MARSEE MSH03 Active Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Wireless Headset

03/23/2016 Edit: Well, the customer service is just plain awful. After contacting me to confirm the unit I received is defective, they then proceeded to ask what rating I would give their defective product, and then informed me they have “No return policy”. Yikes. I would avoid these earphones, this company, and their products and stick to a larger, better known company that stands behind their products (and after some comparison shopping are much, much cheaper, too) and isn’t content selling people defective products. Horrible service, no QC, and no returns. 3 strikes and you’re out.

I’ve tested more than a few bluetooth wireless headsets, both in ear and over the ear. I have yet to find a set that has what I would consider truly premium sound, But MARSEE’s MSH03 set is the closest I’ve found to fully premium, awesome sound. Except that there’s one major, major drawback: The “Active Noise Cancelling” feature ruins the sound! Oh, the irony!

See, I’ve all but give up on what I would consider an affordable bluetooth headset with honest to goodness premium sound quality. And with most folks downloading low quality rips of music anyways (usually 128 kbps quality, which is usually pretty awful, but also the most ubiquitous), it became a giant game of cat and mouse tracking down high-quality downloads and then getting high quality headphones to listen to it. Everyone claimed HD sound quality to only deliver mediocre at best. But lo and behold, the set MARSEE sent me was pretty darn awesome. With controls for playback right on the earcup, soft, enveloping padding, and a firm, secure feeling on the head, these feel like actual premium headphones without being heavy, and no need to handle them gingerly for fear of all the cheap plastic cracking and breaking! They twist and form to even Hubby’s big ‘ol pumpkin head with ease. The bluetooth connects and pairs quickly, and no worries if there’s an issue with the bluetooth, MARSEE provided a nice, braided-cloth covered cable to take your wireless headset to wired int he blink of an eye! And the sound! Oh, the sound. Crisp, sharp highs, with full, thumping lows, clear mids. These might easily be the best sounding headset I’ve put on in over 20 years.

And then the wheels came off my little red wagon when I engaged the active noise cancelling. And it all went to pot. The full, rich lows went away, and were replaced instead with a screechy, tinny, horribly shrill sound that absolutely ruined my experience with these headphones. I tried both wireless and wired and the results were the same: The noise cancellation feature ruins the sound and I can’t for the life of me find a workaround. At $79.99, these should not have this kind of issue. Emails to the company through Amazon have yet to answered, but if not for the fact that I got this headset at no cost, with this kind of problem they’d have been returned post haste. Yes, the sound is amazing normally. The braided cloth 3.5mm audio cable and flat USB charging cords have a premium look and feel. Yes, the headphones seem to have been engineered with quality in mind and feel premium in both build and materials. The bluetooth pairs quickly and easily, but for $80, the noise cancelling feature is important and with it borking the sound so completely, I can’t recommend them as highly as I’d want.

Connect with MARSEE:

• On Amazon

I received the above product(s) free of charge from MARSEE. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Advertisement

Liansing Ultra-Light Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Headset

 

We’ve all been there. Needing to take or make a call while on the road. And we’ve all wrestled with just how much of a necessity it is because let’s face it: Not only is it illegal out here to be using your phone while driving, It’s dangerous and stupid too. So, while I’d had one of the first bluetooth headsets back when the Motoroloa RAZR was new (Don’t judge me), I’d quickly decided that those big, awkward, unusual things were not for me, because speakerphone. But, fumbling with your touch-screen device without looking at it is not good either. So when I got a chance to try this Liansing Ultra-Light Bluetooth Headset, I was game.

Well, set and match! This thing works like gangbusters, and isn’t huge, obnoxious, or heavy on the ear! Getting the unit to pair with our devices took a little help from Liansing, as the printed instructions are incorrect about the amount of time to hold down the main button to make the device discoverable (about 7-10 seconds). Once that was out of the way, every device we have paired quickly and easily. The sound is adequate, not spectacular, and the microphone easily picks up my voice while filtering out low ambient noise. Not the HD voice I’ve been used to with my 4G service and device, but not distorted or robot-like, so it’ll do nicely. It comes with a variety of soft silicone rubber earbud covers that can be turned and set for a more customized fit, a removable ear hook to secure it, a short USB 2.0 charging cable, and in a nice touch, a second wired earbud that can make your handsfree headset into a true stereo bluetooth headset as well. Well played, Liansing.

It’s not all wine and roses, though. The aforementioned issues with pairing should be noted immediately on the Amazon info page. Liansing said they are working with the supplier to get the instructions amended, but until then they need to be a little more proactive, as I was about to return mine as defective. Next, and most glaringly, is the (what I assume to be Chinese or Mandarin) foreign language that it uses to notify you of an incoming call. Quite unexpected and somewhat startling. There is no way that I’ve found to turn this off, and while it isn’t a dealbreaker for me, there’s really no reason to have this and not make it toggleable, as some might find it bad enough to say “No, Thanks”. All in all, for around $12 (at the time of my order) shipped you get quite a bit of value and while it’s not perfect by any means, it is perfectly adequate for my and many other’s simple needs of being safer on the road when you absolutely must take or make a call. Most of the functions necessary to make or end a call, as well as adjust the volume (or even control your music!) are right there on the headset, too! It seems to be made well enough for light to occasional use, it holds a charge for quite some time and does the job it’s designed for admirably.

I received the above product(s) free of charge from Liansing. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Connect with Liansing:

• Online
• On Amazon

I received the above product(s) free of charge from Liansing. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

PulseAudio Vitality Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

Every once in a while you come across a product that you didn’t know much about and didn’t see much use for, until you try it, and suddenly understand what all the hub-bub is about. That’s exactly what happened to me with these PulseAudio Vitality bluetooth headphones. I now don’t know how I ever got along without them. Come with me as we explore why.

Let’s be honest, there’s few things on this earth more annoying than having your earbuds ripped out of your ears. It’s somewhere between “nails on a chalkboard” and ” loud high-pitched whine”.  And we mostly do it ourselves because our earphone cord hangs down and gets caught on whatever (Or whoever) is nearest. I’m here to tell you that with PulseAudio’s Vitality bluetooth earbuds, that’s a thing of the past. And it doesn’t mean sacrificing every drop of sound quality either. Because the sound? It’s quality. It’s not like it’s reference quality, but I’ve paid more and gotten less when it comes to the sound, and they weren’t bluetooth either. And lest you think that means some giant ungainly boxes over your ears like the old FM radio headphones of yesteryear (Full disclosure, I actually owned some of those. Not to date myself here or anything!). No, these are fairly small, fairly light, but set securely in your ear and have plenty more to offer still. They are BlueTooth 4.1 compliant, and also offer NFC wireless capabilities, so all your latest devices are guaranteed to work. They come complete with a nifty little travel pouch, a charging cable, and multiple sizes of silicone buds/stabilizers for all ear sizes and types!

See, these also have controls for volume, and can double as a hands-free headset for your smartphone! Honestly, I’m shocked they managed to cram so much in such a small package. Powered by lithium-polymer batteries, they have plenty of power (Up to 8 hours!) to last you pretty much all day. If I had a nit to pick, it would be that a couple of the buttons were hard, if not nearly impossible to get to easily by our resident sausage-finger, aka, Hubby. The price is pretty steep too, considering that rival bluetooth earbuds could be had for less than half the cost, but without knowing the quality of the sound of these rivals, I can’t say, dollar for dollar, if they are truly a value. Also, at $59.99, they could have included a wall charger instead of piggy backing on one you already own, or your handy USB charging hub. But they do include a 1-year warranty, so that’s a major plus as well. So overall the positives far outweigh the few minor negatives, and I’m very happy with these PulseAudio Vitality headphones.

Connect with PulseAudio:

• Online
• On Amazon

I received the above product(s) free of charge from PulseAudio.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.