August EP650 Headphones

Almost a year and a half ago I stumbled across the wonderful world of Bluetooth headphones. For those of you who might remember, back then a naïve tech writer I had just decided to splash out on a pair of 20 quid headphones from Amazon, namely the SX-907. To date this still remains my most popular article, and by which I assume that either I am reading my own articles way too much or that you guys are genuinely interested about Bluetooth headphones. For my own sanity, I shall assume the latter.

However my babies could only last so long before going through some unfortunate accident, I managed to snap them (if you really want to know, I sat on them). This event forced me to make yet another purchase, a similar pair to the ones I had bought for my virgin experience. A bit more expensive, these headphones by the 7dayshop were quite satisfactory. However, the cheap plastic of the material, coupled with the strange charger as well as the covering of the earpiece always falling off, kept me from making rave reviews. However I had paid for these puppies, so I was not going to buy a new pair until these guys gave up.

Luckily enough for me, they did just that two weeks ago (under somewhat suspicious circumstances I must divulge). This gave me the opportunity of once again perusing the wonders of that store in the sky, namely Amazon. Given recent circumstances, I was feeling quite down in the dumps and decided to splash out. I went way above my initial spending limit, and in the end purchased the August EP650 Bluetooth headphones for a whopping £35. Given that previously I had spent a maximum of 25 quids, this was actually quite an increase. However the reviews and 4.5 star rating on amazon, as well as the general awesome look finally gave me that final adrenaline rush I needed to click the purchase button.

The next day, my brand new headphones appeared at my doorstep. Given I had lived the past week without headphones, I was really excited at what was to come. When I had gotten my other two headphones, I had been quite disappointed by the cheap look of the packaging, however for the EP650 I was very pleasantly surprised. Everything looked very clean, and to be quite frank, rather expensive. Furthermore inside the box there was even a manual! Imagine that. Given that Bluetooth headphones are slightly more difficult configure than general headphones, I found this to be quite a boon that I had experienced with my purchases.

Before I actually talk about the headphones, I would like to commend August for their colour choices for the headphones. For the cheap headphones, you usually have one colour to choose from and even on the expensive ones it usually is rare to have more than three colours. Here we have 5 distinct colours (although silver and white do look quite similar). I went for the blue, as that is quite an unusual and interesting colour for headphones, and I do not regret my choice. All in all, the ability to somewhat make these headphones your own is major plus point in my book.

I am serious, I would have paid double for these headphones, given the quality I was getting.

Now back to the goods. A little summary of the specs: These guys are Bluetooth headphones, meaning they will be able to connect to anything that has Bluetooth capabilities. Furthermore it has a 3.5 standard audio socket (they supply the wire as well!), which means that the EP650 can be used when out of battery, as well as with devices that do not support Bluetooth. Furthermore, the fact that you use a micro USB to charge these puppies, makes a welcome change from the strange formats of my other headphones.

The first impression of the headphones was really positive. The glossy finish and design offset the use of plastic, and make these puppies look much more expensive than they actually are. Given that headphones in general are quite large and visible, this is a plus point! Furthermore after a bit of testing, it turned out that the EP650 was quite flexible, making for a comfortable fit on my quite big head. Lastly, in terms of design, these guys were quite light and the fact that you could fold them up makes them quite portable, meaning they actually fit in my jacket pocket!

Now to the most important part of this review: the audio. Given that with all my previous purchases I had very positive experiences, I didn’t think I could be impressed. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Connecting the EP650 to my phone was incredibly easy, and it even showed a little battery icon to show how charged my headphones were! The headphones were fully charged, and so I was ready to go. Good hint btw: If you are testing new headphones, try Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It goes all the way from low bass to high vocals, fully testing the audio equipment you are thinking of buying. Anyway, the moment the vocals of Freddie Mercury blasted into my ears, I knew immediately I had bought a gorgeous pair. The bass was full and rounded, resonating my ear. The highs were crisp and clean. The sound was gorgeous and exactly what I needed. Later on I tried the EP650 with other genres of music as well and they held up remarkable well. Every song I threw at these headphones was played back in an admirable quality. Furthermore, when I compared these guys to £200 Beats, my 35 pound Augusts were almost on par. I am serious, I would have paid double for these headphones, given the quality I was getting. Also, when I plugged these guys in using the standard jack, the quality was just as good/bad as with the Bluetooth, meaning you don’t lose any quality regarding the connection medium you decide to use.

In terms of battery, I found that the EP650 performed admirably in my every day life, and I found that even after three days I still did not need to charge these guys. Also considering that these headphones only take about 2-3 hours to charge, I don’t think you really need to worry about that. Also, the worst case scenario you always have the audio jack, right?

All in all I am mighty pleased with these headphones, however there is one caveat. This could be something that only applies to me, but even though the EP650s use soft material and sit very comfortably, after a while of use my ears would start feeling really hot as well as hurting. Thus after 2 or 3 hours I found that I needed to take them off and just rest my ears a bit.

For 35 pounds I have gotten one of the best deals of my life. The sturdy design means that these guys should survive quite a while (as long as I don’t sit on them). Furthermore, the quality of the audio as well as the beauty of the EP650 really, really belong to Bluetooth headphones doubles if not triples their price. So if you in the market for a pair of headphones, before checking out the overpriced brand names, have a look at the August EP650. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!