The Way Were Wired

These wireless Bluetooth earphones deliver both great music and call clarity. The tangle-free cables make them a good choice for joggers. They work well even if placed 20 feet away from the source device and are fairly good at noise cancellation. They mute indoor background noise,but do not perform too well in noisy outdoor environments.

Sennheiser RS 220

The RS 220 is a two-piece package the headphone and the dock. Connect the audio cables to the dock and hear it through the headphone. The dock needs a constant power source,so if there is no electricity,the RS 220 will go silent.

The dock is mostly plastic. Although this keeps the package pretty light,a premium finish (wood or brushed aluminium) would have felt a lot better since this is a premium audio product. The dock has touch-sensitive buttons which allow users to switch it on or off and set the input modes. It comes with a large number of connectors. For the average user,the analogue input can easily connect to any iPod or mobile phone with a 3.5mm audio jack.

The headphones are very comfortable,with velvety velour pads which do not get as warm as leather pads do. These were tested in a non-AC room. Each ear cup has a well-disguised battery slot and buttons to adjust volume. The RS 220 uses standard AAA rechargeable batteries. Charging is pretty easy,just place the headphones on the dock (while it is powered on). Battery life is around six to eight hours.

The headphones are not completely closed. This means that while you play the audio,those around you will be able to hear bits of it. The output however,is amazing. They are also pretty neutral sounding. The bass thumps just when it should,the treble is crystal clear even at high volumes and vocals sound great too. Only bass heads (those who cant live without bass) will be disappointed. For best results,avoid standard MP3 audio files. CD quality audio or FLAC files are needed to do justice to the RS 220s sound. Amplifiers will not be necessary,which is another bonus.

Sennheiser claims these headphones have a range of 30 metres indoors and 50 metres outdoors. We lost connectivity (no sound) around the 15-metre mark (indoors). They arent really built for outdoor use,so testing that 50-metre claim was not needed. The range is good enough for most people (and homes). At Rs 24,990,this is strictly for serious audiophiles.

Nokia Play 360

Nokia has begun paying attention to accessories in the past couple of years. Yes,the phone manufacturer has come up with wireless speakers. The Play 360 is aptly named as the sound does not change,no matter which side it faces. The speaker is at the top and hence it allows sound to spread in all directions.

The Nokia Play 360 is well-designed. It has well-placed volume buttons on the front,buttons for power on and to pair the speaker to any Bluetooth device. It also has a 3.5mm audio port for non-Bluetooth devices. If your audio device has near field communication (NFC) technology,take the device close to the speaker and it will start playing music.

As far as the sound goes,the Play 360 performs fairly well. It was able to reproduce most songs well,but the bass lacked punch. At maximum volume the speaker was not too loud,which is another negative. It is pretty light and should be ideal for terrace parties or for some ambient music in your house,especially because the battery lasts for a day on medium use. The Play 360 is a unique product which combines elegance with good audio quality,although it is a tad expensive at Rs 9,350.