Product review: AUSDOM ANC8 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones, Wireless Over-Ear Headset

Ausdom ANC8 headphones work both as wired and wireless headphones. I thought the sound was equally good in both modes, and I could make the loudness as loud in both modes. I normally listen to the headphone with the sound down about half way, otherwise it is too loud for me.

The head set is extremely comfortable, it fits over my ears (not touching the ears) it can be adjusted in so many ways and it feels very comfortable for both me and my husband, even though our heads are shaped very differently.

Both the headphones and the head band are well padded.  The headphone cups have a lot of degrees of freedom: they both twist around and pivot up and down.  The headband can flexes easily to fit heads of different sizes. The pads are made out soft leather. While being super comfortable the sound isolation is not 100%. The comfort is comparable to my Bose headset, but not the sound isolation in Bose is better (but at a much higher price).

To test the sound I listened to several pieces of music I use to test headphone. Using the same piece of music allows me to compare different headphone in "apples to apples" comparison. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There are several section in Toccata which some headphones cannot handle they crackle or sound muddy.  Ausdom headphones did very well. The sound was crisp and the sound can be made very loud.

I had no problem pairing the headphones with my mobile devices for listening to music. To pair I needed to push down the on/off button until the light began flicking red/blue. Then the phone detected "Ausdom ANC8" and connected.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: HBQ I7 TWS Twins Mini Bluetooth Earbud Wireless

These earbuds were a disappointment.  They comfortable, fairly light, and the sound is actually not bad, but I found it impossible to pair both earbuds.  I can only hear sound from one of them.  I am very experienced person with setting up wireless headphones yet despite reading and following instructions many times, I could not pair the two earbuds to each other.  The connection between them was lost as soon as I attempted to pair the pair with the phone.

In addition, I did not like that they require the use of special two headed cable to charge the earbuds.  If the cable breaks or if I lose it the earbuds are useless. Many earbuds use standard micro USB  cable and it is so much better as I have plenty of spares.

These earbuds looks promissing and inexpensive, but not being able to pair both of them is a deal breaker.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: DISO Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds Headphones

Diso Bluetooth headphones paired flawlessly with my two phones.  The sound is nice and clear without distortion.  The Bluetooth range is excellent with the phone resting in my pants pockets phone or on the table while I work.  I use these headphone while working to cover up the distracting conversations and noises by pleasant music. The headphones are comfortable and I am able to wear them all day long.  If I leave the phone on the table I can walk away a good distance before the sound starts breaking up.

The area that has DISO sign on both headphones is a button. You press the to turn it on and to give commands. Attached image shows where the indicator lights are.

I really like how comfortable they are and their sound.  They are much better then having wired headphones as I can move between my two computers without having to worry about the cord

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Wireless Earbuds, Chin-Best Touch Control, Blouttooth earbuds

Chin best ear buds sound good and fit comfortably in my ear. The Bluetooth sounds nice and clear when I have the phone in my pocket, but at a longer distances then my pocket the bluetooth reception breaks up a bit. The ear bud fill my entire ear cavity but don't stick out.  I can wear these ear buds for several hours without any problems.

To charge them one must use a proprietary charging cradle.  The cradle works nicely, but it comes a very short charging cord which I found rather inconvenient. Fortunately, the cradle can be charged by any micro USB cable and I am using it with my own longer cable.  Play time of these ear buds is  2-3 hours one one charge.

Pairing with my phone was easy.  I needed to press my fingers on both ear buds at the same time for a few seconds and that started the pairing process.  The device appears as "i8s".

Overall, very comfortable fit, good sound. On the negative side one charge does not last all day.

YOu can locate these earbuds on Amazon


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: SmartOmi Bluetooth Neckband Headphones V4.1

The best thing about SmartOmi  headphones is the distance at which Bluetooth continues to play music without breaking up.  I am able to leave the phone on the second floor study and walk down to the first floor and still hear the music without any breaks.  Only when I go to the corner of the kitchen does the music begin to break up.  This is better than my other bluetooth headphones I own.

I also like the vibrating alerts - the headphone vibrates when I turn it on and off (so I am sure the batteries are not being wasted), I don't need to look at the light. It also vibrates when the phone rings.  Phone reception is good.

The ear pieces are comfortable, the short wires to the band don't tangle because they are short.

On the negative side I am not in love with having something touching my neck when the weather is warm. It makes me feel hotter. When I am wearing a shirt with color I put the band under the collar, but I don't wear them all that often especially in the summer. On the other hand I understand that neck band allows for a bulkier design that works better, so I am willing to deal with it because as far as quality of sound and real Bluetooth connection these headphones are excellent.

The headphones are comfortable and I am able to wear them all day long.  They are much better then having wired headphones as I can move between my two computers without having to worry about the cord.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: SoundPEATS Bluetooth Speaker Portable

In the Bluetooth mode this speaker will not blast you out your seat but it produces good sound at a normal listening volume. The sound is clean and clear, each instrument is distinguishable, the sound is not muddy, and handles base reasonably well for a speaker of this size. 

The speaker works both a Bluetooth speaker as well as connected with an audio cable. I thought it was somewhat louder when it was in a Bluetooth mode using the maximum volume setting on both the speaker and the phone.

To test various speakers I use Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor. I like using because it has several passages in the beginning of the fugue which many speakers cannot handle - some speakers crackles others generate distortions, but this speaker handled it very well. In my video I included a short snippet of music so you can get a better idea of how it sounds.

The speaker is 6.5" tall and 2.5" wide. Its weight is 1 pounds 0.5 oz.


Pretty nice speaker overall.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★

Product review: WiseField Portable Mini Radio AM/FM Receiver World Universal FM 88-108 AM 530-1600 KHz

This is a small radio (3.75" x 2.25" x 0.75") that weighs 4.2 oz (with batteries installed).  It has a 9.75" antenna (the collapsable type) that extends from the top of the radio.  It reception is not bad for such small radio.  It gets some but not all stations I can get on a high end AM/FM radio like CCCrane. 

Its weakest point is the speaker.  I guess it is not surprising giving the size of the radio.  The sound is tinny.  There is no way to set presets.  This radio does not do automatic scan of stations. 

It runs on two AA batteries which are not included.

Overall, It is small and light.  Good to have for emergency, but not something I would use for pleasure like  listening to music.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: GGMM M4 Leather Wireless Digital Wi-Fi

This is a hell of a speaker! GGMM can be made quite loud and the sound remains distortion free even at max volume. To test various speakers I use Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor. I like using because it has several passages in the beginning of the fugue which many speakers cannot handle - some speakers crackles others generate distortions, but this speaker handled it very well. In my video I included two small snippets of music so you can hear it for yourself.

The speaker connected to my phone's bluetooth smoothly. In the video you can see me turn off the speaker and then it back on again - it remembered the connection and automatically reconnected to the phone. However it did not remember my old settings neither the volume to the fact that I had the bass button pressed.

The speaker is 13.75"L x 4 3/8"W x 6"H. Its weight is 6 pounds 1.5 oz.

The speaker comes with an optional leather strap for carrying the speaker. And the sides had permanent metal posts for attaching the straps. I would have preferred that the permanent metal posts were not there, so I had an option to stand the speaker on its side. The speaker has no mounting holes.

I am very impressed with this speaker. I hope the video gives you a good idea of what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: FD10 8GB USB Flash Drive Voice Recorder

his is a very simple voice recorder. It looks like a flash drive (2.5" x 0.80" x 0.25"). It has just one button on and off switch. I included several audio clips in my video so you can judge the quality of the recording for yourself.

My video includes four types of clips under different situations:
(1) Speaking right into the recorder
The sound it records has a bit of an echo, but not too bad.
(2) A noisy party
This is a challenging situation. The microphone picks up a lot of ambient noise, many voices, it is hard to understand.
(3) A lecture
During this lecture I was sitting in the first row, about 10 feet away from the speaker. The hall capacity is 330 seats. The voice is recorded at low volume but clear.
(4) The lecture is about music and included musical passages. The recorder is not capable of recording music. The clipping and distortions are severe. The recorder is not suited to recording music.

For simplicity of use this recorder is hard to beat. To start recording flip the switch to ON position, to stop recording push the button into OFF position. To copy the files to the computer insert it into computer just like you would insert a flash drive. The records in are in RECORD directory.

The recorder can be re-charged in any USB outlet. The red light will remain on while the FD10 is charging, and will turn off when charging is completed. It cannot record while recharging or connected to the computer. It runs on built-in 11OMAH Rechargeable Lithium. Full recharge from empty took about 3 hours. The recordings are produced in wav audio file format.

If the battery runs out of juice in the middle of the record the file is automatically saved before it stops. If memory is full before recording is completed it will save what recorded so far.

RecorderGear provided this voice recorder for an honest review be it good or bad. What is the bottom line? I thought it did a decent job for human voice in a quiet environment. The microphone is pretty sensitive so in a noisy environment it picks up a lot of surrounding sounds. It works for recording lectures and presentations where is one clear source of sound. It did a terrible job recording music.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: ZHPUAT Portable Bluetooth Alarm Clock Radio with FM Radio

This is an okay clock. It works but how it works has some issues in my experience.

First, the clock has a lot of long voice prompts. The voice has a heavy accent and some words are hard to understand. I prefer short beeps to long voice phrases as they interrupt the music for a long time and when I hear it over and over it gets repetitive and annoying. I wish there was an option for beeps or voice.

Its speaker is fairly weak. The sound cannot be made very loud. It sounds best when I stream music from SD card and bluetooth. FM radio is okay for voice but some music stations are distorted.

The clock numbers are made out of small dots, and I thought they were harder to see when a solid lines on my oher clocks. People with a perfect vision probably will not mind, but if you are nearsighted this might be a problem.

In my video I show how the clock operates in its various functions, I hope this will give you a better idea of what to expect.

Overall, the alarm clock works but I can't say I love it. It is just okay.

I received this clock for testing and review as part of the new product introduction and sharing my honest experience with it.


ZHPUAT Portable Bluetooth Alarm Clock Radio with FM Radio, Wireless Speaker, Aux-In and TF Card Music, USB Charging, Phone Call, Easy Setting, Convenience for Travel, Fashion Home, Idea Gift (White)


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: BOHM MATE Rechargeable Bluetooth Speaker with DuoLink

Let me start by saying that these speakers have a nice sound. They sound rich and they can handle base. I really like the surround sound effect I am able to get with them. They worked well streaming music from my phone via bluetooth. I liked the sound so much that I decided to hook them up wired to my den TV and this is where I ran into some limitations. I would describe setup with two speakers as quirky (see details below), but the main issue is that the duo link introduced sound delay by a second or so and everything looks and sounds like a dubbed movie where the lips are not synchronized with the words.

Duo link introduces a bit of complexity into set up. I hope my notes will add additional details to the manual and save someone time.

Power indicator light has several meanings:
(1) Solid red means the speaker is charging. You can charge and play at the same time.
(2) Slow flashing blue means the speaker is on and active.
(3) Fast red and blue means it is in pairing mode

The LED ring around the on/off button has several meanings.
(1) Blue ring means bluetooth mode
(2) Green ring means aux wired mode

You need to hold on/off button down for a few second to turn on and off.

Bluetooth connection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To connect the speakers to a mobile device I paired the first speaker. Speaker appeared in bluetooth as "Mate". The speaker was not detected by my older tablet that does not support Bluetooth 4.0, but no problem with the newer devices.

Once I connected and tested a single speaker I paired the two speakers together. First, I turned on the second speaker, then pressed "M" twice on the first speaker. The speaker power indicator starts blinking red and blue. The I pressed "M" twice on the second speaker. The manual is not clear whether you need to press twice at the same time or not, and initially I tried pressing both buttons at once but that did not work. Pressing first button twice and then the second button twice worked. The speakers have an audio indicator that it worked. This operation does not need to be repeated if the speakers turned off and then turned on, they continue to be linked.

For the mobile devices that have Bluetooth 4.0 the set up was fairly easy and the sound is excellent.

Aux connection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To set up the Aux connection with the TV took several attempts. It is possible that this was because I already had a bluetooth connection set up, I am not sure. Later I discovered that I can delete the bluetooth connection by pressing and holding Prev and Next buttons together for 2 seconds at the same time. Both speakers need to have this operation done to remove history from both speakers.

Connecting the first speaker was easy. I put an audio cable from TV into the AUX port of the first speaker, turn on the speaker, and hit "M" once to switch to AUX mode. It worked well, there were no delays.

Then I tried pairing the second speaker. First I repeated what worked for me in the Bluetooth mode: double press "M" on both speakers. This did not turn on the second speaker. Then I tried connecting two speakers with an audio cable using headphones connections on the first speaker and aux port on the second speaker. The instruction say that inserting cable into the headphone port turns off disables the first speaker but the speaker can be reactivated by holding "M" button on the first speaker for 5 seconds. This did not work for me right away. However, as I removed the audio cable both speakers became active.

So the final set up I have is the first speaker is connected by an audio cable to the TV and the two speakers are paired to each other via bluetooth. I have both speakers plugged into the power continuously as I wanted them to be permanently hooked up to the TV. I hear no interference when I am using the speakers while they are charging.

This set up was not easy, the sound is excellent, but there is a small delay so when people on TV speak their lips do not match the sound.

What can be better?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It would be better for watching TV if duo link did not introduce a slight delay.

Pairing dance could have been simpler. Maybe having more buttons rather than overloading one button to do so many things would have made things more straightforward.

Each speaker comes with a AC converter plug. Each plug has only one USB port and each plug covers up 2 slots. It would have made more sense if the AC plug that came with the speakers had two (or more) USB outlets. I am using a different AC converter as I did not want to give up 4 slots for 2 speakers.

Overall, my experiences average out at 4 stars - below expectations for TV and excellent for music on mobile devices. In attached video I show the sound of one, then both speakers. I have short snippets from bluetooth operation with my phone and then wired mode with my TV.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Polaris V8 Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker with FM Radio, NFC, AUX Jack, TF Card Slot

Polaris speaker can operate as a bluetooth speaker, wired speaker, as FM radio and as an MP3 player. MP3 player uses a TF memory slot. TF memory slot is used for reading regular micro SD memory cards.

In the attached video I show FN radio, streaming music from a micro SD memory card as well as streaming music via bluetooth from my iPad Mini.

♦ The bluetooth speaker works quite well. The sound is crisp and clear. Even bass sounded good for a speaker of this size. To help me evaluate and compare different speakers I always use the same piece of music I can different speakers to each other. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Polaris speaker handled the most challenging part of the Bach's Fugue well. A lot of small speakers crackle in two spots of the Fugue, but this speaker handled it well.

♦ The speaker runs on removable and rechargeable 18650 lithium battery. This is a standard battery which is available on Amazon. This battery can be recharged in the speaker using a standard USB/micro USB cable. The speaker can be used to stream music while it is recharging.

♦ The speaker arrived with a clear plastic tab inserted between the battery contacts and the speaker to prevent the battery from discharging. The tab is under the battery and is hard to see if you just remove the cover. If you lift up the battery you will see it. Initially, I thought the battery was dead but eventually I found the tab.

♦ When the battery level drops low you hear a voice prompt "battery low" and the speaker volume level will drop around 40% to save the battery power. From that point on the speaker continues to work for another 30 minutes until the battery is completely drained.

♦ FM radio reception was not bad. I got quite a few stations. Some of them were a little hissy but Polaris performed better than many other small FM radios I have tried.

♦ It works well as an MP3 player that I can listen to without earphones.

♦ The speaker can be made quite loud. Volume control buttons are on the top of the speaker.

♦ The speaker weights 23.30 oz. Its dimension are 7.5"L x 2.25"W x 2.75"H

Overall, I thought it produced good sound plus I its versatility of being both an MP3 player and a bluetooth speaker.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Mpow® Streambot Y Wireless Bluetooth FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Handsfree Car Kit

Mpow Streambot Y FM transmitter allows you to transmit sound from your mobile devices to your car stereo if it does not have a built-in bluetooth. To start the transmission you need to find a vacant station on your FM dial and then tune both the car the Mpow transmitter to that station. To find vacant FM stations in my area I used a web site "radio-locator (dot) com/cgi-bin/vacant" where you can enter your zip code and get a list of stations to try. This web site ranks vacant stations as "best", "great" and "good". Their suggestion worked well for me, the first station are tried gave me a clear reception.

To change what station is tuned on the transmitter you need to rotate the ring on the transmitter. The bluetooth operated smoothly and connected to my iPad Mini without any problems. You can see this transmitter in action in attached video.

Mpow FM transmitter has a USB port. This port can be used for a pass through charging. Since the Mpow transmitter is using the car outlet pass port allows me to run another device from the same car port, for example, to power a GPS without a splitter.

Overall I am very pleased. This transmitter has not lost the transmission when I drive even over some bumpy road.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product revieww: Brainwavz R3 Dual Dynamic Driver Earphones

I thought these earphones sounded very good, but I did not find them very comfortable to wear. The driver housings is bigger than any of my other earphones and they felt to be too large for my small ears. The earphones come with a large selection of tips (6 pairs of silicone tips, 1 pair bi and 1 pair tri-flange tips, 1 set of foam tips). I have tried a number of them but I could not find a pair that helped with how the housing fit in my ear. The metal housing from tip to tip is 1.5" inches. The earplug is located 1/4" from the top of the earphone.

The earphones have a stiff memory wire built in which can be hold the weight of the housing by wrapping the wire up and over the ear. However I felt the stiffness of the wire and I had to fiddle with the wire ever time I put the earphones in. The manufacturer notified me that the memory wire will be removed in the next version of these earphones, the new version without memory wire will be marked as "version 2".

Even though my small ears were not a good match for these earphones, the sound they generate is rich with a good separation, and to me they sounded good at all levels. Because of the fit for me they are 3.5 stars, for someone with a bigger ear it is likely to be a much better fit.

The package includes not only the tips but a very nice hard shell, which is large enough to fit my MP3 player on one side and the earphones on the other side. Also included are an airplane adapter, an 6.3mm adapter.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Kinivo BTX180 Wireless Bluetooth Mini Portable Speaker

During the last year I have tested a lot of small bluetooth speakers, I would rank Kinivo BTX180 sound towards the top of the pack but not at the very top. It has good mid-tone and OK bass.

I am attaching a video which has several short snippets of music to demonstrate the speaker's sound. As one of the top reviewers I get asked to test and review a fairly large number of speakers. This allows me to compare a large number of speakers to each other. To help me make this comparison I always use the same two pieces of music, so I can compare speakers using "apples-to-apples" comparison. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The second piece of music (Tchaikovsky) does not have a lot bass and allows me to test the mid-range. Kinivo BTX180 speaker did well on the mid-tone test, it did OK at the bass range, but not as good as Kinivo BTX270. On the other hand Kinivo BTX270 is a bit larger.

In the video I switch between the tablet's built-in speaker and Kinivo BTX180 speaker so you can compare the sound. You can hear that the speaker produce the sound that is richer, fuller, and louder sound the the built-in speaker.

Kinivo BTX180 speaker is 2 3/8" tall. It weighs in at 5.8 oz. Its small size makes a good travel companion.

The speaker comes with 2 cables - charging cable and an audio cable. The speaker supports 3 EQ settings: Normal mode, Bass mode and Treble mode. Play time is 4-5 hours, standby time is 900 hours (according to the manual)

A note on pairing: The initial pairing works well and the speaker automatically reconnects if you turn it off and then turn it back on.

This speaker has a couple of features I did not like:

✔ The speaker has a voice confirmations "Power on", "Connected", "Power Off", and so forth. After the initial "Oh!" the voice prompts grew tiresome, I prefer a blinking light to a voice. These voice alerts cannot be disabled.

✔ The speaker has light effects, so if you like listening to music in the dark or when you fall asleep this speaker may not be the best choice as it generates a light show.

I received Kinivo BTX180 speaker from the manufacture for testing. Based on other speakers of similar size/price I rated this speaker as 5 stars. The Kinivo BTX180 speaker performed well with music without strong base as well as when I listened to spoken human voice (e.g. news), bass sounded pretty good for a speaker of this small size.

In addition to the video I am also posting a photo of the speaker, which can be be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: V7 32GB MicroSDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card with SD Adapter (VAMSDH32GCL4R)

My V7 microSDHC memory card has 8 GB capacity. This capacity allows you to store 1354 photos each one is 12 MegaPixels or 63 minutes of 13 Mpbps HD video. The memory card has a 5 year limited warranty.

I testd both the microSDHC card directly and the microSDHC with SD sleeve.

I measured the performance of V7 microSDHC memory card with several utilities and found its speed reasonable. It falls in the mid range of various memory cards I have tested in the past, it is neither the slowest nor the fastest.

To test various memory cards I run the same set of tests so I can compare them to each in "apples to apples" comparison, this way if some unit does not perform well I notice it by comparing it to other devices I have tested. My test consist of copying a large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes.

V7 microSDHC write performance:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ 1.654s (cpu) 2:37.83 (clock time)

V7 microSDHC with sleeve write performance:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ 1.437s (cpu) 2:40.11 (clock time)

For comparison I including numbers for copying the same set of files to SanDisk USB2 memory stick, Transcent microSDHC class 6 card, to hard disk of my computer,

✔ Transcent microSDHC : 1.482s (CPU time), 1:33.97 (clock time)
✔ SanDisk USB2: 1.358s (CPU time), 1:23.53 (clock time)
✔ Hard Drive: 0.573s (CPU time), 0:00.58 (clock time)

For read performance test I use Linux Disk Utility Benchmarks.

V7 SDHC Read-only performance:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ Minimum read rate 19.1 MB/s
✔ Maximum read rate 22.3 MB/s
✔ Average read rate 21.9 MB/s
✔ Average access time 0.9 ms

V7 SDHC with sleeve Read-only performance:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ Minimum read rate 14.9 MB/s
✔ Maximum read rate 22.2 MB/s
✔ Average read rate 19.3 MB/s
✔ Average access time 1.0 ms

The only small negative I have to say that the packaging of the card does not include a plastic case which is included with some other cards. I like having a spare memory card when I travel and find these cases pretty handy.

I was supplied a sample for testing and an honest review, be it positive or negative.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: XBOOM Mini Portable Capsule Speake

XBOOM speaker is 3.5" tall when extended, and can be collapsed into a 2" ball when not in use. It weighs in at 3.5 oz. Its small size makes a perfect companion.

The speaker comes with split cable - one part of it is a charging cable (6.5 inches long) the other part is an audio cable (23.5 inches). The charging cable is quite short, but it does not have to be attached when the speaker is playing. This speaker can be daisy changed to another speaker, it has a built in audio cable to connect multiple speakers to each other.

The package also includes is a cloth pouch we can be used the keep the speaker in its cable together so they don't get separated.

I am attaching a video which has several short snippets of music to demonstrate the speaker's sound. As one of the top reviewers I get asked to test and review a fairly large number of speakers. This allows me to compare a large number of speakers to each other. To help me make an unbiased comparison I always use the same two pieces of music to test the speakers, so I can compare them using "apples-to-apples" comparison. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The second piece of music (Tchaikovsky) does not have a lot bass and allows me to test the mid-range. XBOOM speaker did well on the mid-tone test, it did break up a bit in a bass range, but it did better than a number of other small speaker which could not handle Toccata's bass at all.

In the video I switch between the tablet's built-in speaker and XBOOM speaker so you can compare the sound. You can hear that the speaker produce the sound that is richer, fuller, and louder sound the the built-in speaker.

I received XBOOM speaker and XBOOM CERAMIC speaker from the manufacture for testing. I found that the XBOOM speaker performed somewhat better than XBOOM CERAMIC speaker at the bass range. I am posting reviews for both of these speakers so you can compare the audio clips I posted if you are trying to decide between these two speakers. I hope the video will give you a good idea of what to expect.

Based on other speakers of similar size/price I rated these speaker as good (4 stars). The XBOOM CERAMIC speaker performed well with music without strong base as well as when I listened to spoken human voice (e.g. news), bass did not sound as well but not terrible.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: DinoTwin T1 Premium Sport Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headphones

I have been wearing these headphones for over a week while gardening and working out while listening to my mp3 player. The headphones have both things I like about them and things I do not like about them. I found that the quality of sound is quite good. I love not having a cord that gets tangled. However the ear pieces are fairly large and the fact that they stick out of my ears so much makes them slip out occasionally either because I catch them on something or from sweat. The bluetooth range is limited (the sound starts breaking up), however in my use of having MP3 in my shirt pocket they work ok. The overall rating of this headset for me is OK - not bad, but I encountered some issues.

DETAILED OBSERVATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The headset has a good sound, I tried different music and it performed well at different ranges, including Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor which is a stress test for the bass that I use to test different speakers. Some speakers crackle and can't handle it, but this headset handled it very well.

2. The ear pieces are fairly large, they are 1 3/8" from the tip to the cord, 1" outside the ear. The size is large because they house the battery as well as the audio components. I find they stick out of my ears quite a bit, occasionally catches on thing and slip out. They would not work well with a winter hat on. I find them to be less comfortable than the small ear pieces of my other bluetooth headset (Kinivo).

3. The headset has a flat soft cord that lays on your shoulder. See photo I am attaching as the image might explain this better than words, see photo #2.
The flat cord does not twist or tangle, I like it. However its length catches on my collar and earrings. I have another bluetooth wireless headset which has a rigid headband that I like better because it is shorter and does not catch on anything.

4. Controls are located on the cord, you have to locate them by touch when you are wearing the headset. (see photo #3 which shows close-up of the control)

5. The LED light is fairly small and it is hard to see especially in the bright light (see photo #5)

6. The earphones come with three three sets of ear tips for small, medium and larger ears. I switched the the small tips so I can insert them deeper in my ear canal. (Photo #1 shows all inserts and tabs that come with this headset)

7. The volume of the headset can be made quite loud. The volume at its highest setting is uncomfortably loud for me, so they go pretty high.

8. The range is advertised as 33 feet, but I get some break up at that distance. On the other hand I use these headphone with the device in my shirt pocket, so the distance has not been an issue other than when I tested the range.

CAPABILITIES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Low battery indicator (five dong tones every 5 minutes)
2. To do a factory reset (this deletes pairing list): hold volume up ("+") button until red and blue LEDs flash at the same time and you hear 4 dong tones

DinoTwin bluetooth headset supports supports the following profiles
Headset profile (HSP)
Hands-free profile (HFP)
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)

You an use this bluetooth headset with devices that support one of these profiles.
For cellphone or pda that support HSP this headset can
1. answer, end, or reject calls.
2. redial last number
3. voice dial
4. adjust volume
5. transfer between headset and phone
6. mute/cancel mute (Mute mode is indicated by two tones every 10 seconds)

For cellphone or pda that support A2DP this headset can
1. listen to wireless audio
2. adjust volume
3. remotely control pause and play
4. remotely control next/previous track

CHARGING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The headset comes with a special charging clip which clips to the headset to charge it. It takes 2 hours to fully charge the headset, and it can be used for 4 hours to listen to music or talk on the phone on a single charge. It has 150 hours of standby time. The charging clip is unique to this headset, if it breaks or if you loose it it is bad news. I would have been happier with a standard micro USB charger.

There is a small light on the back of the ear piece that indicates the status of the battery.
Red light on- charging
Red light off - charged

BLUETOOTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Keep you device close to the headset
2. Put headset into pairing mode by pressing the multifunction button for 8 seconds. The headset stays in the pairing mode for 2 minutes. When it is in pairing mode the LED status indicator will flash red and blue alternately.
3. Enable Bluetooth on your device and scan for near by bluetooth devices.
4. T1 will appear as a device name. If your device supports Bluetooth 2.1 password is not needed, otherwise enter "0000"
5. When the headset successfully connect BLUE LED on the headset will flash twice every 4 seconds (Note that if the light flashes once every 2 seconds it indicates that there is no connected device)

I received this headset from the manufacture with a request for an honest review, be it positive or negative. This review includes the positives and negatives of my experience with this bluetooth headset. The highlight for me was the sound quality, the weakest point how they fit my ears.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Kinivo BTH360S Bluetooth Stereo Headphone

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ The headset produces good sound, I tried different music and it performed well at different ranges, including Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor which is a stress test for the bass that I use to test different speakers. Some speakers crackle and can't handle it, but this headset handled it very well.
✔ The headset has a rigid head band. At first I thought it was too small for my head, but then realized that it needs to be position in the back almost around the neck. See photo #2 and #3 as it is easier to see than explain in words.
✔ Because the headband is rigid it does not catch on anything (shirt collar, ears, earing). I have another bluetooth wireless headset which has a soft longer cord that rests on my shoulders in the back, and I like this headband better.
✔ Controls are located on the headband, you have to locate them by touch when you are wearing the headset.
✔ The LED light is very small an narrow, it is hard to see especially in the bright light
✔ The ear pieces are fairly small, they are 1" from the tip to headband, 6/8" are outside the ear. The battery is located in the headband not in the earpiece. I find them very comfortable even for my small ears. I like them better than the other bluetooth headset I own, which houses the battery inside of the earpiece which make the earpiece a bit larger and heavier, and thus more proned to popping out.
✔ The earphones come with three three sets of ear tips for small, medium and large ears. I left them with the medium tips which are installed when the headset arrives.
✔ The volume of the headset can me made quite loud. The volume at highest setting is uncomfortably loud for me, so they go pretty high.

CAPABILITIES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ The range between the headset and the mobile device should be 10 meters (33 feet) or less. When I get outside that range the reception breaks up.
✔ Low battery indicator (red LED flashes twice every 30 seconds, three dong tones every 30 seconds)
✔ To do a factory reset (this deletes pairing list): hold multi-function key and volume up ("+") button at the same time for 8 seconds. Red and blue LEDs will flash at the same time briefly when the operation is completed.

You an use this bluetooth headset with devices that support one of the profiles that Kinivo headset supports. Kinivo bluetooth headset supports the following profiles:
Headset profile (HSP)
Adanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Audio/Video Rempte Control Profile (AVRCP)

For devices that support HSP this headset can
✔ answer, end, or reject calls.
✔ redial last number
✔ voice dial
✔ adjust volume
✔ transfer between headset and phone
✔ mute/cancel mute (Mute mode is indicated by two tones every 10 seconds)

For devices that support A2DP this headset can
✔ listen to wireless audio
✔ adjust volume
✔ remotely control pause and play
✔ remotely control next/previous track

CHARGING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The headset comes with a special charging clip which clips to the headset to charge it (see photo #1). It takes 3 hours to fully charge the headset, and it can be used for 6 hours to listen to music or talk on the phone on a single charge. It has 150 hours of standby time.
There is a small light on the back of the ear piece that indicates the status of the battery (see photo #4). When the red light is on the headset is charging, when it is done charging the read light turns off.

BLUETOOTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
✔ Keep your device close to the headset
✔ Put headset into pairing mode by pressing the multifunction button for 6-7 seconds. When it is in pairing mode the LED status indicator will flash red and blue alternately. The headset stays in the pairing mode for 2 minutes.
✔ Enable Bluetooth on your device and scan for near by bluetooth devices.
✔ Kinivo BTH360-S will appear as a device name. If your device supports Bluetooth 2.1 password is not needed, otherwise enter "0000"
✔ When the headset successfully connects blue LED on the headset will flash twice every 4 seconds (Note that if the light flashes once every 2 seconds it indicates that there is no connected device)
✔ Every time the headset is turned on it will connect to the last connected device automatically

I received this headset from the manufacture with a request for an honest review, be it positive or negative. This review includes the positives and negatives of my experience with this bluetooth headset. The highlights for me were the sound quality and how comfortably they fit my ears.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Grace Digital GDI-EGRX601 ECOXGEAR - ECOROX Waterproof Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

I am very impressed with ECOROX Bluetooth Speaker. In my video I included two small snippets of music to illustrate my review of this speaker. I used several pieces of music to test this speaker, including Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor which is a stress test for the bass. Some speakers crackle and can't handle the bass, but Grace Digital GDI-EGRX601 ECOXGEAR Speaker handles it extremely well. As one of the top reviewers I get asked to test and review a fairly large number of speakers, as a result I am able to do a relative comparison between a large number of speakers using the same pieces of music to test them. Based on these comparisons I can say that the sound of this speaker is one of the best small speakers I have tested in the last year (top two among the speakers I tested, along with Kinivo speaker).

In the video I start with the music playing through the built-in speakers of the tablet, then turn on blue tooth and then the sound switches to the speakers. You can see how much richer, fuller, and louder the sound is when the speakers are used. There is no cracking and sound distortion even in the most challenging parts of the Bach Toccata.

The speaker is 5.5"L x 3.5"W x 2.5"H. Its weight is 10.6 oz.

The bottom of the speaker has a screw type mounting hardware (purchased separately) Grace Digital GDI-EGSCM Suction Cup Mount. I used the Suction Cup Mount to mount this speaker in my shower and it holds it very well giving me fantastic acoustics in the shower. The speaker can also be mounted on a bike using Grace Digital GDI-EGCBM Handle Bar Mount purchased separately.

I received this speaker from the manufacture for an honest review be it positive or negative. I am very impressed with this speaker, especially how it handled the bass! I hope the video gives you a good idea of what to expect.

I am several photos that show the speaker, including how it is mounted using the suction cup mount. These photos can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★