Archeer AH07 Bluetooth Headphones Wireless Stereo Over Ear Headphones Headsets with Mic

INTRODUCTION
Hello. Areek Nibras here, junior Head-fier and physician from Bangladesh, currently studying to obtain a post graduation in medicine. Today I will be reviewing the Archeer AH07 Bluetooth stereo over ear headphones with built in mic. Archeer is a China based brand that produces mostly wireless audio equipments as well as cellphone accessories. The AH07 is their priciest headphone till now whice is currently selling for 49.99$ in amazon. It has an closed back, over-ear design with built in mic and in line controls and comes with apt-x audio technology which promises CD quality sound over bluetooth. The headphone also supports passive wired playback with a 3.5mm audio jack.

DISCLAIMER
I have received the Archeer AH07 as a free unit from Archeer in exchange for my honest opinion. I am in no way affiliated with them. The review I'm posting is just my opinion regarding the product and it was not influenced by any means by Archeer or anyone else.

SPECIFICATIONS (collected from amazon)
Bluetooth Version: 4.0
Talk Time: 14 Hours
Stand-by Time: 540 Hours
Playback Time: 14 Hours
Operating Range: 10m/33ft
Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP/AVRCP/HSP/HFP
Impedance: 32O
Sound Pressure Level: 103±3dB
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20KHz

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The headphones come in a brick shaped black box with a picture of the headphones on top, some special features on a side, and list of features and specifications at the bottom. When you open them by removing the top cover, you get-
1 x Archeer AH07 wireless Headphone
1 x USB Charging Cable
1 x 3.5mm Audio Cable
1 x User Manual

The headphone comes folded sitting on top of a plastic cutout. The remaining accessories are kept underneath. As we know, these headphones do support passive playback by using a 3.5mm stereo jack and it is a nice gesture that it comes with a 4 feet long cable. Although these headphones can be folded nicely to be carried easily, a carry bag/pouch would have been nice.


BUILD:
These headphones have a really good looking black and aluminium finish. Most of the headphone is made of plastic except below the hinge area where the earcups are attached to the headband. This portion is aluminium plated. Overall this looks & feels premium and built to last.The entire headband is covered in soft foam and sits comfortably on the head. The hinge portion is covered in plastic but silver in color, the earcups can be folded and extended from here. The earcups are connected to the hinge by a ball and socket type of joint it seems and allows some movement that allows users to adjust them according to their preferences.
The AH07 is a closed back, over ear design but I would not exactly call them that. The earcups are rectangular shaped and so are the earpads. The earpads are soft but shallow. There is only 3cm by 6cm space in between the pads for the ear to sit in and for me with an avg. sized ear it was too small.

The headphones have a call/power button and 2 volume buttons on the right earcup. The microphone, 3.5mm audio jack input and the micro-usb power input is also on the right earcups. There is a small light indicator in between the buttons that indicates the state of connection of the headphones.

What we get overall is a classy looking bluetooth headphone that will impress you from the time you put your hands on these.

FIT, COMFORT, ERGONOMICS
The fit is a subjective matter and will vary from indevidual to indevidual. The space that these provide in between the earcups is too small for my ears so some part of my ear remains under the pads while some in between. This, along with a modarately strong clamping force creates a proper fit issue as well as a comfort issue. I wear prescription glasses all the time, so after some time of it sitting on my pinna, it begins to hurt and it requires me to repostion/remove them entirely. The highest amount of time I could give them at a strech has been 2 hours. So I would say these headphones are good for short listening sessions like while commuting, cycling, gym but not for long listening sessions. It would have been better if archeer went for the on-ear design instead of it being partially over ear.


Connectivity & Battery:
Connectivity is simple. You turn it on by pressing the phone/power button for 2 seconds, go to pairing mode by pressing it for 5 seconds and turn it off by holding it for 3 seconds. I had no problems connecting these to my phones and even the laptop. The distance covered is also really good, I could easily connect to these from 10 feet away.

It can also be connected using a 3.5mm jack (included) which does not require you to power the device on, just like a wired headset.

Archeer states it has 14 hours of battery life and I can confirm their claim. I was able to run it continiously for more than 13 hours and still found these playing music. However there is no battery level indicator but you won't probably need one as I personally haven't had the battery die even once.

SOUND:
The AH07 is clearly targeted towards the casual, bass loving general population who would put bass 1st and clarity 2nd. This is a v shaped headphone with bass getting the crown and ruling over other spectrums, but letting the mids and highs have a place in his court as well, especially the highs, which, while do not match the quantity of bass it offers but has good quality and clarity to mark it's presence. What we get overall is a fun pair of headphones. In the following segments, I'll be breaking down the sq.

Gears used-
1. Huawei GR5 2017 (both wired and wireless)
2. Iphone 7 (Wireless)
3. Shozy Alien (wired)
4. PC>Schiit Bifrost> Schiit Lyr (Wired)
The headphones had more than 100 hours of music playback from all these devices combined. No signifant change in sound was heard during this process.

Bass-
From the moment I put these on I could say that these are meant to be bass heavy. The bass is big, easily the bassiest headphones I currently own in terms of quantity. Most of it is mid bass which quite frequently bleeds into the mids and can produce ear shattering thumps when bassy tracks are played. The bass extends deep down. The overall quality is not bad either and gets tighter when wired. however I would have preferred sightly tighter bass..

Mids-
Overall mids sound recessed. These take a back seat and allow the bass to show it's magic on em. Mid bass bleeds in to lower mids and makes these sound a bit muddy. Male vocals sound less clear and rough while running wireless but smoothens when used wired. Female vocals sound much better. Details are present but minutely. Instruments sound like they are a bit far away but do not sound vailed. There is no sibilance present.

Highs-
Highs are well balanced with good amount of clarity and presence and do not sound sharp at any moment. If I said there's too much bass and too receessed mids for my liking, I would say the highs are just right. These sound quite detailed for the price The snares and cymbals can be heard nicely but don't hurt the ears. easily the best aspect of these headphones.

Soundstage and Imaging-
These headphones, being closed back design, have avg. soundstage but falls short on imaging. These can give you a sense of space but sounds either appear coming from in front of you or from the sides but lacks the rear presence and the height factor. I was not expecting much either. But what surprised me that these were good enough to locate footsteps and other audio queues during playing counter strike global offensive. Watching a movie is fun too, specially the action movies with the emphesis on bass. Overall, not too bad.

Isolation & leakage:
Even though it was difficult to get a proper fit, these can isolate very well. It is difficult to listen to people speak around you if you have them on with music playing. Also, minimal sound leakage while wearing even though these can go quite loud.
Making calls:
The audio quality was crystal clear during phone calls and mic sounded clear to the listener on the other side as well. However I did face some dropped sounds during facebook group voice chats, but only on one occation.

CONCLUSION:
In a world that is leaning more and more on wireless technology, the Archeer AH07 brings great style and consumer friendly sound at a compatitive price point. The design of this is really classy and impressive, sounds fun and has great battery life. The biggest issue of these is the fit, I hope Archeer would really improve on that segment with a bigger earpad. I would reccomend these to anyone looking for a portable bluetooth headset for casual portable use that is aesthetically pleasing and sounds good as well.

There's no doubt that the age of Bluetooth is here and for the moment at least it's here to stay. With improvements to Bluetooth itself, APTX and battery life the platform has matured to a point where it's a viable alternative for all but the most demanding music fans. At the present time even a lot of the ultra-budget DAPs are equipped with Bluetooth and pretty much all mid and top tier DAPs now have built-in support as well. So today I'll be taking a look at a headphone with Bluetooth and APTX from a company called Archeer. According to their website, Archeer's goal is:

developing, manufacturing and vending innovative, attractive and novel electronic gadgets & peripherals for every customer in the world to enrich and ease their leisure lifestyle with comfort, consideration, entertaining and convenience

The Archeer AH07 is currently priced at $49.99 and can be purchased from Amazon or AliExpress. You can follow the links from their website HERE.

Disclaimer

This sample was sent to me for the purpose of an honest review. I am not affiliated with the company in any way and all observations and opinions here are my own based on my experience with the product. Thanks to Phoebe for reaching out.


Packaging and accessories
The AH07 comes in a simple, black box with "ARCHEER" printed in white at the top and a nice, clear image of the headhpones. Inside are the headphones folded up and sitting in a plastic tray. Under the tray you'll find the accessories which include a USB to micro USB charging cable, a 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cable and a user manual - basically everything you need to get up and running although a carry pouch would have been nice.



Build, comfort and isolation
When I took the headphones out of the box I was quite surprised with how sturdy they felt. They arrive in a folded configuration that is nice and compact, making them good for portability. As you open things up and pull the cups down there's a satisfying click as they snap into place.

The headband is constructed from metal and is generously covered in padded pleather that serves well to be comfortable on the top of your head. Running down the sides are strips that look like metal but are in reality plastic. That's probably a good thing as it helps reduce the overall weight and it feels sturdy enough.

The ear cups are plastic and rectangular in shape and have a good length but are very narrow meaning those with larger ears may experience some discomfort. My ears barely squeeze inside but the padding is sufficient enough to make them bearable. Clamping force is a little intense, at least for me and I found the pressure on my ears combined with the narrow pads forced me to take them off every thirty minutes or so to get the blood circulating in my ears again. One thing I do really like about the ear cups is that they can swivel a bit from front to back and top to bottom so you can get a really good fit with them. Because of that and the clamping force these have really good noise isolation which means you don't need to turn your music up as loud and it blocks out a lot of external noise.

On the right ear cup is where you'll find the control buttons, of which there are three in total. The top one is for powering on or off and also used to answer and hang up phone calls. Under the top button is an LED indicator that flashes when in pairing mode. Below that are the volume up/down buttons that also act as track forward and rewind. These buttons are on the back side of the cup and for me this is perfect as they're easy to reach and press using my thumb.

On the bottom edge of the right cup are the 3.5 mm cable jack for wired listening, the microphone for making phone calls and micro USB jack for charging.

Overall these do not feel inexpensive at all. There are no rattles or loose joints and the materials feel light yet strong.



Sound
Sources used for testing

• Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (Bluetooth)
• Acoustic Research M20 (Bluetooth + wired)
• PC/Foobar2000 > Sabaj D3 (wired)
• Benjie X1 (wired)

Archeer's offering has a "fun" tuned, bass heavy sound with a good dose of warmth. The AH07 won't likely blow away a seasoned listener with its technical ability but for the average consumer they should be a hit. This type of sound signature is perfect for games or action movies with things like explosions giving you a really good rumble and visceral impact. It's also suitable for casual listening and depending on what headphone you're coming from you should find your brain adjusting to the excessive bass in a fairly short time and be able to enjoy what it has to offer. I did personally find these to react really well to some equalization and when you pull down the bass a bit they actually sound pretty nice.

Its a super easy to drive headphone so there's no need for additional amplification and it doesn't seem to benefit any from using a different source though I would suggest pairing it with something neutral or bright if possible.

Bass is the star of the show here or, at least it's where the AH07 tries to get your attention. It's thick and boomy with a pretty large mid-bass hump that tends to dominate whatever is being played. Sub-bass is fairly meaty too but it doesn't have the best extension. The bass has decent control and by that I mean it doesn't distort at higher volume but it doesn't display the same control when it comes to separating itself from the lower mids or interfering with the overall presentation as there is some significant bleed into the lower midrange.

The mids have the task of competing with a bloated bass, however in bass but still in the end they sound pretty sweet. Vocals, both male and female sound clear and natural as do most other instruments but during busy sections things can get a bit congested. Detail retrieval is surprisingly good (even more so with EQ applied) and I was surprised by some of the small sounds I was able to pick out as the bass thumped along. The upper mids sound just a little bit off in tonality with things like transient on snare drums making them seem a little colored or veiled.

I don't pay much attention to the treble with these headphones to be honest. That's not because it's bad but because it gets overpowered again by the bass. There aren't any noticeable peaks or excessive early roll-off and again just like with the mids, taking a bit of the bass out with EQ allows the treble to stretch its legs. Crash cymbals are not a problem here, coming off fairly smoothly which is great for busy drum sections like in Pineapple Thief's "No Man's Land" where there's an abundance of cymbals smashing towards the end of the song.

Soundstage is fairly intimate and narrow giving a very stereo type presentation without much depth or space. Even on "Midwest", the title track of the Midwest album by Mathias Eick which normally sounds wide on almost anything things still sound inside the head-space. Imaging is also very average with everything coming together in a mashup in the middle so this area is definitely not a strong point for the AH07.

Bluetooth and pairing
Pairing is very easy and also fast with the AH07. You simply hold the power button down for a few seconds until you hear a beep and see the LED indicator flashing and it's in pairing mode. Once you choose the AH07 from your devices Bluetooth settings the pairing is very fast and painless.

I've had no dropouts or signal loss while connected and the sound quality to my ears is just as good as when using in wired mode. I can go into another room and the signal remains strong but if there's a thick wall in between you'll get some dropouts as you move farther away from the source. As an example I can leave my smartphone on the computer desk in the living room and go into my kitchen, which is behind a wall and the signal holds up perfectly until I get near to my back door. That's a good 10+ meters with a wall in between. Not bad at all!

Battery life
One of the things that steered me away from Bluetooth headphones for a long time was the short battery life that many suffered from in the early days but there have been significant improvements with power efficiency and battery technology in recent years. That has made the experience much less bothersome than it used to be and the AH07 fares really well in this department. You can expect an average of 14-15 hours of solid playback time with this headphone before needing a recharge or switching to wired mode.

Comparisons
vs Yenona/Oneodio Studio Pro ($38.50 USD)
The first difference I noticed is that the Yenona requires several extra bumps on the volume to match the same listening level. Compared to the AH07 the Studio Pro sounds a lot more balanced in terms of bass (although it is a bassy headphone). Upper mids sound a bit more natural as well and when it comes to comfort it's the Studio Pro all the way with its large, wide and thick pads along with much less clamping force. Soundstage seems quite restricted on the AH07 in comparison. Where the AH07 wins is obviously its wireless capability and it's better suited for portability, with a smaller size and more secure fit.

Conclusion
It never ceases to amaze me how many bargains are available to music fans right now and the Archeer AH07 is a perfect example of this. With its solid build, portability, decent sound, wireless connectivity and good battery life it's really good value for money. While the sound isn't the most refined it's those other aspects that make it a good thing to have in your collection. The additional option of going wired also makes it really versatile and if you find yourself low on battery power it's not really a problem, just plug in the 3.5 mm auxiliary cable and you're good to go again. Overall for the sound I'd give it 3/5 stars but considering it's other strong points as well as a very reasonable price I think it's worthy of a 4/5 rating.

DISCLAIMER:

This review is based upon a sample unit provided to me by the manufacturer in exchange for my honest and unfiltered opinion. I am not being compensated in any way for writing this review. I would like to thank Phoebe from Archeer for sending me this review unit.

ABOUT ME

I listen mostly to heavy metal, hip hop, and electronic music, as well as movie and video game soundtracks. I value detail, clarity, and soundstage above other acoustic qualities. Other headphones I own or have used in the past include the Mee Audio P1 Pinnacle, Fostex TH-X00, V-Moda M-80, V-Moda LP2 Crossfade, Beyerdynamic DT-770 (250 ohm), KZ ATE, Mixcder X5, Mee Audio M6, Hifiman HE-400S, and (very briefly) Phillips Fidelio X2.



TEST CONDITIONS

I have used the Archeer AH07 under the following conditions:

iPhone 5S > Bluetooth > AH07

Windows 10 PC > JDS Labs The Element > AH07 (wired)

Windows 10 PC > Fiio E6 > AH07 (wired)

Windows 10 PC > Bluetooth > AH07

I have tested these headphones with Spotify Premium high-quality streaming, Tidal HiFi, and local FLAC.

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

The AH07 comes in a sleek black semi-glossy box. Underneath the tray holding the headphones is the instruction manual and a plastic bag containing a 3.5mm SE – 3.5 mm SE cable and a Micro USB to USB-A cable for charging. I appreciated that Archeer included the 3.5mm aux cable instead of making the listener supply one themselves. Given that this is intended to be used as a portable headphone I would have liked to see at least a carry bag, if not a soft case, but I realize that this might have raised the cost of the headphone.

BUILD QUALITY / DESIGN

For a $50 headphone, I was very impressed with the build quality. The headphones look very stylish and sleek. The matte black plastic used for the driver enclosures is subtly textured and pleasant to touch. The brushed aluminum accents are very attractive. The earpads and headband are good quality pleather. The length of the headband is adjustable. The earpads fold inwards for transport.


FIT / COMFORT / ISOLATION

The pleather earpads are comfortable against the head for at least several hours. Clamping force is strong but not excessive. The earpads completely enclose my ears without squashing them, but I have small ears. I expect these would be more uncomfortable for someone with average-to-large ears. Isolation is high. I have a fairly noisy keyboard and I couldn’t hear myself typing this review over music at a moderate volume. I also cannot hear my girlfriend watching TV five feet away, though I can hear her when she laughs loudly. I have had no complaints from her regarding sound leakage, which has been an issue with my TH-X00s at high volume.

BLUETOOTH/MIC/ CALL QUALITY

Pairing with either an iPhone or an Android device has been painless, though reading the instruction manual is key. There is only one button for both power and pairing, which depends on how long you hold the button down. I have had a mixed experience regarding the ease of Bluetooth pairing with PCs as well as issues staying connected, but I am inclined to blame Windows or the cheap dongle I am using rather than the headphones. Call quality was not as good as over my iPhone for either me or the person I was in a call with, a little squawky but still completely intelligible. Max call volume is more than adequate.

BATTERY LIFE
Although I have not kept a close eye on the amount of time I've spent with these powered on, in the three weeks I've had these headphones I've only needed to charge them once. I believe that the 14 hours advertised on-time is probably accurate.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is strongly V-shaped with very pronounced bass. The bass quantity is somewhat overwhelming from an audiophile perspective, though it is probably average for consumer headphones. I recommend cutting the bass using EQ (the Bass Reducer preset in the Spotify iPhone app is sufficient). Bass extension is good, and cutting the bass amount with EQ reveals texture. Mids are unremarkable. They work well with female pop vocals. The soundstage is very small. I constantly noticed details in songs that are supposed to be in the background being pushed up against my ears. Treble is dependent on the quality of the recording in question. Well-produced cymbals sound great, poorly produced cymbals are grating, even if not quite sibilant. In general, the sound quality is much more detailed than I would have expected given the target market and price point. I was also surprised by how much these headphones appear to benefit from higher bitrate sources. Even when I made an effort to volume match, Tidal resolved more clearly through these headphones than Spotify Premium. This is not something I normally notice.


AMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

These are intended to be used over Bluetooth and do not need external amplification. I don’t feel that they benefit from it in any case. However, it is worth mentioning that they can be used with a wired connection without having to turn the headphones on, saving battery.

CLOSING WORDS

In general I was impressed with the build quality and sound quality of these headphones. They are well suited for wireless use with mobile devices, and are certainly one of the best looking wireless units at their price point. This is definitely one of the most affordable over-ear AptX options available, and they are good enough headphones that lossless audio is worth listening to.

The AH07 can be purchased on Amazon here : http://amzn.to/2olA81T