Mu6 Ring Open-ear Air Conduction Headphone Review
If you have trouble finding comfort with in-ear earphone for workout, here's the solution
Remember when we had to run with wired earphones that came with our phones? Ugh, me too. Then the sporty 'wireless' ones came about which made being active less of a hassle but the experience was still meh. Then came the earpods, which were life-changing—until we started to lose them. They all had one thing in common; they all tried to block external sound. Well, the good ones did anyway. Now, I'd like to introduce you to the Mu6 Ring Open Ear Air Conduction Bluetooth Headphones.
What is an Open Ear Air Conduction Headphone?
First off, these headphones are designed for listening to a wide range of music—so they're EQ-balanced. Secondly, as its name suggests, they aren't your typical in-ear headphones, they're open-ear and take advantage of air-conduction. In other words, they're tiny speakers built to sit near your ears. Also, do keep in mind that they're advertised for workouts. Now that we've established these differences, let's get on with the review!
Setting Up the Mu6 Ring
As with most electronic products, I like to kickstart my experience by metaphorically tossing away the manual, just to test out how easy it is to use for us regular folks. And boy, did the Mu6 Ring deliver. All I had to do was...click on the button on the ring to turn it on and find the device on my phone's Bluetooth pairing page and ta-da, it's ready for use. No secret code is needed.
The Advantage of Air-Conduction Headphone
What's fantastic about air-conduction headphones is the improved situational awareness of the wearer, making it perfect for outdoor activities such as running or hiking where you have to watch for oncoming vehicles or have a pal you're chatting with. It's also very useful for working at home with a child—you can work with music while listening out for a cry or a sneeze. I particularly enjoyed testing it in town where I was able to hear the sounds of the city while pairing my walk with some wine background music.
Sound Quality of Mu6 Ring
The Mu6 Ring is a jack of all trades, delivering a very well-balanced sound for the price it retails at; decent in the mid-range and treble. Think pop music, podcasts, Zoom calls, audiobooks. This device doesn't come with an accompanying app so tweaking the equalizer is out of the question. This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, if you're an audiophile, these aren't made for you.
The built-in microphone isn't too shabby, honestly. I've used it over Zoom calls and on-the-go but with the expected sound leakage, this isn't ideal for private calls. Recipients of the call also did not hear any oncoming traffic, ambient supermarket sounds or the ceiling fan.
The Design
It's easy to put on and weighs in at only 35g. The headphones sit comfortably over my ears even over extended wear, and by extended, I mean 7 hours without discomfort.
The earpieces are located at both ends of the band and have a 120-degree rotation range. This means you can rotate them to fit your auditory experience. Oncoming cars on your right? Move the earpiece on your right further from your ear, so you can hear more traffic on the right and have more music channeled to your left ear.
The band is also equipped with a grand total of...wait for it...one button. It does what you'd expect it to do: turning on, pause, skip tracks, accepting calls and adjusting its volume with easy-to-master double-clicks and long-presses.
The two silicon strips on both sides of the band make it an even more reliable fit. I brought it out for a test run (literally) and it performed better than I expected. At no point during my run did I have to fiddle with the headphones; a bonus in my book.
Battery Life
When depleted, it charges up in about one and a half hours through a micro-USB cable. When charged up, mine lasted for an impressive 9.5 hours. Assuming you workout for an hour a day, these will last you slightly more than a week, which is a fantastic feat with electronics these days.
Verdict
I personally really enjoyed these headphones. Now retailing at only S$99 on a sale, I can overlook its sound quality for general outdoor fitness. Not only are they more comfortable for working out than my earbuds, they significantly increase my situational awareness during my late night walks at the park connector and they've probably saved me from losing one of my earbuds while running. This gets a yes from me.
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