Originally an Indiegogo campaign, the Soul Electronics X-Shock Bluetooth Headphones offer a lot to love, and a few things to improve on to truly make them a contender in the wireless headphone world.
Currently available for $149.99 (originally $169.99), The X-Shock earphones are a lot of what you’d expect from wireless Bluetooth headphones: They are wire-free, they give you a solid few hours of listening to your favorite audio, and they are aesthetically pleasing. They also come in white which isn’t my favorite, but if you are fond of the color you’ll be amazed.
The X-Shock unboxing was pretty simple; they come with all of the paperwork and documents that you won’t bother to read through, a microUSB cable for charging both the case and the headphones, and the X-Shock headphones themselves. I immediately took a liking to the charging case because not only does the case charge the earbuds, but Soul Electronics was kind enough to add an output to the battery case to allow users to use it to charge another device. This has come in handy for me twice already when my phone wasn’t dying and I needed it to last just a little bit longer. Obviously using the case to charge your phone will drain the case’s battery fairly quickly leaving less power for the in-ear headphones, but it’s a fair trade-off when your phone’s battery is dead.
The Soul Electronics X-Shock Bluetooth Headphones audio experience is pretty stellar. Now at this price you pretty much get what you pay for; the sound will be more AirPods-esque than say, Bose, but with auto-pairing and music playlist control, the company has added welcome features that most at this price-point can’t get correct (looking at you, Apple).
Now, don’t go into these expecting noise cancellation, but you will get noise isolation which is great if you want to tune out annoying co-workers while still being able to hear if the fire alarm goes off. The company says they are also waterproof, courtesy of double-injection molding, however, at the time of writing this my pool is closed so I haven’t had the opportunity to test this feature out.
What I have tested out is the playback functionality, and the promised 60 hours the brand says you will get is on par. I got roughly 16 charges from the charging case in my testing, with roughly four hours of constant listening. But my number one favorite feature of the X-Shock has to be that I can choose to use one, or both earbuds. Sometimes I do like to just rock one ear in with the other charging, and the X-Shock does this with ease.
While the leather on the charging case hasn’t really held up well getting banged around in my gym bag, the headphones themselves are great for working out. They don’t fall out when lifting or doing my HIIT workouts which already makes them better than most on the market.
So should you get these? Absolutely. Even better, you can get them for $149.99 and save yourself a few bucks from what other similar type product’s brands are charging. These are great for workouts or just lounging around in the office. They have become a mainstay in my bag, and I especially like the USB out port for topping off my phone’s battery when I’ve forgotten to do it before hitting the gym.
For more information about the X-Shock, head over to Soul Electronic’s site today.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit
What I Like: Comfortable for the gym; Bluetooth
What Needs Improvement: Leather charging case nice touch, but not exactly practical for an active-style headphone