Sometimes you know you have a winner if that’s the one pair of headphones that you keep reaching for. I find the MS301 a very easy to use pair of headphones. It is comfortable. It sounds good.

Packaging
The MS301 comes in an attractive, large box with gold graphics on a matte black background. The inside plastic that carries the headphone is of average quality. A USB cable and a 3.5mm audio cable packed inside another matte black box completes the package. The fact that they enclosed the cables inside another box makes for a much better presentation. Some cheaper Asian branded headphones just leave the accessories randomly flowing in the underside of the plastic container.

Bluetooth
This is the best and worst part of this pair of headphones. On the plus side, it supports AptX. I connected my 2017 MacBook Pro to it via bluetooth running AptX. This has to be the connection method of choice. The bad part about the MS301’s bluetooth does not support any sort of multi-point connection. It seems to only pair with one device at a time. I have to re-pair the headphones when I switch between devices. So if you are planning to use it for both say a laptop and a mobile phone, this is not the headphone for you.

Range for this headphone is mediocre. I get 20 feet line of sight maximum.

Sound Quality
The MS301 has a reasonable flat response, with a slightly boosted base. This is important for me as I listen mostly to jazz and classical where good vocals are important. I ran it through my standard set of tracks.

Starting with Eric’s Song by Vienna Tang, The Waking Hour: This is a simple track with Vienna’s silky vocal singing along a piano. I can hear all of the nuances of her voice interlaced with the piano. Switching over to Exit Music (For a Film), by Radiohead, OK Computer: Changing from Tang’s female vocal to the booming vocal, with a multi layer supporting vocals and instruments. All the audio tracks are still coming through cleanly. The bass is slightly boosted but not over powering the vocals.

For fun I always then play Exit Music (For a Film) by Brad Mehldau, The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3: — the Jazz original. This is a very different style of course. The piano is front and center with various percussions building up around it. Sound stage is good with this pair of headphones.

Changing style complete I went to Trust by Christina Perry, Head or Heart. The rocking bass line is strong but not overly boosted. A similar track: Viva La Vida by Coldplay plays equally well.

Battery Life
What I love about these full size headphones is that the battery last a very long time — too long to test accurately. I manage to test my pair of MS301 over an entire week before I have to recharge it.

Controls
All the controls for the headphone is on the right, with a power button/pause/call near the top, and volume up/forward, volume down/backward button pair down near the bottom. A small multi-color LED near the power button shows you the status of the headphone. I find that occassionally I hit the power button by mistake because it is near the top. One time it initiated a redial on my phone (pressing the power button twice) because I was trying to turn up the volume.

Power Button: long press on/off. Single press: pause/play/answer. Double press: redial
Volume Up: single press up, long press next track
Volume Down: single press down, long press prev track

Comfort
This pair of headphone is very comfortable. The ear cups have soft foam covered by a soft synthetic leather material. For my medium size ear it covers my ear completely without too much clamping force. The headband is also padded. The entire ear cup swivel 90 degrees to the back (For folding flat) and forward by 45 or so degrees. The hinge construction seems to be mostly metal.

Conclusion
These Asian branded headphone keeps getting better. I have reviewed several pairs of mixcder headphones over the years and each new pair is better. The MS301 sounds good, looks great and is comfortable. The retail prices are getting closer to the $100 mark so it has more competition. The comfort, AptX support, and long battery life gives it a big advantage.

Specs
40mm driver, 32 ohms
bluetooth 4.2
500mAh battery, 2 hour charging time, 20 hour active use, 2200 hour standby

Archeer A225 Bluetooth Speaker Review
Introduction
The Archeer A225 bluetooth speaker arrived in a stylish brick shape box with the speaker inside. The speaker comes covered in a nice grey fabric and the body is of a soft cream color plastic. The entire device looks stylish and feels like a premium product.

Bluetooth
I immediately connected the speaker to my iPhone 7. It pairs easily. The bluetooth range is amazing. First, using my standard line of sight test, the connect stays solidly connected from 40 feet away. Then I started walking around the ground floor of my 800 square foot house and the connection remains solid. I went upstairs and the connection held. This device by far has the best bluetooth connection from everything else I own.

Controls
The power button is on the bottom of the speaker unit. This made sense at first, since it is used for turning the speaker on and off, and pairing. Then I realized that play and pause control is also done by the power button. Short pressing the power button will toggle between play and pause. This seems counter intuitive — the fact that I have to pick up the speaker and press the button. This is a two handed operation. If you choose to use the speaker, which has a built in mic, to take phone calls, the answer/hangup/reject call is also controlled by the power button on the bottom.

The A225 advertised that it has touch control on the top. Swiping left and right will skip track forward and backward. It works flawlessly. Looking at the top of the unit (see photo), I also try to swipe circularly to change the volume. I must have tried doing it for a whole minute without success. Finally I realized that the darker grey ring on the outer edge of the top of the unit is the volume control. You turn it to change the volume. This is a electronically controlled volume control. There is a total of 16 steps of volume as you turn the ring.

The volume control works nicely once I figured it out, but it sure was confusing at first. One suggestion to Archeer is to change the graphic on the top of the unit to not suggest that I can swipe to change volume.

Sound Quality
According to the specification on the user guide, the unit has dual 45mm speaker with a 5W output. Without any special porting, I did not expect the unit to sound anything other than two 45mm drivers. It would be unfair to compare this unit with other more advanced portable speakers. Instead I compare it to the Anker SoundCore. The SoundCore has a base port, and indeed it’s base is more prominent than the A225. However I find that the A225 is not driven hard even at maximum volume. So there are no overt distortion at maximum volume. The Anker SoundCore cannot be played at maximum volume without it sounding terribly distorted.

Overall, as a portable speaker that I can take outside on the patio, or play music or podcast from my phone around the office, the sound is completely usable. I would never call the sound high fidelity, but I do not expect that from a portable speaker at this price range. I am actually glad that it is not boosted in anyway — which many other systems do, because a boosted bass will make the listening think that it sounds “better”.

Battery Performance

The charging time is around 4 hours, matching the specification. Over a few days of testing, I have yet to run down the battery enough to test the claimed 6-7 hours of play time. My guess is that it will match the factory specification.

Conclusion
For the price point, I think this is a very attractive portable bluetooth speaker. It does fulfill the need for a small, reasonably sounding portable speaker for used around the house, the office, or bring it outside during a cookout. It looks good and sounds fair. I recommend it.

Disclaimer: Archeer provided me with a review unit. All opinion is of my own.

Specification
Bluetooth 4.1 class II, A2DP V1.2, AVRCP V1.4
Speakers 45mm 4Ohm 5Wx2
Battery: 3.7V 2000mAh Lithium

Introduction

The Archeer AH07 Bluetooth headphones arrived in a sizable black box. I find the headphones folded inside. The headphones come with a 3.5 audio cable for connecting the headphone directly to a source, a micro USB charging cable, and a short user guide.

Picking up the headphones — it has a nice premium feel. Most of the body is plastic. Part of the body is silver colored plastic. Only the lower headband below the folding mechanism is metal, as well as the hinges. Both earcups fold and unfold with a small click as the metal band click in place.

Padding is soft. The headband and the earcups are covered in synthetic leather that feels nice on the head and on the ear. The earcups are rectangular. With my medium sized ear, the earcups cover my ear completely forming a nice seal. The clamping force is average and I have been wearing them an hour at a time without much discomfort.

Controls

All the controls are on the back side of the right ear cup. The power button is used for on, off and pairing. A multi-color LED below the button gives some visual feedback:

• Pressing the power button for 2 seconds turn the headphones on. It uses audio beeps to confirm user action. The LED flashes blue 2 times.
• Pressing the power button for 3 seconds turn the headphones off. The LED flashes red two times.
• To put the headphones into bluetooth pairing mode, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds until the LED flashes blue and red.
• When the batteries run low, the LED will flash red two times every two seconds.
• During charging, the LED stays red, and turn to blue when it is fully charged.

Below the power button and the LED are two switches for volume up and down. Short press changes the volume, while long press on down moves back one track, and long press on up moves to the next track. The volume control has 16 clicks across the volume range. An audio beep signals the end of the volume range.

Bluetooth Performance

The AH07 remembers multiple paird devices, but can only be actively paired with one source at a time. During testing I have the AH07 paired to both my Rentina Macbook Pro running Sierra, and my iPad Pro running iOS 10.3. To have the AH07 connect to either device, I need to disconnect the other connection from the source first.

Bluetooth range is fair. With line of sight I can go to about 30 feet. Without line of sight in my typical residential house the connection degrades quickly beyond 20 feet or so. This is comparable to many other headphones that I have tested. However, I also tested the A225 bluetooth speaker from the same company, and that speaker has amazing range.

Sound Quality

The sound quality of the AH07 is good. The response is fairly flat and not v-shaped like most lower end headphones. The bass is lively without overly boosted. KT Tunstall’s Black horse and the Cherry Tree has a lot of acoustic bass and drums and they all come through cleanly.

Christina Perri’s Trust is a track that is complex, with clear vocal overlaid on rocking bassline. The AH07 balances between the vocal and the instruments easily.

The AH07 good performance made me reach for Dire Straits’ Private Investigation. In the famous middle of the track, the acoustic guitar playing against the marimba and the simple bass drum, I find myself getting lost in enjoying the track instead of writing things down for the review.

Conclusion

Overall I like the AH07. As an affordable Asian branded headphones, the audio quality is very good. It is comfortable to wear. The folding design makes it ideal for portable use, perhaps throwing in your backpack for use during the commute or at the office. The low end Chinese headphone space is getting more and more crowded. Since these brands are not known it is hard to tell them apart. I can definitely recommend these Archeer AH07.

Disclaimer: Archeer provided the free review unit. Opinion is completely my own.

X5 Review

Introduction

 
The X5 is a very interesting set of headphones. Consider its price point I started to look for flaws, but I cannot find any. I am doing A/B testing between the X5 and my Klipsch X11i. The Klipsch is better as I A/B test against known tracks for sure. But honestly I am just nitpicking at that point comparing it to a pair of headphone costing 10 times more.
 

Physical Design

 
All the solid parts of the X5 is build with some sort of light aluminum alloy, according to the product description. The material does feel very premium. Picking up the headphones, you will inevitably hear and see the earbuds clinked together with a satisfactory metal sound. I particularly like the metal feel of the mic and control unit. The single button click positively.
 
The X5 comes with four total pairs of eartips. The plastic on the ear feel well made, soft and not too thin like other cheap brands. Mixcder also includes two pair of ear wings, but did not feel like I need them. The standard medium sized eartips fit me fine. While the earbuds are metal, it is not heavy and the earbuds stay on fine for me.
 
The cable on the X5 is coated with a shiny textured materials. This is perhaps the only thing that I do not like about the X5. Initially it gives off some chemical smell.
 
Finally the X5 comes with a basic oblong shaped carrying case. While the case is basic, I am glad that it is not the usual small circular case. The case is large enough to fit the X5 comfortably. I do not have to wind the cable up too tightly for it to fit.
 

Controls

 
The single button control means that you have to use click patterns to navigate. Single click toggles between pause and click. Double click moves to the next track. Triple click moves to the previous track. When plugged into my Mac or my iPhone 7, long press brings up Siri. The lack of volume up and down buttons on the control is perhaps my only complain with the X5. Since the typical use for the X5 will be mobile, having to reach for the volume on the phone each time seems like extra work.
 

Sound Quality

 
I tested the X5 with my Retina Macbook Pro, and with my iPhone 7. I needed to use my lightning port adaptor with the iPhone 7. I uses my Klipsch X11i as a comparison during the listening tests:
 
Trust, Christina Perri 2014: This tracks has a repetitive strumming of guitars playing against Perri’s raw vocal. While the bass is not over powering, the X5 has to work to keep the vocals clear, which it does. I can hear the nuance of her voice coming through.
 
A Thousand Year, Sting, 2000: A classic String song, kicking off with rumbling bass. The X5 reproduce them with ease. I was surprised how well the bass is on the X5. Perhaps it is the 12mm size driver. 
 
Private Investigation, Dire Straits 1982: Moody vocals and multiple layers of bass, drums and more make this a great track for testing. The X5 renders the signature section where the marimba, the acoustic guitar and everything else build up and eventually faded away very well.
 
I find the X5 very enjoyable. It is bassy without over kill. The highs are clear, slightly hash compare with the Klipsch. Soundstage is good. The X5 is more efficient than the Klipsch as well, making it a nice pair of IEM for use directly with a mobile phone.
 
I used the X5 in a conference call running through my Macbook Pro and the other participants tell me that I sounded great. Since for me the earbuds fit my ear very well, the passive sound isolation is also very good.
 

Conclusion

 
I am very happy with the X5. The quality is an improvement over other mixcder headphones, notably the ANC-G5. The sound signature is fun. Sound quality is good. I like the premium feel of it. As a pair of affordably price IEM it is good. For the actual price point of $17 it is a great. Right now this will be my go to recommendation for sub $20 wired IEM.
 
Disclaimer: I was provided a free review unit for review. Opinions expressed here are completely my own.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The completely wireless Axgio Dash seems to be a pair of $49 Apple Airpod killer. I was skeptical at first. The Dash arrived in a small, simple no frills box. It looks exactly like the packaging for the Axgio Backfit that I reviewed earlier.
 
The pairing with my iPhone7 is easily enough. Once I put them on, I was blown away by the feel of freedom from any wires between the ear buds. I use bluetooth earbuds a lot during the day in the office, either my Bose noise canceling QC30 or the Bose Soundsport wireless. Even though those are extremely comfortable, I can still feel the tug of the cable when I turn my head with the Soundsport. With the QC30, sometimes the neckband gets tangled with my shirt collar and need adjustments.
 
With the Dash I can turn my head, move around, with zero issues. Now I know why these “truly wireless” earbuds are a thing.
 

In the Box

 
The Dash comes with a small round carrying case, S/M/L ear tips, and a charging cable. The charging cable is unique because it has a full size USB plug on one end, and two micro USB at the other so that I can charge both earbuds at the same time. Another design problems presented by these “no wires” earbuds.
 

Quality and Comfort

 
The first negative I find with the Dash is that the battery compartment is covered by a hard plastic cover. It is hard to open and close. Remember you need to do this with both earbuds.
 
The earbuds are huge ! You can take a look at the pictures. Comparing them with the Klipsch X11 may not be fair, but with the standard Bose earbud, you can see how large is the body of the earbud. The build material is of all hard matte plastic. The Dash is not going to win any design awards on looks.
 
Luckily they are not heavy. Even without using the ear hooks I can keep them on my ear in an indoor environment. The position of the ear hook is interesting. I  find that I have to angle the unit up to have it fit onto my ear. It fits over my thick rim eye glasses without problem.
 
Overall the comfort is fine. The ear tip is made from a very soft plastic materials.  The appear to be identical to the Axgio Backfit, and I have the same concern with their durability.
 

Bluetooth and Setup

 
The setup is very easy. The headphones have voice prompt built in. I followed the sequence as described in the manual. First pair one headset (I picked the right side). Then when I switch on the second headset, both units will automatically find each other.
 
One interesting operational feature — I can power off both units by just powering off the main unit with a long press of the center multi functional button (MFB). To skip tracks, long press on either the + or the - volume button instead of double / triple press the center button like most Apple compatible headphones.
 
The user manual says I can use the MFB to activate the camera shutter. I cannot get that to work with my iPhone7 running latest iOS software.
 
The Dash uses bluetooth 4.2. I am not sure if that is the reason, but the Dash has an incredible range ! Paired with my iPhone7, not only I can walk around the entire first floor of my 900 s.f. first floor, I can go to the opposite end of my second floor, behind several walls, before the Dash intermittently cut out.
 
How about the linking between the left and right earbuds? They stay connected all the time under normal condition. I find that they will take a second or two to connect at the beginning. One interesting behavior is that I can make them disconnect from each other by covering both earbuds with my hands, over my ears.
 

Sound Quality

 
If you read my review of the Axgio backfit, you’ll see that I like them in general, but they have boosted highs with a lot of sibilance. I was worry that the Dash will be the same. Fortunately, while the Dash still has boosted highs, the sibilance is not as bad. These are my test tracks:
 
Record Collector, Catching a Tiger,  Lissie, (2010) https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/record-collector/id385669816?i=385669838 — This is one track that highlighted the harsh highs of the Axgio Backfit. I am happy to say that the highs are much more manageable with the Axgio Dash. While the highs are still boosted, it is much more enjoyable with this pair of headphone.
 
Happy Theme Song, Grace Kelly, Mood Changes (2008) https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/happy-theme-song/id304993279?i=304993292 - This track is full of interplay between the base and Kelly’s saxophone playing. The base response is good. The sax lacks fine detail if you really push the expectation, but overall it passes for a pair of bluetooth IEM.
 
Soneto de Separacao, Sensus, Christina Branco (2003), https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/soneto-de-separacao/id23147885?i=23147889 - Fado acoustic guitar and Branco’s emotional voice comes through cleanly with good soundstage, with a hint of sibilance, for some reason it is not as pronounce as the Axgio Backfit.
 
Viva La Vida, Viva La Vida, Coldplay (2008). https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/viva-la-vida/id1122773394?i=1122773680 - This is a complex track with vocals in front of layers of instruments building up in the song. As the layers get deeper, the clarity is lost. So the Dash is not going to compete with the Klipsch X11 or a $500 pair of Grado.
 
A Thousand Years, Brand New Day, Sting (1999) https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/brand-new-day/id1147704679?i=1147704785 - The rumbling base at the beginning of this song shows that the dash can handle base. It is quite fun to crank up the volume and get pulled into Sting’s moody lyrics.
 

Conclusion

 
Overall, especially considering the price point, the sound quality is good. The true wireless setup is much more useful that I originally thought. The Dash’s bulk look is not going to win on looks, but it wins on value and usability, not to mention an amazing bluetooth range.
 

Note: Axgio provided a review unit for review. Opinion are completely my own.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The AudioMX HS-5S arrived in a large box, 11 x 9 x 4 inches. A jet black box with a nice pictures of the headphones printed on top. The headphones is inside on the right, and there is a small box on the other side. LIfting that small plastic box reveals a nice surprise: The HS-5S comes with an extra pair of valor ear pads.
 

Quality

 
The entire package and the headphones themselves are of high quality. The cable is think and flexible, reminds me a little of the cable of my Grado RS-1. The cable attaches to both left and right ear cups, and joined in a molded stress relief plastic piece. The cable is long, over 8 ft. The jack at the end is a combined 3.5mm and 6.35mm (1/4 inch) Jack. The 6.35 jack is an adaptor. The cable end has a small stress relief spring attached.
 
The ear cups and headband are reasonably padded with a leatherette material. The top side of the headband is a matte plastic with the audioMX brand tastefully recessed into the material.
 
The HS-5S is of a open design. The grill on the ear cup is a hard black grid material. While there are metal looking parts on the ear cups, it is all plastic, but of high quality.
 
The red color used in both sides of the ear cup (see photos) also give the headphones a nice design punch.
 
Overall, the HS-5S looks and feels like a much more expensive pair of headphones.
 

Sound Quality

 
I tested these headphones with my iPhone 7, my Macbook Pro, and with a small headphone amp fed by my Macbook Pro via USB. The sound quality is very good. The response is reasonably flat — on some pieces of music the high frequencies are slightly boosted. The bass is clear and strong. Since it is a pair of open design, I was slightly disappointed  that the sound stage is not as wide as, say my RS-1. But it is perfectly acceptable, especially considering that the RS-1 costs about ten times more.
 
Some specific test track that I used:
 
Holly Cole - If you go away, Night (2012) - The warm vocals separate well from the piano and the deep bass. The sound is intimate with very natural vocals
 
Radiohead, Exit Music (For a Film), OK Computer - The booming vocal is clear. As the supporting vocals and instruments build up, each layer is clearly separated.
 
Don’t Know Why, Norah Jones, Come Away with Me — I use this track to see how well the headphones render the piano against the guitar and vocals, and the HS-5S handles this well.
 
Brad Mehldau, Exit Music (For a Film) - Songs: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3 — This is the jazz piano version of the Radiohead song. I love how the percussion builds up cleanly as we get into the track. This is one track that I wish the soundstage is wider.
 

Comfort

 
The headband is well padded, as are the ear cups. The ear cups swivel for a good fit. The ear cups are large enough to go completely over my ear. The clamping force is high, together with the large ear cups, it does press down a bit much on my thick rim glasses. So I have to take the headphones off every so often just to relief the pressure. Otherwise it is a very comfortable pair of headphones.
 

Conclusion

 
This is a great pair of Asian branded audiophile grade headphones, for a very reasonable price. The specs are great. The extras are nice surprises. The sound quality is good. This is a good pair of budget audiophile open back headphone. 
 
Note: audioMX kindly supplied me with a pair of these for review, but be sure all opinions are of my own.
 

Pictures

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Axgio Backfit sports bluetooth headphones are a interesting pair of affordable bluetooth headphones. When it arrived I was surprised by the minimal packaging. It came in a very small box, just the size of the included carrying case. I like the eco friendly packaging. It comes with S/M/L ear tips, a carrying case, a short micro USB charging cable, and a small instruction manual.
 

Charging and Batteries

 
All the electronic access is on the right ear bud. The micro USB charging port and a tiny multi color LED  is there. The LED shows red when charging, and turns blue after charged. It took less than 2 hours to fully charge up the headphone and it lasted just under 6 hours on continuous playing to discharge it, well matching the advertised 6 hours of play time.
 
The headphones have voice response in its operations. It says “power on, connection successful” on power up. Because the headphones have a 10 minutes automatic power off, you can just hold the center button for 3 seconds to switch it on, or hold the center button for 5 seconds to turn it off. When the battery gets low, the headphone will say “battery low”. I got the warning when it hits 10% battery.
 

Bluetooth Performance

 
For me, the bluetooth performance is a big deal with there headphones. Initial pairing is simple. Hold down the center button for 5 seconds, and the LED flashes blue and red. I paired it with both my iPhone 7 and my Retina MacBook Pro. The Backfit uses bluetooth 4.1, and will stay paired two devices at the same time. For example, I can be listening to a podcast on my iPhone, stop play, switch to my MacBook Pro, and start a youTube video. The Backfit will switch over automatically from the iPhone to the MacBook Pro.
 
The bluetooth range is very good. With my iPhone in one corner of the first floor of my house, I can maintain a connection on the entire floor of about one thousand square feet of semi open floor plan.
 
The instruction manual explains that you can clear the entire paired device list by holding the center button for 5 seconds until it flashes blue and red (which means it is ready for pairing), then release the center button, and hold the + and the - button until the LED flashes blue.
 

Sound Quality

 
The Backfit has a high noise floor — there is a audible hiss at low or zero input volume. This is slightly annoying but not a deal breaker as the hiss will disappear with most music once started playing. The sound quality is good but with a pronounced boost at the high frequencies. 
 
Test Tracks
 
Brandi Carlile, The Story, Wasted: The track starts with a piano chord passage and Brandi slowly adds her vocal. The hiss is noticeable until the overall volume increased. The base, piano and guitars all comes through clearly with good sound stage.
 
Vienna Tang, The Waking Hour, Eric’s Song: This is a simple track with Vienna’s silky vocal singing along a piano. I can hear all of the nuances of her voice.
 
Lissie, Catching a Tiger, Record Collector: This otherwise enjoyable track shows the boosted high frequencies problem with the Backfit. The high hat cymbal at the beginning of the track can be harsh.
 
Radiohead, OK Computer, Exit Music (For a Film): This dark track with low and booming male vocal sounds wonderful with the Backfit. Thom Yorke’s melancholy voice shines.
 
Sting, Brand New Day, A Thousand Years: This is another track that shows off the bassy sound of the Backfit, but at the same time the high end boost gives too much sibilance to many parts of Sting’s vocal.
 

Comfort

 
The Backfit is extremely comfortable. This is the first pair of earbuds with a rectangular shape body that I tried. I thought it would be heavy and hard to stay on. Instead it is very light, and stay on my ear firmly even when I am out jogging. I find the headband unnecessary. In fact it is slightly awkward to get the loop to go above my ears. I have to put the ear buds into my ear first, then move the band into place. It does work with me wearing glasses.
 

Miscellany 

 
The instruction sheet has some bad formatting, missing spaces, and a typo: “until theearphone…” and "Witch between the earphone and phone…”. I hope they will fix these in the next print.
 

Conclusion

 
The affordable bluetooth headphone space is going to get crowded now that Apple has killed the headphone jack. I was surprised how good is the Axgio Backfit. It is extremely comfortable with great battery life making it a good pair of workout or commuting headphones. Something that works and you won’t feel really bad if you loose them. The only downside is the sibilance. I am hoping burning the headphone in will reduce it, or you can correct it with equalization. If you are looking for a pair of budget bluetooth headphones with good overall performance, definitely give the Axgio Backfit a try.
 
Note: I received this pair of headphones from Axgio for review. Opinions are completely honest and of my own.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unboxing and Packaging

 
The ShareMe 5 arrived in a box that looks similar to the ShareMe Pro, but thicker. The packing inside is slightly nicer looking. The plastic container holding the headphones is still made from very thin cheap white plastic. I wished they would use something else that looks a bit higher end, because the headphones themselves look very nice.
 
The headphones come with a USB charging cable, as well as a 3.5 audio cable to use the headphones in wired mode. It is always nice to have that option — if this is the only pair of headphone around, and the battery just ran out — provided you do not have the audio jack-less iPhone 7 !
 

Build Quality

 
Mixcder has a winner here. Comparing this with the ShareMe Pro, the ShareMe 5 has a much more premium look and feel. Except for the headband, which has a strip of steel inside, the rest of the body is completely plastic. The metal looking ear cups look good, with just a small bit of shiny metallic plastic, the rest being matte metallic color.
 
The ear cups on the ShareMe 5 folds up into the headband area. As far as I can tell, the hinges are metal mated with plastic. The hinge does not feel very solid, and I hope that it will hold up with use.
 

The best part about the ShareMe 5 compare to the ShareMe Pro is that the ear cups is free to rotate vertically for about 15 degrees. The movement is small, but it makes all the difference. They fit onto my ears much better. My son and I keep swapping between the ShareMe 5 and the ShareMe Pro, and we both concluded that the 5 is much more comfortable. I also think that because of this flexible fit, the sound quality improved as well.
 
The ear cups and headband are covered in soft leatherette over foam. It is of the same quality as my Jabra Move. My guess is that in a year or two of daily use, they will wear out. But for the price it is a nice setup.
 

Comfort

 
Because of the swiveling ear cups, and the large ear cups, the ShareMe 5 is very comfortable. The clamp force is average — light enough that I can use it for over an hour with no fatigue. For me the ear cup completely goes over my ear making a good seal. The foam pads press against my glasses slightly, but the pads are soft enough that it is not an issue.
 

Controls

 
I am so happy that the controls on the ShareMe 5 is different from the ShareMe Pro. The 5 has a sensible layout — where on the right ear cup, there are up and down volume toggles, and a separate power button. There is no more confusion as to how to turn up or down the volume. The separate power button does double, or is it triple, duty as the play/pause/answer button.
 

Bluetooth and Battery

 
Just like the other MixCder headphones, the bluetooth connection is solid. Comparing to my new Bose QC30, the ShareMe 5, the MixCder has a much better range. It easily goes 30 feet line of sight before dropping the connection. Like most newer bluetooth device, when the connection is dropped, the sound is muted. So you will not get a blast of static.
 

The battery life on the ShareMe 5 is impressive. Again I have problem doing a run down test because after leaving the headphone playing overnight, I still cannot drain the battery. For practical purposes, the battery is good enough for normal use.
 
One slightly annoying issue with the battery — there is no way to find out the battery level. The power LED will change from blue to flashing red when the battery is low, but I want to know what is the level beforehand.
 
I noted in my ShareMe Pro review that I experienced a audio delay when I am watching video with the ShareMe Pro. For some reason, it appears to me that the delay in the ShareMe 5 is gone. I watched an entire TV show on Hulu without issue. I don’t know if they have actually updated the bluetooth implementation, or if the perceived difference is purely psychological, but these new ShareMe 5 works fine with video.
 

Share Me Feature

 
Since I already have a ShareMe Pro, I paired them together to test out the sharing feature. The two paired up easily (remember, pair them out of range of other bluetooth devices) and they play in the sharing mode without problems.
 

Sound quality

 
The sound signature of the ShareMe 5 is similar to the ShareMe Pro, but slightly better to my ears. The overall sound is still compressed, vocals are slightly veiled. The bass is punchy which is good for rock and pop. Compare to a high end setup, the sound are not terribly detailed. Listening to Coldplay’s Viva la Vida, where the instruments are increasingly layered onto the tracks, some of the details are lost.
 
When the music is less complex, for example Happy Theme Song by Grace Kelly, her Sax comes through warmly. The accompanying bass, piano and drums can be heard clearly. On Sting’s A Thousand years, the rumbling deep bass shows off the bass heavy sound.
 
Overall, the sound is enjoyable for a US $ 60 pair of headphones. It compares favorably to the Jabra Move.

 

Conclusion

 
The ShareMe 5 is a good pair of value bluetooth, over the ear, headphones. Sonically it is good enough. It looks much more expensive than it is built. It is comfortable. My only hope is that the folding hinge holds up over time. Otherwise it is a nice pair of value headphones on it’s own. And if you want the sharing feature, I would recommend getting a pair of ShareMe 5 instead of the ShareMe Pro. 
 
Note: I was given this pair of headphones free of charge for a honest review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mixcder ShareMe Pro headphones, besides being a pair of reasonably priced, US$ 46, bluetooth, full-size headphone, it has a secret feature: If you have two of these, you can linked them together, and two people and listen to the same music/sound source at the same time. With two kids in my family sharing one iMac, there is a constant headphone usage dilemma going on. They need to plug and unplug their own personal headphones as they use the computer. Then if they want to watch a youTube together, they have to unplug the headphone to use the speakers. A lot of audio jack action reaching behind the iMac. Having two pairs of ShareMe Pro headphone may just solve my problem.
 

Unboxing and Construction

 
I am slightly spoiled by the mixcder ANC-G5 active noise canceling headphones’  premium packaging which I also have. The ShareMe Pro in contrast arrived in a simple box with a basic plastic tray holding the headphones. When I open the box, the included cables were placed in the bottom of the tray, promptly dropping onto the floor. One positive is that it does come with a reasonably length USB charging cable, as well as a 3.5 audio cable for connecting the headphones directly to a earphone out port.
 
The construction of the headphones however are very good. At this price point, the headphone is mostly made from plastic. The adjustable ear cups rides on a steel band with plastic rails in the middle. The ear cups are covered in a very soft padded leatherette ear pads. The headband is also covered in a similarly padded material.
 

Comfort

 
These headphones are very comfortable. The clamping force is low. The ear cups swivel just over 90 degrees — from flat for storage, to just over 90 to  conform to different head shapes. I find that I can wear them for a long time without problem.
 

Sound Quality

 
These headphones uses 40mm drivers with 32 ohms impedance. Being bluetooth, I expected them to be driven nicely by the large internal batteries. I was slightly disappointed with the overall sound quality even after 20+ hours of burning in. I am listening via bluetooth using my Retina Macbook Pro playing iTunes music m4a files.
 
When I am listening to simpler jazz vocal pieces: Vienna Teng’s Eric Song, Autumn Leaves by Partricia Barber, Save Me by Aimee Allen, they sounded over during the quieter passages. Once the vocal and instruments play together, the over sound became muddled. I moved on to some classic rock tracks like Angie by the Stones, and With or Without You by U2. Similarly the headphones seem to get overwhelmed and lost clarity.
 
I also tried the same tracks with the headphone connected via the audio cable. There is no any noticeable difference.
 
I resorted to add EQ to the audio — boosting the 1K and 2K band fixes the sound enough so that it is passable. However I don’t think these will be my goto audio bluetooth headphones. But it is fine for casual listening. My kids find them perfectly usable for youTube listening.
 

Design Notes

 
I have some minor usability issue with these headphones.The headphones have volume and power buttons on the left ear cup, and track forward/backward/pause buttons on the right. These buttons feel a bit cheap when you press them. And the order of the volume buttons are: volume up / volume down / power. I really would prefer the power being in the middle. At the beginning I keep pressing the power button when I want to turn down the volume. Finally I realized that the volume buttons have little dimples on them, so I can to feel for them and not press the power button by mistake. But that is more work than necessary.
 
If you ever want to use the headphones with wires, the jack on the ear cup is at an angle, so the audio wire sticks out toward the back awkwardly. However I do not see why you would need to use them with wires as the batteries performance is great.
 

Batteries

 
I normally do a charge time and discharge time test. But these headphones have such large batteries that I have yet to get a measurable discharge time. That is, once charged, they play for days, which is wonderful. The only draw back is that there is no way to chat the battery levels. So sometime in the future I expect they will just stop working and I have to charge them back up.
 

Bluetooth performance

 
These are headphones with bluetooth 4.1. The range is similar to other bluetooth headphones that I have. With line of sight, 20+ feet is fine. With two walls in between, the headphones will cut out at about two rooms apart on my first floor. It is nice that the audio will simply stop when it is out of range, so you won’t get static or random sound. Once back in range, the audio will restart nicely. The headphones do not seems to support multi-point connection. So you can only pair them to one source.
 
The link two pairs of ShareMe Pro together, I find that the best way is to move away from all other bluetooth sources. Then I can put both headphones in pairing mode, and they did pair with each other automatically. Once that is done, you need to make a note as to which one of the two is the primary one, because that is the one that needed to be pair to your audio source.
 
This is important because there are times you only want to use one pair of headphones. In that case only the primary pair works.
 
Finally, perhaps because of the sharing feature, there is a noticeable delay in the audio stream. When I watch a movie, the audio stream is perhaps 100ms to 200ms slower than the video steam. It can be annoying for watching movies or TV shows. I tried re-pairing the headphones several times, as well as with different computers, and the result is the same. I hope mixcder will come out with a software fix in the future.
 

Conclusion

 
Given the sharing function and the price point, I think it is a unique product that has a place for a family wanting to share audio in private. My kids are using them as I write this review watching a youTube together.
 
Note: I received the product from the manufacturer at a reduced price for review, but the opinions are entirely mine. 
 
Included cables
 

 
compare to Jabra Move
 

 
Ear cups marking

 
adjustable band

 
foldable cups

 
volume and wired jack

 
USB port

 
Ear cup design

 
more L/R markings

 
soft headband

 
Mic

 
Works with Glasses

 
Mic

 
Funny angle for Jack

 
Fit middle schooler

The ANC-G5 active noise canceling headphones can be had from Amazon for 60 USD. How does it compare to the number one noise canceling headphones, the Bose QuietComfort QC20i?
 

Comfort

 
The ANC-G5 is surprisingly comfortable. The design of the ear tip is oval in shape and it does not fully insert into the ear canal. There is a fine balance of not having a very tight seal for comfort, but have a good enough seal to eliminate sound leakage. The Bose’s design is great for that. The ANC-G5’s tip is a lesser quality soft rubber, but never the less it works well. The earpiece is not too heavy. It has a similar designed wire-as-ear-loop as the Bowers & Wilkins C5. I find that the ear loop is simply not necessary, not I can get it to actually fit into my ear. So I just kept the loop small and the headphone stays in anyway. In terms of comfort, the ANC-G5 is as good as the Bose. I do worry that the ear tip rubber eventually will degrade. It is very thin. It is also oval in shape because it is stretched into the oval shape by the port on the earpiece. Compare to the Klipsch headphones for example, the Klipsch ear tips are oval as molded.
 
There is a minor annoying with the ANC-G5. The controller “box” is at the headphones end. That means the weight of the controller is pulling on the headphones all the time. I have no choice but to clip it onto my shirt. Compare to the Bose controller box, which is at the very end of the wire, on the plug end. I can just leave it in my pocket or on my desk.
 

Noise Canceling Performance

 
Since this is a pair of noise canceling headphones, the most important factor is how well does it actively cancel environmental noise? I tested it three different ways. I tested it against a brown noise generator (https://www.noisli.com/). The ANC-G5 cancels out the brown noise without problem, as good as the Bose. I tested it against a coffee house background noise generator ( https://coffitivity.com/ ). The ANC-G5 successfully blocked out most of the background noise and effectively made the human voices more audiable.
 
I then tested the ANC-G5 in my day to day office environment. The headphones successfully cancelled out the low frequency hum of our office AC, leaving me with a nice and quiet workspace.
 

Sound Quality

 
I tested the sound quality mostly with the noise canceling feature switched on as that should be the normal mode of use. I fed the headphones from my retina Macbook Pro running iTunes. I largely listen to jazz and vocals. After burning in the headphones for 24 hours (I ran the burn in without the active noise cancelation), a listen to Autumn Leaves by Partricia Barber. Her vocal against the deep double base comes through cleanly. While I don’t expect it to reproduce the very low notes perfectly, it did an more than adequate job. I moved onto Vienna Teng’s Eric’s Song, a track with very clean vocal against piano. I can hear her breathing in between notes. Moving onto Brandi Carlile’s Wasted, more of a rock track - female vocals against piano, drums, electric guitars and precussions. The soundstage is good but it is noticeably compressed compares to higher end headphones. (OK maybe it is not fair to compare it to a pair of RS-1 driven thru an amp).
 
Overall I definitely enjoy listening to my styles of music as I work in the office. I also tested using it for two Skype calls. The microphone works fine as well.
 

Design Issues

 
Besides that the controller is at the headphone end as mentioned before, the only thing that annoys me is that it uses a micro-A USB connector for charging. All other non Apple equipment I have uses micro-B USB connectors. This means that I cannot use the various charging stations that I have setup both at work and at home to charge this pair of headphones. I have to use their charging cable.
 

Battery Test

 
After completely ran down the batteries, I charged and ran down the headphones twice to time the charging and usage. Both times the headphones charged to full charge in about 1 hour 30 minutes. The discharge ran way beyond 11 hours both times, however I do wonder if the battery life will be shorter if it was doing heavier noise cancelation in an noisier environment than my house.
 

Conclusion

 
For the money this pair of headphones is a no brainer purchase if you need active noise cancelation. The Bose QC20i is slightly better in all features, but it is four times as expensive. If you must have iOS/OSX volume controls on the headphones than you have to look else where or wait for Mixcder to come out with an Apple compatible version. Otherwise it is affordable, sounds great, comfortable, and most importantly cancel background noise well.
 
Note that while I received this unit from the distributor for review, the opinions expressed are completely my own.