be accepted by pressing the volume rockers, whereas pressing the music playback slider rejects the call.

Battery Life

Blue Air can be charged by wall charger as well as USB charger by connecting to computer. It takes almost three hours to completely charge itself. Though the company claims the battery life of approximately 14 hours for the headphones, I was able to use it for continuous stretch of around 8-9 hours. As soon as battery is nearing to its end, the headphone starts a sound notification at constant intervals. It also claims the standby time of more than 200 hours which is surely nice as the headphones can be used for couple of hours in a week. As mentioned earlier, I really liked the idea of having a standard 3.5 mm jack in the headphones. This allows one to use it as a wired headphone in case the battery has ran out of juice.

Verdict

Zebronics Blue Air headphones serves both the purpose of listening to music and taking calls well. At the price point of roughly Rs. 1500, it’s surely a good buy as other options at this range are usually a mono headset. The Good: Flexible design, Attractive Pricing The Bad: Not for serious audiophiles