Listening to music is always an enjoyable experience on headphones. You can blast the latest catchy song by that newest of young pop stars, and nobody will ever know. The headphones will keep your secret, but at a price. That price? A monstrous jumble of wires that rudely hamper your
private listening indulgence. The Air by crazybaby wire free headphones hope to completely untether you from any wires whatsoever. Will the Air headphones succeed in making the future wireless? Keep reading for the full review of the Air by crazybaby wire free headphones. Editor’s note: we generally refer to this style of headphone as wire free as there are no wires connecting the earbuds to one another. crazybaby refers to them as wireless, so you may see both designations in this review.
Specifications
- Driver diaphragm: 998 carbon nanotube
- Driver unit: 0.20″ (5.2mm) custom-made hi-fi microdrivers
- Magnet type: Neodymium
- Frequency response: 8Hz-24kHz
- Impedance: 16 Ohms
- Weight: 0.14 ounces (4g)
- Size: 1.01 x 0.67 x 0.47″
- Charging capsule weight: 2.82 ounces (80g)
- Charging capsule size: 5.22 x 1.8″
- Battery life: Air (single charge) up to 3 hours listening or 4 hours talk time
- Battery life: Air with charging capsule 12+ hours listening and 16 hours talk time
- Bluetooth 4.2
- Passive noise isolation
- IPX6 waterproof
What’s In The Box
- Air wireless headphones
- Charging capsule
- USB-C to USB charging cable
- Silicone ear tips (XS, S, M, L)
- Sport sleeves (S, M, L)
Design
The Air by crazybaby wireless headphones have a roundish, jellybean shape. They are available in black or white; I reviewed the black set. There is a multifunction button on the outer part of each headphone that lights up red when powered up. The Air headphones are very small, almost to the point where you could lose one if you were to drop it. This attribute is great when it comes to fitting in the ear, though it does make controlling the headphone a challenge. The entire unit fits into the ear in the same way that a hearing aid would. The round shape of the Air makes wearing them very comfortable. They also fit snuggly enough that my moderate exercise program did not jar them loose. I did find that I had to occasionally re-adjust them after a time, but I never had one fall out.
The Air headphones come with a charging capsule in which you place the headphones to charge. The capsule is cylinder-shaped with rounded ends. One of the ends pulls out to reveal the Air headphones safely nestled in their charging bays. There is also a charge indicator light on this side of the capsule. The other end of the capsule houses the USB-C connector. I like that the charging capsule is not only a protective carrying case but that it serves to charge the Air headphones as well. The only issue I have with it is the shape. It’s a very nice looking shape, but that is also the problem. Round things roll, and the charging capsule loves to roll around when you put it down. I would have liked to have seen at least one flat edge to keep the capsule from rolling onto the floor.
Ease Of Use
Bluetooth devices are typically very easy to set up and use. Not so for the Air by crazybaby wireless headphones. I would best describe my experience with the Air headphones as frustrating. Initial setup took about 10 minutes since none of my devices were able to detect the Air Bluetooth signal. I was finally able to get connected and use the headphones for about an hour before I put them away for the night. The next day I ran into the same problem, the Air just refused to reconnect to the previously connected device. I could see the Air on my Bluetooth list, and I pressed the Multifunction Button (MFB) as instructed, still nothing. The only way I was able to reconnect was to have my device forget the Air headphones and start all over again. This problem did not happen every time, but I would say it was an issue about 80% of the time. It is unacceptable to have to forget and reconnect your device every time you want to use the Air headphones. I’m not sure if this problem is widespread, it could just be an isolated issue with the pair I received for review.
Another problem that I had while using the Air by crazybaby was the MFB. Pressing the MFB allows you to control your device to a certain extent. Most headphones have in-line controls, and they are easy to use. The Air headphones have the control on the headphone itself. Of course, that headphone is sitting in your ear. It takes a fair amount of pressure to activate the MFB, and it is uncomfortable pressing that hard on something stuck in your ear. Of course, I understand that these are wire free headphones, and the controls have to be somewhere on the device, but this is definitely not ideal.
Software/App
The Air by crazybaby wireless headphones come with a free app that you can download. I found the app to be very useful both as a music player and a user guide. The music player requires that you give the app permission to access your music library before you can utilize it. After that, your music library is available in the app. You can sort by artist, song, and album, but the most important function of the app is the equalizer. With the equalizer you can choose between a large number of sound presets or you can fully customize the sound to your liking.
Another aspect of the app that I like is the support center/user guide. Here you can get answers to FAQs, and tips on how to use the Air headphones. There is even an option to submit a ticket if your question is not in the FAQs, and a hotline number that you can utilize. One issue that I had with the app is that it does show music you have in the cloud, but it doesn’t let you play that music. Only music that you have stored on your device will play.
Sound
The sound of the Air by crazybaby wireless headphones was a bit muffled at first. I was thinking this was going to be a problem until I realized that the included app also had an equalizer to adjust the sound. Sure enough, I used the app to listen to my music and found that the sound was much improved. You can adjust the equalizer to your liking, or use one of the presets for a particular genre of music. The nice thing about having the equalizer in the app is that you can dial the sound into what you like. I prefer to have my music neutrally balanced with the bass turned up just a bit. With the Air headphones, I was able to use the included app to customize the sound to my liking.
The bass on the Air headphones can, of course, be turned up to your liking. I did notice that even at the highest of settings you could hear the bass very well, but it never rattled you. If you are one that likes to feel the bass, you may have to look elsewhere for that bone-jarring experience. The Air headphones also offer passive noise isolation that works remarkably well. It does a good job of preventing ambient noise from disturbing your listening enjoyment.
Reception/Call Quality/Voice Control
I tested the Air by crazybaby wireless headphones reception from my device to the headphones as well as the reception from the left unit to the right unit. I walked 45 feet away from the source before I started to lose connection. But this shouldn’t be an issue as most of us will be carrying our devices around with us while listening to the Air. As far as unit to unit reception, I did notice that the right headphone would occasionally lose signal for just a moment at times. This most often happened while listening to the headphones outside.
The call quality of the Air by crazybaby headphones was both good and bad. I thought the person I was talking to sounded fine on my end of the call, but they told me I sound distant and muffled. Not surprising, since there is not a mic near your mouth. Voice control of Siri worked fine; I was able to get information from Siri without any problems.
Battery Life
I tested the Air by crazybaby with a full charge, the volume set at 50% and the headphones never farther than two feet from the source. I was able to get 2 hours and 43 minutes of listening time before the headphones turned off. Your results may vary depending on volume and source signal strength.
Price/Value
The Air by crazybaby wireless headphones are priced at $169.00USD. This is extremely high considering the number of issues that I experienced while testing the Air headphones.
Wrap Up
When I first received the Air by crazybaby wireless headphones I was very excited. I liked the way they looked, the charging capsule, and the fit. I though for sure they would be great. Right off the bat, I started having all these problems with reconnecting and signal drops between the units. I still like the Air headphones very much, but they do have some rather large wrinkles that need to be worked out. I do agree with crazybaby that wire free is the future of music, and I do think that the Air headphones are a giant leap in that direction. But the Air by crazybaby wireless headphones did not prove to me that they are capable of being a part of that future.
