REVIEW – Mpow’s Bluetooth Over-the-Ear Bluetooth Headphones are aimed at people who still prefer a full size headset to earbuds, but do not want to spend premium headphone money. The appeal is straightforward: a folding over-ear design, Bluetooth 4.0, a wired listening option, and enough battery life to make them useful as an everyday spare pair.
Package and accessories
The box includes the Mpow Bluetooth headset, a 3.5mm audio cable, a USB charging cable, a packing bag, and a user manual. That gives you everything needed for Bluetooth listening, wired listening, charging, and travel storage.
Specifications
- Bluetooth Version: 4.0
- Range: 33 feet (10 meters)
- Talking Time: Around 15 hours
- Playback Time: Around 13 hours
- Charging Time: 4 hours
- Charging Voltage: 5V
- Battery Capacity: 420mAh
Look and build
The styling is familiar. Mpow clearly borrowed heavily from the more expensive Beats Studio Wireless look, with similar curves, glossy black plastic on the outside, red accents, and silver plastic inserts on the ear cups. It is a good looking headset for the price, even if the inspiration is obvious.
One small usability detail I liked is inside the headband. The left and right markings are small, but they are easy enough to read when putting the headphones on.
Fit and comfort
The comfort story is mixed. The inside of the headband is matte red plastic with a very thin cushion described as “memory-protein material,” and the ear pads use the same material. The oval cups are narrow, so larger ears may not fit happily inside them. After about thirty minutes of constant listening, the headset became very uncomfortable for me. Even with the seven adjustment notches, I still felt pressure on the top of my head and around my ears, and my ears warmed up quickly.
Pairing, controls, and listening
Following the manual, I paired the headphones easily with an Android Nexus 5X and an Apple laptop. Voice prompts from a female voice announce power on, power off, pairing mode, and maximum volume, which makes setup feel more guided than on many budget headsets.
The controls are on the outside of the right cup. They handle volume up and down, next and previous track, power, play and pause, and calls. In use, they are not especially convenient. While wearing the headset I had to feel around for the right button, the button clicks were loud, and the buttons required a firm press. The printed labels are light grey on black and do not light up, so they are hard to see. Only the ring around the center play and call button lights, blinking blue during power-on use and red and blue during pairing.
A male-to-male 3.5mm cable can be plugged into the audio port on the bottom of the left cup, so the headphones are not limited to Bluetooth. The wired option is handy, but once the cable is connected, the built-in controls and microphone stop working. I did not hear a meaningful difference between Bluetooth and wired sound quality. Bass was light on most music, and higher volume listening brought some distortion and reduced clarity. Bluetooth playback also had occasional dropouts.
Sound leakage is a major weakness. At every volume level, people nearby could hear what I was playing, so these would not be a good choice for an office or public setting. The design appears to rely on passive noise isolation, meaning the ear cups block some outside noise once the headphones are on and audio is playing. They do not offer active noise cancellation, which uses an inverted waveform and extra power to counter outside sound.
Call quality is also limited. A small microphone hole sits on the lower right cup, but my voice sounded muffled on every call. The other caller sounded fine to me, yet I would not choose this headset as my primary option for phone calls or computer chats.
Folding and storage
The hinges above the cups let the headphones fold for storage in the included bag. When opened fully, the cups lock into position with a satisfying click.
Charging and battery life
Charging is handled through the micro USB port on the outside of the right cup with the included USB cable. A full recharge takes about four hours. In my testing, playback time landed right around Mpow’s stated 12 to 13 hours, which is strong for a headset you might use throughout the day.
Bottom line
The Mpow Bluetooth Over-the-Ear Bluetooth Headphones are not outstanding audio gear. The comfort, sound leakage, button feel, bass response, high volume clarity, Bluetooth dropouts, and microphone quality all keep them from feeling like a premium set. Still, when you factor in the moderate price, folding design, long playback time, and the choice between Bluetooth and a wired 3.5mm connection, they make sense as a backup pair to keep around.
The sample for this review was provided by Mpow. Please visit their website to order.
For a wider look at what else is out there, I rounded up more of these in The Best Wireless Earbuds and Headphones I’ve Tested.
