Theoretically, any headphone that has a mini-jack can be used with a smartphone. Theoretically. In real life, there are a few things to keep in mind:
London calling
Anyone listening to music or podcasts on their smartphones will hear incoming calls via a ring tone. If one wanted to accept the conversation, miserable fumbling is necessary, which was already sufficiently documented in various funny movies.
So, the first requirement for a smartphone headset is: you need a microphone and a phone control. In simpler models, this is a button that interrupts the music and accepts the conversation. Better models have that feature set integrated in a controller …
Skip
Pause, back and forth, turn the volume up and down. You do not want to grab your smartphone when you want to skip a track or change its volume, especially when doing sports. So please consider a headphone with a good remote control, offering buttons for music control, but also additional features such as activation of voice assistants like Siri or Alexa.
Universal
One smartphone headset for all your mobile phone models? Many manufacturers offer different versions for different devices! Again, you definitely should pay attention to it. As certain smartphone protocols vary, manufactures sometimes sell the same model but optimized for Apple iOS or Android, i.e. Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG and others.
Impedance
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind comes at the end. Smartphones supply their headphone jack output only with relatively little power. This means that a headphone needs to have a low impedance to work properly, typically around 20 to 80 ohms. Here at headphonecheck.com we measure the impedance and you can find this important spec in the sidebar of the respective review. The higher the impedance, the less volume a headphone have!
The Skullcandy Push Active sports headphones pump your fitness playlist steadily into your ears. Their neatly designed bracket system hooks securely and softly onto the ear. During sports, the headphones can be operated either via voice control ("Skull-iQ") or alternatively with "real" buttons on the...
The House of Marley Champion support a high-quality audio codec in the form of the AAC format and convinced us with a successful, fun-oriented tuning, which makes the price of these cable-free in-ears seem attractive.
The Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT are closed, circumaural Bluetooth headphones that aim to combine professional sound and wireless everyday use. In terms of sound, they are supposed to deliver precise sound down to the lowest frequency ranges with their High Excursion technology. In our practical test,...
The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are impressive. Even if the price of just under 400 euros seems high at first, the first True Wireless in-ears from the long-established English manufacturer are worth the money. The sound raises the bar for their competitors and revises (my) prejudice that TWS earphones are not good enough for pure music enjoyment. What was also pleasing was the option of audio streaming via USB as well as mini-jack cable. So the PI7s offer wireless listening from the TV and can be used as playback devices for on-board systems on planes and trains, and even media creators could get used to incorporating True Wireless headphones into their work process thanks to the USB streaming function. A convincing debut in the true-wireless market!
In my view, the manufacturer has done just about everything right with the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2. These comfortable and stable Bluetooth over-ears offer a fast-charging, very long-lasting battery, high-resolution audio codecs, multi-pairing and extensive personalisation options via the app. I award full points for the precise, balanced sound and the excellent price/performance ratio of the attractive overall package. My congratulations to Japan!
Sennheiser chooses the approach of evolution instead of revolution: maintaining the overall concept, but introducing improvements in detail. The second generation offers the same high level of choice of materials, workmanship and sound. A clear recommendation to buy!
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