I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the Mpow Bluetooth 4.0 Foldable Headset. The sound quality is good, they are comfortable to wear, and they are priced to sell. They fold up so you can easily take them with you, and the battery lasts forever. Not actually forever, but definitely long enough to get you through a long trip or just through an entire day or use. I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed them, either. My son had a good time listening to some metal with me.
The reason you buy an over the ear headset is to listen to music, right? How does the Mpow Foldable Headset perform? I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound that I got from this headset. You lose sound quality with any Bluetooth streaming device due to the way the standard compresses audio. Even with that compression, the highs were crisp and the lows were present without being overpowering. The mix was good without needing to manually adjust it, whether I was listening to metal or indie rock or radio pop. Music sound quality wasn’t outstanding, but it was better than expected and more than passable.
The Mpow Bluetooth 4.0 Foldable Headset can also take phone calls, although this isn’t something I’d want to do on a regular basis. It worked, and sounded fine on my end, but people on the other end said it sounded like I was on speakerphone. The mic isn’t situated optimally to pick up your voice and make it sound good. This is understandable because this headset isn’t designed be your primary device for phone calls. It does the job in a bind, and it’s convenient for when you happen to get a call while listening to some tunes.
The button controls are simple. There’s volume buttons that double as forward/back buttons, and a power button that acts as an answer/end call when you receive a phone call. Easy to figure out, easy to use, and they work the way they’re supposed to. There’s an LED indicator that will let you know when the headphones are on and when they’re connected to your device.
In the box with the headphones you’ll find a small manual and USB charging cable. Mpow doesn’t give you a wall adapter for charging, though. They don’t even give you a car adapter like they do with their FreeGo headset. I would prefer it if they provided you with a wall charger, but this is likely a cost cutting move. The company is assuming that you have a few charging adapters lying around from all of your other devices. This wasn’t an issue for me, but be prepared for it.
The design and build quality is also surprisingly good. The plastic has a soft, matte finish that feels really premium. The headphones are hinged so you can fold them up for storage when you’re travelling, or just to tuck them away when you’re not using them. The hinges feel solidly constructed. The band even extends in case your head is as big as mine and needs a little extra room. The earpieces are made of a soft, spongy, styrofoam-like material that feels ok, but is not quite the same quality as the rest of the headphones. They don’t make your ears warm the way some nicer leather earpieces can, but they feel a little cheap.
The battery lasted all day without an issue. The headphones have a 300 mAh battery in them and they’re rated at 15 hours of playback or talk time. That number is usually inflated, but I was able to consistently get 10-11 hours of usage out of them. If you need the Mpow Foldable Headphones to go all day, they will do it and then some.
You can get the Mpow Bluetooth 4.0 Stereo Foldable Headphones on Amazon for just $35.99. At that price, it’s a no brainer to pick these up. You can find more information about Mpow on their website, their Facebook page, and on Twitter. If you’re in the market for a new set of Bluetooth headphones, or if you just want to pick up a new toy, you can’t go wrong with these.